Welcome to the ninth and final part of Winemaking for beginners: From grape to glass. We have followed the wine all the way from the vineyard through harvest, fermentation and ageing. Now we have reached the most enjoyable step of all: tasting.
Tasting wine is not an exam, and there are no wrong answers. It is about putting words to what you already sense, so that you slowly get better at knowing what you like. Take it easy, stay curious, and remember that it is all about pleasure.
What you will learn
- The three simple steps of a wine tasting: look, smell and taste
- A little vocabulary, so you can describe what you experience
- How the contents of the wine affect what you sense in the glass
- How to turn tasting into a cosy habit
Look: colour and clarity
Begin with your eyes. Pour a little wine into the glass, hold it up against a light background (a white tablecloth or wall is perfect), and look.
The colour already tells you something. White wine ranges from almost clear to light golden, while red wine goes from young, clear ruby red to deep, dark shades. In general, white wine becomes a little darker over the years, while red wine on the contrary lightens up and becomes more brick red at the rim. The colour is thus a small hint about the wine's age and style.
Notice too whether the wine is clear or a little hazy. Most wines are bright and clear. A touch of haziness is not necessarily a fault, just a sign that the wine may have been made with a light hand. You do not need to analyse anything. Just look, and enjoy the colour.
Smell: reading the aromas
Now comes the most important part, and it surprises many beginners: most of what we call taste is actually smell. Our nose is far more sensitive than the tongue, and it can recognise an impressive number of different scents, far more than the few basic tastes the tongue senses.
Swirl the glass gently a couple of times. That makes the wine release more of its scents, a bit like when you stir a pot and the food suddenly smells stronger. Then put your nose down into the glass and breathe in. A small sniff actually brings more scent up to the nose than ordinary breathing.
What do you sense? Think in images from everyday life: fruit (citrus, apple, dark berries, cherries), flowers, spices, herbs or perhaps something of a vanilla and toasty character from barrel ageing. There is no single right answer. The first thing that comes to mind is often the most honest.
Where do the aromas come from?
Some scents come from the grape itself, others arise during fermentation, and still others develop quietly through ageing. That is why a young and a mature wine of the same grape can smell quite different. If you want to dive into it, we have written more in Ageing: How wine develops flavour.
Taste: body, acidity, tannin and finish
Now take a small sip and let the wine fill your whole mouth before you swallow. Here are four words that cover most of what you experience.
Body is how "full" the wine feels in the mouth. Think of the difference between skimmed milk and cream. A light wine feels slender and fresh, a full wine feels round and satisfying. The wine's alcohol and contents help give it body.
Acidity is the freshness that makes your mouth water, just like a piece of lemon or a green apple. The right acidity makes the wine lively and fresh. Too little, and the wine can seem flat. Cooler climates typically give wines with more acidity.
Tannin you will mostly meet in red wine. It is the dry, slightly rough sensation that tugs at the gums, much like a cup of strong tea without milk. Tannin comes from the grape's skins, stalks and seeds and gives red wine structure and longevity. In a young wine it can feel powerful, but it often softens with time.
Finish is the aftertaste, that is, how long the flavour lingers after you have swallowed. A long, pleasant finish is usually a good sign.
The most important exercise is balance. When fruit, acidity and tannin play well together, the wine feels whole and harmonious. That is the sensation you should learn to recognise.
The wine's composition in the glass
It is nice to know that the four impressions above are not random. They reflect what the wine actually contains.
Wine is for the most part water. The rest is the exciting bit: alcohol, acids, sugar (in dry wines almost none) and a long range of aroma and flavour compounds from the grape and the fermentation. The alcohol contributes to the body and to the warmth you can sense at the back of the mouth. The acids give freshness. The tannins, which are found especially in red wine, give the rough structure. And the many small aroma compounds, which we mentioned above, give the aroma you experience as "taste".
You do not need to know a single technical term to enjoy this. But it is a small pleasure to know that when you sense freshness, warmth or roughness, you are actually reading the wine's recipe, grape by grape, sip by sip.
In short
- A wine tasting has three simple steps: look, smell and taste
- Most of the "taste" is really smell, so let the nose do the work
- Body, acidity, tannin and finish are four useful words to keep at hand
- Balance is the key: when the parts play together, the wine feels whole
- What you experience reflects the wine's content of alcohol, acidity and aroma compounds
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to recognise the "right" scents to taste correctly?
No. There is no answer key. Use images from your own everyday life, and trust the first thing that comes to mind. The more you taste, the more words you get, all by itself.
Why does one swirl the wine around in the glass?
It releases more of the wine's scents and brings them up to the nose, a bit like when a pot smells stronger as soon as you stir it. A couple of gentle swirls are plenty.
Ready for the next step?
With this, the journey from grape to glass is over, and you now stand with both the overview and a little vocabulary to put words to what you like. That is not a small thing.
If you want to refresh where it all began, you can always return to What is wine? A guide for beginners. And then there is only one thing left: to find a bottle, pour and taste. Do stop by our selection when you are ready to try something new.
Finally, remember the simplest truth of them all: the right wine is the one you yourself enjoy, with the food you yourself love. Cheers.