Wine is a drink that over the years has earned respect and prominence in the homes of many. It comes in an array of tastes and colors, enhancing the appearance and giving that much desired pleasure with each taste. When drank in proportion, it actually has medicinal value. The older it is, the sweeter the taste. Wine is good for a cheerful moment among friends and loved ones. As such, it is only natural to invite friends to share in the celebration of wine. It is important to ensure that all goes well during such gatherings to better the moods and atmosphere. With just the right steps, you can successfully host a wine tasting dinner that will always be anticipated.

Here they are:

1. Select the wines to be tasted

Creativity plays an important role here, since you do not know the preference of all your expected guests. You could select a variety of wines from your favorite winemaker or bring wines from a particular region together. Whatever you do, remember different people with different tastes will be in-attendance.

2. Decide what food to offer your guests

This is important. You should decide when to serve food and in what proportion, as the wine will need to be absorbed. You could serve something light before the tasting, or after, but not during.

3. Have appropriate wine glasses

They depend on the types of wine to be tasted. For example, red wines should be tasted in rounder, larger glasses than white wines. The glasses should be clear for the guests to see the wine color, and should have a stem so the guests will not interfere with the temperature of the wine when they hold the glass by the body.

4. Gather up the necessary tools and items

Apart from the wines and wine glasses, there are other items necessary for a successful wine dinner, such as wine openers, corkscrews, a bucket of ice for maintaining the cool temperature of white wine and crackers or bread to eat during the tasting. They should all be prepared based on the number of guests expected.

5. Send out invitations

If you have a large house, you can invite as many guests to your dinner as you wish. For an ordinary dinner, six people will be enough. You could invite people with a similar preference of wine to promote easy blending. For the invitation letters, you could write letters and distribute, or send e-mails if you want to be sophisticated.

6. Choose an appropriate time

It should be a suitable time. You could pick in the afternoon when people are not yet ready for supper or late in the night after everyone has eaten. Tasting wine requires a palate that wasn’t recently occupied with food to bring out its real taste.

Can Light Really Affect My Wine?

Yes, light can affect your wine. But to grasp how this is possible we should take a closer look at the science of it all so as to be able to understand how this comes about.

The effects of UV rays on wine

Wine is sensitive to those damaging light rays, specifically ultraviolet (UV) from sunlight, and fluorescent lighting. This is why wine and beer is normally packaged in dark bottles.

All forms of radiation, which includes visible light UV rays as well as X-rays possess energy which is normally directly proportional to their frequencies, or rather inversely proportional to their wavelengths, that’s, high frequency waves possess short wavelengths and vice versa. When the energy is greater, the catalytic effect of the wine’s chemical reaction is equally going to be greater.  Here is a video on how light can affect your wine and how to properly store wine.

Of concern in wine are the visible light, and the UVA rays of the sun. Research has proven even short exposure of wine to the sun ( UVC and UVB are absorbed by atmosphere), may have detrimental effects in the order of hours. This is due to the fact that UVA rays lie in the 315-400nm range of electronic spectrum, and therefore possess more energy compared to visible light that lies in the 400 to 700 nm range.

Glass normally acts as some kind of a filter. However, clear glass provides no protection against visible light and UVA rays. Green glass provides some sort of protection, though only half as good compared to amber; while dark amber glass provides almost complete protection.

Research has shown that wavelengths between 375 and 440 nm ( that’s the high end of UVA range and blue (low) end of visible light range) are normally most damaging to wine, the reason being that the radiation amount absorbed by wine in this range is always directly proportional to opacity. Thus, red wine will absorb the most (and is the most affected), whilst white wine will absorb the least. Rose wine is in the middle.

Effect of radiation on wine flavors

Opaque and deeply colored, rich red wines absorb nearly all radiation. But these possess the maximum concentration of the effect-inhibiting tannin that offer protection. However, when the concentration is low, or the degree of exposure is long, unpleasant aromas and flavors may develop.

UV lights will reflect, or bounce of things and surfaces more than the visible, or infrared waves do. And even though darker colors are considered safer bet for absorbing more of light when compared to lighter colors, it is not normally simple judging that just by how it appears or looks in the usual visible spectrum.

Conclusion

When you have to utilize wine bottles which are opaque completely, or when you wrapped your wine bottles in something which is completely opaque as well as impermeable to normal amplitudes of light, then you should not be overly worried much about the effect of light on your bottle of wine.