Wine tasting to the uninitated person can appear to be an extremely complicated affair. The ability to tell a New World Cabernet from an Old World one, or the ability to differentiate a Riesling from a Chardonnay just does not appear to one as within his or her (to be politically correct) reach.
This however need not be so. The art of Wine Tasting is only dependant on three of our five common senses. They are :
1) Our Sense of Sight
2) Our Sense of Smell
3) Our Sense of Taste
The above three senses added with a bundle of practice are all that is really needed for one to taste and appreciate wine. After all, most people can really tell the difference between an orange and an apple, by looking, smelling or by taste.
Giving this fact, we should then be able to taste and appreciate wine with some practice.
Using our sense of Sight
Tasting Wine starts from accessing the appearance of the wine. Look at the wine and access the colour. This would usually tell us something about the age and the origin of the wine. Try to have a piece of white background to help assess the wine. It would not do any good to look at the wine against a black background.
With white wines, the colour can usually tell a bit about the origin. Look at the colour of the wine. Old World wines tends to be of a paler, lighter colour when young. Pale yellow or greenish yellow in a young white wine may be a hint of an Old World origin. These colours would intensify over time. New World whites are on the other hand usually of a more intense colour when young as compared to the Old World wines. Some colours to look out for are deep golden colour or intense yellow colours.
The colour of red wines do not tell as much about the origin of the wine as white wines. The depth of the colour however may give us a hint on the quality of the wine. Red wines from good quality producers may show a deep almost opaque colour. A pale colour may be a sign of bad weather (the will of God being a very important factor in the quality of the grapes), or a sign of poor vineyard of winery practice (the other very important factor of wine production is obviously the act of man).
A sight of brownish tint on the rim of the wine is often an indication of the wine being close to the end of its prime. Darken colours of red wines also suggest that the wine may have been oxidised.
Using our sense of Smell
The next step in wine tasting after a visual inspection of the wine is to smell it. Give the glass a swirl to mix the wine with air. This helps to release the aroma of the wine. The professionals have a term for the aroma of the wine; They call it the nose. Immediately after this, put your nose in as far into the wine glass as you can and take a good sniff.
Does the wine smell unpleasant, mushroomy or cabbagey? If it does, throw out that bottle and reach for the next bottle. Such smells are signs that the wine is faulty. Do not however mistake a bottle stink as a sign of a faulty wine. This smell is caused by the production of hydrogen sulphide and other things and would soon disappear shortly after the wine is opened and given a chance to breathe.
When smelling the wine, try and recall what the aromas remind you of. There is no such thing as a right or wrong association. Wine writers may think that a particular wine has hints of apples, mint or whatever. You may think otherwise. This is fine as individuals are entitled to their opinions. What you smell could be an indication of the grape variety used in that wine. For example, if black currant appears in the list, there is a good chance that you are drinking a Cabernet Sauvignon. If vanilla comes up in a tasting of a white wine, it could be a sign of the wine being aged in new oak barrels.
It might be of interest to note that New world whites tend to give off a stronger aroma than the Old World whites. New World reds too tend to have more fruit extract and are more concentrated. Take a note of the things that you have associated the aromas to. This could be a reference for you in future tastings.
Using our sense of Taste
Having visually examined and smelled the wine, we now come to the part where we actually put the wine into our mouths. After all, most people buy wine to drink don't they? Before you rush off to throw the whole content of your glass into your mouth and gulp down the wine, you may want to know that different parts of your mouth picks up different taste (sweet,sour,bitter,salty). So, to fully appreciate the wine, you need to take a bit of the contents of your glass into your mouth, roll the contents all over your mouth, making sure that all parts of your mouth comes into contact with the wine.
In tasting the wine, think of things like :
=> Flavour (Does it conform to what you smelled?)
Does it taste fruity, vegetal, of honey or some other things. It really could be anything and is a personal taste. Even the professionals have used terms like manure...you get the picture.
=>The sweetness or dryness (wine that is not sweet is termed dry)
Basically, this relates to how sweet the wine is. This point really does not need to be dwelled upon as most people would know what sweetness is.
=> The acidity (Taste fruits like green apples and you get an idea of what acidity is)
Acidity can be described as tasting fruits like green apples or lemons. Wines with a low level of acidity usually taste flat.
=> The body (ranges from very light to full bodied)
The body is dependant on the depth of the extract and the alcoholic contents (in wines usually a range of about 10% -14%). For a start, one might attempt to place the wine on the tongue and get a feel of the body of the wine. A full bodied wine is likely to have a higher fruit extract and alcoholic content than a light one.
=> The level of Tannin
Tannin levels in red wines tend to be higher than that of the whites. This is because tannin is from the seeds and skins of grapes. The skin and seeds of the grapes are removed before fermentation in the making of white wines. They are however crushed together with the grapes in the making of red wines. If the tannin level is high, it would leave you with a furry sensation.
There you have it. Wine tasting in a nut shell. Does not sound too difficult does it? All we need is a whole lot of practice.
The writer of this article does not claim to be an expert in this field nor does this article attempt to cover the whole gamut of facts and knowledge on wine tasting. The aim of this article was just to introduce some basics on wine tastings. Future articles on this web site would attempt to cover in more depth, some other tasting notes on grape varities and such.