There are many things to look for when you ‘taste’ wines, but first what is the best way to do this? You don’t just drink a glass of wine like you do a glass of water. When you go to a wine tasting, it is to sample many different wines, so that you can tell what you like and what you don’t. This will save you the expense of buying a wine that you may not like. But if you scoff down glass after glass you’ll soon be too drunk to discern the many different flavors. In this article we explore what you need to know to ‘taste’ wines.
At a wine tasting you will be given a small amount of wine in a glass. You must hold the glass by the stem so that the temperature of it remains as it is supposed to be. If a white wine warms up, the taste may be spoiled. Red wines are meant to be a little warmer, but perhaps not as warm as your hands may be. You want to ensure the fullest taste possible. What you are looking for are those delicate aromas that may have been added to the wine by fermenting in oak barrels. Some flavors added by fermentation in the barrels may be vanilla, chocolate, cider, cinnamon, cloves and many others. You may even detect a tang of something that was growing near the grapes in the vineyard.
Using just a wrist movement, twirl the wine around the glass and then take a sniff with your mouth open, allowing the aroma of the wine to penetrate both nostrils and throat. Think about what you can smell and see if you can put a name to it. Allow a few seconds before repeating the process. When you take your first sip, make it a small one, allowing the liquid to roll over and around your tongue for a few seconds. This will ensure that all 10,000 taste buds are reached. Some wine tasters like to ‘chew’ their second mouthful, but swishing it around the mouth works just as well. Go with whatever suits you best. As you swallow the second mouthful, exhale through your nose. This allows the aromas of the wine to linger longer.
As the wine runs down your throat, it will leave trickles called ‘legs’. You will be able to feel whether these legs go off quickly from the throat like water would, or if they linger. Is it light like water, or more full-bodied, like milk? This is the texture of the wine.
If you don’t like the particular sample you have tasted, don’t force yourself to drink the rest of it. There will be a container available to dispose excess before you go on to the next taste. Your host may be able to supply tasting notes with each sample so that you know what to look for. Wine tasting helps to develop your sensory processes so that you will soon begin to discern and enjoy more subtle aromas than you did before.
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