Mommy Monday: Because ALL Mom's Need Wine

One of my best bloggy friends, Making Mrs. M, and I had been talking about doing a collaborative post for quite some time. We both love beer and wine, so clearly we wanted to include alcohol in our post in some capacity. When we finally rounded out our idea, it seemed to make perfect sense to have this as one of my "Mommy Monday" posts.

Why? Because ALL mama's need wine. I know the difference between needing and wanting, and yes; mom's need it.

But some women are intimidated by it! They find the one bottle they like, and get it time and again because "it's good" and they know it, and they can avoid sounding dumb to the sommelier at the liquor store.

Don't be intimidated, ladies! Making Mrs. M and I are here to help you expand your alcoholic horizons with some tips on how to develop and refine your palettes. So read up, jot some notes down, and next time you're at a fancy dinner with the boss, you can impress the table with your craft beer and wine knowledge.

How To Develop Your Wine Palette

Yes, you know how to drink wine... But how do you "taste" it? You know, like when people say, "I feel a leathery texture and sense a hint of cherry in this Merlot!"

As someone who has been to an official wine school, I'll be honest with you: most of that is descriptive poetry by someone who has had too much to drink, or has spent too much time in a wine cellar with other social elitists. Seriously.

However, there still are some great ways to taste wine to bring out all the different flavors in the grapes:

"Little bites" of food is a great way to bring out the flavors in a glass of wine

1) Pour yourself mini-glasses and enjoy several wines back to back to sense the difference in sweetness, texture and pungency of the grapes. For example, if you taste a Malbac after a Pinot Noir, you'll likely note how strong and earthy the Malbac is compared to the lightness of the Pinot. This is an easy (and fun!) way to note the differences across the wine spectrum.

2) If you're sticking to one wine, try it with a range of "little bites" of food. Dark chocolate, fruit, and salty crackers are all great ways to bring out the different flavor in the same glass of wine. Perhaps the wine seems bitter after the fruit, but sweet after the dark chocolate. Play around and have some fun!

3) I like to have a glass of water to "rinse my palette" if I'm tasting. Otherwise, either the flight of wine blurs together or the salty cracker is still on my tongue when I'm trying to taste the effects of chocolate on the wine. Sipping water throughout a tasting is a must so that you're able to experience all the different flavors.

4) Have fun and taste with friends! I wasn't joking when I said wine descriptions are much like poetry. Your girlfriend might taste a hint of smoke in her Cabernet while you taste fruit. Talk about it and laugh! Remember, there is no wrong way to describe the flavor of wine. So get silly with it.

Which Wines to Choose:

This list is a good start of the general categories for red/white/sweet/dry wines. Likely, you know if you prefer sweet or dry (as in, not sweet) wine. If not, pick out two bottles from both the lists above! I also encourage you to try both red and white, even if you tend to gravitate towards one over the other.


Now that you've checked out how to taste wine, go on over to Making Mrs. M's blog and check out some tips on how to best taste craft beer. You'll be ordering for your whole table the next time you hit up a fancy restaurant!