Our easy-to-follow guide and top tips will help you learn how to taste wine properly. Get together with friends and some of your favorite bottles to host your wine-tasting party at home.
While wine tasting is not something you should do just for enjoyment, it’s still enjoyable. You should approach wine tasting methodically in getting the most out of it.
A solid scientific basis exists for associating wine flavors with other non-wine items. The green pepper aroma you get from sauvignon blanc is due to compounds called pyrazines, which are also found in green peppers.
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Wine tasting tips
Take notes as you taste and work methodically. If you’re tasting blind, don’t jump to conclusions.
Keep a file or use an app like CellarTracker to store your notes.
Tasting blind is a great way to hone your nose. Get a friend to give you wines with the labels covered to see if you can identify them.
Consciously smells things like blackcurrant jam and lavender so you can identify them later. Build your flavor vocabulary. It can help to use a flavor wheel to learn how to get more specific.
Don’t be embarrassed. If you think it smells of cheese, then there’s probably a good reason for that. Learn to trust your instincts.
If you can’t get anything from the wine, leave it and come back to it. It might be your nasal equipment is tired or the wine might need time to open up.
What you need to do a wine tasting
A wine glass. It doesn’t matter if you have different wine glasses for white and red. It is important that the wine be clean and allow for some swirling.
White tablecloth or white paper so you can see the wine.
Daylight, or neutral lighting, is the best choice.
Avoid strong scents that could distract you.
Your wine must be at the right temperature. 7-10C for white wines, roses, and 12-18C reds.
Too cold wines will taste closed-off and have a muted flavor. Wines that are too warm will taste too alcoholic and will be jammy. The 20/20 rule is a wine pro’s favorite: Put your red wine in the refrigerator for 20 minutes before you serve it, and then take your white wine out 20 minutes prior.
Appearance
Pour some wine. Don’t fill the glass – around 40cl is ideal or a finger’s breadth. Now angle the glass and hold it so that it’s above something white and examine the appearance.
What the wine’s appearance can tell you
A sign of age is the appearance of fading and orange/brown color at the edges in a red. A vivid purple, however, is a sign of its youth.
A white may have a deep color that could indicate it is older or oak aging.
Grape varieties: Some grapes, such as cinsault or Nebbiolo, produce pale wines while others like malbec have deep colors. The skins are what give the red color.
Climate: Red and white grapes will have a deeper color.
The thickness of the wine’s legs is a sign that it has high alcohol or residual sugar. sweetness).
Non-sparkling wines have bubbles that indicate a young wine from a cool climate.
What can the smell tell you?
Grape varieties – Some have distinctive scents such as sauvignon Blanc with its green pepper tang, cabernet containing blackcurrants, or Gewurztraminer scented with lychee.
Specific regions Certain wines have a distinct stoney taste like Chablis and Loire reds, while wines from the Medoc in Bordeaux smell earthy.
How wine was made: Buttery and yeasty aromas are signs that wine has been fermented and stirred during maturation, which is common for Chardonnay.
The age of the wine. Older reds may develop flavors like tobacco or baking spice. Fruits often smell fresher when they are stewed than when they are fresh. Older whites can smell like oak aged and start to smell toasty.
The wine has been aged for a while in oak: Cloves, vanilla, coconut, and nutty aromas are all signs that the wine is old.
You can also smell any problems in the wine. It could be corked, which means that the wine is infected by a fungus called TCA, which can cause damage to the wine. In this case, the wine will smell of damp basements and mold.
Taste
Take a small sip, not a big gulp, and hold it in your mouth, swirl it around, and breathe in a little. This oxygenates the wine and opens it up, rather like swirling.
The sense of smell is the extension of tasting. The majority of the flavors you get from wine taste come through your nose, which is connected to your back. Retronasal Olfaction is the technical name for this. You also get your five tastes (bitter, sweet, salty, acid, and umami) as well as the physical sensation from tannins, alcohol, and other substances. You can feel the wine in your mouth.
You are now looking for the same things when you smell fruits and spices.
How the taste can reveal things
Full-bodied wines are more common in warmer climates. A Syrah/ Shiraz from South Australia will feel larger than one from the Northern Rhone. This body can be due to oak aging, alcohol, or sweetness.
Tannins are made from grape skins and seeds. They can tell you a lot. Some grapes such as Nebbiolo, from Northern Italy, have very strong tannins while Gamay from Beaujolais is lighter. If they become mushy, this could indicate that the wine has reached maturity. Astringent tannins can indicate underripe grapes or poor winery handling. Oak barrels contain tannins, which tend to be more smooth.
The sweetness could indicate that the wine was made from grapes with noble rot, or has been fortified (with brandy added like with port).
Some grapes, especially those from Italy like Negromaro or Sangiovese, have a distinct bitter taste.
Acidity is a way to identify the grape variety. For example, riesling has a high acidity variety. However, wines from cooler climates tend to have higher acidity.
Warmth at the end indicates high alcohol, usually indicating a warm climate. Some varieties, such as Grenache or Zinfandel, produce wines that have naturally high levels of alcohol. The wine could also be fortified.
Finally the end. A long finish indicates that the grapes have been picked with great flavor, which can indicate a high-quality wine.
It all comes together
Before you ask yourself, do I like this wine, ask the following questions:
Was it balanced in taste? Did all elements, such as acidity, fruit, and tannin, work together? Unbalanced wines, for instance, may lack acidity or taste flat.
That’s it! Now you can taste like a pro. Although it may seem overwhelming, you will soon be able to do this without much effort. Keep practicing and remember, it’s supposed to be fun.
Do you fancy trying your hand at the cocktail shaker? For delicious party drinks, try our wine cocktail recipe.