The educated tasting of wine is a combination of knowledge, experience and learning the disciplined use of our four senses:

• Sight
• Smell
• Taste
• Touch

As knowledge improves and the practice grows, the taster becomes more skillful, which enhances the enjoyment and understanding of wine.(Return to Top)

There are four related reasons to taste wine and write tasting notes:

• To provide a personal record of wines you have tasted
• To assist in the description of a wine when explaining its qualities or deficiencies to other people
• To help you in the assessment of the quality of a wine in terms of value (i.e. When making a purchasing decision)
• To monitor the progress of a wine (its maturity), an essential part of protecting investment

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The ideal Ideal wine tasting conditions should always be done in neutral conditions. Perfect surroundings are:

• Good daylight
• North facing windows
• Clean white surfaces
• No distracting odors

The requirement for no distracting odors is very important. Aromas from perfume or aftershave affect the bouquet/nose of the wine and make it impossible for other people to taste properly. Fumes of any kind and kitchen smells should be avoided. A quiet, tidy environment aids concentration. (Return to Top)

These should be completely clean, dry and polished. They should be washed in hot water only, without detergent which leaves a distinct odor.

Glasses should be broader at the base and narrower at the top. This helps concentrate the aroma towards the nose. Suitable shapes for tasting include:

"Paris Goblet" One of the cheapest wine glasses available (four can be bought for the price of a bottle of very basic wine). It fulfils the criteria of having a stem and going in towards the rim, and is better than narrower 'tulip' shapes, but the glass is too thick to provide intimate or luxurious contact with the wine.

The "ISO tasting glass" Like a large tulip on a short stem, was designed in the 1970s by the International Standards Organization advised by a panel of professional wine tasters. For a long time it was regarded as the standard professional wine glass. Machine-made versions are available and cost no more than the cheapest bottle of wine. Hunt around on the internet, as they're rarely available in wine shops. It does the job but certainly wins no prizes for glamour.

"Sherry Copita" An ISO-standard sized sherry glass is 120 milliliters (4.2 imp fl oz; 4.1 US fl oz). The copita, with its aroma-enhancing narrow taper, is a type of sherry glass.

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In order to taste accurately, only a small amount should be poured into the tasting glass. Filling it more than 1/3 (one-third) full makes it difficult to perform some of the following operations.

All wines have certain characteristics in common. For example:
• Sweetness/Dryness
• Acidity
• Tannin
• Body or weight
• Fruit

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There is a logical order in which the senses should be brought into play when a wine is tasted. After pouring the wines into a suitable wine glass take a look...

Clarity - vitally important to a wine.

Cloudiness is the first indication that there might be a problem.

The cause for the cloudiness may be due to:
• Particularly with old wine, it might be the result of clumsy decanting and the disruption of sediment.
• Of more concern would be cloudiness caused by re-fermentation in the bottle or bacterial problems which would subsequently be confirmed both on the nose and the palate.

Color - both intensity and the hue, can suggest much about it.

To get the true color of a wine in a glass, hold it away from you at an angle of 45 degrees against a plain white background.

This should reveal two distinct colors:
• One at the rim of the wine
• the other at the body or core.

(Red wines get paler as they age, and the first sign of this ageing will be at the rim, which may change from purple, to ruby, to russet and then with extreme age, to brown.)
Most wines are made for drinking young, so may never reach the second stage of this process.

You should realize that each grape variety has it individual depth and hue, with some grapes being grown specifically to add color. The degree of color extraction during vinification (wine-making) affects the appearance of the final wine.

A pale red wine with a tawny rim could be a mature wine from a range of grape varieties, or it could be a youthful Pinot Noir or Nebbiolo. An opaque purple wine could be a mighty Shiraz or it could be a lighter wine made from a variety that releases color easily. In both cases, smell and taste will reveal more.

White wines have a broad watery rim and may have a greenish tinge when young. Their color will deepen with age, becoming deep yellow-gold, with greater graduation of color towards the rim. Ageing in cask will also alter the color of a white wine, even quite young wines may gain a golden tint being exposed to new wood. (Return to Top)

It is best to approach the wine with a little caution, first giving it no more than a gentle sniff. Then, if all is well, swirling the glass around and having a more thorough sniff. A bad smell inhaled too deeply can spoil your tasting for the rest of the day.

• First, consider the Condition - Is it clean? Unclean?
• The most common fault that can be picked up at this stage is cork taint. (The tell-tale signs are hints of mustiness, wet basement, moldiness, or even damp rags).
• Excessive sulphur dioxide is perhaps the most aggressive of all smells and is found most often in cheap white wines. It is used as a preservative and to kill off yeasts in wines with residual sugar. If used in excess, it can give the wine an acrid smell of burnt matches.
• Oxidation is sometimes described as "maderized", having a burnt smell like the wines of Madeira, or of caramel.
• Volatile Acidity causes aromas like nail polish and vinegar, and is caused by the presence of acetic bacteria and oxygen together. Any wine with such a smell should immediately be rejected.

• Second, decide on the Intensity of Aroma
• The intensity of the aroma can give a hint as to the quality of the wine. A weak smell may indicate a weak, insipid wine; fine wines will normally have a more intense nose, though they can appear 'closed' or 'dumb' when young.
• Wines change over time, and the state of their development can be assessed on the nose. A youthful wine smells of the primary aromas of the grapes used in its production. With ageing, they soften and harmonize better. Thus a wine that is subtle and complex on the nose is likely more mature and of better quality.

There is a big difference between age and maturity. A five year old classified growth from Bordeaux will still be in its infancy, while a five year old Beaujolais may well be long past its best. Thus, while some wines might seem tired on the nose when they are three years old, others may still seem youthful at thirty.

In technical terms, aromas generally are derived from the fruit itself, while the term bouquet applies to the assembled assortment of smells that come with a wine's ageing, particularly in bottle.

• Third, describe the Character of the Aromas

It is sometimes said the "perception is nine-tenths of the law". So it is with your perceptions of smells and flavors.

First, little is more personal than your perceptions.

Each person has in their memory a limited number of tastes and smells and their range will depend upon the individual's experiences.

Second, smells and tastes can be classified in a number of ways.

With practice, we can learn to associate certain combinations of aromas with specific grape varieties and regions although there are many wines today that would even fool the so-called "experts".

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A number of elements in a wine are detected by the physiological reactions of the wine on the taste buds in the mouth.

Different aspects of a wine's taste can be noted by the reaction of different parts of the mouth, tongue, and gums. This is another reason for swirling the wine around in your mouth when you taste it.

Finally, take a taste and think about the following elements:

Sweetness

Often the first sensation that you get when you taste a wine; this is because sweetness makes itself known on the tip of the tongue.

Acidity

Recognized at the sides of the tongue, towards the back, so it is often the second sensation after sweetness, which tends to dominate. (All the greatest sweet wines have high acidity to balance the sweetness). High acidity in a wine may make your mouth water. Wines lacking acidity will be flabby and unappealing.

Tannin

An important constituent of a red wine that is to be aged. It has a drying effect on the gums and teeth, in contrast to the salivating effect of acidity. It is more pronounced in young red wines. It should not be confused with a similar sensation sometimes given to red wines that are just past their best and beginning to 'dry out'. Bitterness may be the result of excessive tannin in a wine due to over-extraction. It can be recognized in the middle of the tongue towards the back.

Body

Sometimes called mouth-feel; it is the impression of the wine's weight in the mouth. Some wines give the impression of being light; these are referred to as 'light-bodied'. Others, which feel heavy, are described as being "full-bodied". Alcohol, tannin, concentration of fruit, sugar, and glycerol all contribute to the mouth–feel of a wine.

Alcohol

Often difficult to detect on the palate, but generally a constituent of the "body".
When a wine is high in alcohol, it may give a warming sensation at the back of the mouth. Alcohol is an essential ingredient of wine, generally representing about 12% of the total volume.
The taste of a wine comes from the grapes that have been used and the way that they have been treated. Alcohol is what binds these flavors together and rounds them off. It is part of the body of the wine, but not the body itself.
The level of alcohol in a wine must be in balance with the flavors.

Flavor Characteristics

Generally the flavor characteristics found on the palate will confirm those already recognized on the nose, but this is not always the case. They will, however, be more complex, as there are three distinct stages in the taste of a fine wine and each of these might vary not just in its flavors but also in its intensity.

Three distinct stages in the taste of a fine wine:

Immediate Impression

First stage might be called the immediate impression; this may last for only a short time.

Mid–palate

Then the mid-palate, when the full flavor of the wine become apparent in the mouth.

Aftertaste or finish

Finally, the aftertaste or finish, the time when the flavors of the wine linger on the palate after the wine has been swallowed, or spat out. The complexity and the length of all these stages are to be taken into consideration when assessing quality.

For sparkling wines The bubbles should also be considered. Gentle bubbles are an indication of age and high quality. In the best wines the bubbles will be long lasting. Aggressive bubbles that dissipate quickly in the glass indicates an inferior wine. (Return to Top)

The most important conclusion: Assessment of the Wine's Quality

How do you decide whether a wine is a poor, mediocre, good, or great?,
Let's use a bottle of a Mâcon-Village (a Chardonnay from the Burgundy region in France)

1. We must first have an idea of what a Mâcon-Village should be like.
2. We need to develop a clear idea of what we are entitled to expect across a range of prices in order to decide whether a wine offers good value for the money;

This is where a wide-ranging tasting experience becomes very important.

One danger with judging wines against their class is that it is very difficult to know how to assess wines that are not typical.

Think about the above mentioned Mâcon-Village...

If we are presented with two wines, both of which are crisp, with clean, citrus aromas, but one of which has more intensity of flavor, longer length and more character, it is quite easy to judge which one is better.

But suppose one year a producer decides to make a sweet wine?

What would we compare it to?

Is there such a thing as an absolute set of criteria for judging quality in wines?

How do you compare the qualities of a medium-price red Burgundy and a medium-price Australian Shiraz or Chardonnay, or a premium-price Vintage Madeira?

The characteristics of the above mentioned wines may seem so different that comparisons are meaningless. Yet, consumers make decisions based on such comparisons whenever they buy a bottle of wine. Although there is little agreement as to what constitutes quality in a wine, apart from that it should be free of defects, a number of criteria recur when critics are justifying their assessments. These include:

• Balance of the components
• Length of the finish
• Intensity of the aromas and flavors (in the sense that a dilute wine is a poor wine, though a super-concentrated wine is not necessarily a good wine)
• Complexity of the aromas and flavors
• How expressive is the wine of its region or origin or its grape variety
• How well the wine will last
• What potential the wine has to improve in the bottle

As I always emphasize, it also is important for the wine, no matter how great, to be enjoyable to drink!!

The other aspect we should note when drawing our conclusions is the state of evolution of the wine. If it is not past its best or ready to drink, how much longer should we keep it? A wine that is past its best will appear dull. Both red and white wines will develop a brown hue as they become out-of-condition. Their flavor may fade, or they may develop unpleasant sherry-like notes.

Assessing whether a wine has a future is more difficult. High levels of tannin or acidity may make a wine difficult to enjoy. If there is sufficient fruit concentration, then it may be possible for the wine to mellow and increase in complexity over time, enabling it to offer pleasure at some point in the future. We would say it is not ready to drink.

As we gain experience of following how wines age, it becomes possible to guess how many months or years will be needed for the wines to become enjoyable, and then for the wine to attain the desired degree of bottle development.

Constituents of a wine necessary for it to improve with age

Structure

Tannins, alcohol and sugar help preserve a wine while the constituent components evolve and integrate. Taken together, the tannin, acid, alcohol, sugar and fruit extract are said to constitute a wines structure.

Balance

Wines that are high in acidity or tannin, but lacking fruit, do not get any better as they age: they simply "dry out" and fade. We would conclude that these wines are out of balance and will not improve. Similarly, if one, unusually unpleasant flavor dominates the wine, we may say that it is out of balance. The balance between the constituent components (tannin, acid, alcohol, sugar and the flavor components) is an important aspect to consider when assessing a wine's quality.

In addition to assessing the quality and the state of the evolution of the wine, we also should consider how the wine might be used by us. Is it a gift? Is it for lunch, dinner, brunch? What foods might it accompany?

And lastly, what price are you willing to pay for the wine? If you open a bottle of wine and it does not meet your expectations, the price you paid for that wine should not, in any way, ruin your meal or your evening. (Return to Top)

References:

• Fielden, C. & Wine & Spirit Education Trust (2004). Exploring the World of Wines and Spirits. London:England.
• Robinson, J. (ed.) (1999). The Oxford Companion to Wine - Second Edition. Oxford University Press. New York: NY.
• Schuster, M. (2002). Essential Winetasting: The Complete Practical Winetasting Course. Michell Beazley. London:England.

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