Tasting wine is a little more complicated than you may think. There is a certain way to get the full effect of the wine. With these four basic steps you'll get the full wine tasting experience:
1. Look - The first and easiest step is to look at the wine. Observe the color, transparency, and consistency of the wine. The appearance of a wine can tell a lot about how it looks.
2. Smell - The next step is to smell the wine. Through this step you can find out a little more about what flavors a wine contains. You can smell if there may be citrus fruits, or tropical fruits. A lot of our taste comes from the scent of what we are consuming so this is a good way to appreciate the wine.
3. Taste - Tasting the wine is the most important step. However, it is not as simple as you may think. A lot of wines have a different taste while in your mouth compared to once you swallow due to receiving them retro-nasally. While tasting, notice if the wine is sweet, salty, or bitter. Due to the acid in grapes, most wines will have some sour to them. You should also notice the texture of the wine. We perceive some wines as higher in texture because of it's age. Also take note of the length of a wine. What it tastes like in the beginning, middle (known as "mid-palate"), and end (known as "finish") of the taste often changes. Different wines leave you sooner than others, as well. (View our post on The Language of Wine.)
4. Conclude - The last step is to come to a conclusion. Did you like the wine? Did it contain flavors you enjoyed? Was it balanced or did you think it was too acidic or alcoholic? There are so many different wines to choose from so it's important to take note of which ones you like and don't like.
