Anyone can learn how to get the most out of their wine-tasting experience. Just follow these 5 easy steps, and you will be well on your way.
- How to hold a wine glass
When wine tasting, it is a big deal how cool the wine is, so you are going to be holding onto that wine glass at the base of the stem. You would only have three fingers holding the wine glass. Place your fingers at the bottom of the stem, with your middle finger resting just above the base of the glass, your index above and your thumb wrapping around the stem. The benefit in holding your wine glass in this manner is that your hand does not warm up the wine and it stays cool much longer.
- Look at the wine
You are looking at its colour and how transparent it is. A lot can be told about a wine just from its appearance. Then swirl your wine, either on the tabletop or in your hand. Watch as the wine rolls down the side of the glass. Is the wine coming down slow, fast is it thick or waterier?
- Smell the wine
By swirling the wine, aromas would have coated your wine glass. This will give you a profile of the wine before you taste it. Using your nose, try to identify the aromas that the wine has. Notes to look out for include fruits, flowers, herbs, baking spices, vanilla, or earthy smells. Your sommelier will also give you some hints regarding how the notes can be found in the wine.
- Taste your wine
Taste is how we use our mouths to observe the wine. Tongues can detect salty, sour, sweet, or bitter. The levels of flavour change with the climate of the region and the grape type. Some wines are known for having more bitterness to them, while others have a natural sweetness to them from grape’s residual sugars.
Notice the body of the wine; does it fill your palate or is it hardly there? How sweet is the wine? Many dry wines have a small amount of residual sugars in them which we sense as oily. How tart or sour tasting was the wine? These are all things to note to help grow your wine palate.
- Spitting is classy when you are wine-tasting
Don’t feel obligated to always spit out the wine, but that is a great idea if doing lots of tastings. As you will find, some wines that you are not in love with, you may not want to drink them.
If you’re going to spit your wine, at least try to get the full, complete tasting experience out of your sip.
Take a medium sized sip and swish it around your mouth, so that it coats your mouth and tongue. After this you’ll mostly want to spit out your wine, as will be foamy and lukewarm. Simply spit into the spilt bucket like a sailor.
