Chastity Valdes Shares 5 Wine Tips for Beginners

Chastity Valdes, a wine expert who has over years of experience in the industry. Chastity Valdes provides advice on a wide range of topics related to wine and its enjoyment, including how to best store your wine and how to tell if you’re a good taster or not. Chastity also shares information about upcoming wine events, like wine tastings and winemaker dinners around the country. No matter what level of wine expertise you are at, this blog will provide you with useful advice on how to enjoy wines even more than before!

If you’re not sure, begin with a sweet wine

What is your preference for wine? Sweet, dry, or somewhere in between? The answer to this question will determine what type of wines you should start with. For example, if you prefer dry wines, then you would start with an unoaked Sauvignon Blanc and work your way up from there. If you like both sweet and dry wines, a Chenin Blanc is perfect for you. If you want a sweeter white wine, try a Riesling or Semillon-Sauvignon blend.

Try it at least five times

Chastity Valdes is one of the most respectable wine specialists in the enterprise, she shares her knowledge in her blog. She is focused on high-level wine expertise and digs profound into difficult subjects like soils and blind-tasting skills.  In blind tasting, you're tasting wines without knowing which grape or region it's from, says Chastity. This takes away any personal bias. This is my advice to newbies- before buying a bottle of wine, taste it at least five times. Taste before purchasing: Don't spend money until you've first tasted the wine, said Chastity. When people come into my store, I always have them taste different bottles so they can see what they enjoy.

Swirl, smell, drink

Swirl the wine in your glass and smell it before you drink it. Take a sip, keep it in your mouth for a few moments, and then swallow. Take little sips so that you taste the wine nicely. Drink wines with foods that are rich, salty, or sweet to get the most out of them. Make sure the wines match your palate: if you love bold flavors, try some rosé; if you like crisp and refreshing drinks, go for white wine.

Drink, and serve wine at room temperature

One of the most often cited pieces of advice for new wine drinkers is to serve wine at room temperature and noticed. The old-fashioned way to serve white wines was with an ice bucket and a chiller, which was fine if you were living in Florida and had a fridge, said Chastity Valdes. But now we live in climate-controlled environments, so it's better to serve white wines at about 60 degrees Fahrenheit. And reds should be served at about 68 degrees. Serve red wines too cold and they'll taste harsh, she explained. If your guest doesn't want to drink white wine because they're not sure what it will taste like, offer them rosé, advises Valdes. It has more fruit than acidity.

On wine storage: Cold, dark, undisturbed

It's very important to store wine at the right temperature and in an environment that is as dark as possible. If you are storing wine in your kitchen, make sure it is not too close to the stove or under a cabinet. You also want to avoid storing wines on top of appliances that generate heat, like refrigerators and dishwashers. The goal is for wines to be stored between 50-55 degrees Fahrenheit with minimal light exposure. A great place to store wine if you have space is in the basement or any other cool, dark area of your home. If space isn't available, think about purchasing a fridge designed specifically for wine storage.