How to Taste Wine?

Are you curious about how to properly taste wine but feeling a bit lost? Don't worry, we've got you covered! Simply grab a glass of your favourite wine, take a medium-sized sip, and let it dance around your mouth. Swallow it down or spit it out if you prefer, and then take a slow breath through your mouth and exhale through your nose.

There are four key points to start with, and we are going to break these down in a series of posts for you. Sommeliers use these tips to refine their palates and recall wines. It's simple and helpful for anyone looking to improve their wine palate.

1. Look - best observed under neutral lighting conditions.

2. Smell - Trying to identify aromas in the wine

3. Taste - Learn to taste the structures in the wine like sour, bitter, sweet

4. Think - Create a complete wine profile that you'll never forget.

LOOK

Take a quick peek at the wine's colour, opacity, and wine legs (the drips that run down the inside of the glass). Don't spend more than 5 seconds on this. While the wine's appearance can give some clues, most of the important stuff like the year it was made, how strong it is, and what type of grapes were used can be found right on the bottle label.

Checking out wine: The colour and opacity of a wine can give you a lot of info about its age, grape varieties used, acidity, alcohol, sugar, and even the climate where the grapes were grown.

Age: White wines get more yellow and brown and overall more pigmented as they age, while red wines lose colour and become more transparent.

Potential Grape Varieties: The colour and variation of the rim can give a clue about the grape variety used. For example, wines made from Nebbiolo and Grenache grapes may have a translucent garnet or orange colour on their rim, even when they're young.

Pinot Noir wines often have a true-red or true-ruby colour, particularly if they're produced

in cooler climates. Malbec wines may have a magenta-pink rim.

Alcohol and Sugar: Wine legs can help you guess the alcohol and sugar content of the wine. The thicker and more viscous the legs, the higher the alcohol or residual sugar content in the wine.

Wanna know more about wine? Come to our in-store tastings with our invited experts to get all your wine questions answered. https://www.barrelsandstills.store/events