ALLBIDS Blog

How to Taste Wine

Thursday, 30 August 2018 | Mike Leano

Tasting wine isn't just about trying any fermented grape juice and giving your two cents. It takes a level of familiarity about aromas and flavours; and a grasp of your own preferences. When combined, these will help you look for wines that you'll relish.

Fortunately, you don't need to have the same amount of knowledge and experience as a sommelier to enjoy a vintage or three. To help you on the first steps of your journey to better appreciation, here's a relatively short step-by-step guide on how to taste wine.

Set the stage

Before getting into the actual tasting, there are a few things you should prepare:

A clear wine glass
Your container needs to be clear because wine tasting involves a bit of observing as well. The shape matters because wine glasses are more effective at projecting the wine's flavour and aroma into your nose than any mug ever could - especially when you swirl the stuff.

Having a stem is necessary because holding the glass in your hand will warm the wine and influence its taste.

Note: You don't need expensive wine glasses. Look for one that can accommodate at least 14 ounces.

• If you're drinking white wine, use a narrow glass with a smaller mouth to reduce the amount of air that gets into it.
• For drinking red wines, the glass should have a tapered bowl with a broader mouth.

Beware of potent scents
Strong odours like perfume or garlic (from food) can really mess with a wine-tasting session. Avoid these at all costs.

Natural light is best
As mentioned earlier, wine "tasting" also involves a fair amount of observing. You'll be looking at a wine's characteristics (e.g. viscosity, colour/s) so taste somewhere with natural light. Know that fluorescent light will affect wine hues.

A wine spittoon
Professional wine tasters may sample over 70 different wines in one day. If your wine-tasting session will involve several, have a spittoon for each guest. A large opaque plastic cup should suffice.

Look at it closely

To better appreciate wine, you need to give it a good look - it's one of the foundations of wine tasting. So watch out for the following when inspecting your wine:

Brightness
Place the filled wine glass against something white and see how much light it reflects. Is it bright or dull? Hazy wines are typically unfiltered while brilliant ones are pale. Red wines usually aren't brilliant because of their colour.

Colour
Colour shows the wine's age and health: reds lose their crimson colour as they age while whites deepen its hue. For instance, a green tint in white wine is chlorophyll, which may mean it's either young or made from grapes grown in a cool climate.

There may also be subtle gradations among older wines - particularly in reds. The colour in the centre of the glass may be deeper than the ones near the edge.

Clarity
Is the wine clear or cloudy? If clear, then it must've been filtered, which means microbes and contaminants are gone - but it also lost some of its flavour in the process.

Swirl the glass

After inspection, it's time to give the glass a swirl. Doing this:

• Increases the wine's number of aroma compounds released into the air.
• Opens up the wine with oxygen.
• Reduces the wine's bitterness and makes it taste better overall.

Swirling also shows the viscosity of the wine. Quick-moving streaks of wine mean it's light in fullness/body (or medium at best), while slow streaks indicate more intensity and alcohol content.

To avoid spilling any wine while swirling:

• Don't fill the glass with too much wine.
• Keep the wine glass on a table or flat surface.
• Hold its stem like a pen, then pretend you're drawing circles on the table.
• As you get better, you can pick up the glass while swirling.

Smell the wine

Now give the swirled wine a good long whiff. Get in there - stick your nose in the glass, smell the wine and thoroughly appreciate the aroma.

Here's a more effective technique: tilt the glass about 40 degrees, place your nose over the glass, open your mouth, and then breathe in the flavour through your mouth and nose.

Why is smelling the wine important? Because our sense of taste is directly influenced by our sense of smell. The more of the wine's scent you breathe in, the more nuance you get, and the more flavours you detect.

Pay close attention to the aromas you recognise. Does it have an earthy or wood-like quality to it? What fruit scents do you detect? Does the wine have a bright aroma or is it on the spicy side?

You can use a reference sheet for commonly used wine descriptions to familiarise yourself with the jargon, but it would be better if you start out using your own words to describe what you identify.

Give it a taste

Interestingly enough, for a guide on how to taste wine, the actual sampling is a few steps down the line.

When you finally do get there, remember to try to get as much wine into all the nooks and crannies of your mouth as possible (e.g. your tongue, palate, the back of your throat).

Here's how: while the wine is in your mouth, blow in some air through it several times. This takes practice - your mouth will probably going to make an odd sucking sound.

Doing this lets you better determine many of the wine's characteristics including acidity, texture and tannin content - the stuff that makes wine taste dry.

Trying several wines? Spit it

If you're going to try several wines, you will have to spit it out of your mouth right after tasting. Otherwise, you will get drunk before trying the last vintage on your list. This is a problem because inebriation affects your ability to properly taste wine.

As for the act of spitting, there is only one rule - don't make a mess. To minimise this:

• Purse your lips together, then forcefully push the wine out through them and into your spittoon.
• Keep your spittoon close to your mouth when you expel the wine.

Spitting may make you conscious at first, but once you realise that wine testers do it regularly - especially the professionals - you should feel right at home.

Figure out what you think

Once you've gotten a firm grasp of the wine's taste, it's time to figure out the aromas and flavours you've experienced. Ask yourself about the following:

• What is the wine's body or alcohol level?
• Does it taste sweet or dry?
• What are the fruit flavours you detect? Earth flavours? Wood flavours?
• How much tannin did you detect?
• Did the wine taste acidic?
• What is its aftertaste like?
• How many aromas and flavours did you notice?
• How balanced does the wine taste? How do all the characteristics come together?

Some additional tips

Here are a few suggestions to make the most of your wine-tasting experience:

Write it down
Jotting down your observations about different wines and their respective flavours lets you:

• Evolve your vocabulary and skills.
• Remember your impressions. This is especially important when tasting several wines.
• Discern what you like (or don't like) about certain wines.

Attend more wine tastings
Wine tasting is like a muscle; you can develop it through repeated use. If you're interested in getting better at it, join more wine tastings.

Smell your forearm
If you get overwhelmed with all the many different wine scents, reset your nose by smelling your forearm. Just make sure it's not perfumed.

Cleanse your palate
Your own sense of taste may get overwhelmed as well. To cleanse your palate in between wines, have some bread, crackers or water.

Don't wear white
This may be particularly helpful for beginners still not used to spitting out wine. If you make a mess, white is far easier to notice.

Drink the lighter wines first
Testing several types of wine? Try the lighter wines first, then the full-bodied ones. This will keep your sense of taste from getting overwhelmed early on.

Find your favourite bottle

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