Introduction to Tasting

So you've decided you want to figure out the difference between Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Or maybe you'd like to get a better grip on Chianti. Perhaps you just want to have a bunch of wine-loving friends over and taste a whole bunch of stuff. To get the most out of it, you don't have to expend a lot of energy, but here are some tips on how to maximize the experience.

What to Taste

First, what are you going to taste? A single wine is sufficient, but it's easier, more enlightening, and more fun to have a few wines to compare and contrast. The more the wines have in common, the more the comparison will illuminate: The difference between a white and a red is pretty obvious, but how about two Merlots from the same place?

Therefore, pick a theme in order to learn the most from a tasting. Choose a country or a grape, for instance, and taste only wines that fit the category. Wine geeks would call this a horizontal tasting. The more specific the category, the more specific the information you can glean from the flavors of the different wines.

If you choose wines from the same vintage, you won't have to worry that it's the difference in age and year that's making the flavor difference, rather than grape or place. But if it's the effect of vintage on wine you'd like to learn more about, assemble different vintages of a specific wine. This is called vertical tasting. These tastings are often difficult for an individual to put together, as stores usually sell only the most recent vintages. Sometimes, though, older vintages do come on the market, or pop up in auctions.

TIP: A horizontal tasting is a lineup of wines made from the same grape or from the same place—for instance, a horizontal tasting of Merlots. A vertical tasting compares different vintages of the same wine.

How Much to Buy

How many bottles of wine you'll need for a tasting depends on how many tasters attend, and whether the wines will double as dinner wines afterwards. Figure on about 13 two-ounce servings (a generous pour for a taste, but a paltry glass for dinner) for each 750-ml (average-sized) bottle.

You don't need to buy all the wine yourself; ask everyone to bring a bottle that fits the theme. When you're just starting out, keep the number of different wines to a small handful, three or four; any more can be confusing as they begin to all taste the same. With practice, you can work up to more.

Get Organized

An array of open bottles on a table presents a generous invitation to a tasting: People can taste what they like in any order, and the ease of the setup makes for good conversation. This is as organized as you need to get.

If you want to get a little fancier, try to order the wines so that they move from lightest to heaviest. This lessens the risk of obliterating the flavors of a light, delicate wine with those of a big, brawny one tasted just before it. It's impossible to know exactly which wines will be lighter than others, but in general, move ...

• From white to rose to red. 
• From cheapest to most expensive. 
• From basic to reserve. 
• From youngest to oldest. 
• From dry to sweet.

To avoid any risk of preconceived notions, hold a blind tasting. Here, tasters know what sort of wine they are tasting, but do not know the exact identity of the bottles until the end of the tasting. The bottles can be put in paper bags secured by a rubber band around the neck (no peeking!), wrapped in aluminum foil, or otherwise disguised. Number the bottles so that tasters have a way of keeping track of the wines they've tasted and can match their tasting notes to the revealed wine at the end of the tasting.

Blind tastings help save us from ourselves. Despite our best intentions, we all tend to judge a wine by its label. (Why else would wineries expend so much effort making them attractive?) And once we've preconceived a notion about how a wine is supposed to taste, it's often hard to taste anything but what we think we're supposed to taste.

If you're ultra-organized, you can pour the wine into glasses before the guests arrive and then hide the bottles from sight. This is how many tastings are done in the wine industry. In this case, number both the bottles and the glasses. The glasses can be numbered with a wax pencil or dry-erase pen; alternatively, set each taster's place with a large sheet of white paper, and mark the number of the wine on the paper where you've set the glass. It's important to set the glasses down in the same space while tasting, or it will be impossible at the end to know which wine is which.

Under "For Ultra Wine Geeks Only" is a double blind tasting. Here, tasters aren't told anything about the wines. You could take it one step further (if you're really mean) and blindfold the tasters, so they can't even see the colors of the wines. Depending on the wine, it can be tough to tell if it's white, pink, or red by taste alone.