How to Taste and Savor Wine

5 of 9 in Series: The Essentials of Pairing Wine with Food

Tasting and savoring wine is a slower, more deliberate and more thoughtful process than simply drinking wine. Wine is a complex beverage, and when you simply drink it as you would any other beverage, you miss the wine’s nuances.

Here’s a quick lesson on what to do to when you want to taste a wine the way the pros do. You don’t have to use this procedure with every sip, all the time — just when you want to really examine the taste of a particular wine. With practice, describing what you smell and taste in a wine becomes easier — and it becomes a lot of fun, too!

Smell the wine.

Rotate your (half-full) glass on the table so that the wine swishes around in the glass and mixes with air. As soon as you stop moving the glass, bring it to your nose (stick your nose into the air space above the wine) and inhale. Notice how strong or subtle the wine’s aroma is; then try to describe in your mind what you smell. Common descriptors include all sorts of fruits, floral notes, spices, herbs, and so forth.
Taste the wine.

Take a medium-sized sip of the wine. Move it around your mouth and notice its texture (whether it feels soft or firm or rough — thinking of how different fabrics feel can be helpful). Also note its weight, or body (how heavy or light it feels on your tongue). Open your lips slightly and draw some air in to release the wine’s flavors; describe in your mind how flavorful the wine is (or isn’t) and which specific flavors you notice. Often, the flavors are similar to the aromas you smelled.
Swallow or spit.

If you’re tasting several wines, you may want to do what the pros do and spit the wine out to keep your head clear. But if you’re tasting just a single wine, swallowing is fine. As the wine leaves your mouth, notice whether the wine’s flavors persist across the whole length of your mouth or whether they stop short about halfway back. Stopping short is not considered a flaw in inexpensive wines, but fine wines should carry their flavor farther across your mouth.

Spitting wine samples in winery tasting rooms is more than acceptable. You set yourself apart as someone experienced in tasting wines for learning purposes. Ideally, you should spit all the wines you taste. Swallow only when a wine is so compelling that it’s down the hatch before you even realize it! (And then buy that wine.)

Comments (1)

Posted by David JANUARY 26, 2010 | 10:35AM
First commenter! woohoo! :)
I am not a professional wine taster but I have participated in a couple wine tasting events. I have to say that these suggestions listed above are great. People often are turned off by the idea of spitting wine but it really does help clean your pallet. Also consider eating something small such as a cracker in between drinking different wines. This will help allow you a "fresh" new experience for each time you try a different varietal.

Something to keep in consideration when you tasting your wine is to look at a wine vintage chart. These charts can help on deciding when it's best to drink your wine. You don't want to drink it too early, however - if your too late you may not get the most from that specific wine.

Enjoy!

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