A Guide to Tasting Wine

While drinking wine in any fashion is almost always enjoyable, employing the proper technique will open up your senses to a truly refined experience. Noting the subtle nuances of each sip will allow you to discover the varieties that most please
your palette.

1. See: Take a moment to note the color of your wine. It should be clear and not opaque, unless you have an aged wine with a lot of sediment. Wines’ color can range considerably depending on the type of grape used and the length of the winemaking process. As wines age they lose color, so a good look at the color can be a clue about how old the wine is.

2. Sniff: Next, you want to explore the aroma of your wine. Stick your nose into the bowl of the glass to decipher the scents. You might pick up sweet fruits, rich oak or something in between. Determining the elements of a wine’s unique perfume can be one of the largest factors in enjoying the glass.

3. Swirl: Hold your glass at the base and lightly swirl the wine for a moment. The swirling process sends oxygen through the wine, expands the surface area and allows the aromas to open up. This is sometimes called “swirling the esters.”

4. Sniff Again: Now, smell your wine again. Do you notice a change? There should be a remarkable difference between your pre-swirl and post-swirl sniff. If not, work your wine a bit more and give it some time to open. Try your best to pinpoint the aromas and write them down in your event booklet if you’d like.

5. Sip: Finally, it’s time to take a sip of your wine. Let the wine spread out across your mouth, curl your tongue, open your mouth slightly and breathe in. This will again send air through the wine and allow it to open even further. Take note of what you taste. Is it similar to the aroma? After you swallow, take a minute to notice the finish and the length of the wine. The “finish” is the after-taste and the “length” is the period of time that it lingers. The best wines will have a pleasing finish and a very long length.