Wine 101: Master the Art of Wine Tasting

Have you ever wondered why you may not like wine? Or maybe you do like wine, but it’s Barefoot Moscato or something else that’s really sweet. You might struggle with wine because you never learned how to properly taste it. I started out just like you, but as I learned how to taste wine, I fell more in love with it.

You should know that there is no 100% right way to taste wine. Your tastebuds are unique to you, so what you taste is completely your own thing. Remember that 80% of taste is smell, so most of the time what you smell is going to be what you taste. Most importantly, wine is subjective so just because a master sommelier likes some $350 bottle of wine, doesn’t mean you automatically will.

Look at your wine.

To look at wine, I usually hold my glass up against a white background. This makes it easier to see the color, clarity, and concentration of the wine.

White wines can range from pale straw to gold. White wines lighter in color are usually younger and more crisp. Darker colors in white wine usually mean they are older or they are sweeter. Red wines usually get lighter with age. The skins, seeds, and stems left on the grapes during the wine making process is what gives the wine its color and tannins. More specifically, anthocyanins are responsible for color, but that’s another post for another day.

You can tell about how much alcohol content the wine has by looking for tears. If you swirl your glass around, you can see the wine tearing down the sides. The bigger the tears, the more alcohol the wine has. Slower tears will usually indicate the amount of sugar the wine has.

Smell your wine.

To smell wine, you just need to stick your nose in your glass and inhale. Closing your eyes and imagining what you are smelling helps you figure out what you’re smelling. If you swirl the wine in your glass and then smell again, the aromas of the wine should be stronger, allowing you to pick up even more scents. Some experts are against swirling sparkling wines and some experts say go for it. Personally, I don’t like swirling sparkling wines because it makes the bubbles dissipate faster, so what I’ll do is put sparkling in a white wine glass if I really want to pick up the aromas.

What you are smelling should be scents you are familiar with. If you don’t know what limestone or bell pepper smell like, you probably won’t smell those things in the wine that you are drinking. Start with picking out the general category of fruit you smell and then you can start honing in on the exact aromas. If you smell berries, dig deeper and ask yourself what kind of berries.

Taste your wine.

Finally, take a small sip of your wine. You want to hold that sip in your mouth for a few seconds and think about what you’re tasting. If you swish the wine in your mouth almost like mouthwash, it’ll warm up and start to evaporate, giving you more of an idea of what you’re tasting. Don’t be gross and gargle it. Slurping is widely used in the professional tasting world, but don’t be obnoxious about it. One guy in the WSET Level 3 exam was gargling it and I couldn’t pay attention because that’s all I could focus on. Anyway, taste your wine politely.

Tannin: Does the wine leave your mouth dry?
Acidic: Does it make your mouth water?
Body: How does the weight of the wine feel in your mouth? Light? Full?
Length: How long does the flavor last in your mouth?
Sweetness: Is the wine sweet, dry, or somewhere in the middle?
Fruit: What fruit do you taste? Describe the fruit. For example, if you taste lemon; do you taste lemon zest or lemon juice?
Non-fruit: Is the wine floral, vegetal, herbal, or spicy? What about petrol, leather, tobacco, etcetera?
Mineral: Can you taste gravel, wet stone, slate, etcetera?
Earth: Does the wine have dirt, soil, or mushroom flavors?
Is the wine buttery? This could be a result of maloactic fermentation.
Can you taste oak? Depending on the type of oak barrel the wine was aged in, you could get strong or weak notes of oak.

Because so much of taste is smell, see if your palate confirms what you got on the bouquet.

You like what you like.

Lastly, figure out what elements in the wine you liked and disliked. Try to use these elements to describe why you did or didn’t like the wine. Listing these elements will help you figure out what to look for in the store. You’ll also impress people in restaurants if you know exactly what you like.

Price is not always a factor in wine quality and it shouldn’t determine your taste either. If your favorite wine is a $4 bottle of Pinot Grigio, no one should tell you that you have bad taste. Just be ready to explain exactly why you like that wine.

Show off your skills!

Now that you know how to taste wine, show off your new skills to family and friends. You can even impress a first date if you’re feeling confident LOL.