How To Taste Wine (part 1)
this article from winemag.com
So, want to learn how to taste and evaluate a glass of wine like an expert? Easy. Follow our wine tasting tips below—but before you start sipping, make sure you’re in the right tasting environment.
Good Tasting Conditions
First things first: Make note of the circumstances surrounding your wine tasting experience that may affect your impressions of the win. For instance, a noisy or crowded room makes concentration difficult. Cooking smells, perfume and even pet odor can destroy your ability to get a clear sense of a wine’s aromas. A glass that is too small, the wrong shape, or smells of detergent or dust, can also affect the wine’s flavor.
The temperature of the wine will also have an impact on your impressions, as will the age of the wine and any residual flavors from whatever else you’ve been eating or drinking. You want to neutralize the tasting conditions as much as possible, so the wine has a fair chance to stand on its own. If a wine is served too cold, warm it with your hands by cupping the bowl. If a glass seems musty, give it a quick rinse with wine, not water, swirling it around to cover all the sides of the bowl. This is called conditioning the glass. Finally, if there are strong aromas nearby—especially perfume—walk as far away from them as you can and try to find some neutral air.
Evaluating by Sight
Once your tasting conditions are as close to neutral as possible, your next step is to examine the wine in your glass. It should be about one-third full. Loosely follow these steps to evaluate the wine visually.
- Straight Angle View
First, look straight down into the glass, then hold the glass to the light, and finally, give it a tilt, so the wine rolls toward its edges. This will allow you to see the wine’s complete color range, not just the dark center. - Side View
Viewing the wine through the side of the glass held in light shows you how clear it is. - Tilted View
Tilting the glass so the wine thins out toward the rim will provide clues to the wine’s age and weight. - Swirl
Finally, give the glass a good swirl. You can swirl it most easily by keeping it firmly on a flat surface; open air “freestyle” swirling is not recommended for beginners.
In Part Two of “How to Taste Wine”, we will look at evaluating by sniff.
If you would like to read this full article, go to winemag.com here