There is a significant amount of information and opinion that is published, written about, and certainly talked about how to taste and describe wine. Some of these topics can be written or talked about in a way that makes tasting and talking about wine an intimidating and daunting endeavor. This is not how tasting and describing wine should be at all! Just because there are people out there who taste and describe wine every day as part of their job doesn’t mean that the rest of the world can’t do it either. It should be a relaxing and enlightening experience where the taster is acutely tuned to their senses and then making a decision about how to express what they sense into words. There is no right or wrong way to taste or describe a wine however there are some tips that myself and other professionals use that help us with this process.
There are some things that sommeliers do that help us in being able to pick out certain nuances of a wine that can sometimes seem a little odd or over-the-top but they help. Some of these techniques are for the “wine geeks” only and some of them are techniques that all of us should try to see if it helps us taste and perceive wine better.
1. Sight- Make sure your glass is clean and that you have a plain white surface to look at the wine (if you don’t have a plain white surface, use a white light and look up at the wine). Take note to color: depth of color & rim variation; these aspects of sight can tell us about grape varietal and age of the wine. Look for sediment and gas. Some very young whites will still have trace amounts of gas and sediment in a younger wine is a fault. Use these hints to verbally describe the sight of a wine. Conversation about the “legs” or “tears” on the glass mean nothing in relation to quality and don’t tell us really anything at all about the wine.
2. Nose- This is the most important part in tasting and describing wine. This is because, as many of us know, we cannot taste without smell. We also cannot describe a wine unless we know what things smell like. Some sommeliers, when they train, will go on nature hikes and smell things around them or go out and buy different fruits and really take the time to taste them. Smell is also tied to memory the most and we can describe a wine using memory. We also need to swirl the wine in the glass to expose it to as much oxygen as possible because when the molecules in the wine are exposed to a gas like oxygen, it excites them and they are easier to detect. Smell the wine close to your nose by tilting the glass and take several short breaths in as opposed to one long whiff. Write down what you smell (fruit, earthiness, vegetable, or other) so you that you can remember it when you taste it so as to confirm the nose with the palate or disagree from the nose with the palate.
3. Palate- This is where we perceive acidity, alcohol content, and tannin. All of these things are important in telling us the characteristics of the grape and the region where it grows. Take a medium sized sip of wine (1 oz or less) and move it around in the mouth to try to incorporate air and move fresh air over the wine in the mouth so as to make a quiet “slurping sound” because once again, air is going to excite the molecules. Acidity is perceived on the sides of the palate, tannin is perceived all over, and alcohol content is perceived by either being sweet or from a cooling sensation while breathing out.
Hotter regions of the world will typically produce wines with higher alcohol and lower acidity. Grapes that struggle for water will typically have higher tannin. All of these aspects are important in deciding whether or not a wine is balanced and balance is key in producing great wine. Acidity is described in different levels (low, moderate, racy, or acidic), tannin is described in different levels as well but can also be described using types of fabric. This is because you feel tannin not taste tannin. Finally you want to smell from your mouth by breathing out through nose after you have spit or swallowed this may confirm the nose or be different. Write down your thoughts or share them with others. Have fun, because life is too short to drink bad wine!
