PETER Travis of the Solihull Fine Wine Society made a welcome return to speak on honing our diagnostic skills.

Tasting wine is an amazingly interesting topic and it is useful to evaluate wines and know what we like. Taste relies on the four main areas on the tongue, but the nasal passages are more important.

Peter demonstrated this by getting us to hold our noses whilst tasting four whites and four reds, comparing them in twos.

A good process is to look, swirl the wine in the glass; sniff the bouquet; swig, ‘chew’ and slurp (drawing air across the tongue while the wine is in the mouth); and finally, swallow. The finish is what’s left of the flavour – does it linger and last - the longer the better. For tasting, the bigger the glass the better, as it allows oxygen to get into the wine while it is being swirled in the glass.

Older wines throw a sediment which obviously requires decanting but Peter suggested decanting all wine to enable air to penetrate. All wines, including white, will benefit from this treatment, other than very old or expensive wines. Generally, an hour before it is intended to drink it is sufficient time to allow, although young wine may need as much as two hours.

Women are more sensitive to alcohol than men, and as a doctor, Peter suggested moderation in all things and that as wine goes with food, it should be sipped, not glugged. Once again, we had a most informative and enjoyable evening.