Wine 101

Start your own wine tasting club!

What better way to explore the ever-expanding world of wines than with
a group of friends in a casual setting. This is how it works... Find a few
people interested in wine tasting and plan to meet once a month. 6 to 10
people is ideal. Choose a theme for your evening of wine tasting. There
are two approaches to selecting the wines, and you might want to try both
to see which works best for your group. Either ask everyone to bring one
bottle of wine from your selected theme of the evening, or have one person
designated to select the wines for that evening. Everyone contributes a light
appetizer. Come in to North Ridge Wine and we will be happy to help you select
an interesting variety.
THEMES FOR WINE TASTING
Choose a wine from a country:
Wines from Italy, Germany, Spain, France, Australia,
New Zealand, South America
Or, choose a variety to contrast and compare:
Pinot Noir, Merlot, Shiraz, Riesling,
Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay.
Choose wines from a certain region, such as
Sonoma County, the Willamette Valley in Oregon, Rhone Valley or Bordeaux

OTHER THEMES MIGHT INCLUDE:
Favorite wine under $20
Sparkling wines
Favorite wine with an animal label

Layers of flavor and complexities in a wine can be discovered by tasting and
observing, using the 4 S’s of Wine Tasting found below.
A great way to evaluate the qualities of a wine
and discover new favorite is by keeping a record of your tasting notes. Start
a wine tasting journal for everyone in the group and begin your wine tasting adventure.
One of our wine tasting groups started their first meeting with wines from
Spain. Brad selected 5 wines for them to taste, including
Albarino, Garnacha, Tempranillo, Toro and Rioja. Spanish cheeses, rustic bread,
Spanish olives, almonds and garlic shrimp was served for appetizers. Wines
were sampled and discussed amongst much merriment. Come visit us at North Ridge and we’ll be happy to help your group select wines for your next gathering.
4 S'S OF WINE TASTING
See—Look at the color of the wine by holding the stem and tipping the glass
at an angle against a white background. All wine should be clear, not cloudy.
Swirl—To observe the body of a wine, gently swirl the glass a few times.
A light bodied wine has thin legs while a full bodied wine has thicker, more
dense legs.
Sniff—Swirl the wine around again and sniff to take in the aroma. Swirling
exposes the wine to air and releases more of the fragrance.
Sip—Take a small sip of wine and don’t swallow. Let the wine flow over your
tongue and around your mouth. What flavors can you discover?