Wine Tasting - A Basic Guide
There are a number of rules to wine tasting that will help you get the best out of your wine tasting experience. Before planning an event, it is best to learn a few of the fundamentals of wine tasting to ensure that your experience is a good one.
There are essentially three steps in wine tasting: look, smell and taste. It is important to remember these three steps in wine tasting when you get set to participate, as they will influence your entire decision making process and can make you look like a real pro in front of your friends or in front of your date.
You can tell a lot about a wine just by being a spectator. This refers to simply looking at the wine first. As a wine spectator, you can determine many things about the wine. The wine should be poured into a clear glass and placed in front of a light, preferably with a white background so that you can carefully check out the color of the wine. Colors of wines vary a great deal, even among the same variety of wine. A red wine isn’t always just plain old red and a white can contain different color notes that may not be immediately discernable.
In looking at the wine, remember that there are certain criteria you should be looking for. More color in a white wine can mean that is has more flavor and has aged longer. This is because most white wines are not actually white but actually green or yellow. A white wine that is brown may have actually gone bad, however. In terms of a red wine, as the wine ages it becomes lighter. You should look for lighter tones of red wines, then, to find the perfect taste.
The smell of the wine is important, too. You should start this process by swirling the wine in your glass. Not only will swirling the wine assist you in visually observing the body of the wine, it will also help in releasing the smell to the air. Take a quick whiff of the wine as it swirls to get a first impression. If you like what you smell, take a second deeper whiff of the wine. You should concentrate on the smell of the win at this point. Resist the temptation to take a giant gulp of the wine and simply contemplate what you have smelled.
Taste is up next, of course. The secret to good wine tasting is knowing your personal preferences. Wine tasting relies on patterns, so learn to follow patterns and consider making personal notes of the wine you have tasted to compare those patterns. Take an initial taste of the wine first and gather your first impressions, much the same way that you did with smelling the wine. Your taste buds will respond to the sensations in the wine. After this, swirl the wine around again and take in a bit of air with the wine. You will want to practically gulp the next sip. You are looking for a more complex vision of the flavor on your taste buds. Concentrate on aftertaste, too.
As you complete the wine tasting steps listed above, consider the wine as a whole. Think about the food you will be having and whether or not you think the wine stands up to that food. It is not bad etiquette to send wine back. On the contrary, many restaurants will be impressed by this confident display of knowledge. Paying attention to the wine during the wine tasting can be seen as an important social aspect and can win you new friends.
By Travel Editor
