Intimidated by wine? Don’t be! At Peos Estate, we understand that not everyone is a wine expert (yet!) and so we’ve developed this simple guide to help you navigate your way through everything from choosing the right wine to tips on how to serve your favourite drop. We trust you’ll find it valuable. Choosing wine The following tips may come in handy when you are next at your local bottleshop or winery deciding which bottle of wine to buy: Have a think about what food you will be enjoying the wine with. Some wines go better with certain foods, for example: if you will be drinking your wine with beef then consider a red wine as they help to bring out the rich flavour of a good cut of beef; if you are eating veal you may wish to team it with a dry white wine; for desserts – sip fruity sweet wines; and if you are eating something chocolate-based, consider a full-bodied red wine. Think about the occasion you will be serving the wine. If it is a celebration or to be enjoyed as a pre-dinner drink, then champagne or sparkling wine is your best option. During the day, white wines or rosés are often the best choice as they are lighter than most red wines. If you plan to drink your wine on a cold, winter night then there is nothing better than a rich, full-bodied red wine due to its warming properties. If you are choosing a red wine, have a look at the age of the wine because the older it is, the stronger its tastes and flavour will be. There is no need to look for the age of white wines because they are always ready to be served immediately. Tasting wine There are four simple elements that make up the taste test and if you can remember these then you will be able to taste wine with anyone! The four elements are look, sniff, sip and swirl. Look - Pour some wine into the glass and, holding the glass by the base, tilt the glass away from you and look through the wine at its clarity and colour. The wine should be rich, clear and bright, with no brown tinges, and – except for some very old red wines – have no sediment. Sniff - Swirl the wine around in the glass a few times and then take a big sniff. It should have a pleasant, attractive bouquet. Wine writers have written thousands of descriptions to describe the aromas released from wines but describing a wine aroma is a personal thing, so just make sure that the smell released from the glass is enjoyable and pleasant to you. Sip and swirl - Take a sip of the wine and swirl it around inside your mouth, then swallow it. Have a think about the sensations it makes in your mouth and how long the sensations last. Think about the taste and check the description at the back of the bottle to see if what you taste matches this. Try to describe the flavours and consider whether they in different parts of your mouth. Consider whether the wine “registered” on your teeth, tongue and gums, the back of your throat. Have a think about the end or after-taste of the wine. Poor quality wines finish "short" or tail off to a watery, insubstantial end. Well-made wines have a “firm” finish - meaning they have a clean, crisp finish with a distinct flavour. Good wines will extend to a lingering aftertaste - a flavour that remains in the mouth after the wine has been swallowed. Serving wine When you are serving wine at dinner, start the evening with lighter white wines and move on to the heavier red wines as the night progresses. This is to stop the flavour from one type of wine overpowering the other. If you are serving red wine you may wish to decant the wine prior to serving. This allows it to breathe which, in turn, softens the wine and allows the aromas to develop. The shape of the decanter usually allows a greater area of wine to be in contact with the air, speeding up the process. Just remember – tasting and drinking wine is an enjoyable pastime but, ultimately, there is only one question you need to ask….did you enjoy the wine? And, if the answer is “yes”, then the Peos motto is that nothing else matters! Buy Peos wines are rapidly making it onto the mouthwatering menus of many of the finest restaurants across Australia. Likewise, they can be found in the best liquor retail outlets in the nation and are also now available in Singapore, Denmark, Canada and the UK. For those that wish to order online, please do so here.