The Basics

We are not professionals or experts (except how to chug it down), but there are some general information and small tips that we have gathered through our own research and experiences that will help you to enjoy your drinking even more. Without further ado, these are our 10 Commandments of Drinking:
Thou shall apply all of thy senses—Beside the obvious tasting and smelling bit, visual appraisal is also important; the reason why we swirl the wine around in the glass is not just to aerate it but also to assess the thickness and color of the wine in the “legs” left behind; sparkling wine or beer that do not bubble may have been opened for extended periods of time. Touch is important too—red wine should be served at about room temperature; white wines should be served chilled. Don’t be afraid to ask for another glass if your wine is not at the right temperature because it really matters.
Thou shall go in order—Most wineries will set their tasting lists in the order that they recommend you try, generally from lighter whites to heavier reds to the sweets. If they don’t provide any order “anything sparkling-> sauvignon blanc-> chardonnay-> riesling/semillon-> rose-> pinot noir-> merlot-> cabernet sauvignon-> shiraz-> anything fortified” has worked very well for us. If you jump from one to the next randomly, the tastes of the wine may become marred by the stronger flavors of the one before it. So do yourself a service and follow the listing order.
Thou shall not be afraid to ask—It’s so easy to become embarrassed if you don’t know what kind of wine you are tasting or sometimes even pronounce the name. What’s the difference between the methods of making Muscat and Tokay? We don’t know either! Go right ahead and ask if you don’t know something—because that’s how you will learn!
Price does not mattereth—Sure there’s the old Chinese saying “For every penny, there is quality.” But in reality price does not have a linear relationship with the quality. In Australia a $15 bottle of wine is not necessarily inferior than a $50 bottle; we have had numerous tasting of expensive wine that sounded promising from descriptions but tasted like @#$^@%&. Sometimes if the company can spare cost of packaging, like many “cleanskin” wines which have no fancy labels, they can be particularly cheap without compromising the quality.
Age does not mattereth—Ah, that’s a tricky one because it depends how you look at it. To many of us, the word “vintage” implies top quality; in fact, a lot of people (especially Asians) still think that wine only gets better the longer you keep it. Wrong. Not all wine is meant to be cellared. Depending on the kind of grape, the method of fermenting, there are different limitations to how long a certain wine can keep; wine past its “use by date” tastes off and disgusting, many tainted by the cork. Wine makers usually are happy to inform you as to how long you can cellar a certain wine. Wines that are sweet, like riesling/botrytis, or robust red wine that have lots of tannins tend to age better.
Keepeth thy wine well, so thou may drinketh long—While we are on the topic of cellaring, let’s talk about storage. From horrendous past experiences, avoid hot places. The reason why we talk about “cellaring” is because wine is best kept in a cellar, where it’s cool and dark (light can have chemical affects on wine—that’s why lots of wine are packaged in dark bottles). Most of us don’t have cellars, but places like cupboards or under the bed works too. Lying bottles down can prevent the cork from drying out.
Location does not mattereth—That’s another tricky one. Yes, location does matter in that the grapes taste different according to temperature, thus affecting the taste of the wine. But that’s about it. There is a misconception that wine from France or other “old world” countries is better than “new world” countries like Australia, New Zealand, California…etc. which is not true. In general “new world” wine has a cleaner taste due to more technological involvement, and “old world” wine tend to have more personality due to traditional and distinct methods. But a good wine is a good wine, regardless of location.
Slowly does the trick—Very, very rarely does fast drinking benefit any form of alcohol intake (unless you are in a competition—for which we recommend drinking a can of coke first to kill off nerve endings in your esophagus.) Beer is probably the only thing that tastes nice chugged. Wine in particularly needs time to be appreciated; like perfume, there is a “fore-taste”, “mid-taste”, and “after-taste” where different notes distinguish the ingredients and methods of different wineries. Also, even if you consume massive amounts of wine, by drinking slowly you can minimize the severity of the hangover the next day. Trust us, wine hangovers are absolute hell—we’ve been there…
Thou shall trust thyself—This is the biggest and greatest tip that we can offer. At the end of the day, YOU are the only who will be drinking the wine that you buy, so let your taste-buds be the judge. So what if the wine is cheap? So what if it’s not the “in” style at the moment? So what if no one else likes it? Who cares—only your liking counts. Just do it.
Remembereth the spittoon— It is not required of you to like every wine you taste. Also, do not think that you must finish entire glass poured for you. If you don’t like something after the first taste, pour it away in the spittoon provided. Or if you are driving and still want to taste the wines, you can swirl the wine in your mouth and taste without swallowing, spitting it out into the spittoon. Winemakers will not insulted by such actions!