This is a subject dear to my heart. After all, I’ve lectured to 22,415 people over the past 33 years on this very subject.
When we sample a wine for the first time we instinctively address the question, “Do I like this or not?” In fact we put so much focus on deciding if and how much we like it that we forget to think about why we like it or the wine’s colour, aroma and taste.
Have you ever said, “I had a great wine last week, now what was it?” You forgot the name because you put all your attention into how much you liked it rather than what you liked about it and even the wine’s name.
When wine professionals taste wine they run the wine through a check-list in an evidence-gathering process that breaks the wine down into its component parts. For example: how deep is the colour? What colour is it? What aromas can I detect? Is the wine dry or sweet? Is it thin or full-bodied?
It’s a system that allows the brain to sift through the evidence and establish patterns, resulting in a greater understanding of wine in general. A Eureka! moment might be when you realise that gewurztraminer has a slightly deeper colour than most white wines and typically has an aroma suggesting white rose or Turkish delight. By noting the colour and aroma of all wines you allowed your brain to make that conclusion. I should add that gewurztraminer grapes have a pink skin which explains the deeper colour.
Wine professionals use a special tasting process to amplify the characters of each wine, making it easier to analyse them
Look at the colour. Use a white background and assess the depth and colour of each wine. For red wine you may have to tilt the glass at a 45-degree angle and look at the wine rim to assess the wine’s hue.
Swirl the glass to intensify the aroma (it helps to use proper tasting glasses). While the wine is still sloshing around put your nose into the glass and sniff. Repeat the process. What aromas can you detect? If you can list one or two you are doing well. More is better.
Taste the wine by having a sip and rinsing the whole inside of your mouth with it. Now comes the tricky part. Gather the sample on your tongue and breathe air through it to make the wine gurgle. The object is to assess the wine’s level of sweetness (mostly on the tip of the tongue), acidity (more intense on the sides of the tongue) and bitterness if any (on the back of the tongue). We gurgle the wine to send the volatile components into the nasal cavity where they can be read by a clever little gland that measures flavour. Professionals spit the wine sample. You may swallow.
