If you are an avid wine lover and want to experience the world of wine tasting, then one place that should definitely be on your list is Napa Valley in California. At Napa Valley you will be able to experience world class wines, great food among breathtaking scenery.

Napa Valley, California USA is a well known destination for wine lovers from all over the world. Part of Northern California that has excellent soil, gorgeous weather, it is not surprising that Napa Valley hosts some of the best wineries in the world along with superb accomodations for wine tasting tours.

Whether you are an expert wine taster or just a beginner in the wine tasting world, a Napa Valley wine tour is an unforgettable experience. There is no doubt that here, you will be able to taste some of the best wines that the world has to offer.

Napa Valley wine tasting tours are complete with knowledgeable guides who will help to set up entertainment according to your preferences. They can also arrange for you to be part of wine tasting classes, blending seminars, and classes related to wine and food.

So, your wine tasting tour to Napa Valley is not just about tasting, but also learning a thing or two about great wines. In fact, Napa Valley will leave you with an immense knowledge and an unforgetable experience about food and wine. Indeed, the Napa Valley wine tasting tours will be able to offer you a one of a kind experience that no other vineyard in the world is likely to offer.

Napa Valley boasts large Estate Cellars, smaller wineries and even boutique wineries owned by families living in the valley. Because most of these wineries may be hidden from from public view it is recommended that you hire a guide. They are knowledgeable as to where the wineries are and they will also be able to point you to where you will find the best tasting wines.

From Zinfadels, to Chardonnays, to Merlots, to Pinot Noirs, to Cabernet Sauvignon’s, Napa Valley will offer you everything that you are looking for in a wine. In addition to the more famous wines, you may even find lesser known ones that are not necessarily on the market as yet but may just be in the developing stage as a product.

Aside from the wine tasting, you will also be able to enjoy some of the best tasting foods in this part of California. Known primarily for its wines, Napa Valley is also known for its great food.

Whether your desire is a luxurious wine tasting holiday with family, a romantic one, or a celebration, you can be sure that Napa Valley wine tasting tours will be an unforgetable experience. You could not chose a better location or activity to experience outstanding and top of the class wine along with great food. Who knows, you may even be motivated to put on a great wine tasting party thereafter.

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You can easily detect a genuine wine expert by the way he handles the wine in terms of smelling and tasting it and not merely just drinking the wine.  Anybody can drink wine but it takes a lot of experience to taste wine.

So how should you taste wine?  Wines should be tasted by swishing the wine in your mouth, allowing your taste buds to perceive the flavor and taste of the wine.  While the act of tasting makes uses of your tongue, a person’s sense of smell actually does most of the detection.  Both a person’s sense of taste and sense of smell should be used when tasting wines.

Along with the selection of wines and the wine glasses, to make your wine tasting party a success requires also that you have the right snacks.  Typical examples of what you might want to munch on with your wines are unsalted crackers as too some bread. These can be augmented with some fruits as too some cheese which will prove to be wonderful when sipping your wines.

As a host you also must be aware about how to taste the wine so that you can guide the guests at your wine tasting party about the proper way of sipping and tasting their wines. You may even want to instruct your guests about the need to swirl their wines in their glasses and to then sniff the aroma when the wine and air make contact. In addition, you have to let the guests at your party know about how to smell the bouquet as well as aroma of their wines. The better the smell the better will be the taste.

If wines are generally red or white, then why do we have to study their colors?  White wines are actually not perfectly white because their color ranges from yellow to brown and green.  White wines with darker colors have more flavor and are older.  While aging improves the flavor of red wines, this doesn’t hold true for white wines which may go bad with time.  Red wines that are lighter in color are older.  You will be able to examine a red wine’s age by tilting a glass with red wine, allowing some to settle on the glass rim, and examining its color.  When the color of the wine that settles on the glass rim is brownish, then it has been aged.

Wine experts also swirl the wine to observe how it moves in the glass.  A wine that swirls nicely wine may mean it has a higher sweetness and alcohol content. While the taste of wine is generally subjective as it depends on a persons taste and preferences, wine connoisseurs follow specific guidelines in wine tasting.  Being able to taste and smell wine the right way can certainly to the pleasure of drinking them.

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Tasting wine is the focus of this part of our wine 101 guide…

Aroma, taste, and finish are the three stages of tasting wine. 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. Aromas from the wine in the mouth pervade the upper airways, and its sensations from the nasal receptors that we use to ‘taste’ the wine. Therefore, you should breathe steadily through your nose whilst the wine is in your mouth, thinking about how the wine changes as you inhale and exhale. 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 of these will be different, so look out for the changes in taste.

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.

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