A Beginner’s Guide to Tasting Wine

If you’ve ever seen a professional wine expert tasting wine, then you might well think that the way they go through the process looks a bit odd – after all, they spit it out rather than drink it! But, tasting wine isn’t about swallowing – it’s about the look, feel and taste of the wine! The swallowing part is the fun thing you can do afterwards!

So, let’s take a look at how you too can get down to tasting wine like a professional (you can always swallow at the end of you like!). There are three main steps to follow here:

The look….

The way a wine looks is actually invaluable when you’re tasting wine. So, swirl a little wine round your  wine glass to start with and take a close look at it. If you’re tasting white wine then the color will tell you how old the wine is. Most white wines start off very pale and their color will head into deeper shades as they age. The same is true of red wines but their color tends to get a bit paler as they get older. As you get more experienced in tasting wine you’ll also start to be able to identify the region the wine came from and the actual grapes that were used from the colors you see.

The smell….

The aroma of a wine can also tell you a lot about it. To release the full bouquet of a wine you need to swirl the wine round in the glass – be careful not to overfill your glass here otherwise you’ll have an accident! Next, lean right into the glass and have a good sniff – you should be looking to identify smells like fruit, wood, flowers or smoke, for example. As you get more experienced you’ll start to smell specific types of fruit or other stuff from the glass. If you smell something bad, then trust your nose – the wine may not be that nice!

The taste….

The next – and most fun! –stage of the wine tasting process is the tasting. This doesn’t involve taking a big swallow – instead, take a little wine in your mouth and hold it there. You’ll get a better idea of how it actually tastes if you get as many taste receptors involved as is possible. This part of the wine tasting process is especially useful when it comes to assessing body. You can kind of loosely describe body as the taste that remains in your mouth once you have spat the wine out (or swallowed it!). Wines with a heavier body will stay with you for longer in basic terms.

Wine tasting can be a great hobby – and it’s a fantastic way of learning about new wines and finding favorites that suit you and your palate. It doesn’t matter if you take part in formal wine tasting events or prefer tasting wine in the privacy of your own home – you’ll still have a great time!