Why swirl wine?
Swirl the wine in your glass. This creates more surface area from which odors are released. Now tilt the glass toward you and raise it to your nose. Tipping the glass exposes more surface area and gets the wine closer to your nose. Take a sniff and pull the glass away. Think about what you smelled, just first impressions. Repeat this as often as you want recognizing that your sense of smell fatigues quickly. What’s with that gurgling thing when people taste? Now take a sip from your glass. Hold the wine in your mouth for a few seconds. This warms the wine a bit releasing more odors which is experienced via the nasal passages at the back of the throat. This process can be enhanced by cupping the wine with your tongue and pulling in air across it. Close your mouth and you’ll naturally exhale through your nose; once again exposing your olfactory senses to the wine. You may want to try this at home a few times before doing it in public. Lots of conspicuous choking and coughing occurs if wh
