See, Sniff, Sip... Wine Tasting 101

Some of my favorite wines I had in Florence: Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino, and whites from Abruzzo

Who doesn't love a glass of wine after a long day at the office?  (Ugh that makes me sound like I've been out of college for years!)  Wine is probably my favorite indulgence next to sweets.  Italian wine & food were 2 of the many reasons I chose to study abroad in Florence, Italy (art and the beautiful Italian language rank closely behind).  Okay so the town was beautiful and the language was magical too, but the food and wine were to die for!  I loved my Families of Itlain Renaissane and especially my art history class.  Next to those 2, my favorite class I took abroad (and I use the term "class" lightly) would have to be The Tastes of Italy: Pairing Italian Food and Wine.  Every Thursday evening at 5:00 pm, I would go to class and by 7:30 pm, I'd be walking home on the cobblestone roads smiling a bigger smile than I'd went to class with.  Most of my classmates only liked white wines, so Il Professore Mario and I had plenty of good Chianti to ourselves.  I didn't just take the class to drink good wines every week, although that was an added bonus, but I took the class to learn about the wines of the country.  And through all of that delicious Chianti, I somehow was able to learn the basic skills needed to truly taste and appreciate wine.

An Italian Winery, outside Siena

The three basic steps to wine tasting are as follows: See, Sniff, Sip.  They're not the most elegant of terms, but they're a great alliteration and easy to remember, no matter how many wines you're tasting.  Whether it's white, red, or sparkling, if you can see & sniff & sip, you are fully equipped to properly taste a wine.  Sure, you can chug wine, but you'll miss the subtle flavors and aromas that make it such an enjoyable beverage.


The 5 Things to Pay Attention to When Describing Wine:
Appearance, Aroma, Flavor, Body, and Finish


EXAMINE YOUR WINE

First things first, pour your glass less than half-full and tilt your glass above a white tablecloth or napkin. You want to examine the COLOR of the wine; each wine will have its own unique color and appearance depending on the composition and ingredients.  Some wines may look dull and boring at first glance and others may have a bright, seductive look.  You want to look beyond white, red, or blush.  A red wine might be described as maroon, purple, ruby, garnet, red, brick, or even brownish.  Older red wines often have more orange tinges on the edges of color than a younger red.  A white wine may be clear, pale yellow, straw-like, light green, golden, amber, or brown.  Older white wines are darker than young white wines when compared with different ages of the same variety.


You want to pay attention to the CLARITY, or opacity, of the wine as well.  Can you see right through it or is it murky? Is the wine watery or dark, translucent or opaque, dull or brilliant, cloudy or clear?  Can you see any sediments?  Typically you want the wine to be mostly clear; cloudiness can be a sign that there's a defect in the wine.

Then you want to SWIRL your wine in the glass.  The wine will streak down the side of the glass; you've probably heard  someone describe their wine as having legs and this quality is what they're referring to.  As the legs form, the size and speed of their formation indicate the wine's body and viscosity.  Swirling your wine isn't just for show--swirling oxygenates the wine, allowing it to open up, which simply means that the aromas become more prevalent and the fruit is more apparent on the palate.


SMELL YOUR WINE
One of the most important qualities of wine is the AROMA.  After you swirl your wine in the glass (about 10 seconds), take a quick whiff to get an initial impression.  Then stick your nose right in the glass and inhale deeply through .  Don't be shy, you really want to stick your honker right in the glass.  Pay attention to the smells you pick up; the specific smells may be hard to distinguish or pinpoint at first, but the more wines you smell, the better you'll get at it.  There are tons of adjectives used to describe the smell of wine and don't be afraid to really get creative with your descriptions.  Do you smell oak, berry, flowers, vanilla, or citrus?

Now why smell the wine?  Why not just drink it?  The best part of smelling the wine is the anticipation of the wine on your palate; the bold aroma should start to make your mouth water.  Taste buds don't actually taste per-say, it's more like they feel.  The tongue is an incredibly sophisticated muscle; the tongue is designed to have different areas to taste/feel specific sensations: the front of the tongue registers sweetness, the sides sourness, and the back of the tongue bitterness.  Your taste buds also register salt, but salt is rarely a quality found in wine.  When we taste, the flavors are actually the combination and feeling and smelling the wine.


TASTE YOUR WINE

Tuscan Wine Country, Motalcino

Finally, on to the best part--taste.  This part of the tasting is easy: open your mouth, insert beverage, enjoy.  Drinking the wine is easy, tasting your wine is a little harder.  Each wine has so many facets occurring simultaneously that many wine-o's like to take their time enjoying their wine.  There are 3 stages of taste: the Attack phase, the Evolution phase, and the Finish.


The initial impression is the attack phase - alcohol content, tannins, acidity, and residual sugar are all analyzed by the taste buds in the initial taste.  You typically don't taste one more than the other because a good wine should be well-balanced and the sensations will meld together to offer impressions in intensity and complexity, soft or firm, light or heavy, crisp or creamy, sweet or dry.


If you really want to taste with feeling, sip a little of the wine and just let it sit on your tongue for a few seconds, move the wine around your mouth and let it coat every part of your mouth before swallowing.  If you let it sit in your mouth and truly taste it, you'll notice that the wine changes taste in each part of your mouth.  The Evolution Phase, also called the mid-palate, is the wine's actual taste on the palate.  This is where you try to distinguish the specific flavors or the wine.  If it's a red wine, you first might note fruit tastes: berry, plum, prune, fig; or maybe a spice: pepper, clove, cinnamon; or maybe an earthy, woody flavor like oak, cedar, or even a detectable smokiness.  A Shiraz might present berries up front, then to a spicy, almost cracked pepper flavor on the back of the tongue.  The Evolution Phase of a white wine may present you with tastes of apple, pear, tropical or citrus fruits, or it may be more floral, honey, butter, herbs, or even a tinge of earthiness.  A Pinot Grigio may present melon at the front of your palate and change to a citrus as it hits the center of your mouth.

The third phase, or the Finish, is how long the wine flavor impression lasts after it is swallowed.  This is where the wine culminates and the aftertaste is vital.  Texture is often used to describe the Finish and will also vary from wine to wine.  This is where people often describe the body of the wine.  Red wines might be full-bodied and pack a serious punch from the highest tannin (and often alcohol) amount of all the wines like a Bordeaux from France, a Cabernet from California, or an Italian Super Tuscan.  Another red wine might be light-bodied and go down smoothly, like a Beaujolais Nouveau, a young red from France.  Tannins are responsible for the feeling of "body" to the wine.  There are also medium-bodied reds that will have more tannins than a light-bodied wine, but it won't have nearly the same high-power taste like a Merlot, Shiraz, or delicious Chianti from Tuscany.  

Some of my wine classmates (Il Professore Mario is
3rd from the left)

I found it helpful when Mario, my professor in Florence, described the body of the wine in terms of consistencies of other liquids we consume.  For instance, a light-bodied wine might feel like water in how long it lasts on the palate, a medium-bodied might feel similar in weight to milk), and full-bodied might have a consistency like creme as it remains on your palate.  Then ask yourself if the taste persists or if it was short-lived?  What was your last flavor impression - fruit, butter, oak, smoke?  Can you taste the remnant of the wine on the back of your mouth and you want another sip, or was the wine too bitter at the end?


The success in wine tasting is taking your time.  Take the time to appreciate the wine and you'll begin to distinguish and understand the subtleties of wine.  If you're really into wines, understanding them, and trying new ones, it's helpful to keep a little journal or record of your tastings.  If you like the wine, write down the wine's name, producer, and vintage year so you have it for future reference.  Keep track, learn to taste the subtleties and try not to drink your wine without tasting and appreciating it.  It's a great excuse to sit down and unwind after a long day or a nice Friday night in with A, a cheese plate, and a movie.


Happy Sipping!