Are you a wine expert? If the answer is yes, then good for you. You know your stuff and you can hold your own with any wine connoisseurs. But what if you’re not an expert?
You might love a good wine and you’re pretty good at knowing a decent one from a bad one but when it comes to the intricacies of wine tasting, that might be when you start to panic.
Well, we’re here to help you! You might not want to spend hours researching wine trends and tasting notes. Perhaps you want to go for the quicker (some might say lazier) route and fake your way to being a wine expert. But how do you do it?
Easy! Follow our tips and you can hold your own in any wine conversation, kind of. DISCLAIMER: If you’re found out to be a fraud, we at Lockett Bros won’t be held responsible for your public humiliation.
Take your time and study the wine
If you’re really going to fake it as a wine expert, you have to come across as studious but relaxed. A wine connoisseur would never rush into a wine tasting so you shouldn’t either. Study the wine, and take note of the colour.
Now it’s time to swirl the glass, but do it slowly! Right-handed, swirl counter-clockwise and left-handed tend to swirl clockwise, normally. You could even hold the glass up to the light and tilt it a little to examine the colours in more detail.
On the nose
Next it’s time to see what the wine is like on the nose so you have to take a measured sniff and spend a few moments pondering. What are you picking up? The good thing for the wine faker is there aren’t really any wrong answers here. People tend to pick up different scents. Just don’t say something too left field to blow your cover!
Time to taste
If you’re wise, you’ll pick an easy grape variety to talk about. That way you’ll avoid any really difficult questions from the real connoisseurs!
For Sauvignon Blanc, you could talk about it being “crisp” and having lots of “citrus notes”. If you go for something like a Cabernet Sauvignon, talk about “dark fruits” and how it’s “rich” and perhaps “has a hint of tobacco”.
These comments are all relatively safe and should ensure that you’ve faked your way through this far without any problems.
The key is not to gulp the wine like some uncultured animal! Wine tasting is a refined art so if you decide to down the drink in one go, you’ll definitely get found out.
If you make it through without being outed as a wine fraud, you owe us a drink. If you are found to be a faker, then we take no responsibility…
Of course, this is a bit of fun and wine enthusiasts are generally very welcoming to people who perhaps don’t have the same knowledge as them.
If you want to know more about wines, keep an eye on this blog or why not pop into the store at 133 High Street, North Berwick, and see the guys. There will be no disparaging remarks about your wine knowledge. We just love wine and we want you to love it too!
You can visit the Lockett Bros online store here.
