Wine 201: The Basics of Wine Tasting

Let’s talk wine tasting. As we’ve mentioned, wine tasting is a huge part of wine education. You could know everything there is to know about winemaking and production but if you don’t taste it, that knowledge falls short.

The true key to successful wine tasting is tuning into your senses: sight, smell, and taste, in that order. They all relate to each other and are necessary for providing a well-rounded tasting experience.

When looking at your wine, there are some factors to pay attention to.

• • Color: The color of the wine is really important to notice, beyond just red or white. Wine is fermented with the skins of the grapes so the color will indicate how long they were in contact. Some white wines will be very light, almost clear, whereas others will be a much bolder yellow which lets you know the influence of those skins. 

• Legs: When you swirl a glass of wine (no longer than 5 seconds), you’re aerating it, or providing oxygenation. After the swirl, you’ll see drips of wine coming down the glass – those are called legs. These legs tell you about the alcohol content within the wine – more droplets mean higher alcohol content and thick, slow droplets are more viscous which indicates a higher level of sugar.

Then we move onto the smelling. A very important note on smelling wine is to think of it as a gentle sniff. Think of the way you would smell perfume samples or a flower – you don’t want to mimic your dog and their full force sniff – it’s more of a gentle wafting through your nose. Wine armas are layered and sometimes very subtle, if we breathe in aggressively, our nose doesn’t have time to take it all in. Don’t be afraid to stick your whole nose in there, just breathe in gently! See if you can pick out the different flavors and notes that you smell.

And finally, the actual tasting! Just like the way we gently sniff the wine, we gently sip it. If you take a big glug, your tastebuds don’t have time to analyze and appreciate, they’re just overwhelmed and it won’t taste like much at all.

As you delicately sip from your glass, draw in a little air at the same time, and take note of what you smell and taste. Close your eyes and see if you can pull out distinct fruits, herbs, and other flavors. What is the feeling your mouth gets as you drink? Does your tongue react to the acidity? 

What’s important to remember about wine tasting is that there are no true right answers. The winemaker can tell you what fruits went into the process but how your tongue processes them is unique to you.