Learning the differences in wine tasting takes practice.
Begin by sampling different types of wines and note the differences – is one fruitier than another? Does one have a smokier or wood taste?
These subtle differences awake on your tongue with experience and the more wines you sample the better you become at telling differences.
When you begin, bring along a notebook to write down your impressions of each wine for future reference. To distinguish between the different types of wine, follow the three basic steps to wine tasting.
- Examine With Your Eyes - Fill the bottom of your glass with wine and hold it up to the light. Inspect its colour and clarity. Each wine varies in tint and as you become better acquainted with different wines you’ll distinguish between different wines based on colour.
- Examine With Your Nose – One you have examined the wine for its colour and clarity lift the glass to your nose and smell the wine. To get the full flavour of the scent, lower your glass, hold it by the stem and rotate your glass to swirl the wine around – this oxygenates the wine and releases the flavour.
- Rotate the glass slowly using your wrist while keeping your arm immobile – this too takes some practice but the results are worth it. Rotating your wine fills the glass with the wine’s aroma. Once you have swirled the wine, smell it again. You should immediately sense the difference. Note the smells; fruity, woody – how does your wine smell? Before smelling again, rotate the wine more and then sniff again – do you notice any changes?
- Examine With Your Taste Buds – Time to taste the wine. You’ve prepared your senses for the flavour and now you can test the wine with your palette. Take a small sip first and swish it around in your mouth. If you don’t notice much, don’t worry at this point. The first taste simply cleanses your palette and prepares it for the full taste – the next sip.
- Go slower on the second sip and enjoy the savour of the wine. Wash it around in your mouth to get the full flavour. Inhaling through your nose at this time permits you to explore differences in flavours once you begin to compare wines. Jot down any tastes you experienced.
At the very base, a Sauvignon Blanc tastes different from a Merlot simply because of the variety of grape used to make the drink. Wines taste better with age and most wines are aged in wooden barrels, which can also influence the flavour of the wine. In time you’ll know how to distinguish between wines with ease and look like a pro at any wine tasting.
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