Swirling

[rongalas]

I have been drinking wines for a bit now and I am partial to red wines. My question is why do people swirl and sniff their red wines before drinking it?? Somebody told me it was to see for sediment. What is the significance of that??

[Innkeeper]

Hi Ron, and welcome to the Wine Board. Swirling and sniffing should be a part of enjoying all wine. The latter is enhanced by the former. Opening the olfactory sense contributes mightily to the overall sense of taste. Frequently the same fruit and sweet sensations the the nose picks up are also detected by the taste buds concentrated on the front or tip of the tongue (all taste buds are distributed all over the tongue, but some are concentrated in different parts). This is why you will see, in many tasting notes (TNs), descriptors that go: Such and such was on the nose and upfront.

Sediment should not be in the wine you are drinking. Properly poured wine will have very little. Sometimes, even in the best of circumstances, you need to look out for that last glass in the bottle.

[yclim]

Aroma is part of wine enjoyment, as IK has mentioned. Swirling of the wine encourages the evaporation of the alcohol in the wine. When the alcohol evaporates, the aroma of the wine comes out along with the alcohol. Thus, swirling of the wine brings out the aroma of the wine better.
That's why people swirl their wines, followed by sticking their nose into the glass. (Well, some people do swirl their wine coz they think it looks cool....)
This is my understanding of wine swirling, please correct me if I am wrong [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/smile.gif[/img]

[Thomas]

I've been swirling wine in my glass for so many years now that I find myself doing it with coffee, and even with water. Swirling definitely has a place, to release aroma, but it has nothing to do with the sediment, except maybe stirring up any that might be in the glass.