The best gift baskets
for all the occasions and festivity. Prepared compositions
with bottles of good wine and food for all the tastes, of
good quality, you exclusively manufacture with products
typical of the Italian culinary tradition, that they will
know how to bewitch and to surprise You, his customers and
the friends.
Preparing the wine
Take the wine from the cellar at least 24 hours beforehand.
If red, it should be at room temperature (apart from a few
exceptions, such as Beaujolais or Vino Novello, which are
served cold).
If it is a red wine with a sediment, it should be kept
horizontal in a wine basket.
If there is a heavy sediment, it is best to stand the bottle
upright for 48 hours before removing the cork and decanting the wine into a suitable carafe.
To open the bottle, cut around the capsule with a knife at
the point where the neck of the bottle widens. The wine
should not come into contact with the capsule as it is being
poured.
Carefully clean the top of the cork with a cloth.
Preferably use a lever-action corkscrew.
Screw the corkscrew into the centre of the cork all the way
to the bottom, taking care not to pierce the end.
Fragments of cork should not fall into the wine.
Slowly draw the cork.
Once again, clean the mouth of the bottle using a circular
movement outwards to prevent residue, from entering.
Sniff the cork: if it has a distinctive smell it is likely
that this will have been passed into the wine.
Pour a little wine into a tasting glass and taste it
carefully.
Place the bottle on the serving table with its cork next to
it so that it may be sniffed again if necessary.
Decanting the wine
If a wine has a heavy sediment, it is necessary to decant it
to carefully separate it from its deposit.
You need a clear carafe, preferably crystal, and a candle.
Light the candle and start to pour the wine slowly from the
bottle, letting it slide down the inside of the carafe and
checking through the neck of the bottle in front of the
flame that the wine remains clear.
As soon as the wine appears murky, stop pouring. Decant the
wine immediately before serving.
Keep the original bottle and cork in view on the serving
table.
Serving the wine
Do not shake the bottle.
Rest the neck of the bottle on the glass and pour slowly.
Do not fill the glass beyond half way.
Rotate the bottle to avoid dripping wine outside the glass.
Tasting the wine
Surroundings
Tasting should take place in a closed well aired environment with indirect light and a temperature of around 18/20 C
Glass shape
Tasting should be carried out with a standardised (ISO)
tulip shaped glass which is internationally recognised.
Tasting order
It is customary to taste white wines first, followed by rosés and then reds. In detail, the correct sequence is:
Light and sparkling white wines
Dry and full-bodied white wines
Young, red wines
Fortified white wines
Heavy red wines
Taste in order of age, from the youngest to the oldest.
Conditions
Wine temperature should be from 14/18 C
No smoking in the tasting room
Avoid neon light
Avoid any noise that will distract tasters
Fill the glass up to around one third
Clean the palate with a piece of bread
STAGES IN TASTING
Appearance
Observe the clarity and the colour for indications of the age,
depth and body of the wine.
Smell
Analysis of the smell. This should be given time and thought
before tasting. Perception of the aroma is enhanced by
swirling the wine around the glass.
Palate
Take a small mouthful of wine and hold it in the mouth to fully
appreciate the flavour and (via the nasal passages) the
aroma.
The wine is gently moved around the mouth to allow contact
with all the taste buds. At this stage there is a
primary sensation of 'attack' followed by a continuous change
and development of the flavour. Finally there is the
'finish' (or length) when the wine has left the mouth
TASTING THE WINE
Colour
The first thing to look at: the range of colours is almost
infinite. White wines:
Greenish white, in very young wines
Straw coloured in mature wines
Golden with a varying degree of amber in aged and
particularly in sweet wines.
Red wines:
Purple red with hints of violet, in new wine Cherry
red in a young wine that is ready for drinkíng Brick
red, with a varying degree of orange, in a moderately
aged wine Red with varying degree of brown in very old
wines.
Clarity and depth
To observe clarity hold up the glass in front of a light
source and check the liquid for impurities. To see the depth,
hold the glass at an angle above a white surface.
Smelling the wine
The aromas of a wine are in general fairly complex mixtures,
difficult to pinpoint and demanding great concentration.
They are given off in relation to how volatile they are, so
tasting temperature is of great importance.
The aroma is analysed twice: firstly with the glass held
still, then after swirling the wine around. The smell is
released gradually allowing a true impression of the quality
of the wine.
There is a descending scale of aroma:
- full
- noble
- pronounced
- delicate
- soft
- faint
- elusive
The aromas of wines are usually compared to aromas in
nature:
Flowers - In white wines, springtime wild flowers,
and in reds the perfumes of the more strongly coloured
flowers (rose,
violet etc.)
Fruit - Apricot, banana, apple, lemon and
pineapple in white wines; strawberry, raspberry, peach and
cherry in red wines
Dried fruit and nuts - Usually the smell of dried
fruit appears with age. Toasted almonds in whites, dried
figs in reds.
Sweet flavouring - Vanilla, aniseed
Herbs and leaves - Fresh mint, pine, tobacco
Toasted - Toast, coffee, cocoa, tea
Spices and herbs - Pepper laurel, cinnamon, cloves,
nutmeg, thyme, basil, juniper, Truffles
Food and drink - Beer butter cider honey cognac
Other aromas - Leather amber animal
Taste sensation
Take a small sip for a last analysis in the mouth before
swallowing. The wine warms up in the mouth revealing new
facets, with bitter acid, sweet and salt flavours detected
in different areas of the mouth.
These sensations allow the taster to evaluate the substance
and structure of the wine.
The taste of a wine is a balance:
- of acidity, fruit and tannin in a red
- of acidity and fruit in a white.
The finish
After tasting a wine, the final observation is ofhow long
its aroma and flavour last.
The longer is the finish, the better the wine.
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