Wine Tasting Tips
Tasting Tips, learn how to taste wine.
Wine Tasting Notes
When tasting wine you need to use all your senses to take in the experience, it’s pointless just gluging it down as you will miss much of the flavour as most of the tasting is done through the nose.
Have a look at the colour
Judge the colour first, hold the wine up to the light and let it move in the glass, taking in the colours and noting the differences between each wine. No wine carries the same colour but all should sparkle and look inviting, if it looks a bit sad then it probably is.
Take a good sniff
The smell, or bouquet as it’s known, is one of the most important points in a wine, if the bouquet is wrong then there is a chance the wine is off. Having a nice big glass here really helps as you can bury your nose in it and take in a great big draught through the nostrils, savoring the smell on the way through, start the wine moving at the same time to help get things flowing,
The taste of the wine is where the previous two stages should benefit the wine and help you to make a decision on how you like the wine. The taste is broken into three parts, the initial taste which is when the wine first enters the mouth. The second stage is when the wine is actually drunk, what it feels like as it moves around your mouth. The third is the aftertaste through the palette and nose after the wine has gone. To get the most out of it you need to move the wine around your mouth and breath in the fumes as you drink. You can either spit it out or drink it depending on whether you’re driving or have a large drinking session ahead. The drunker you get the better things are going to taste and the looser you will be with your credit cards!
In between wines always try to swill your mouth out with water to stop previous wines affecting the flavour of the current one. If you take in the sight, smell and taste, as well as taking your time over the tasting you should be able to experience all that each wine has to offer!