Host Your Own Wine Tasting

Make sure that the wine is served at the proper temperature, and into a clean glass. A wine that's too cold will not have much flavor. A wine that's too warm will taste alcoholy. Dish soap in glasses can play havoc with a wine's true taste! If you've recently eaten or drunk anything else, have some bread or something else "neutral" to cleanse your palate.

SCORE	DEFINITION
	SIGHT (0-4 points) Make sure you have a CLEAN narrow-mouthed wine glass. Fill the glass half-way, and hold it up against a white tablecloth, under white light. Is the color consistant from edge to edge? Is it murky? What are the bubbles like (if it's even supposed to have them!). When you pick up the glass, make sure you hold it by the stem. This keeps your hand from warming up the wine.
	SMELL (0-6 points) Close your eyes, swirl the wine around in the glass a bit to release the odors, and smell. What does the wine smell like? Berries? Leather? Tar? There will be smells both from the wine itself and also from whatever it aged in. Does the smell start to alter as the wine warms up to room temperature?
	FLAVOR/TEXTURE (0-6 points) Pour some wine into your mouth and swirl it around a bit. Breathe out slowly through the nose to add smell into the taste (as you know, most of your 'taste' is actually smell). Is it greasy, or smooth? Is it mostly sour, or sweet? Are there new flavours you can sense now? The wine is warming in your mouth and might yet again change character. Swallow the wine, and see if there's any aftertastes which might be yet different.
	EVALUATION (0-4 points) How do you like the wine in general? Did it please you? What sticks most in your mind about this wine? Add comments below.
	TOTAL (0-20 points)

Hosting a Wine Tasting

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