WINES

DO YOU SIMPLY DRINK WINE, OR DO YOU TASTE WINE?

Wine tasting is not just like art, it is an art. While wine tasting can be subjective in nature, wine connoisseurs follow some general “guidelines” when judging a wine.

LOOK

You can tell much about a wine simply by studying its appearance. The wine should be poured into a clear glass and held in front of a white background so that you can examine the colour. The colour of wine varies tremendously, even within the same type of wine. White wines are not actually white; they range from green to yellow to brown. More colour in a white wine usually indicates more flavour and age, although a brown wine may have gone bad. Red wines are not just red; they range from a pale red to a deep brown red, usually becoming lighter in colour as they age.

SMELL

Swirl your wine. This releases molecules in the wine allowing you to smell the aroma, also called the bouquet or nose. Take a quick whiff and formulate an initial impression, then take a second deeper whiff or take only one deep whiff. Either way, after you smell the wine, sit back and contemplate the aroma. Don’t try to ‘taste’ the wine yet, concentrate only on what you smell.

Sometimes a certain smell will be very strong with underlying hints of other smells. By labelling an aroma you will probably remember it better. You may even want to keep a notebook of your impressions of wines, and save the labels.

TASTE

The most important quality of a wine is its balance between sweetness and acidity. To get the full taste of a wine follow the following three steps:

Initial Taste: This is where the wine awakens your sense.
Taste: Slosh the wine around and draw in some air. Examine the body and texture of the wine.
Aftertaste: The taste that remains in your mouth after you have swallowed the wine.

After tasting the wine, take a moment to value its overall flavour and balance.

While this method can be useful, it is in no way necessary to determine a quality wine. The more different wines you try, and the more attention you pay to each wine, the better you will become at ascertaining and describing each wine’s characteristics.