Wine 101: Our Guide To Sounding Like A Vino Expert

The Swirl

Now don't shake your wine so it spills all over the place, but hold your glass by the stem (so as to not change the temperature of the wine) and give it a slow swirl. The purpose of this is to increase the surface area and allow a bit of oxygen into the wine to better assess the nose, or the wine's aroma. [Photo via]