Do you hear others talking about wine and you have no clue what they are talking about? Read this guide to learn how to hang with the experts. While you won’t become an expert overnight, following these tips religiously will put you far ahead of the rest of the pack.

If you are new to wine tasting, you should know that true connoisseurs actually spit the wine after tasting it. Spitting the wine is the best way to avoid overpowering your taste buds so you can keep tasting other wines. Take a small sip of wine, wait a few seconds to feel all its different flavors and spit it.

Seafood goes great with Pinot Grigio. A Pinot Grigio enhances the flavor of many different types of food. There are other white wines that go great with seafood, too. Try a bottle with your next meal, and you will probably find that you enjoy the combination of flavors.

When you are drinking wine, make sure that you savor each sip that you take. Sometimes, you may be drinking a wine bottle that costs a lot of money so you will want to get your money’s worth. This will also help you to enjoy the flavors that you taste.

If you are looking for a good deal on wine, try to purchase it from the rack at a liquor store. Generally, you will find that these are the items that are on sale or the dealer wants to get rid of the fastest. The quality of these wines has not dissipated though, so you can score a great deal this way.

When you drink a bottle of wine, make sure that you do not throw it out, even if you have a small amount left. Wine can stay good for a long period of time and you never know when you may have a craving for that type of wine in the future.

Attend as many wine tastings as you have time for. Wine tastings introduce your palette to many different styles of wines. And the people who attend these events may also be much more advanced than you in terms of wine knowledge. You can pick their brains to learn even more!

Don’t worry about trying to identify all the flavors in a wine that you are tasting. Some people have a natural affinity for this while others do not. Try to focus instead on how much alcohol is in the product, as well as what type of fruit may be included. Over time, you will probably be able to get a good feel for these elements.

When ordering wine at a restaurant, you should not spend too long looking at the list. If you are having diner with someone who knows a lot about wines, they will assume you are not familiar with the wines you see on the menu. It is best to choose within ten minutes.

When serving wine for parties, open the Merlot and Cabernet a half hour before the party starts. This will allow the wine to make contact with the air and start “opening up.” As reds are exposed to the air, oxygen allows the tannin and flavors to activate and become more robust.

Effervescent wines and champagne are meant to be served chilled. The full flavor will not be imparted if these wines are served at room temperature. Store your champagne in the fridge for at least an hour before serving.

Ask if you can taste a few wines before buying. Most wine stores will offer tastings to their customers on a regular basis or set schedule. By trying a few varieties in the store, you can increase your chances of walking out with a bottle you really love. This is a better way to shop than buying blindly.

Do not go out and buy cases of wine just because you like the taste of it. Many times people’s tastes change over time, which means that you may not like this particular wine forever. Buying it in bulk may have you stuck with a lot of wine that you no longer like.

Vintage refers to the year when a wine’s grapes were harvested, not when the wine was produced. If a label states “2010” on the label, that can mean the grapes were harvested in the fall of that year. Then it is fermented, aged, bottled and then sold. The actual wine might not have hit the shelf until perhaps 2011 or maybe even 2012.

There is nothing more embarrassing than being in the company of people that know more about something than you do. This is why you should study all of the information that is included in this article. The next time there is a discussion about wine, you should be ready to join in the talk.