Drinking Wines

No beverage can stir up the senses, curiosity and imagination as wine. Unlike beer or many distilled spirits, a particular wine will smell and taste different every year it?s released. That?s because wine is mostly an expression of soil, weather, place — what the French refer to as terroir. It?s a reflection of what happened during a particular growing season, as well as the decisions the vineyard manager and winemaker made that year.

All these factors can make tasting wine a very exciting and rewarding experience, especially in a group setting. It?s always interesting to hear others? opinions on a wine: what they smelled, what they tasted, what they felt.

If you?ve always wanted to host a wine tasting in your home — or maybe are just interested in finding ways to learn more about wine — then read on. Below are six creative ways to learn more about (and enjoy!) this magical beverage with friends and loved ones.

Basic Wine Tasting

A basic wine tasting can be a unique and fun way to entertain guests. However, they are more enjoyable and rewarding when you limit the size of the group to no more than about 12 guests. Once you get much bigger than this it?s difficult to manage this format.

Keep it simple by deciding on a theme (say, Australian Shiraz, Red wines from the Rhone region of France, or whatever suits you). Set a price floor and a ceiling and have each guest bring one or two bottles that fit the theme.

Make sure to first number each bottle. That will help those taking notes keep track of what they?re tasting. Pour only one wine at a time and give your guests a chance to fully appreciate each one. Before moving on to the next one, try to create some discussion about the wine and even consider handing out scoring sheets (or at least pen and paper). This will allow everyone to record their impressions, along with each wine?s region, grape varietals, price and so on. Move to the next bottle only when everyone has had a chance to appreciate and discuss the previous one.

Blind Wine Tasting

This type of tasting follows the same steps as the basic tasting described above, except that the identity of each wine is not revealed until after everyone has tasted and evaluated all the wines. To do this right, you?ll have to open each bottle first and also fully remove the foil cap (to prevent it from revealing its identity). Then, put each bottle inside a brown paper bag and tie it at the end with a heavy-duty rubber band.

When you?re ready to start tasting, take the wines to the dinner table and number each bag clearly with a marker. Follow each step in the basic wine tasting description above — but again, don?t reveal the identity of any wine until ALL wines have been evaluated.

I find this to be the most intriguing and most challenging format — but also the most fun! It?s amazing how much our prejudices and preconceptions (including the look of a bottle?s label bottle or the price paid) have on our evaluation and perception of a wine. Blind tasting is the only truly objective way to judge.

Wine Party

Again, the formats above work very well with groups of 4 ? 12 people. Once your group gets much larger, a basic tasting becomes too difficult to manage. So what can you do if you?d like to have a wine tasting but have too many guests to make it work? Simple: Have a ?wine party.?

The best wine parties are the kind where you keep things casual and laid back, yet still ask your guests to follow certain rules. For example, you could set a theme such as ?wines from Spain,? and have every individual bring a wine from that country (each couple should bring 2 wines; better to have too much than not enough!). As with the other tastings, set a floor and a ceiling: $15 to $30, for example.

For those that won?t know how to pick a good selection in this price range, suggest they go to a merchant and let an experienced sales clerk know what the wine is for. With this kind of guidance (country or varietal, as well as a specific price range), most merchants will do a good job recommending a wine for the occasion.

As the guests arrive, line up the bottles so that duplicate wines are together (invariably, there will be some duplicates. But that?s OK; more wine for everyone!). You can provide your guest with a tasting sheet if you?d like and use the scoring suggestions outlined earlier. If you?d like to keep it even more informal, skip the score sheet.

?Around the World? Wine Party

Another variation on this theme is to host an ?Around the World? wine party. This is typically the way to go if you?re looking to host a party with 30 or more guests — and a terrific idea if you?re having a ?house warming? party with a lot of guests (you?ll see why in a moment). Follow the same guidelines recommended here, but have your guests bring a wine from any country outside of the U.S.

Then, set up different tables around your living area, each of them ?hosting? a different country and its wines. Have a stack of wine scoring sheets and pens available on each table, and as an option, number the wines with Post-it-Notes for better tracking on the scoring sheets.

If it?s a house warming party, set up a tasting area in each room. That way, your guests can check out every room in your new home.

By opening up the theme to ANY wine from ANY country outside of the U.S., you lower your chances of having duplicate wines, which is the main reason I like to suggest this format when the guest list is large.

Wine Tasting Dinner

Another variation of the traditional wine tasting discussed earlier is to have a 3-course (or 4- or 5-course) dinner and serve a different wine with each course.

You can ask each guest to bring a specific type of wine to match each of your courses. For example, you can ask one couple to bring a Pinot Grigio to have as an aperitif, another couple to bring a Sauvignon Blanc to pair with the first course, another to bring a wine from Rioja to have with the main course, and lastly someone to bring a dessert wine to have with, of course, dessert.

A nice touch would be to have a final cheese course (after dessert) and provide the cheeses and wine(s) yourself.

Tasting wine with friends and family can be fun and educational. Fortunately, there?s really no right or wrong way to conduct one. So whatever you do, keep things lively and relaxed. Keep some structure to the event without getting too serious and you?ll be sure to create a memorable event for all your guests.

Ed Gandia is a wine writer based in Marietta, GA. He is the author of the ?The Bargain Hunter?s Wine Shopping Guide? (http://www.BestWineBargains) — an eBook that teaches wine lovers a simple method to find the best, most consistent $10-and-under wines sold in the U.S.

A fun way to learn more about different wines?especially those you normally wouldn?t buy on your own?is to host a wine tasting in your home. Here are a few tips for a fun and educational wine tasting:

* First, decide how many people you?re going to invite. The size of your tasting will probably determine the setup you use and maybe even your tasting?s theme.

* Second, decide on a theme. You could choose a country, a region within a country, or a varietal (a grape). For example, wines from the Southern Rh?ne, or maybe New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs, or red wines from Chile. You could even settle on an ?ABC? theme: ?Anything but Cabernet? or ?Anything but Chardonnay.? However, I?ve found that the narrower the theme, the more interesting and fun the event.

* Third, decide who will provide the wine and the food. You may chose to stick to cheese, crackers and provide those. And if that?s the case, you could ask your guests to each bring a bottle or two of wine (based on your specified theme).

* Lastly, determine how formal you want the even to be. In other words, will you be pouring one wine at a time and then encouraging comments and observations from everyone? Or will this be a more casual event that merely has a wine theme and no ?wine talk?? There are no rules; it?s completely up to you.

Here are some ideas for you to consider:

Your Basic Wine Tasting

* Invite just a handful of friends and ask each couple to bring a bottle of wine. Decide on a theme?Syrah, for example?and set a price ceiling of, say, $30 and a floor of $20. The country of origin is up to the buyer.

* Go to the market and buy a variety of quality cheeses. Consult with the cheese specialist. Let her know the type of wines you?ll be serving. Pick up a couple of baguettes, some olives, a decent olive oil, some sliced cured ham (prosciutto, for example), and some gourmet crackers. Also, pick up a bottle or two of a Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, or Ros? so you have something to serve while the guests arrive.

* Give each of your guests a piece of paper and a pen. You may even want to have scoring sheets prepared to help everyone evaluate the wines. But don?t let that intimidate anyone. Make sure your guests know there?s no right or wrong here, and it?s just for fun anyway. Some simple suggestions on how to judge and score wine:

- Color: You?ll want to make sure to look at the wine?s color by tilting the glass about 45 degrees and looking at the liquid against a white background (such as your tasting sheet). Pay particular attention to the rim of the liquid. That?s where the true color will show. The deeper the color, the younger and more concentrated the wine will probably be. Amber, brick-like tones in a red wine are typical indicators of some age. Deep, golden colors in a white typically indicate richness and concentration. Don?t worry about scoring for color. We?ll save the scores for the other elements.

- Aroma: Make sure to give the wine a good swirl. Then, stick your nose in there and take a deep breath. Swirl again and try this one more time. Thoughts on aroma? What do you detect? Write it down. Then, give the aroma a score from 1 ? 10, based on YOUR opinion, not others?.

- Flavor: After a few swirls and sniffs, it is time to taste the wine. Start with a small sip and hold it in your mouth?on top of and around your tongue?for a few seconds. Swish the juice inside your mouth. It?s also helpful to open your mouth a bit and lightly clamp your top teeth on your lower lip. This creates a very small opening through with you can suck air in rapidly, letting the air run through the wine, and releasing more of the aroma and flavor inside your mouth.

Think about the wine for a few seconds before you swallow. How?s the acidity? The fruit? The tannins? The body? Does it seem balanced? What does it taste like? Does it remind you of something: nectarines, strawberries, vanilla, figs, currants, blackberries? Use your imagination and don?t worry about what others may think; there are no right or wrong answers here. Give the wine a flavor score between 1 ? 10.

- Overall Impression: Finally, I like to assign a score based on my overall impression of the wine. Think about what you?ve just tasted. How impressed are you with its overall quality? With the balance and finish? With its overall character? Did it ?wow!? you? Was it disappointing? Did it seem flabby or spineless? Give it a separate score between 1 ? 5 based on this overall impression.

Now, add up your scores and multiply the total by four. This will give you an overall score based on a 100-point scale.

Tip: Ask everyone to keep their scores secret until everyone has fully evaluated the wine and added up their scores. This will ensure everyone writes down their honest opinion. Compare scores with others (this is always fun) and see how you and the others judged the wine. Repeat this process with the other wines.

Wine tastings can be a ton of fun and a great way to meet interesting people. And guests tend to remember these get-togethers for years. I have friends who still tell me how much fun they had 5 or 6 years ago at a wine tasting party I helped them organize. Follow these tips and you, too, will have friends talking about your ?legendary? tastings for years to come.

Ed Gandia is a wine writer based in Marietta, GA. He is the author of the ?The Bargain Hunter?s Wine Shopping Guide? (http://www.BestWineBargains.com) -? an eBook that teaches wine lovers a simple method to find the best, most consistent $10-and-under wines sold in the U.S.