• Our tasting gift boxes are designed to offer you the best possible tasting experience. It’s up to you whether to taste all the wines in the box at once or spread the experience over several evenings!

• Our vial size is chosen to allow 2 people to taste the wines on offer.

• Remember that not all wines should be drunk at the same temperature. We recommend checking the ideal serving temperature shown in the gift box leaflet or in the wine descriptions below.

A good glass makes a real difference to how you perceive wine. Its shape affects factors such as how aromas are concentrated towards your nose at the top of the glass, how much the wine is aerated depending on the surface area exposed to air, and even the wine’s temperature, depending on how much of it touches the glass.

To start, we recommend using "INAO" glasses, whose shape has been scientifically designed to provide an optimal tasting experience for all types of wine.

Alternatively, any "tulip-shaped" glass will do nicely, allowing aromas to develop in the glass and concentrate towards your nose.

A packet of plain, unsalted crackers will do the job perfectly to cleanse your palate between wines. The flour they contain helps absorb the taste of the previous wine and refresh your taste buds without leaving a new flavour in your mouth.

Alternatively, any neutral-tasting food will work well : bread, pretzels and, above all, water! This helps prevent "palate fatigue", which happens when too many flavours build up at once.

• Clues to the wine’s age

Tilt the glass against a white background to distinguish a young wine from an older one.

• Clues to alcohol and glycerol levels, and residual sugar content

Keep the glass slightly tilted and swirl it gently to see droplets form and run down the side. These are the wine’s tears (or legs).

• The first nose

Tilt the glass to 45° and bring it towards your nose without swirling it to smell the initial aromas.

This stage is especially useful for detecting wine faults: cork taint, a vinegary taste, oxidation or reduction.

• The second nose

Swirl the wine in the glass for a few seconds to aerate it and release its secondary aromas.

This should bring out other, less volatile aromas.

Take a small sip of wine and move it around your mouth with your tongue to reach every part of your palate and pick up all the flavours.

The ultimate technique is retronasal olfaction: draw a little air in through your mouth while keeping the wine in it, then breathe out through your nose.

You can then swallow the wine or spit it into a small container provided for the purpose.