How To Taste Wine: 8 Essential Wine Tasting Tips

There’s more to learning how to taste wine than it may seem at first. No two wines are the same. Each has its own distinct aroma and flavor profile, and part of the enjoyment of drinking wine comes from exploring these profiles and learning how to pick them out of different wines.

Want to build your wine tasting skills? This guide will cover how to taste wine, including preparing for your experience, 8 important tips, and answers to the most frequently asked questions about wine tasting.

Preparing for the Wine Tasting Experience

Choose the Right Glassware

Different wines pair best with different glassware, so it’s important to choose the right glass for each wine you will be tasting. The different types of wine glasses can impact your overall experience, so make sure to pay attention to glassware shapes and sizes.

Set the Scene: Create a Relaxing Space

Work to create a calm and neutral space with minimal distractions so you can focus on the wine. Do not light any candles or add fragrances in the air, as this can impact your ability to get the full bouquet of the wine. Minimize the amount of distractions in the room, such as turning off the television and dimming the lights.

Check the Serving Temperature

Different wines have different serving temperatures which help accentuate the natural flavors within the drink. Look up the proper wine serving temperature for your specific bottle and get your wine as close to said temperature as you can before you serve it.

8 Essential Wine Tasting Tips

Look (See): Observe the Wine’s Appearance

After you pour your glass, take a look at the wine’s appearance. Note its color, clarity, and viscosity. These are all important clues that can tell you the wine’s age, what grapes were used, and the style of the wine.

Swirl: Unlock the Aromas

Once you have noted the wine’s appearance, give the glass a swirl. This releases more of the aromas in the wine. You can either hold the stem of the glass in your hand and gently spin your wrist, or you can leave the base of the glass on the table and make gentle circles on the table with the base.

Smell: Engage with the Scent

Before you taste your wine, give it a good sniff. This gives you a clear idea of the wine’s aromas and enhances the wine’s natural taste. You are looking to identify the primary, secondary, and tertiary aromas of the wine. The primary aromas come from the grapes used, the secondary aromas come from the wine production process, and the tertiary aromas evolve during the aging process. This can also give you insight if the wine is spoiled. Aromas such as wet newspaper and moldy basement are typical of a spoiled, faulty wine.

Sip: Take a Taste

Now is the moment you have been waiting for: take a small sip of your wine. Let the wine coat your tongue and sit for a moment, taking time to notice the flavor profiles. Start with your initial flavor impressions and work your way down to the more subtle notes. Picking out these flavors can be tricky at first, so take your time.

Savor: Assess the Wine’s Structure

This is where we get into the nitty-gritty of it. Don’t just take a swig and see what happens; let the wine sit on your tongue and analyze the specifics of its flavor. Look for the acidity, tannins, alcohol levels, and sweetness. Try to see how all of these flavors balance each other to create a complex and enjoyable experience.

Note the Finish

Once you are done with your sip, make note of the aftertaste. Notice how long the aftertaste lasts and what flavor profiles you get from it. The finish of a wine can tell you a lot about the quality of the wine and the process in which it was made.

Cleanse Your Palate

In between tastings, or if you are switching wines, be sure to do a palate cleansing. This will help reset your palate and prevent the flavors and aromas from mixing in your mouth and impacting your ability to taste and analyze them. Common palate cleansers include water and plain bread. If you have been smelling a lot of aromas, your nose can also tire out. Try sniffing coffee grounds or even your own arm to “reset” your nose.

Reflect and Take Notes

Throughout the wine-tasting process, keep a notebook of what you are experiencing. Write down your first impressions of the wine, and then expound upon the deeper flavors you discover as you enjoy your glass. Keeping a wine journal can help you develop your tasting skills and give you a reference point for how far you have come.

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Wine Tasting FAQ

What if I can’t identify specific flavors or aromas?

Picking out specific aromas and flavors can take practice and vary greatly between individuals. Start off by identifying flavor categories such as spices or fruit, and then refine your palate from there. Your palate will become more experienced over time, and you can also use helpful tools such as a wine aroma wheel or do tastings with a friend.

Is it necessary to follow every one of these steps every time I enjoy wine?

If you were to follow all of these steps every time you had a glass of wine, it could quickly make wine a chore rather than a time of enjoyment. If you just want to drink a glass of wine and relax, you can easily adjust these steps or ignore them entirely and just enjoy sipping on your wine. You are not breaking any secret wine rule if you do not critically analyze every glass of wine you enjoy.

How can I improve my wine-tasting skills?

As with building every skill: practice, practice, practice. Expand your palette by regularly tasting different kinds of wine and taking notes on your first impressions. Go to local wine tastings, join a local wine club, or even take a winemaking course to learn more about how wine is made and how it gets its flavors. Over time, you will expand your palette and begin to notice flavor patterns.

What should I do if I do not like the wine I am tasting?

Everyone has a different palette and enjoys different flavor profiles more than others, and it is what makes the experience so much fun. Take this as an opportunity to figure out what you do not like about the wine and what your personal preferences are. If you are at a tasting event, it is okay to respectfully and politely decline more of that wine. You are not hurting anyone’s feelings, we promise.

Are there any common mistakes I can avoid in wine tasting?

A few common wine-tasting mistakes include:

• Skipping The Smelling Step: While it seems silly at first, the smelling step is important for experiencing the wine’s full bouquet.
• Overfilling The Wine Glass: Pouring too much wine can make it harder to swirl the glass and smell the wine properly.
• Rushing The Tasting Step: Take your time and savor each aspect of the wine.
• Judging a Wine Too Quickly: Do not just take one sip and call it a day. Sometimes, a glass of wine is shy and needs a bit of time to open up, especially red wines. Give it a chance before settling on a final judgment.