Wine Tasting-Learn More About Its Art
- By Holly Peters
- Published 10/14/2011
- Wine and Spirits
- Unrated
The art of wine tasting allows one to appreciate better winemakers and their wine. In order to properly distinguish the different wine flavors, the sense of sight, smell and taste are combined skillfully. This skill can even be developed so that one has the ability to do wine tasting at a professional level.
The first thing to do is to observe the wine for its color. Simply pour some wine into your glass and while you tilt the glass away from you, put it against a white cloth or napkin, and observe its color. If you are using red wine, you will observe colors that range from brownish to brick red, purple to garnet, ruby to maroon while with white wine you will observe either brown or amber, straw-like or pale yellow, light green or amber.
The second thing you need to observe is the opacity of the wine. You do this by tilting the wine, giving it a swirl, and look for clarity and the presence of sediments, pieces of cork, or any floating material. Some people say that older white wines are darker than younger ones and older red wines have more orange tinges compared to younger ones.
The next is to smell the wine. Properly analyze the smell of the wine by swirling the glass for 12 seconds or so and taking a quick whiff. This method helps vaporizes the alcohol, releases the natural aroma of the wine and helps you get your first impression.
Then smell the wine more by inhaling deeply through your nose-this is your second impression. You may repeatedly swirl the glass and smell it in order to get a beautiful mixing and mingling of aromas. Analyze well the aroma because this is one of the
characteristics that makes a wine unique from the rest.
The next step is to actually taste the wine. Take a small sip first and let the wine roll around your mouth. When tasting wine, there are basically three phases and they are:
The first phase is the attack phase. In this phase, you taste the wine for its first impressions, and you evaluate it for a balance of qualities such as alcohol content, acidity, tannin level and residual sugar. These qualities are important because they tell whether the wine is sweet or dry, soft or firm, intense and or complex.
The next phase in tasting wine is called the evolution phase wherein the taster discerns more intently the profile of the flavor of the wine. Red wine might have woody flavors or be like berry prune, or plum, or spicy like cinnamon. On the other hand, white wine might have some earthy flavors like butter or herbs, or may be like pear, apples or citrus fruits.
The last phase in tasting wine is to find out the persistence of the flavor of the wine in your mouth. Find out how long the taste remains in your mouth after you swallow the wine. Also, find out whether you need another sip or whether it was bitter in the end.
The last thing to do in the art of wine tasting is to record all the impressions you got. This recording helps you decide on the appropriate cost of the wine as well as giving you an overall impression of the wine (e.g. sourness, sweetness, bitterness, and acidity). Note these readings on the samples and mark for future reference.
Not a lot of people know the things involved in the art of wine tasting. Regardless if you know the art or not, wine tasting is undeniably enjoyable especially when shared with friends and loved ones.
The first thing to do is to observe the wine for its color. Simply pour some wine into your glass and while you tilt the glass away from you, put it against a white cloth or napkin, and observe its color. If you are using red wine, you will observe colors that range from brownish to brick red, purple to garnet, ruby to maroon while with white wine you will observe either brown or amber, straw-like or pale yellow, light green or amber.
The second thing you need to observe is the opacity of the wine. You do this by tilting the wine, giving it a swirl, and look for clarity and the presence of sediments, pieces of cork, or any floating material. Some people say that older white wines are darker than younger ones and older red wines have more orange tinges compared to younger ones.
The next is to smell the wine. Properly analyze the smell of the wine by swirling the glass for 12 seconds or so and taking a quick whiff. This method helps vaporizes the alcohol, releases the natural aroma of the wine and helps you get your first impression.
Then smell the wine more by inhaling deeply through your nose-this is your second impression. You may repeatedly swirl the glass and smell it in order to get a beautiful mixing and mingling of aromas. Analyze well the aroma because this is one of the
The next step is to actually taste the wine. Take a small sip first and let the wine roll around your mouth. When tasting wine, there are basically three phases and they are:
The first phase is the attack phase. In this phase, you taste the wine for its first impressions, and you evaluate it for a balance of qualities such as alcohol content, acidity, tannin level and residual sugar. These qualities are important because they tell whether the wine is sweet or dry, soft or firm, intense and or complex.
The next phase in tasting wine is called the evolution phase wherein the taster discerns more intently the profile of the flavor of the wine. Red wine might have woody flavors or be like berry prune, or plum, or spicy like cinnamon. On the other hand, white wine might have some earthy flavors like butter or herbs, or may be like pear, apples or citrus fruits.
The last phase in tasting wine is to find out the persistence of the flavor of the wine in your mouth. Find out how long the taste remains in your mouth after you swallow the wine. Also, find out whether you need another sip or whether it was bitter in the end.
The last thing to do in the art of wine tasting is to record all the impressions you got. This recording helps you decide on the appropriate cost of the wine as well as giving you an overall impression of the wine (e.g. sourness, sweetness, bitterness, and acidity). Note these readings on the samples and mark for future reference.
Not a lot of people know the things involved in the art of wine tasting. Regardless if you know the art or not, wine tasting is undeniably enjoyable especially when shared with friends and loved ones.
Holly Peters
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