Tasting Wine 101

To start off properly, I believe it is imparative that my fellow wine tasters out there are educated on the 'ins' and 'outs' of tasting wine. Essentially, there are three basic steps to doing this correctly; Look, Smell, Taste!!

Really it is that simple.. Take a rather extensive glance at your glass. Tilt your glass away from you. It is helpful to have a white background so as to obtain the color of the wine you are tasting. Look beyond the initial apperance for ex. If you are sipping a red wine is the color maroon, brick, red, garnet etc. Continuing your inspection determine the wines opacity. Is it watery or dark, translucent or opaque and so forth. Moreover, is ther sediment floating around after a brief swirl of the glass.

I will explain the difference between older and younger wines of the same make in a later post because age is also imparative when tasting a fine wine. As for now lets continue the general rules of tasting!


Moving on to smell. Since your sense of smell is a viable part of tasting anything, wine in particular depends highly on smell! With this being said, swirl your glass for 10-12 seconds to allow your wine to oxygenate. Afterwards take a brief whiff and gain a first impression of your drink. Now after a couple seconds to dissect the smell, stick your nose into your glass and inhale! What do you smell? Maybe; berry, oak, flowers, or citrus. A wine's aroma is a unique indicator of its qualities and characteristics. Repeat this step as many times as you see fit! I, myself, love the smells of different wines so I linger on this step for quite some time! =)



FINALLY, for those anxious to drink. Take a sip, but please for the decency of the wine do not gulp! This is the #1 mistake made by many amatuer tasters.

There are 3 stages to the tasting process; the attack phase, evolution phase and the finish! The attack phase determines the not so obvious about the wine ex.. alchol content, tannin level, acidity and residual sugar. All which compliment one another, neither giving off its on taste but a conjoined complexity which is the WINE. The evolution phase is when you start diserning the the flavor profile of the wine. If it is a red wine you might get a berry, plum, or some darker heavier fruit. However, with a white wine you get quite the opposite, something to the matter of floral, honey, butter or herbs. Lastly, the FINISH, and swallow!! How long does the impression of the wine last afterwards. This very well decides if you want anoter sip of that particular wine or even another glass for those who might enjoy what they experienced.

So now I ask of you next time you have a glass of your favorite wine, mine being a Famiglia Anselma Barolo 2000 (Piedmont), take a moment to actually taste it and decide why you love it so much. I would love to discuss the taste with you!!

If you do not want to take my word for it, then i urge you to take a look at this book! It has all the advice and guidelines of tasting wine.

Yours truly Exotic Sip