Tasting wine is the topic for this installment of our wine 101 guide...

There are three stages to properly tasting wine: smell; taste; finish. We'll look at each of those individually.

To smell a wine, you should steadily swirl the glass to throw the wine up onto the side of the glass (thus increasing the surface area of wine in contact with the air) as this causes the wines aromas to be released. To swirl effectively, don't fill the glass too full - in fact less than half full is recommended. Put the wine glass up to your nose as you're swirling and think about the aromas that are being released. Young wines will have primary aromas, relating to the grape variety (such smells are often fruit related). As wines age more secondary aromas develop, which may be more earthy or animalistic. Remember that a wines aromas can take on many different forms, and very rarely will it simply smell of grapes.

When you taste wine, it's important to realize that little of the flavor that can be sensed actually involves the tongue. In fact, its your nose that does the tasting, even when wine is in your mouth; this is because the aromas of the wine seep into your nasal passages from your mouth. So, breathe in and out through your nose whilst the wine is in your mouth; paying attention to the way the wine changes as you hold it there. There are different segments to the taste of wine as it remains in your mouth: the fore-palate refers to your first impression, the mid-palate to your taste after a few seconds, and the end-palate to the wines final flavor. Each palate sensation will be different, and you'll be able to sense these changes if you pay close attention.

The finish describes the sensations derived from swallowing the wine. It will often be different to how the wine came across on the palate. The flavors may linger for a while on the palate after the wine has been swallowed, and this is referred to as the length. The more length a wine has, the more time you have to enjoy it, and it's probably true to say that such wines are generally of better quality.

There are two primary ways of pairing food and wine. First, it can be done by choosing a wine to accompany the food we eat. And, second, wine can become a major component in the preparation of a meal. Of course, the second operation should always be followed by the first for maximum enjoyment. And, of course, one can always participate in both activities at the same time providing an ideal combination of food and wine.

Enjoying Wine With Dinner

Good wine will improve digestion, contribute to the flavor of the food and, in the case of red wine, assist in good health. There are several schools of thought as to which wines to combine with particular foods. However, I'd like to suggest that if it tastes right, it is right. While some gourmets may argue with this, there seems to be little downside in pairing food and wine in this manner.

Cooking With Wine

The French and Italians are masters of combining wine and food. Both these cuisines make extensive use of red and white wines in preparing meals from appetizers to sauces to desserts.

Pairing food and wine in this way avoids any alcoholic taste in the food as heating the wine or other typically boils away the alcohol portion.

The other rule to consider when cooking with wine is to never cook with a wine that you wouldn't want to drink. This will often mean opening a bottle of wine just for cooking but the flavor boost to your dinner is worth it. Do not be tempted to cook with that wine that has been sitting open in the fridge for the last week. If it isn't a wine you would drink, don't try to cook with it. Get some more tips about cooking with wine, storing wine and tasting wine at Wine Cellar Secrets.

In one way or any other way wine should be given the chance to breathe. Otherwise, flavor wouldn’t reach its maximum. Concept circulating around the totality of the wine is being brought by the event of exposing the wine amongst the air surrounding it. The idea of letting wine mingle and mix with the environment’s natural air will warm the wine, aromas will be given the chance to open up, the profile of flavoring will mellow and soften a bit and in summary, the wine’s characteristics will improve at its best. After all of these concepts, it all comes down to how wine tasting must reach its goal and that is to taste good in the tongues of others.

There are certain wines that need and need not breathe. Red wines fall under that category. This is one of the reason why red wine is so popular to the masses because of its extra ordinary quality and taste. Exposure to air is quite beneficial to red wine although, there are also certain kinds of wines that need the proper treatment given to the red wine. Generally, a wine’s flavor improves with a 15 to 20 minute exposure to air. However you must be caucious enough to check tannin levels of a wine. It is because, when a wine has levels of tannin which are high, the wine would need a longer period of aerating before being enjoyed.

Allowing your wine to be aerated is not a biggie. Any one can try this sucessfully but caution should be excised. This is wrong conception that, the mere uncorking of your wine bottle will be adequate to let your wine take air and breathe. This is a futile. There is simply no room for air to circulate inside the bottle of a newly opened wine. In order to permit the breathing of wine, it should receive adequate amounts of free air. How can you do this outside the bottle? As a lover of wine, you can choose from either of the two:

•Wine glass method – here, all you have to do is pour your favorite wine into the glass then let it stay for 10-15 minutes or so. This is one method that anyone in the family can do. Even you can do this at the time of dining in a restaurant – low-maintenance and sufficiently effective.

Make sure that the glass, like a patient hospitalized, needs some quite time and therefore should be separated from any kitchen commotion or buzz. A bit of advice, when pouring wine in glasses, you have to make sure that you aim it at the center of the wine glass at about six to ten inches falling freely from the bottle just to allow further breathing while pouring.

• Decanter – this can be any kind of large container meant for liquid like a pitcher or a vase it doesn’t really matter for as long as it can accommodate the wine’s contents while being poured. One of the secrets in aerating is allowing a wider area or space that is in contact with your wine.

For wine tasting to be satisfying, one must be able to follow the rule of thumb in aerating which indicates that when a wine contain more tannins, it requires more time to breathe while red wines with “lighter bodies” having lower levels of tannin will not be that demanding of aerating.