How to Taste Wine
Tips for learning About and Enjoying Wine
By Eric Henderson
Many people don’t really taste their wine when they drink it. Learning how to taste will greatly increase your appreciation and enjoyment of wine.
Use the four “S” method: See, Smell, Sip, and Savor. This easy technique will really help. Try doing all four in the right order every time you taste a wine. Very soon it will become natural and unselfconscious.
See: Look carefully at the wine before you taste it. The appearance of the wine will tell you a lot. Is it red, white or rose? Does it have bubbles? Does it have sediment? Is it cloudy or clear?
With age, red wines get lighter and white wines grow darker. Each wine has its own appearance. It’s not that there are good and bad appearances, but the wine in your glass should look appropriate for the type of wine you have ordered. For example, a light white wine like a sauvignon blanc should be almost as clear as water. A golden hue might be fine in another wine, but in a sauvignon blanc something is amiss. Most likely it is too old and may be spoiled. This will be a clue for you when you taste it. Over time you will learn the appearance of specific types of wine.
Smell: This is the most important of the four steps. Breath in the aroma very gently and see what it reminds you of. Don’t worry about all the strange descriptors you have heard tossed around; instead concentrate on what you smell. Try to identify what you think it smells like, then remember and identify that aroma with that particular wine. Over time you will be amazed at how much your sense of smell will improve and what it will teach you.
Sip: After you smell the wine and have described the aroma using your own words, you are ready to take a sip.
If you sip the wine the way you drink a soft drink you are going to miss most of the flavor.
First, take a big enough sip to cover your whole tongue and then hold it in your mouth while you examine the taste. Our tongues can only distinguish four tastes: sweet, at the tip of the tongue; sour, along the sides of the tongue; bitter, at the middle and back of the tongue; and salt, which you should not find in wine. You will need to use all parts of your tongue.
While you hold the wine on your tongue, very gently exhale through your nose. This will move the aroma over your olfactory (smell) senses. These, together with your tongue, will allow you to discern thousands of separate tastes. It will take time to get good at this; you will get better each time you try it.
While the wine is in your mouth, think about its texture. Is it light or full bodied? Is it sharp or soft? You will recognize fruit or lack of fruit. The astringency you may find in younger reds is caused by their tannins. If the astringency is too strong, the wine is probably not yet ready to drink. As wine ages the tannins will mellow out producing more complexity in the taste.
Savor: When you swallow the wine, pay attention and continue your examination. Think about:
Overall impression. Was it pleasant? Was it as good as the taste in your mouth or maybe even better?
Did you taste one flavor or many?
Were the elements of fruit, sweetness, acidity and tannins in balance or did one dominate?
How long did the flavor (the finish) last after it was swallowed?
Then the most important question--did you like the wine? If yes, think about why and try to remember why. If no, then what didn’t you like?
If you practice these steps regularly, you will learn something from and about each wine. This will help you to develop a greater understanding of your own tastes and guide you so that you will be able to choose the wines you like more often.
Eric Henderson, a Reston resident, has taught several wine courses and arranged wine special events for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at George Mason University. Learning about and enjoying wine for more than 45 years has taught him that life’s too short to drink bad wine! Eric arranges wine tastings and dinners, and follows the Virginia wine industry closely. He can be reached at ericcarol@mac.com.
