Beginner's Guide On Appreciating Wine

by Mariagrazia Indenbosch

Pointers On How To Taste Wine Like A Pro

Wine is one of the best and most popular beverages to be served at parties. Whether it be formal or a simple gathering it is easier than you think to taste wine. This beginners guide on how to appreciate wine will help you to have a straightforward experience that will grant you access into the ancient tradition of tasting something made in a detailed process.

You will gain a new found appreciation for every unique and intricate taste you get from wine. You will also notice how the wine was created through the careful hands of winemakers due to its quality.

Think of the smell, color and exciting tastes that tingle your senses and consider how you will soon become a ‘pro’ in recognizing one wine from the other. You have to remember that wines can have several varieties (type of grapes) which have unique scents and tastes that can range from sweet, bitter, salty and sour. Discerning the flavor is due to the combination of the taste and smell of the wine at hand.

The art of wine tasting can be learned in just a few steps . Here are our top tips for appreciating wine.

Check for the Wine Clarity and Color

After pouring the wine into a fine wine glass, observe the wine itself. Inspect the color by tilting the wine glass in the direction away from you and determine it from the rim to the middle part of the glass. You can appreciate this more if you have a white background which can either be a napkin, paper, etc.

Just by looking at the color, you will be able to identify differences in the wine hues. Red wines are usually colored as ruby, maroon, brownish, purple and even brick red. White wines are known to be colorless although, some white wines are colored amber, light green and golden yellow.

Give Into the Smelling Wine

A person’s sense of smell is considered one of the most important factors in tasting wine. This is because it can analyze primarily if the wine is something that their taste buds can enjoy. In order to get a very good impression of a wine’s aroma, try to swirl your wine glass gently. This is a way of vaporizing some of the wine’s alcohol content while also, releasing the drink’s aroma. If you are planning to host a wine tasting party, you can read our blog on 6 Themes For A Wine Tasting Party.

After this step, try introducing your nose slightly into the glass and take a deep breath. Vanilla, oak, citrus, flowers and berry are some of the most recognized aromas of a wine. Through a wine’s aroma, one can easily identify the drink’s uniqueness and quality. There is no right or wrong smell.

Tasting Wine And All It Offers.

Photo by Jordan

This is the best part of the entire process. Taste the wine discreetly by sipping in small amounts. Then, let it stay on your tongue while you enjoy being captivated by the wine’s taste. Tasting wine has three stages. These stages are as follows.

Attack
Evolution
Finish.

The attack stage is considered as the initial phase of tasting in which your palate is the one responsible. There are usually four parts of the puzzle initiating the attack stage which are levels of tannin, content of alcohol, the residual sugar and the acidity of the drink. When these four puzzles combine with one another, they display a distinct crucial sensation right on the palate.

The evolution stage is known as the actual presentation of wine inside the person’s tongue and palate. This stage discerns the flavor of the wine. The finish in wine tasting is referred to as the last stage. It determines how long a wine’s flavor lasts inside your mouth after it is completely processed into the system.

Now that we have given you the steps on how to taste wine like a pro, we hope that your next wine tasting experience will be better than before. It is key for anyone who will be going to a wine tasting, to use these techniques for appreciating wine.

If you would like to know about themes you can use for a wine tasting party, click the link to read our last blog post.