Wine tasting is an art form that seems complex. From the swirling, to the language used to describe tasting notes...it can all seem a bit intimidating (and honestly, a bit pretentious for some). Our Wine Guru, Sophia Longhi, is here to break down the barriers and share a beginner's guide to getting the most out of your wine.
Is it true that tasting wine is a skill? Isn’t it really just...well, drinking? And, the rest of it - the sniffing, the swirling, the musing - isn’t it just a load of pretentious hot air?
Well, the truth is that of course you can enjoy wine without doing the whole “wine tasting” thing. Of course you can. However, the more you know about something - anything - the more you get out of it. You can enjoy looking at a painting without knowing anything about it. But, when you know something about the artist, the setting, the story, the historical context, the materials used and all of the other things that make it what it is, you’ll start to appreciate the painting in a deeper way. Art can be a lot more fun that way.
The same goes for a glass of wine.
Learning how to taste wine can make the experience of drinking it even more pleasurable.
To start, it helps to know what you’re looking for. A basic understanding of grape varieties and their different characteristics, in terms of aromas and flavours, is a good jumping off point. As an example, the Pinot Noir grape, in general, has red fruit flavours and aromas (strawberry, raspberry), whereas Cabernet Sauvignon has more black fruit flavours and aromas (blackcurrant, blackberry), so you’ll know to look out for these. Then, you might look at the quality of those characteristics. You get the strawberry, but is it confected strawberry, like a sweet, or is it fresh strawberry? How intense is it? Delicate, perhaps muted, or perfumed; maybe even overpowering?
Before we get into all of the different ways strawberry can be described, let’s go back to the wine tasting basics. See, swirl, sniff, sip, slurp and swallow (or, spit, if you’re driving).
Top tip: Only fill your glass to the widest part of the bowl, which is about a third of the glass. Wine needs to breathe, so it’s best to leave some room.
Pour your wine and let’s get going.
Step 1: See
Before tasting anything, take a look at the wine. What colour is it? What shade of red, white, pink or amber is it? Is it deeply coloured or more transparent? Is it hazy or clear? Is there anything floating in it? Without as much as a whiff of it, we already have clues about what kind of wine you have in your glass.
If it’s hazy, it’s likely to be a natural wine (or faulty, if it’s not a natural wine). If it’s a purple-hued red wine, like our Good Earth Brio Shiraz Reserve, it indicates a younger wine, whereas if it’s more of a brick colour, then that tells us that it’s older (or potentially oxidised). A copper-coloured wine, like our Reveilo Late Harvest Chenin Blanc, is a clue that you might have a sweet wine in your glass.
The next step will tell us more!
Step 2: Swirl
Why swirl a wine in your glass? Surely, that’s just a fancy move you bust out when you want to impress people. Well, there’s an actual reason for it. Swirling the wine enables it to interact with oxygen, which releases aromas and flavours. Try smelling a wine before you swirl it and afterwards - you will see the difference. The aromas will be much more pronounced after swirling. Because smell accounts for up to 90 percent of our tasting experience (just try to taste anything when pinching your nose closed), this step is super important. Swirling a glass effortlessly takes practice - perhaps try it with the base of the glass still on the table first to avoid any escaping wine.
Step 3: Smell
Now that you’ve swirled your wine and have agitated those aroma molecules, stick your nose inside the glass and give the wine a deep sniff (it’s helpful if you’ve left some room inside your glass to do this, otherwise it can get messy).
Why do you smell a wine? Good question. First of all, it’s to check it’s OK and hasn’t gone bad. If it’s not right, it might smell of mould, damp cardboard, nail polish, vinegar or eggs. Then, once that’s out the way, it’s to assess the characteristics of the wine. That’s the nicer part.
What notes are you getting? Personally, I like to check off fruit aromas first, then any floral or herbal notes, then any secondary aromas, like oak, spice and dairy. The third level of aromas are the ones that have developed over time. These are your earthy and animal notes, like, well, earth, leather and meat. You might also get some savoury notes too, like mushrooms, soy and nuts.
A great example of a wine with obvious fruity notes is the Fratelli Sangiovese Rosé 2023, where the aroma of raspberry jam is easy to distinguish. There are also the fruit wines from Rhythm Winery, which have very distinct fruity aromas - the Alphonso Mango smell is unmistakable.
The Charosa Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 is a great example of a wine with a herbal note - you should be able to detect hints of eucalyptus coming through on the nose. Compare that to Charosa's Tempranillo, where you'll be able to experience a wine with a more leathery and spiced aroma, showing signs of oak ageing.
Step 4: Sip
This is the moment you’ve been waiting for: getting that wine in your mouth. Take a deep sip and let the wine glide over your tastebuds.
Step 5: Slurp
Wait! Before you swallow, you need to do some slurping! Now, it might seem rude to you to make noises with anything you eat or drink - after all, we were always taught not to play with our food. But, this is honestly what the wine pros do.
To taste a wine, and all of its nuances, properly, get some more oxygen inside it and suck some air over your tongue, while the wine is still in your mouth. Yes, you will make some loud, gurgly noises whilst you do this, but the wine will literally come alive with flavour.
Step 6: Swallow (or spit)
All of your hard work has paid off: you may now swallow the wine! At professional tastings, wine pros will always spit - after all, it's not very becoming to get drunk at work. You can certainly still get 100% of the taste without needing to swallow it. But if you’re enjoying a glass of delicious wine, swallow away and enjoy.
Something to note: Once you’ve gone through these initial tasting steps with a new wine, there’s no need to go through them every time you want to take a sip.
Reserve these steps for the first taste of a new wine, then kick off your heels (or juttis) and enjoy the rest of your glass. Dive into our collection of Indian wine and add to your wine shelf at home.
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