A scenario: You get invited to a wine tasting. All the coolest people you know are there, and they hand you a glass of wine. It tastes pretty good! Then you notice everyone is staring at you.
“What does the wine taste like?” they ask.
You say it tastes good, but that isn’t enough. What is its body? They ask. What are its notes? What about its aroma? We didn’t see you smell it. Why didn’t you smell it?
Due to your undeveloped palette, you are laughed out of the wine tasting. All of your friends disown you. You are fired from your job. When you get home, you find an eviction notice taped to your door. All this could have been avoided, if only you had been properly prepared for the wine tasting. But worry not! This has not yet come to pass, and we are here to help. Here’s a few tips to make it through your next wine tasting!
Smell before you sip!
Some more experienced wine enthusiasts will tell you that the first step is to examine your wine, because its color, viscosity and opacity can tell you a decent amount about what to expect. For beginners, you don’t have to worry about that. Wine tasting is wine smelling, so swish that glass around and take a whiff! Do you smell oak? Strawberry? If you’re finding it hard to nail down specific smells, don’t sweat it. Long time sommeliers might be able to smell the soil the grapes were grown in, but you can consider yourself a success if you nail down even a few aromas.
Take a sip!
Forget what we said last paragraph: Wine tasting is about tasting wine. Just a small sip is fine, and in fact is better for isolating flavor if you’re new to the experience.Swallow the sip at your leisure and make note of how sweet it is, and how the flavors you picked up in the aroma half of the taste change as the wine enters your mouth. Once the sip is done you should be able to pinpoint the flavors in your wine, but don’t feel bad if you take another sip (or three) to really nail it down.
Taste Away!
That’s all there is to it! Take small sips, sniff before hand, and try your best to isolate what makes the wine tick. Don’t feel bad if you can’t be hyper-specific with the flavors- observing a fruity smell, or an oaky one, or a dry finish can be enough to save yourself from looking foolish at your next wine tasting. Try practicing on a bottle of Amarose! Pick one up in our online shop today.
