How to Go About Wine Tasting

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Find out about wine tasting and taste the deliciousness

Wine tasting is an opportunity to try new wines without having to purchase the whole bottle. Tasting buckets are available to make the most of your experience and keep you from overindulging.

While it may seem that wine experts have highly refined perceptual capacities, novices can perform as well or better than experts at perceptual discrimination tasks!

Color

The first thing to look at is the wine’s color. This can tell you a lot about the wine tasting, for example:

The skin of a grape is pigmented and contributes to the color of the wine. The amount of time the juice is left with the skins affects how deep the wine is, and whether it will be light or dark. White wines typically have a pale hue, while red wines have a more intense ruby-colored hue.

A good way to assess the color is to tilt the glass against a white background (a piece of paper, a wall or even your shirt) and observe how its intensity changes. Another important aspect of the color is to see if it has “legs”—tears that run down the sides of the glass. This can indicate that the wine is higher in alcohol and glycerin, which can make it taste fuller and richer.

Finally, it’s a good idea to ask the host or winemaker any questions you might have about the wine—its growing conditions, region and even its aging. Keeping your questions short and to the point can help avoid embarrassing yourself and keep the wine tasting experience enjoyable for everyone.

Smell

Smelling a wine allows you to sense how it will taste before you ever take your first sip. About 80% of how we perceive flavor comes from smell, so the nose is an extremely important component of the experience.

Wine has a wide range of aromas that reflect the grapes, the region and the way it was made. Some aromas are very obvious, while others are more subtle or obscure. Fortunately, most wineries provide detailed tasting notes that describe the most prominent aromas in the wine. This is a great starting point to help you decipher the wines that speak to you most loudly.

A few common aromas found in wine are pencil shavings, grilled plum, animal skins and fresh cut garden hose (we think this one is unique to our Pinot Noir). Many wines have “earthy” aromas which may include mushrooms, potting soil, wet cardboard or damp earth. Some winemakers also highlight a variety of warm baking spices such as cinnamon, cloves and ginger in their wines.

Some people use long, deep sniffs to smell a wine, while others like short, strong sniffs. Experiment with different smelling techniques and see what works best for you! You can also practice by smelling everyday items such as fresh fruit, herbs and flowers to train your nose. Over time, smelling skills become more refined and you’ll soon be able to decipher the nuances of your favorite wines!

Taste

As you sip the wine, pay attention to the balance of fruit, acid and tannin. Is it sweet, or is there a touch of tartness (which can be from under-ripe fruits), or is it spicy or bitter? Also, does the wine have a long or short finish? Good wines will have a nice, balanced finish that leaves a pleasant feeling in your mouth.

Taste is one of the most difficult aspects of wine tasting. It is not as objective as smelling or looking at a wine, but it is still important to understand how to recognize good quality wines and wines you may dislike.

Frequently, wine flavours are described in terms of fruits and flowers. Other descriptors include nutty, mushroomy, earthy and forest floor aromas, smokey, tobacco or cigar box flavours, as well as buttery, caramel and popcorn notes. In some cases, the wine can even be described as salty.

It is common practice for wine tasters to spit out the wine they don’t like into a communal bucket, or at least pour it out of their glass. It is important to practice spitting before you go to a wine tasting, so that you are comfortable with it and can do it without having to worry about splashing yourself in the face! Many seasoned tasters even wear a white bib to prevent themselves from getting the wine on their clothes.

Pairing

The last step in the process of wine tasting is pairing it with food. This is one of the most important parts of the experience and can help you refine your palate. A good rule of thumb for a wine pairing is to match the most prominent element of the dish with the wine. For example, a meaty stew or dish with rich sauces may pair well with red wines, while grilled chicken with a lemon sauce would go nicely with a light white wine like Pinot Noir.

Another important part of the pairing is to consider if the wine and food have congruent or complementary flavors. For example, spicy foods will enhance the bitterness of a wine, while fried foods increase the sweetness of a wine.

Many restaurants have a dedicated sommelier on staff to help customers select the right wines with their food. While sommeliers do have a lot of training, they are not experts in all wines and may have different preferences and experiences with wines. This is why it is important to have a basic understanding of the science of wine and how to pair food with it.

Wine tasting is a fun and educational experience that can be enjoyed by all ages. It is an opportunity to learn more about wine, try new varieties that you might not have tried before, and make new friends who share your interest in wines.

 

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