Our Professional Toastmaster and Master of Ceremonies Derrick B Thomas who is also our Sales Executive of our Ipswich branch performs our wine tasting days. Tel 01473 681 407 email: derrickbthomas@hotmail.com

The ultimate pleasure of wine lies in tasting it. To reap full enjoyment from this pleasure requires only a moment's concentration, the use of three senses- sight, smell and taste-and another moment to sum up your impressions of the wine. Jotting down your tasting notes can serve as a very useful reference, particulary if you have discovered certain wines, which you feel go well with some of your favourite recipes or meals.

Holding the glass by the stem-to avoid warming up the wine and unsightly fingerprints-look at the colour of the wine. Nearly all German white wines are pale yellow-gold, often with a thing of green, with those from the Mosel being the palest of all, while the sweeter German wines tend to be a slightly deeper, pure gold shade. All should be brilliantly clear.

After observing the colour, swirl the wine by rotating the glass in slow, steady circles. This exposes the wine to air and helps to release the wine's full bouquet.

Next, sniff the wine. Is it flowery, or fruity, or rather neutral? The aroma should be clean and pure and at the same time complex, emitting scents reminiscent of apples, berries, peaches or other fruits, of spring flowers or fresh, green fields-each aroma is unique.
Finally, sip the wine and swirl it around your mouth to enjoy its full flavour. The taste of a well-made, well-balanced wine should carry through the promise of its bouquet.

A good wine will have a clean, agreeable, appealing taste with no off-flavours or unaccountable bitterness or flatness. In the same way, the aftertaste, or finish of the wine after you swallow, should be a pleasant, lingering sensation.