Are you a wine enthusiast living in Queensland who heeds more about quality than quantity? If yes, you must have encountered situations wherein you wonder if you could ascertain that every drop of wine you sip is the best quality with no degradation.
It doesn’t matter if you ordered it from the most reputable online store in Brisbane or the most popular fancy wine shop in Gold Coast, you can never be too sure if your wine is the most exceptional. There is much more to wine testing than beginning with the good old swirl, sniff and sip.
Contrary to popular belief in Queensland, good wine is neither expensive nor aged. There are a lot of expert parameters to judge your wine for yourself or if you’re willing to start a wine business in Queensland, a few of which are listed here:
- Sniff it
Begin by taking a whiff. Stick your nose in the glass of wine, and if it smells slightly floral and fruity, rest assured it passed the first test. However, if it feels more like an old sodden paper, most likely it is corked! Wine industry veteran Tim McDonald admits being a big believer of sniffing and swirling. He commented that the taste is reinforcing what you sense, and good wine is a sum of the parts. So, if you think it’s terrible, it probably is.
- Twirl your tongue and sip
Once you’re done sniffing and swirling your way into the glass, go in for the sip and let the liquid linger around your tongue. This will help you assess the crucial ‘balance’ factor of the wine. Try and pick up as many flavours as you can. If it tastes less putrid and oozes more and more complex fruity flavours that stay on your tongue for long, know that you have acquired the so-called balanced wine.
- Gauge the depth
Just tasting of fruits is not all, as there is a myriad of flavours you can pick from the wine beyond just the fruit. Most likely, a good wine will let you detect a hint of grapefruit in white and chocolate or coffee in red suggesting a multi-faceted wine offering several layers of flavour.
- Determine its finish
Lastly, consider the finish of your wine. As a general rule, the wine that leaves a long-lasting flavour on your palate is of higher quality. The longer it stays, the better is the wine. On the other hand, if the flavour vanishes in a split second, it’s time to reconsider your choice and head for another bottle!
However, when you know you can still taste the wine on your tongue for beyond 10 seconds, know that you’ve hit the wine-quality jackpot!
So, next time you open a bottle of wine, you know what to look for. And it’s intriguing to see that it doesn’t take much effort to feel like a gourmet wine drinker in Brisbane! Go ahead and learn how they prepare the best wines in the world.
