thewinelady

   Many people today are beginning to delve deeper into the wine world. To do more than just drink, but to savor and enjoy.

   In doing so, many are a bit confused as to how to take that further step into the world of wine, in helping ones with this step, here are the 4 basic steps in wine tasting.

Appearance:
One of the first steps in wine tasting is really not even tasting it at all!  The first step a wine taster will do is checking the color of the wine. The appearance says a lot about the quality and origin of the drink. The first thing to do when wine tasting is to hold up your glass to a white background (the tablecloth, napkin, or piece of solid white paper will do). Tilt the glass slightly; take note of the color and intensity of the wine.

      Most young red wines that haven’t been aged start out a deep color, but as a wine ages, it becomes less intense and becomes paler, like a brick color. The color also yields a bit of information about the kind of grape used. A Syrah is a deep, dark purple while a Pinot Noir is a light ruby red. While the opposite is true for white wines, the colors tend to deepen as they age, and whites from varying climates will as well show differences.

      Once you have determined the color, give the wine a quick swirl around the glass, this not only opens up the aromas and flavors of the wine, but will show the “legs” of the wine ( the oily film that hangs around the inside of the glass after the wine is swirled.. Legs are an indicator of alcohol content — Slower moving and more legs equal more alcohol.
Bouquet:
After you have swirled the wine  to check it’s alcohol content, the next step, to me is a very important step in wine tasting,  check  the aroma ( bouquet )  of the wine, give the wine another gentle swirl around the glass to expose more of it to the air. After the wine has settled, stick your nose into the glass and take a deep breath in through your nose, careful not to sniff the wine up your nose, as this is very painful and will effect your ability to evaluate the wine properly.
This is where you need to concentrate completely on the aromas coming up from the glass, the younger the wine is , the more fruity a wine will smell  (raspberry or cherry as an  example); while mature wine will have complex fragrances such as earthy aromas like oak or  deep fruit aromas such as plum). Don’t be afraid at this point to put into words what your nose is saying to you, Somethimes a wine characteristic is SUPPOSED to smell like barnyard or cat urine, these are acceptable terms in the winemaking industry.
Taste:
Now , you can actually , finally, do what you originally started out to do, taste the wine. Remember a few minutes ago, the aromas you were smelling, do you taste them in your mouth, or are there different tastes than aromas, this is a fact in wine tasting, sometimes tastes and smells do not coinside.
No!, don’t swallow right  away, you need to swish it around in your mouth first and  pay  attention to the tastes you are expierencing, these will change depending on where in your mouth the wine is, front, sides, back, tounge. When tasting your wine, slurp the wine slightly to release all its flavors in your mouth. A gentle slurp as you take in the wine goes a long way toward enhancing properly the taste.
While the wine is still in your mouth, think about the wine, the weight, the body, the texture of the wine: Is it rich and heavy or light and thin? Will this full bodied rich, velvety syrah go well with my Steak?
NOW, you can swallow your wine…whew, all that just to taste wine? It is worth it, trust me!
The Finish:
“The finish” is the sensation you get from actually swallowing the wine,  this actually changes from the tastes you get on your palate. Is there an alcohol taste? There shouldn’t be one. How long did the taste of the wine stay  with you?  This is called the finish.
In a few, young, unbalanced wines, the finish is flat, or weak, and as soon as you swallow, the taste is gone, but with a well made, well balance wine, the finish  can linger and tease your senses for as long as a minute.! A very important quality to a wine, which should never be overlooked, is the balance of the wine; do any tastes dominate, is it to acidic, is it “soapy” or too tannic? Or is this a well-defined bottle?
So there are the four basic steps of wine tasting, although at first you might feel silly, or  unexpirenced, don’t be afraid to do these steps, and voice your opinions, people in the wine industry LOVE to talk about their wines, and LOVE to educate. Just remember “In Vino Veritas” ~ “ In Wine there is truth.”

Salute’

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