Walking And Wine - The Perfect Long Weekend Pairing

Walking And Wine – The Perfect Long Weekend Pairing

On all Life’s An Adventure pack free guided walks you’ll experience first class meals paired with locally sourced fine wines. And one of the things we pride ourself on is sourcing excellent local wines. (Whoever has that job has got it lucky!)

On all Life’s An Adventure pack free guided walk you’ll experience first class meals paired with locally sourced fine vino. And one of the things the walking tour operator prides itself on is sourcing excellent local wines. (Whoever has that job has got it lucky!)

A number of our walking tours include exploring vineyards, like the wonderful wineries of WA’s famed Margaret River and SA’s Clare Valley. If you love wine, they you have to do the 4-day Cape to Cape or the 3-day Clare Valley walks, you’re going to love it!

Enjoying wine is all about savouring the moment and the experience. It’s the first look in the glass and the first time you breath in its aromatics – there’s so much to enjoy even before taking that first sip!

Here are some wine-tasting notes to consider when you sip and savour your first glass of wine back at your accommodation after a long day on the trail.

walking-and-wine-the-perfect-long-weekend-pairing

LOOK

Check out the colour, opacity (clearness/cloudiness), and viscosity (thickness). The colour of a wine comes from contact with the grape skins after the grapes have been juiced. The longer the wine comes in contact with those skins, the more those skins will impart their colour on the wine.

For white wine, consider the yellow colour. Is it light and bright or deep and full? Light and bright means the wine has had minimal contact with the grape skins giving it a crisp and refreshing taste. If the wine is darker and deeper in yellow, it means the wine was aged in an oak barrel offering a smoother and richer taste.

If a red wine is light in colour it should taste light and bright. If it’s dark approaching the colours of maroon and even purple, the red is bolder and richer in taste. These are the reds you’d associate with eating meat.

SMELL

This is where things get fun. When you first start smelling wine, think big to small. Are there fruits? Think of broad categories first, i.e. citrus, orchard, or tropical fruits in whites or, when tasting reds, red fruits, blue fruits, or black fruits.

TASTE

Taste is how we use our tongues to observe the wine, but also, once you swallow the wine as it develops in your mouth. Our tongues can detect salty, sour, sweet, or bitter. All wines are going to have some sour because grapes are acidic. Some varieties are known for their bitterness (i.e. pinot grigio) producing a light, pleasant tonic-water-type flavour. Some white table wines have a small portion of their grape sugars retained adding a natural sweetness.

Here endeth the lesson. Now go enjoy your wine!

Enjoy it even more on one of our signature pack free walks where fabulous locally sourced wine is included in your tour.