Tasting Wine
By Darren Davis
We’ve stored, we’ve served it – and now it’s time to sit back, relax and enjoy it! There are 3 basic steps to getting the most out of tasting a wine.
Sight – Take a look. Look at the wine in the glass. It can look old and tired, or young and youthful. It could be cloudy or clear. Just looking at a wine should get you salivating and eager to take the next step.
Smell – Take a big sniff! What can you smell? Generally this will give you a good idea of what to expect on the palate. Remember, without your nose, you cannot taste, so arriving at a wine tasting with a blocked nose will be a complete waste of time.
Taste – Take a sip. Keep the wine on the palate and suck some air in over the wine, grabbing aromas and driving them up into the olfactory area of the nose. Texture and palate weight are important components in assessing a wine. Does it have a tannic grip, or is it quite soft and velvety? Is it heavy or light (like milk or water)? Does it show a pronounced acid structure (tight and lean), or is it a broad, over ripe, rich syrupy wine? Once swallowed, the sign of a great wine is that of persistence, providing you still with flavours in the mouth well after it has gone down your throat.
 |
|