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Wine Tasting how to guide

Wine tasting is fun, and it’s really easy!

Just follow the 4 steps I’m about to learn you, and you will be the master of wine tasting.

It’s all about what you see, smell, taste, and how it lasts.

Pretty easy, right?

Wine Tasting

Wine Tasting

If you have a knack for good wines, then you might already know the importance of the wine tasting process.

But if you are new to the world of wine and don’t know about how to properly taste and judge the wine, we’ve created a small guide to help you out.

Go through the below mentioned steps and by the end of it, you will be all set to taste and tell the quality of wine.

Wine Tasting - 4 simple steps

Step 1 – Appearance

Evaluating the Appearance of the Wine

If you might have seen any professional wine taster, the first thing that they will do is check its color.

The appearance of the wine actually speaks volumes about its origin and quality.

This is also called the tint of the wine

Wine tasting - the look - appearence

For doing this, you can check the colour of the wine against a white background, like a napkin or tablecloth.

Slightly tilt your wine glass and try to see its intensity and colour.

If it is a red wine that has not been aged, it will carry a deeper purplish colour.

The ones that have been aged will lose their dark colour and will look like a paler version of red.

The colour also speaks about the type of grapes used for making the wine. For instance, pinot noir is the most palest.

If you are having white one, the deeper their color, the more they have been aged.

Also, the white wines that come from cooler regions are not very rich in colour as compared to the whites that come from warmer regions.

Once you are done with checking its appearance, now is the time to give a small swirl to the wine in your glass for checking its legs.

The legs of the wine are the oily film that stays on the glass when you swirl the wine.

While many people believe that the longer the legs stay on the sides of the glass, the better is the quality of the wine.

However, this is completely wrong. Legs only speak about the content of alcohol in the wine. More legs only mean that the wine has more alcohol content.

The typical colours

Red Wines are typically: Red, Dark red, pale red, ruby red, violet, purple, amber or maroon.

White wines are typically: White, yellow, pale yellow or golden.

Rosé wines are typically: Pink, cherry red or strawberry red.

Step 2 – Bouquet

Checking the Wine’s Bouquet

After the appearance and alcohol content, now is the time to check the bouquet or the smell of the wine.

Swirl the wine in your glass once again to allow its smell to spread in the air.

The aroma - on the nose

Once the wine settles in the glass, take a complete sniff. Focus on the smell coming from your wine glass.

If the wine is young, it will generally have a fruity smell, for instance, they can have notes of citrus or raspberry.

If the wine is older, it will have a deeper, earthy smell, like that of grass or oak. Smell a couple times more if required for better judgement.

Aroma and on the nose?

The bouquet is the basic smell, or aroma, of the wine. Sometimes you can get hints of other smells too, and that could also be called the notes or even suggestions or touches of something.

For total confusion, some reviewers also talk about what’s on the nose. That is still the aroma of the wine, they are talking about!

Some of the aromas

When it comes to aromas, there are thousands of smells and combinations. Some basic wines aroma could be described like this:

Red wines: Plums, prunes, blackberry, honey, herbal, oak

White wines: Fruity, apple, red berry, apricot, pear, melon, floral

Rosé wines: Pineapple, melon, pear, strawberry, fruity

Step 3 – Taste of the Wine

When the time to finally taste the wine comes, remember that you don’t really feel most of the flavour of the wine through your tongue.

Swish it around your mouth and then swallow it while focusing on the sensation and taste that comes from the back of your throat.

Taste - on the palate

Also, while checking its taste, take a gentle slurp to allow all the flavours of the wine to get into your mouth.

When the wine gets into your mouth, think about its body and weight. It can be thin and light or heavy and rich.

Focus on the taste and think about whether it will go with your food.

If you are having a main meal that consist a perfect steak, a wine that has a fruity and light flavour might not be the best choice.

Also think about how the taste of the wine alters as it gets warmer in your mouth.

Remember that the flavours of the wine take some time to reveal themselves after the wine gets out of the bottle and the same will happen when you drink it.

Step 4 – Finish of Wine

Finish of a wine is the sensation you receive when you swallow the wine which can be very different from the taste that you experience when the wine first enters your mouth.

Good wines will not have a lot of alcohol taste and their taste will last for about a minute or even more.

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Generally, it is considered that the longer the finish of the wine, the better is the quality of the wine.

Now it’s your turn!

Now that you know a lot more about how to do the wine tastings 4 steps, you can use the information to find yourself a perfect bottle of wine.

To help you in the wine tasting situation, you can use the Cheat Sheet for Wine Tasting.

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Author

Michael Bredahl

Michael Bredahl

Wine Writer

Michael is an online enthusiast, with a lot of knowledge about online marketing. Traveling around the world to hunt for the perfect wine. Latest on Sicily, where Etna has a huge impact on the taste, which is strong with a bitter aftertaste for the youngest wines, but older wines are fantastic. Drinking wine, and writing about them, are one the passions. Remember to drink responsibly 🙂

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