Wine Tasting Introduction
Wine tasting
1. Sight
A glass of wine is more than simply the sum of its tastes, wine can give pleasure to all of our senses except one…
The first thing to do is examine the colour of the wine. Pour into a clear glass and examine the shade or hue of the wine in the light, against a white background if possible.
Is the wine opaque or transparent? The wine should be transparent, if a wine has some kind of opacity or turbidity this could indicate that it is pricked.
The hue of the wine can give us an idea of its age. Young red wines have a purple shade towards the rim, as they age the tone will gradually shift to a brick red indicating a mature wine. When the tone starts to shift towards an orange hue, the wine has reached old age and he will begin his decline, this wine should be drunk as soon as possible. Rosé wines veer from a pink-bluey hue to a salmon colour. White wines start at pale yellow even greenish tones and finish with lemon yellows and bronze/golden tones.
When judging the appearance of your wine you may notice its "legs", the oily streams of liquid that run down the inside of your glass after tilting it slightly. Legs are not an indication of wine quality, simply note the presence of higher alcohol content (glicerol). Higher alcohols contribute to the body of the wine.
2. Smell
When it comes to the nose, the experts tend to refer to the “bouquet” of the wine. Since 80% of wine tasting is olfactory, you really “rob” yourself of the complete wine tasting experience when you don’t stop to smell the roses- er, wine.
The first part of maximizing the bouquet of any wine requires oxygenating the wine before smelling it. Contrary to popular belief decanting the bottle is not the optimal way to make a wine breathe as it can loose a lot of aroma, it is only recommended for old vintage reds that have been bottled for many years or wines that are excessively tannic. However, letting the wine breathe in the glass for 5 to 10 minutes before
1. Sight
A glass of wine is more than simply the sum of its tastes, wine can give pleasure to all of our senses except one…
The first thing to do is examine the colour of the wine. Pour into a clear glass and examine the shade or hue of the wine in the light, against a white background if possible.
Is the wine opaque or transparent? The wine should be transparent, if a wine has some kind of opacity or turbidity this could indicate that it is pricked.
The hue of the wine can give us an idea of its age. Young red wines have a purple shade towards the rim, as they age the tone will gradually shift to a brick red indicating a mature wine. When the tone starts to shift towards an orange hue, the wine has reached old age and he will begin his decline, this wine should be drunk as soon as possible. Rosé wines veer from a pink-bluey hue to a salmon colour. White wines start at pale yellow even greenish tones and finish with lemon yellows and bronze/golden tones.
When judging the appearance of your wine you may notice its "legs", the oily streams of liquid that run down the inside of your glass after tilting it slightly. Legs are not an indication of wine quality, simply note the presence of higher alcohol content (glicerol). Higher alcohols contribute to the body of the wine.
2. Smell
When it comes to the nose, the experts tend to refer to the “bouquet” of the wine. Since 80% of wine tasting is olfactory, you really “rob” yourself of the complete wine tasting experience when you don’t stop to smell the roses- er, wine.
The first part of maximizing the bouquet of any wine requires oxygenating the wine before smelling it. Contrary to popular belief decanting the bottle is not the optimal way to make a wine breathe as it can loose a lot of aroma, it is only recommended for old vintage reds that have been bottled for many years or wines that are excessively tannic. However, letting the wine breathe in the glass for 5 to 10 minutes before