Tasting Wine
Tasting wine is the best part of the industry, but it can also be the most daunting for newcomers. The fact is, no one was born into this world with a complete understanding of how to critically taste wine, so you can take some comfort in knowing that even the most seasoned professionals started out the same as you - they just got better with practice.
Often, the framework used to assess wine comprises four steps: look, smell, taste and think. That’s really all there is to it. Once you get into a habit of this style of conscious drinking, it will become second nature.
Look
Before we even take a sip of any wine, looking can give us a lot of clues about what we’re about to be tasting. A wine that is dark in colour could be a sign of ageing or prolonged skin contact in the winemaking process. These wines are also likely to be richer and more intense in flavour. Paler in colour, you can probably expect a fresher, lighter style of wine.
If you’re looking at a sparkling wine, the consistency of bubbles can also give you some indication on how fine or aggressive the mousse is likely to feel in your mouth.
Smell
Take a big sniff of your glass - don’t be afraid to get all the way in there. Straight away, can you pick out any key aromas, or are they a little restrained or difficult to identify? Aromas can give us some more clues on how the wine is likely to taste, as incredibly rich and intense wines can be powerful on the nose, even before any exposure to oxygen. Contact with oxygen develops a wine's aromas and flavours. So, with this in mind - give your glass a swirl. It takes a little practice to perfect the pretentious swirl, so don’t be afraid of spilling a little at the start.
After giving it a little swirl, smell again. Most wines need a little contact with air to unlock their aromas. Ask yourself, are they more pronounced than before? What can you smell? A trick that always helps me is to imagine I’m smelling anything but wine. Aromas are split into primary (fruity aromas you can smell from the grape), secondary (toasty or buttery aromas from the winemaking) and tertiary (developed aromas from ageing). It’s important to note that not all wines will have all three, but more developed, older wines will.
Taste
The part you’ve been waiting for, tasting. By now you’ve got a good idea of what to expect in your glass in terms of flavours and intensity. But to truly appreciate and get critical about what’s in your wine, you need to slow down the swallowing process. This is how buyers, somms or journalists will taste a wine to fully assess it. To do this, you’ll take a sip and swirl it around every corner of your mouth. Every part of your mouth can detect a different aspect of flavour, so it’s important every bit of your tongue and mouth gets reached. If you can, suck a little bit of oxygen into your mouth so it makes a bubbling sound. This will further aerate the wine and make its flavours more pronounced. There are a few things to consider from tasting a wine:
Flavours: what can you taste? Just like a wine’s aromas, there are primary, secondary and tertiary flavours. Which ones can you find?
Acidity: once you swallow the wine, does your mouth immediately water? This is the sign of an acidic wine.
Tannins: these are extracted from the stems, seeds and skins of a grape, and they taste a little bit like drinking the last dregs of a cup of green tea. They’re bitter and astringent, and leave a drying effect in the mouth. Too much can be unpleasant, but just the right amount can add to the body of a wine (more on this to come).
Sugar: if you can’t detect any sugar, then you’re drinking a ‘dry’ wine. If you find that there’s a little residual sugar, then the wine is ‘off-dry’.
Mousse: this term is used to describe the quality of bubbles, so only applies to sparkling wines. It ranges from delicate to aggressive.
Alcohol: this may be the easiest facet to detect, and leaves a burning sensation in your mouth.
Length: after you swallow the wine, how long do the flavours and mouthfeel linger? If they only last a couple of seconds, the wine has a short finish. Some wines can last on the palate many minutes after being drunk - these have a long finish.
Body: all of the above can contribute to the body of a wine. If a wine is full bodied, it’ll score highly in all of these things, if it’s light-bodied, it’ll feel a little more restrained and less complex.
Think
Finally, possibly the most important question to ask: do you like the wine? A wine could score highly in all of the above criteria, but that doesn’t really mean anything if you don’t love what you’re drinking. Of course, when you’re learning to taste wine critically, it’s important to try lots of different wines and get critical about the particulars. But drinking for pleasure is insurmountably more important.
Perhaps the best piece of advice I can give you is this: whether you love vintage Champagne or a sugary Aussie Shiraz, don’t let anyone tell you you’re wrong. Hopefully, I’ve given you the tools to explain exactly why you like what you like, so you can feel confident to silence any wine snobs that come your way. Nothing shuts them up like the correct terminology.
