As Fernando Olaverri would say, "Wine is the only artwork you can drink”. But more important, how do you really taste wine? Well, Anyone can taste wine, all you need is a glass! But let’s say you want to impress your friends or significant other with your ability to not only identify and order the best wine on the menu, but, articulate the why behind it all. After reading the steps below, you’ll be tasting wine like a pro in no time!
Pour wine into a proper wine glass for an enhanced tasting experience and do not overfill the glass, just pour to about a third of the glass.
Observe appearance of the wine, is it clear or does it look cloudy. If it’s cloudy, be sure to smell it before you drink it to make sure that the cloudiness isn’t the result of a bacterial infection.
Observe color of wine. The color of wine indicates age, grape variety, density of flavor, acidity and more. By comparing the different colors found in various wines you can learn to identify a wine just by looking at it. If it’s a white wine the color can range from light green-yellow (a young wine) to a golden yellow (an aged wine). If it’s a red wine the range is from a deep purple red (a young wine) to a light brick red (an aged wine).
Observe the opacity of the wine, it can tell you what kind of grape was used to make the wine and it can also tell you the age of a wine. A younger red wine will be more opaque than an older red wine.
Swirl your glass and smell the wine.
First, smell for off odors, does it have a strong nail polish type smell or an odor of sauerkraut? If so, it would be best not to drink it as the wine has gone bad and may even have a bacterial infection.
Second, fully engage your sense of smell and focus on the different notes you get. There are no wrong or right answers for this part, have fun with it and let your memory of smells do the work. However, here’s a short guide in case you feel intimidated: if you are smelling a white wine, does it smell like citrus, apples, pear, stone fruits and/or white flowers? If so does it smell like green apple and fresh white flowers (younger wine) or ripe peaches and honey (older wine)? Or are you smelling a red wine and getting notes red fruits like cherries, berries, plums and/or even red roses? If so, are these sour cherries (younger wine) or ripe/pruney plums (older wine)? To these notes you can then add if it’s a clean, perfumey, and/or a stoney smell. Does it also smell peppery, herby or even foresty? There really are no right or wrong answers!
Get your spit bucket ready and give the wine a swirl, sniff and taste. When tasting the wine, before sure to inhale some air through your mouth to really get the full effect. Also allow the wine to really coat your mouth before you spit it out. How did the wine feel? Was it light and quickly evaporated from your tongue? Or was it heavy and left a sensation of coating on your tongue? Next, how did the wine taste? Was it sour, bitter, sweet or salty? Or was it balanced, meaning all the main elements in the wine nicely complimented each other: fruit, acid and tannins.
Now taste for flavor. This is very similar to smelling the wine and sniffing for notes. If it’s white wine, does it taste like lemon and other citrus fruit (usually a younger wine) or does it taste of honey and vanilla (an aged white wine)? If it’s red, does it taste like sour cherries or ripe red fruits?
Lastly, feel the finish of the wine. Is it long and persistent? If so, that’s sign of a good quality wine.
Enjoy tasting wines like the pros. And now that you know the basics, you can start properly pairing foods and wine, here’s a guide from Wine Enthusiast to help you even more! And don’t forget, all good wine needs great Italian food!
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