Your Wine and Your Glass
Swirling the wine in the glass not only looks cool, it’s important too. It allows the wine to release its aromas into the air by increasing the surface area of the wine as it comes in contact with the sides of your wine glass. Don’t forget that certain wines swirl, nose and taste better in certain glasses, but we can worry about that another time.
Colour
Look at your wine, the colour is very important. A standard rule of thumb is that the deeper the colour of the white wine, the more flavourful it will be. In terms of red wine, colour can be important in determining the vintage (age) of the wine. This is done by analyzing the edge of the wine when the glass is tilted at an angle, the browner the wine, the older it is. Naturally colour in both red and white wine gives us an indication as to the grape varietals from which the wine was made. As an example, a red wine like Pinot Noir has a lighter more ruby complexity than other red wine varietals such Cabernet and Merlot. Chardonnay grapes often produce a wine that is richer in colour, and often more golden than wines such as Sauvignon Blanc which will have a distinctly pale straw colour.
Your Wine and Your Nose
Smelling the wine, or nosing the wine is the most important aspect of any wine tasting. Stick your nose in the glass and take in big whiffs of the aromas. The first thing to look out for is any possible off odours; these can often be an indication that the wine is no longer fit for drinking. Often such odours will present themselves in the form of musty and mouldy aromas. Also take time to nose the cork, looking for similar signs. When nosing the wine you are generally looking for three levels of aroma, often refereed to as notes. First is fruity and floral like smells. Second is spice and third are other independent notes you may be able to identify in that specific wine. Naturally there is a lot of jargon that goes along with nosing the wine but I always recommend to people that they should use words that they are comfortable with, if something smells like peach, say so…oh, and don’t forget, ‘cat piss’ is actually a wine term.
Your Wine and Your Taste Buds
Tasting a wine is all about getting the wine into contact with as many taste buds as possible. Personally I don’t think there’s any need to violently slurp the wine into your mouth, as you may have seen some of these characters do. Rather take the wine, however you like - just not through a straw - and gently roll the wine throughout your mouth, remember its all about the taste buds. The added benefit of spending a few extra seconds with the wine in your mouth is that it allows the aromas of the wine to enter your nasal passageway; after all, our mouth is fairly useless without our nose. As a bit of fun, the next time you tuck into your favourite bottle of Shiraz, taste it while blocking your nose, then taste it again unblocked, you’ll see exactly what I mean. Once again don’t let technical description of the wine get to pretentious, it’s your mouth, your wine and your flavours - they are what you say they are.
Finally, it’s important to gauge how long the flavour of the wine stays in your mouth. This will give you an indication of what is called the ‘length of the wine’. As you have probably guessed, the longer the flavour stays the better. While you’re at it, it’s a fairly opportune time to gauge the alcohol level; a wine should never be overbearing. If the first thing you notice is the alcohol then rest assured there are better wines out there.
Be Cool!
I’d say the moment you take wine too seriously; you’ve lost what’s great about wine. I know everybody in the wine business seems to exude this almost pious austerity, especially the French, but I really urge you not to take that too seriously. At the end of the day, wine is about fun, it’s about enjoying yourself, enjoying life and most of all, in my opinion, good company, after all who wants to drink a great bottle of wine by themselves.
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