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So you want to do a wine tasting… Here are redwinebuzz.com's 10 guidelines of wine tasting: |
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| Fighting wine ignorance one person at a time. |
Whether at home, at a wine store or in a winery tasting room, there are some rules of process and decorum that ensure everyone will have a good time and gain the most from the experience. In tasting rooms, wines are typically poured in order from light (white) to heavy (reds) with dessert wines and port at the end. If you know that you will not like something, you are free to pass on a specific wine. The amounts poured are small, enough for a taste (hence, the name) and most establishments will pour another taste if you ask, but do not abuse that.
There are different views on whether you are expected to buy something at the end of your tasting. If you paid for the tasting, then the cost of the tasting is typically calculated to cover an average, modest amount of wine poured for one person, a souvenir glass (if included), the pourer's wages, rent, etc. If there is no fee, it is considered appropriate to taste from what has been poured without being obligated to buy. It is rude to expect to drink (as opposed to taste) unlimited amounts of wine regardless if you paid a tasting fee or not. It is generally accepted that people ask for another taste if they are trying to decide whether they want to buy the wine or not. Your goal should be exploring the spectrum of wine, learning the characteristics of different wines and learning your preferences. Taking notes is allowed and encouraged. You are also encouraged to direct your questions to the pourers in the tasting rooms, they are quite knowledgeable. Remember that this is a subjective experience and there are others there besides yourself.
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Education is the key. redwinebuzz.com will be your source for this information. Here, you will learn what the wine may and should taste like by becoming familiar with the characteristics of each grape and blend style. At redwinebuzz.com, you will learn how climate and region determine a wine's characteristics. We will help you become familiar with the jargon (in our glossary) used in the wine world. Read more about training your sense of smell and taste here.
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Pace yourself. This is not only a matter of not drinking too much in a short period of time. Enjoy the experience and take the time to explore the wine’s character. See what you can smell. Take a few passes. Then try the taste. Don’t rush it. Refer to the tasting notes provided at the tasting room or, if at home, do a web search on the wine you are drinking to see what others say about it. Take notes of your own if you like. See if you get the same sensations. It’s OK if you don’t. Treat it as a guide. Remember that tasting room literature and tasting notes on web sites which sell wine (unless attributed to a known critic) are intended to stir excitement in the wine and get you to buy it. Not every wine will live up to the hype or the ideal. Use this information as a guide and a reference point.
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Don’t overdo it. The more you drink, the duller your senses get and the wines begin to taste the same. New world wines tend to be higher in alcohol content than old world wines. If you are going to try a number of wines during a wine tasting tour or at an event, we strongly advocate spitting (vats are provided in tasting room). Just check the vat and ask that it be emptied if there is wine at the bottom. Most tasting rooms also have disposable cups if you are not comfortable with the vat. Wine tasting can be a great time, but it should not be treated as a pub crawl - even if you have rented a limo. At redwinebuzz.com, we take responsible consumption of alcoholic beverages very seriously. Too often, we see people indulging to excess. Not only can these individuals become obnoxious, but they are a risk to public safety if they don't have a designated driver. Drunk Driving laws are strict and a DUI can cost you upwards of $10,000 or more when all is said and done (not to mention pain, suffering and years of guilt if someone is injured or killed). A DUI with a minor in the vehicle usually carries Child Endangerment charges, which may also be classified as a Felony in many jurisdictions. Think of your wine tasting trip is a great opportunity for the kids to get quality time with grandparents, aunts or uncles.
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Don’t overeat before tasting. You definitely should have food in your stomach to slow the absorption of alcohol. A full belly, on the other hand, will just dull the experience and it will really put a damper on your ability to discern scents and flavors. Pungent, sharp and sweet foods tend to linger and affect your ability to smell and taste the full spectrum of what a wine has to offer. Munching on some plain water crackers will clear your palate. While we’re talking about bad interactions of flavors, chewing gum, sucking on a mint or other candy will impair your senses. Toothpaste and mouthwash, when used too close to wine tasting, unfavorably affect the flavors in wine. Wine has some exciting and wonderful combinations of flavors, some of which can be rather subtle. Give yourself the best chance to experience them.
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Skip the cologne and perfume. Period. The same goes for lotions and hand creams. If you want to impress your date, remember that personal composure and a breadth of wine knowledge can be far more seductive than any trendy new aroma. The aromatic (volatile) organic compounds in colognes and perfumes will cloud the smells of the wine. Some of these compounds can actually diffuse into your skin and cannot be easily washed out. They will then interfere with the smells from the wine. Hand creams and lotions will do the same thing. Wine offers varied combination of scents of fruit, flowers, spices and other aromatics. It is very difficult to appreciate the sensory aspects of wine when one has to struggle through Drakkar Noir or White Shoulders. Additionally, others around you may not appreciate this if they are not be able to smell anything but your cologne or perfume. There has been some buzz lately about wine and cigar pairing. While this may be an interesting pursuit for some, tobacco smoke definitely affects the sensual experience of wine tasting for smokers and those around them. We don't only mean smoke from an actively burning cigarette but also that which lingers in hair, on clothes and skin - sometimes for 20 to 30 minutes after a cigarette.
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Follow your nose. When smelling wine, you should remember that unlike other mammals, our smell receptors are located far up in the nose – just under the front part of the brain, between your eyes. To really smell things, you need to get the vapors up there. One of the things that makes wine a beautiful thing, is that with the right crafting and a little luck, the wine you drink will present some amazing and wonderful aromas. If you just give it a chance, you too will experience the different aromas in various wines. Some people like to take a few successive sniffs or snorts and others will deeply inhale. In either case, most people prefer to unabashedly stick their nose deep into the glass. There is nothing wrong or gauche about that. Wine lore has it that European sommeliers were taught to smell with one nostril. We propose that you try to see what you smell in the wine at different distances. Just be careful not to snort the wine. If you get overwhelmed and it all smells the same, try sniffing some light or medium roasted coffee beans to clear your nose. Remember that when the grapes used for wines are picked too ripe, the wines will loose distinction. Additionally, some people are better able to discern more scents than others. This is a matter of experience but also a brain thing rather than a nose thing: your past experiences with smells and aromas, your ability to store that smell memory and then connect the memory with the smell when you encounter it is very much like learning a foreign language. (You can learn more about the physiology of smell and taste as well as how to train your senses here) Not everyone grew up eating freshly picked black currants, gooseberries or kumquats. Not all of us have come across a lychee nut or carambola at their local grocery store. But where there is a will there is a way. You can usually track these things down in specialty stores and educate your nose.... or brain. Just make a list of aromas described in a review and head out to the store.
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Use your tongue. When tasting, don’t just gulp only to swallow immediately thereafter. Our taste organs (taste buds) are distributed all over our tongues. Some regions of the tongue are thought to be more responsive to specific taste characteristics. (You can learn more about the physiology of smell and taste as well as how to train your senses here). For this reason, you should draw some wine into your mouth and refrain from swallowing immediately. Swish the wine around your mouth. You don’t need to be vigorous - you’re not fighting dental plaque. Just get the wine in contact with all surfaces of your mouth (including the insides of your cheeks). What is your sense of the body or fullness or weight of the wine? What is its texture? Is it smooth, sleek, coarse, harsh, juicy? Just as with aroma, the "mouth" - the flavors of the wine - can be as rich and complex and the more exquisite gain their wines high standing. Finally, most of our perception of taste is actually smell as aromas make their way through the back of the throat, up to the back of the nose and on up. After swallowing exhale through the nose. This reveals another side to the wine's characteristics because the acidity of the mouth changes some of the aromatic components. Some tasters will purse their lips as if to whistle and draw in air, letting it gurgle gently through the wine. This draws out some aromatics. A little discrete slurping is OK but all things are best in good measure. Finally, take a moment to see what flavors linger and how long. This is called the "finish" and is a valued element of wine.
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Refresh your palate. Often the tasting room offer crackers or other things to accent the wine’s taste or to clear you nose and palate between wines. Take advantage of this. If you have some lingering flavors of what you ate earlier, try water or that baggie of plain water crackers in your pocket. Check your other pocket for the baggie with the coffee beans. Some wines may naturally have mocha and coffee notes so be considerate of others when using these tricks.
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Be patient and methodical. If you are on a wine tasting tour, you will get the most of all the wines presented by being systematic and taking your time. If you are opening a single bottle to drink with your friends, also remember to take your time. Pour small amounts (a couple of shot glasses, at most) into each glass. Swirl it around. It frees up the scents of the wine. A bottle evolves as you drink it. The last glass may taste very different from the first. To get the best chance to appreciate this, do not "top off" a glass. Pour another taste after the first one is gone. Speaking of glasses: wine glasses have long stems for the same reason coffee mugs have handles. Glass conducts heat, and the wine will quickly warm up. You will learn with time how a difference of a few degrees in temperature affect a wine's taste. Read more about stemware here.
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Work the wine. Although it may look a bit pretentious, gently swirling the wine in the glass increases the surface exposed to the air. The wine evolves and you can learn a lot for future reference if you give it a chance. Decanting helps open up many wines. Some wines can change dramatically with aeration. In the past, when larger amounts of sulfur were used in wine production some wines had strong sulfur aromas that could be alleviated with decanting. However, certain flaws cannot be "aired out of" the wine. If the wine is truly hopeless, we have found some wines very effective at coloring paper lampshades, old t-shirts and custom stationery.
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we encourage responsible wine tasting practices
Tell a friend about these tips!
Tell a friend about these tips!
Get the buzz:
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Wine reviews
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Great stories
-
Interviews
-
Wine education tools
-
New content every month
It's FREE!
Click here
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