Headed to your first wine tasting or just trying to get a better handle on this whole swirl, sniff, sip thing? I get it, wine tasting can be overwhelming as a beginner, especially if you are surrounded by more experienced winos. And I don't know about you, but being the less experienced and knowledgable one in the crowd just makes me want to crawl into my shell and I don't have fun OR learn anything new. So if you are a newbie or looking for a crash course in wine tasting, you've come to the right place. I'm going to break down the whole approach and explain why we do certain things - but don't worry, I won't get too technical on ya! As always, we're here for a little fun as we go!
If you're planning to hit up some wineries and get a buzz on thats cool, but let me help you look like you know what you're doing as you go. Now hang on with me as we break down this whole swirl, sniff, sip thing!
Start with a Swirl
Swirling your wine serves a few purposes. The first, and main purpose is to open the aromas for when you get to the sniff section. You also can get some indication of the body of the wine when your swirl your glass. How, you ask? Ever heard of viscosity? It's basically the consistency or thickness of a substance and you can see it in the way it drips. Think of honey which is super thick and runs and drips super slowly (v viscous) vs milk which is much thinner and will run quickly, likely leaving just a light residue. With that being said, after swirling your wine, you may notice what we call "legs" running down your glass. Thicker, slow running legs indicate a fuller body as compared to a light-bodied wine which may not even show these legs. Next, we're getting into evaluating the color and intensity. If you want to look like a pro, hold your glass at an angle over a white piece of paper or surface. This is one reason why you'll often notice white tasting mats! The white background combined with the angle allows you to make a clear evaluation of the color and intensity of your wine. What the heck is intensity? Intensity is basically the concentration and may be described as pale, medium, or deep. Evaluate intensity by looking through your glass and seeing how much color runs to the outer ring of the wine. Does the wine lose its color or is it opaque toward the outside? With reds especially, you can determine based on how well you can see through (or read if you have notes!) the wine.
Are we doing okay? Do we need a break for water? You're good? Okay cool, let's move on to color. Going into color can be like a box of crayons, but we're going to keep it relatively simple. Determining color should be fairly simple, but does take some practice. Use a color chart like the one below each time you sample a wine and you will catch on quickly!
White - straw, yellow, gold, amber Rosé - pink, salmon, orange
Red - purple, ruby, garnet, tawny
Give 'er a Sniff
Here is where things can get really intimidating but can also be super fun! Let me review a few basic points to get you going - but remember this part is super subjective. It's very possible you will pick up more, less, or different aromas than I will and that is perfectly okay!
Before sniffing give your glass another good swirl. "Aerating" the wine in this way helps aromas to open and develop, giving you a greater profile to work with. You can note the intensity of the aromas (just like the color!) basically by observing how strong the smell is. If just pouring the glass you begin. to pick up certain fruity or earthy notes, etc, it would be considered to have very intense aromas. If you have to swirl the glass a lot and really get your nose in there to pick much up, it would be considered to have a light intensity of aroma.
Here we go, now it's getting good! Tell. me what you smell!! I have to be honest, I don't have a super-strong nose *insert sad crying face here* so I really feed off people when tasting and learning based on what they are picking up. Primary flavors are what come from the grapes themselves and are mostly your fruity flavors. Start with broad categories such as "citrus" or "berries" and go deeper from there. The more experience you gain the further you will take this. You may start to note specifics such as "orange peel" and "cooked strawberries", but again this can take a lot of tasting experience, so don't feel intimidated if you just get as far as is "green apple"!
Secondary aromas come from the winemaking process, the most well-known being oak influence. Yes, you may smell oak. You may also smell vanilla, coconut, spice, or toast which all come under the influence of oak. Tertiary flavors come through after aging and will be picked up. as aromas of leather, smoke, and tobacco.
How are we feeling after that? If you're getting stressed, take a deep breath - the next step is sipping!!
Time to sip!
This is it, the moment we've all been waiting for! If you're new to this, it may seem like quite a process to go through to drink some wine - and you're right. However, going through these steps will teach you quite a bit and you will come to appreciate the wine that much more!
Now we'll go over a few of the most talked-about structural elements of wine: body, sweetness, tannin, acid, and alcohol. Go ahead and take a sip of the wine and swish it all around in your mouth. The first thing you can note is the weight or the body of the wine. This example is frequently used to help understand the body of a wine:
Skim Milk --> Light Body
Whole Milk --> Medium Body
Cream --> Full Body
Next, you can evaluate sweetness which simply stated is sugar content and for many is the first and most notable trait. This may be because it is the most easily identified component, but also because it hits your tongue first. We typically consider wines to be dry, off-dry, medium-sweet, or sweet.
After sweetness you can think about acid, which is the mouth-watering quality of a wine. This can sometimes be quite zippy or bitey, but it's easy to compare to a refreshing glass of lemonade.
Then there is tannin, which generally is found only in red wines. Tannin comes from the skin of the grapes and is imparted into the wine during the skin-contact portion of fermentation. Because white wines are not fermented in contact with the grape skins, you will not find tannin in white wines - aside from "skin contact" or "orange" wines. Tannin is not liked by all and is often what turns certain individuals off of red wine, as it gives a drying sensation and often bitter flavor.
Last is alcohol content! Most table wines are between 11% and 14% ABV and the best way to detect it is with a breath in after swallowing your wine. With that breath, note the burning sensation at the back of your mouth - that comes from alcohol!
Okay, you're done! Right? Well, almost...
Now that you have completed the tasting process you can give a full evaluation of your wine. Sometimes thiis may end at "Yeah, I like it!" (or not) or you can determine the quality of the wine with these four checks:
This is a system I have been trained to use by the WSET and is known as BLIC - Balance, Length, Intensiy, Complexity and is a great method of making an overall determiniation of a wine's quality.
Is the wine balanced? Do the wines qualities compliment each other nicely or is one characteristic sticking out more than another? This can really be a turn-off if the wine is super high in tannin or if the wine is very sweet without any acid to balance.
Length of finish is how long the wines good characteristics stick with you after you have swallowed. If you notice several seconds of a wine's fruity or earthy flavors lingering - again, the good characteristics, not if it is unfavorable - that is an known of long finish and can be a good indication of quality! Intensity we talked about way back at the beginning and again, is how strongly the flavors and aromas come through. Complexity refers to the depth of both flavor and aroma characteristics. If the wine is presenting just one or two indentifiable characteristics it would not be considered as high of quality as a wine that brings three to five characteristics.
You've done it! You now have gone through the complete tasting process! I agree, its kind of a lot of work. BUT doing this frequently and taking notes as you go will help the process to become more natural and will feel a little less like work. Going through this approach to tasting will help you to learn more about different wines, help you to identify certain characteristics better, and to know what you do and don't like! And next time you go winery hopping with your girlfriends, you'll look like a real swirl, sniff, sip pro! Now this is the best part - you can sit back and just enjoy your glass (or bottle) of wine! Remember the most important part is still your enjoyment and definitely the memories you make when you share a bottle with a loved one!
Cheers! xoxo
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