A simple guide to wine tasting

Part of the process of wine tasting is actually looking at the wine itself. Remember, the words wine tasting actually referred to the entire experience, not just the actual taste of the liquid. You will learn a lot about the wine just from looking at it. Always drink your wine in a clear glass. To see the true colour in it, hold it up, against a white background. Look at the colour. What do you see?

The wines colour will often have a strong influence on the taste of the wine. You will soon become to appreciate that white and red wines come in a myriad of different shades. It is this difference in colour that can tell us a lot about the wine. The general rule of thumb with red wine is that longer age and sweetness is denoted by more colour. With white wine by contrast too much colour is not a good thing. The aging process does not have a positive impact on white wine, in contrast to red wines which tend to improve with age. There is also a difference in the way white and reds change in colour with age. Red wines tend to lighten with age whereas whites tend to darken

To learn about the actual age of a wine by its colour, tilt your glass slightly to the side. You can then see the edge clearly. This is called the rim colour. The purple tint you see there will indicate that the wine is actually younger. If you see an orange or brown tint on the edge that indicates that the wine is mature. In addition, swirl the wine. This allows you to see the body of the wine. If it is thicker, it will have higher alcohol content as well as a higher sweet flavour. You can learn a lot about a wine from just looking at it.

Smelling your wine is just as important as tasting it. However, in the context of full wine taste, you do need to be able to smell the wine correctly. The smell of the wine can be a strong determinant as to weather or not you will enjoy it. It is often the case that someone will take a quick sniff of the wine. This is not the correct approach

In wine tasting circles, you’ll hear the aroma referred to as the nose or the bouquet of the wine. You may hear numerous bouquets referred to but the majority are from the following: floral, spices, wood, fruit, herbs, or earthy. These varying aromas can have their own distinctive tastes

To smell your wine properly, swirl it first. Moving the wine releases those molecules so that you can smell them. Then, take a quick sniff of the wine. This gives you one experience. Now, take a more deep smell of the wine. Can you smell the difference? Some experts dismiss the first, short initial smell of the wine. In either case, you can actually smell it. Think about the scent. Think about it. What aroma does it offer to you?