I grew up in South Jersey where we had more than a few wineries within close proximity to us. One of my favorite weekend excursions was to get some friends together and find one that was having a Wine Tasting that weekend. It was a great way to not only get to sample the local wines. Which depending on the winemaking process. And the weather during that growing season. The Wines were very much different from one another. But you could get an education on and about the wines. So try to go out and find some wine tasting in your area. Before long you will be hooked on wines tasting adventures.
What we learned during the wine tasting.
It does take a few times going to wine tastings before you will really get the full experience of what the winemaker intended for their wine to taste like. We were lucky that the first few times a few of our friends that knew a little about wine went with us. They were by no means a sommelier but they have traveled and went to more than a few tastings so they could show us the ropes.
Evaluate by sight.
They explained that color is a very important characteristic of the wine your about to taste. They explained you can tell a lot about the wine from its color. Here is how they showed us to evaluate it by sight.
The Side View
With the glass help in the light view the wine through the side of the glass. This will show how clear the wine is. If it’s murky this could mean it has chemicals or problems during the fermentation process. But this is not always the case it might just be unfiltered or has been shaking before it was poured and has some sediment mixed in. A good sign is when the looks clear and brilliant with some sparkle in it.
The Tilted View
You can get a good idea of a wines age and weight by tilting the glass which thins the wine out towards the rim. A quite pale and watery look near its edge suggests a rather thin or possibly insipid wine. For a white wine a tawny or brown look. And for red wine, an orange or rusty brick look means an older wine or one that has been oxidized. A wine that may be past it’s prime.
Swirl
A good swirl of your glass is the last step. The easiest way to accomplish this is by having it on a flat surface and swirl. Don’t make the mistake I made and try to open-air swirl it the first few times. What a mess. Take notice if the wine forms “legs” or “tears” that run down the side of the glass. If it has good legs the wine has more alcohol and glycerin content. Which usually means they are bigger, riper, and more mouth-filling and dense.
Evaluating by Sniff
Now that you have had a chance to get a good look at the wine. It’s time to take a good sniff and take in the aromas of the wine. You don’t need to bury your nose in the glass. But give it a swirl and hover your nose over the top of it. Then take a series of quick, short sniffs. Then step away and process the smells.
There are many guides to help you train your nose to identify key wine fragrances, both good and bad. There are potentially thousands of aroma components in a glass of good wine, so forget about finding them all. Naming all the fruits, flowers, herbs and other scents you can trowel out of the glass can be a fun game, but it’s not essential to enjoying and learning how to taste wine. Once you’ve taken a few quick, short sniffs of the wine, try to look for the following aromas, which will help you better understand the wine’s characteristics.
Wine Flaws
You want to look for off aromas that will indicate the wine is spoiled. A wine that is corked will usually smell like a musty old attic. And if you are brave enough to try it the taste will be like a wet newspaper. This is a terminal flaw that is unfixable.
A wine that has been bottled with a strong dose of SO2 will smell like burnt matches; this will blow off if you give it a bit of vigorous swirling.
A smell of vinegar indicates VA (volatile acidity); a nail polish smell is ethyl acetate.
Brettanomyces—an undesirable yeast that reeks of sweaty saddle scents. A little bit of “brett” gives red wines an earthy, leathery component; but too much obliterates all the flavors of fruit.
Learning to identify these common flaws is at least as important as reciting the names of all the fruits and flowers. And it will also help you to understand your own palate sensitivities and blind spots. Discovering what you recognize and enjoy is key to learning how to choose wine on your own.
Fruit Aromas
If you don’t detect any off aromas then you are off to a good start. You then should see if you detect any fruit aromas. Since wine is made from grapes it should smell like fresh fruit. That is unless it is very old, sweet, or cold.
You can learn to look for specific fruits and grapes, and many grapes will show a spectrum of possible fruit scents that help you to identify the growing conditions—cool climate, moderate or very warm—of the vineyard.
Flowers, Leaves, Herbs, Spices & Vegetables
Floral aromas are particularly common in cool climate white wines.
There are some grapes that may carry herbal or grassy scents. Like a Sauvignon Blanc which is often strongly grassy. While Cabernet Sauvignon can be scented with herbs and hints of vegetation. The best wine aromas are complex but also balanced, specific but also harmonious.
Our you might find some wines characterized as earthy. Scents of rock, leather, damp earth or mushrooms can be found in some red wines. Where a mushroom smell may add nuance and help you determine a possible grape or origin of the wine. It can also mean the grapes did not fully ripen or were from an inferior clone.
A horse or tack room leather can also be an accent. But too much might indicate Brettanomyces ( a non-spore forming genus of yeast in the family Saccharomycetaceae)
Earth, mineral and rock scents sometimes exist in the finest whites and red wines. These can be indications of “terroir”—the particular conditions of the vineyard that are expressed as specific scents and flavors in the finished wine.
Wine Barrel Aromas
Picking up scents of toast, vanilla, smoke, roasted nuts, caramel, or chocolate in the wine. It probably has been aging in new oak barrels.
Barrels can impart a vast array of scents and flavors to finished wines. This depends on many factors such as the type of oak, how the barrels were made, their age, how charred the barrel is, and how the winemaker has mixed and matched them.
If you smell toast, smoke, vanilla, chocolate, espresso, roasted nuts, or even caramel in a wine, you are most likely picking up scents from aging in new oak barrels. Think of the barrels as a winemaker’s color palette, to be used the way a painter uses tubes of paint.
Secondary Aromas
You might detect a scent that reminds you of beer. This can be true with some of the young white wines and or sparkling wines. This is caused by the yeast.
Some of the dessert wines will have a strong scent of honey. this is evidence of botrytis, which may be referred to as noble rot.
If your Chardonnay smell like buttered popcorn or caramel. It has been most likely been put through secondary, malolactic fermentation. This converts malic to lactic acids. This tends to soften the wines while also opening up the aromas.
Older wines have more complex, less fruity aromas. A fully mature wine can offer an explosion of highly nuanced scents, beautifully co-mingled and virtually impossible to name. It is pure pleasure.
When you put words to the wine aromas your efforts are rewarded. With a focus on, understanding, and retaining your impressions of different wines. This is a good way to build a memory bank of wine smells and their meanings. Soon you will be speaking the language of wine.
Evaluating by Taste
Now with all that done and your knowledge of wines will soon be growing. It’s time for the fun part. Always take a sip of wine into your mouth (do not fill it). Then it might take some practice but try sucking on the wine. As if you were pulling it through a straw. This aerates the wine and circulates it throughout your mouth,
Again, you’ll encounter a wide range of fruit, flower, herb, mineral, barrel, and other flavors, and if you’ve done your sniffing homework right. Most will follow right along where the aromas left off. Aside from simply identifying flavors. You are also using your taste buds to determine if the wine is balanced, harmonious, complex, evolved, and complete. This is part of the wine tasting that is my favorite.
Balanced
If a wine is balanced in flavor its basic components should be in good proportion. You should taste sweet, sour, salty, and bitter.
Sweet (residual sugar) and sour (acidity) are obviously important components of wine. Saltiness is rarely encountered and bitterness should be more a feeling of astringency (from tannins) than actual bitter flavors.
A lot of your dry wines will have a mix of flavors that should be derived from the aromas you detect. In addition to having the taste of the acids, tannins, and alcohol. These will not be detectable with the smell of the wine.
Every winemaker is different so there is no one single formula. But there should always be a balance between the flavors. If a wine is too sour, too sugary, too astringent, too hot (alcoholic), too bitter, or too flabby (lack of acid) then it is not a well-balanced wine. If it is young, it is not likely to age well. Or if it is old, it may be falling apart or perhaps completely gone.
Harmonious
A harmonious wine has all of its flavors seamlessly integrated. It’s quite possible, especially in young wines, for all the components to be present in the wine in good proportion. But they stick out. You can feel all the edges, but yet they all can be easily identified. This means they have not blended together and a good sign of very good winemaking; when a young wine has already come together and presents its flavors harmoniously. I love running into these wines during my wine tasting.
Complex
A good gauge of your progress that you are now learning how to taste wine. It is your ability to appreciate and detect complexity in the wine. Because complexity can mean many things when it comes to wine tasting.
Some of the simplest flavors to recognize are the following. Very ripe, jammy fruit, and strong vanilla flavors that come from various oak treatments. Many new to wine tasters relate to them first. This is because they are familiar and likable. Some extremely successful wine brands have been formulated to offer these flavors in abundance. But they do not offer complexity.
Complex wines should dance in your mouth and should change even while you are tasting them. A wine’s length whether its an older or younger one is one good indication of complexity. Take note of how long the wine lingers after you swallow. Do not make the mistake of rushing on to the next wine. Let the dance finish before moving on. You dont want to rush your wine tasting experience.
Complete
When you talk about a complete wine it should be balanced, harmonious, complex, and evolved. Its finish should be both lingering and satisfying. They have a lot to offer so give them a little more attention.
Now that you understand the basic steps with our wine tasting tips, it’s time to experiment on your own. One good way is to become a member of our Wine Of The Month Club. With Wine Ambassador their very own sommelier handpicks wines from all over the world. Some of the wines are exclusive to Wine Ambassador. This is because if they find a particularly good wine they will buy the whole batch from that winery. Making it so that only their members will be the only ones to try that wine.
What you can expect.
Along with the monthly shipment of either 2 or 4 bottles of red, white, or both (you can always order more of a particular favorite). They enclose a wine information card. This tells you about the winery, the grapes, the climate, about the winemaker, and what foods pair well with that particular wine. This is a great way to experience new wines and enhance your training of wine tasting. As you will have a “cheat sheet” about every bottle that is shipped to you.
This is great for those that are new to wine tasting. And a great way to expand your wine knowledge. As you won’t just be experiencing wines from near you, but wines from all over the globe.
This is a great and fun way to have some fun and impress your friends. Have them over for your own wine tasting every month when your new shipment of wine arrives. you can even become a rep with Wine Ambassador and turn it into a great work from home business opportunity.
Go Here to Enroll and Get Your Fine Wines Delivered To Your Door
If you are still unsure please join us for our weekly Wonderful Wine & Dine Wednesday call. Also open to your friends and family or anyone you might think would be interested in learning more about our wine of the month club- and how some have grown it into their Full Time at Home Business.
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