Mumsnet Wine Club Homework - How to "taste" wine

[CountessDracula]

OK wine lovers, prior to our first tasting I think it would be useful if you all had a look at this page . It gives you some idea about how to taste wine, which we will be putting into practise soon.

.... and maybe we should agree a time that the wine tasting "begins" - although there is nothing stopping people getting stuck in whenever they want and posting their thoughts about the wine at a time that is convenient for them.

I have just loged on for this first time after reading about mumsnet in this weks Sunday Times and I think it is fab. I live in Luxembourg right in the Moselle Valley and could recommend some very nice wines, at cheap prices!!! Do they stock many in the UK, and no its not called Blue Nun!!

yes JanZ, we'll join in, but could we have a couple of choices! Red wine gives me massive hangover, however much I drink! Cheers!

Littlemissbossy - have you tried Lindemans Bin 65? Bacchus started a thread on it here , but there wasn't much interest. I bought a bottle at Safeway for £5.99, but it is widely available. I have to admit we were very tied up that weekend, so even though we drank it on the Tuesday night, I never got around to posting, as I was having a week from hell work wise.

If you are getting hangovers with red wine, it might be worth trying one of the sulphur free ones - I believe that can be a problem for a few sensitive people. I'll ask Bacchus for some advice

Spitting out good wine, what a waste i say. I may have to buy 2 bottles to get pi**ed if I spit it out. Could CD or guard let me know how to get a tasting sheet as I would be very interested as I often indulge in a wine (whine depending on the day) at the end of a hard day. Being a mumsnet virgin I ma unsure about these things. Freakily enoug my DP has just ran me a nice hot bath in which I am going to have a nice glass of ice cold chardonnay aaahhh bliss!! I may even take some of my chocolate left over from easter. May as well chill out in style.

Summermum, have a look here - that will give you some guidance notes on tasting, plus a link to a tasting sheet.

As you mention a Chardonnay - have a look at this which will also give you some other pointers.

Personally, unless I'm tasting a lot of wines, I only ever spit the first (small!) mouthfull. Thereafter, I just enjoy the wine!

Dh and I had a couple of wines we enjoyed at the weekend - South African ones, a white and a red called "Goats do Roam in Villages". They are "Cotes du Rhones" look alikes (so the french are fizzing!, ) - but Fairview, the vinyard, does genuinely have a herd of goats that roam around the place! They were from Majestic and were about £7 for the red and £6 for the white.