Wine Tasting: An Ultimate Guide for Beginners

Everyone loves to enjoy a glass of wine experience because here, wine is celebrated as much as the occasion. Therefore, mastering wine tasting can further improve your wine-drinking experience. Wine tasting may seem challenging at first, but it’s actually a fun, engaging, and visually captivating experience. As said, practice makes a man perfect; a basic understanding and consistent practice will definitely take you to the level of a sommelier.  

What is Wine Tasting?

Although it's not rocket science, but for wine-tasting professionals, it's a combination of art and science. Wine tasting involves discovering and savouring the unique characteristics of a wine. This process involves a few steps, which are observing wine's colour and textures, smelling, swirling, and identifying its aromas and flavours. 

Five Fundamental Steps to Follow While Tasting Wine 

Sight: Just as admiring art is visually fascinating, embracing your glass of wine with gaze is the art of observing the colour and intensity of the wine. When you look at wine, it will show its clarity, and the wine’s legs will let you discover its viscosity and alcohol content, which gives a valuable understanding of the kind of wine you are drinking. 

Swirl: Swirling is a crucial part of wine tasting. It helps the flavours of the wine to open up and enhance its aromas by oxygenating the wine, which also enriches its texture! While gently swirling your wine, notice its viscosity and tannin content on the sides of the glass. 

Smell: Smelling a wine is often referred to as the “nose” of the wine. It provides insights into its flavour and taste profile through the aroma. You have to hold the glass under your nose and sniff the wine to determine the types of aromas present in the wine to assess the richness of the wine. However, keep in mind that everyone has a different sense of smell, and observing any kind of smell and taste is a subjective matter. All you need to do is follow your senses and gut. 

Taste: Last but not least, the moment you've been eagerly waiting for, tasting and feeling the wine, is kind of heavenly. You can differentiate the wine’s initial flavours by letting it rest on your tongue for 3-5 seconds! Then start taking small sips of wine and find out if it has high or low tannin, high or low in acidity, dry or sweet, or full, medium, or light-bodied. At the last sip, savour the taste to notice if it still lingers in your mouth or if there is no aftertaste; this will provide you with the necessary information on the complexity and quality of your wine.

Savour: Finally, recollect what you experienced and savoured during the wine-tasting process. After trying the wine, keep the following in mind and take note of it:

1. Wine Balance: Is the wine balanced? Notice how the sweetness, acidity, astringency, tannin level, and concentration of alcohol all combine to balance each other out and create a delicious and savoury wine.
2. Wine Complexity: Does the wine have enough complexity? Observe the different layers of wine's aromas and flavours it gives. The more complex a wine is, the deeper the flavours and aromas you will taste.
3. The Finish of Wine: The final taste of wine displays its quality and intensity. Every sip should leave a lasting aftertaste, indicating a complex and fine wine with many flavours and scents. 

All of these insights will help you identify the wine's impression on you. Every wine is unique, so trust your instincts and continue to practice your senses. After all, the ultimate goal is to like and enjoy the wine. 

Key Points to Remember While Wine Tasting 

Do the Research: Take the appropriate time to practice and do detailed research about the winery, its wines, and the region to deepen your wine knowledge and improve your tasting experience.

Keep Snacking and Maintain Hydration: Always keep yourself hydrated with water and have light snacks, avoiding anything with too many spices and flavours that might overpower your taste senses.

Minimise Strong Scents: Avoid wearing any strong-scented perfumes or colognes in order to prevent the overwhelming of wine's aromatic textures.

Consult with Experts: Consulting a wine expert or sommelier for the right guidance is always a great idea—they are your mentors when it comes to wine tasting.

Take Notes: Write the notes you observed while tasting wines in a journal, or you can try a wine-tasting app, mentioning the flavours, types of aromas, and other unique wine characteristics you discover.

Review and Find Your Favourites: After your wine tasting is done, review and rate wines based on your taste and preferences, and find out which ones are your favourites.  

Wine tasting is supposed to appreciate and savour delicious wines, so there is no need to make it complicated, as the main purpose is to enjoy wine as much as you can. Therefore, we hope you will fully enjoy your next wine tasting with this beginner's guide. Cheers to a wonderful wine-tasting experience.