| If wine is a love affair, then wine tasting is like dating. |
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| Fighting wine ignorance one person at a time. |
You wouldn’t want to choose your mate from a single speed dating event. You would want to date them for a while, be around them for extended periods of time. You would also want to meet their family to better understand where they come from and what they are about.
Wine tasting events are like speed dating events, they are an opportunity to select the wines you want to explore closer. Based on this, you may want to buy a bottle or two and base further notes on a whole bottle as you share it with a friend over the course of an evening. The characteristics of a bottle will evolve from opening to the last drop poured. Revisit the wine by sharing another bottle some time later. Then, you will have a better basis to decide whether to buy more bottles and what to expect the lifespan of the wine to be.
As you drink, think about several things:
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What are the characteristics typically expected of the wine I am drinking (varieties and region)?
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How is this wine influenced by weather in year it was grown?
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How does this wine reflect the winemaker's style?
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How does this wine differ from those made from the same types of grapes grown in the same region?
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How does this wine fit or rank in its category?
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Finally, how do the above characteristics of the wine relate to my own preferences?
This is a better way to judge a subjective experience such as wine consumption rather than using one individual’s standard as a touchstone. People vary in their preferences. This type of evaluation allows the wine to be presented more accurately in the content of its initial conception. It leads to better purchase decisions.
With time, you will be able to make decisions about the wine’s aging potential based on what you taste. Practice and education will allow you to decide, at the time of tasting, if the particular wine is suitable for drinking now or if it should be aged. This is crucial to purchasing wines in larger quantities with the intent of long-term cellaring.
A final thought: many people become frustrated over a seeming inability to detect aromas and flavors in a wine. This is more often an issue of environment and experience rather than some inherent limitation of one's "hardware" - the smell and taste sensors. It is less an issue of not seeing and more of an issue of being observant. The first is the detection of information while the latter deals with paying attention to what one perceives and interpreting it correctly. There are some simple but helpful guidelines to wine tasting here. Also, you may want to read more about training your sense of smell and taste here.
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