In this minisode, we explain why swirling wine is important in the tasting of wine, and the proper ways to swirl wine - including some things you want to avoid. Minisodes are fun, short, snackable content of The Wine Pair Podcast where we share with you things you have always wanted to know about wine, wine tasting, and wine etiquette but were afraid to ask!
Contact The Wine Pair Podcast - we’d love to hear from you!
Visit our website, leave a review, and reach out to us: https://thewinepairpodcast.com/
Follow and DM us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewinepairpodcast/
Send us an email: joe@thewinepairpodcast.com
Show Notes
Hi everyone, and welcome to this first mini-episode of The Wine Pair Podcast! I’m Joe, your sommelier of reasonably priced wine, and this is my wife and my wine pairing partner in crime Carmela. And we are The Wine Pair.
Alright, everyone, you’re probably wondering what a mini-sode is. Well, consider it to be sort of a “tasting” if you will of our Podcast, like a wine tasting at a winery, and a chance for you to get to know something about wine that you may be curious about and you just want someone friendly to explain to you.
We also realized that sometimes we talk about some of these subjects in our regular and somewhat longer episodes, but the information can be hard to find for someone who just wants to get some edumacation but doesn’t want to dig through a bunch of episodes to find it.
So, we are creating these snackable episodes to give you just that bit you want.
So our first topic is about why we swirl wine. One of the things that you may often see people do who seem to be “in the know” about wine is you’ll see them swirling their wine after they pour it in their glass. In addition to being kind of fun, swirling actually provides a purpose. So, let’s talk about that purpose.
Why do you think we swirl our wine, Carmela?
There are a few reasons why.
- The first is that swirling exposes the wine to more air, and as it circulates, you can smell the wine better, which makes it easier to get a sense for both the wine’s smell and its taste. Since our taste is so affected by our smell.
- Infusing air into the wine via swirling serves to aerate the wine and bring out its flavors more clearly than if they the wine is just sitting in the glass
- And you can experiment with this. If you put the same wine in a wine glass and swirl it and a regular drinking glass, it will smell different.
- We’ll talk about why the shape of the wine glass matters in another mini-sode
- Swirling also gives you a sense of the viscosity of the wine. Wines that are more sugary are going to be thicker, and therefore swirl a little more slowly.
Articles
https://winefolly.com/tips/why-swirling-a-glass-of-wine-is-better/
https://yaofamilywines.com/the-5-things-you-need-to-know-about-swirling-wine/#:~:text=Wine%20is%20primarily%20%22tasted%22%20with%20the%20nose.&text=When%20a%20wine%20is%20swirled,and%20are%20easier%20to%20smell
Is there a right way or wrong way to swirl wine?
Absolutely.
- First, don’t fill your glass. In fact, fill your glass less than half way if you really want to be able to swirl it. Too much wine in the glass and swirling will just make the wine spill over the edge.
- Second, set your glass down on the table or your leg or something solid and swirl the glass lightly from the bottom of the stem by moving it in a small circle. You don’t have to create a spin cycle or whirlpool in your glass. And trying to swirl it in the air is just an accident waiting to happen in terms of spilling wine.
- In addition, you should always hold your wine glass by the stem anyway which we’ll talk about in other minisodes, but swirling from the bulb is also an accident waiting to ha[[en.
- Third, it does not matter which way you swirl the wine. At all. Anyone who tells you it matters is cuckoo.
Ok, that’s it for this minisode. Check out our other minisodes to learn more, and send us a note if you want us to cover other subjects. You can follow us on Instagram and Twitter, you can visit our website thewinepairpodcast.com and in any of those places you can reach out to us directly. We also will have our show notes on our website, and we will include links to articles as well.
Follow us, subscribe, and give us a rating and we’ll see you soon. Remember, life is short, so stop drinking shitty wine.
Related Episodes
Minisode #11: Does the Shape of a Wine Bottle Matter?
In the last minisode we settled the question of whether or not size matters, and so in this minisode we are tackling the other big question - does shape matter when it comes to the wine bottle? The answer may surprise you! Wine bottles come in many different shapes, although there is one shape that sort of dominates them all, and the most common shapes are associated with certain regions or certain varietals of wine. Want to look like the coolest person in the room at your next party? Wow your friends and family with your almost magical powers of deduction as you guess what kind of wine they are serving just by looking at the shape of the bottle. Oooh. You’ll be a hit! Contact The Wine Pair Podcast - we’d love to hear from you! Visit our website, leave a review, a...
Minisode #10: Does Wine Bottle Size Matter? (What are those big-@$% bottles of wine called? And why are they so expensive?)
Some people say that size matters, others say shape matters more. We are staying out of that discussion altogether. But, regardless of how you feel about the subject, there are more sizes of wine bottles than you may think, and in this minisode we demystify why there are so different sizes of bottles, why they almost always cost more than standard bottle sizes, and what these different bottles are called. The names are pretty nutty! If you have ever wondered what a split is, or how big a Balthazar is, this is the episode for you! Then, the next time you are at a party with a bunch of wine nerds, you can show off your massive wine vocabulary! Contact The Wine Pair Podcast - we’d love to hear from you! Visit our website, leave a review, and reach out to us: https://...
Minisode #9: What's So Special About Single Vineyard Wines?
Ever noticed that sometimes a wine bottle will call out that it comes from a specific vineyard? And when you’ve noticed that on the bottle, have you ever wondered, hey, what’s the big deal? Well, we are here to tell you if it's a big deal or not. If you have been around wine nerds, you know that they start geeking out about single vineyard wines, and if you have been around wine snobs you know that they will sometimes pay outrageous sums of money for select wines that come from specific vineyards. Are they wasting their money? Is it worth seeking out paying more for single vineyard wines? Let us help you decipher that just a little bit. And if you don’t know what we’re talking about, then you REALLY need to listen in so you can deepen your wine knowledge. Sin...