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Getting Started
The main reason we learn to taste wine is to really taste all the intense and complex flavors of wine and enjoy it with friends. It’s fun, it will educate your palate, and will add an intriguing level of complexity to your wine tasting adventures.
The one thing to remember is that the essential elements of tasting wine are easy to learn. Once you have the basics set in your mind you will be able to have a better understanding as to what wines you enjoy, and why you do not enjoy certain wines.
Drink wine as often as possible. Wine drinkers who have the most fun are curious. They love to ask questions. So when you are at the wine shop, just ask the clerk “what does this wine taste like?” The clerk will be happy to give his impression.
Wine Tasting Tip: Ask questions, don't be intimidated. For wine tasting experiences at a winery, visit Winery Explorer to find wineries in your area that offer wine tastings.
Tasting wine is an observation process in which you will use your eyes, nose, and palate.
Watch the Video
This video has some great tasting techniques.
If you do not see the video below, use Mozilla Firefox as the browser. You can download it from the link at the bottom of this page. Give it a try, you will enjoy the video.
Color Tells A Lot
The color of a wine can tell you a lot about the wine.
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Keep in mind that this may vary depending on the grape and the aging techniques.
Cold or Chilled
Proper serving temperature is key to enjoying the optimal flavors of the wines. The basic and most popular serving temperature for red wine is 57-68 degrees, and white wine is 48-58 degrees.
To Keep it Simple:
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However, if you are in a room that is not air conditioned in the middle of summer, that particular room temperature is not a good barometer for serving your red wines. Your serving temperature should be 60 to 65 degrees.
Keep in mind that the perfect serving temperatures for any wine remains a topic that is still debated in some wine circles.
Wine Tasting Tip -- Chill wine in a bucket of water and ice cubes. Do not use ice cubes in your wine glass!
Keep A Tasting Journal
Now that you have tasted the wines, what did you see, taste, andthink?
This is the part where you have decided what you liked and did not like about the wine. You've noted how the wine smelled and what you flavors you tasted.
There are lots of questions for this analysis – did you like the wine? Did you want to take another sip, or did you just want to spit it out? Can you identify what element was not pleasant to you?
Maybe it tasted a bit too spicy or peppery in your mouth. Or did it seem to be too tart and it made your mouth pucker? The pepper or spice would be some of the flavors of the wine -- your mouth would pucker from the tannins in the wine.
These elements will affect everyone’s palate in a different way. These are the notes you will record in your tasting journal.
When you jot down your impressions of each wine be sure to include the label information, as well as your notes on the appearance, nose and taste, and the price if available and the date. All this information will be invaluable. You may not realize it in the beginning, but eventually you will.
Your notes will be a life-saver when you want to celebrate an anniversary or milestone birthday that is coming up. You’ll be able to choose the perfect wine to uncork for that special occasion just by reviewing the notes in your journal.
Be Adventurous
You’ll find new wines and new ways to taste wine and share it with family and friends. And who knows, you may find a new red or white wine you never would have tried before.
You’ll be surprised when you realize that you will be looking forward to tasting different varietals and enjoying them. You might just find a new favorite red or white variety. It happens to everyone.
Food Pairing
To make this as uncomplicated as possible for your wine tasting theme party, click here for suggestions and recipes for your food and wine pairings. These suggestions are simple and easy to put together for your wine tasting.
Evaluating Wine
