Wine tasting can be divided into two realms – professional wine tasting or leisure wine tasting. With professional tasting, the taster needs to evaluate it thoroughly, addressing things like the wine’s origin, and discerning whether the wine would increase its value with cellaring or whether it should be sold and drunk straight off the shelf.
If you’re leisure wine tasting, you’re tasting purely for pleasure. Wine should be in its most optimum condition such as be chilled if it’s a white wine. Tasting wine for pleasure should also be an educational experience, enhancing your knowledge and overall tasting experience.
Ensure you consume wine in top conditions
Wine tastes its best if it’s served in a certain condition. This condition constitutes temperature, your palate’s state and the time of day it’s consumed. The best temperature to serve wine is in the low 20s Celsius. Your palate should be clear of any strong flavours. Steer away from cigarettes, chilli and menthol flavors, for example. Finally, your palate is most attuned during late morning.
Be in good health
There’s no point tasting wine if you are sick. If your senses are affected, you won’t be tasting the wine at all or in a heavily distorted manner. If you really want to enjoy your wine, make sure you are in a healthy state.
Importance of three senses working together
To have an optimal wine-tasting experience you should ensure that your sight, smell and taste are in great condition and are well tuned to focus on how wine impacts upon them.
Eyes
It mightn’t seem like eyes would play much importance in wine tasting, however, it does hold a place. Using your eyes in tasting helps you slow down and focus your attention on the wine. Eyes also help to distinguish more about the wine. Take time to see if your drink is clear, dark, light, hazy or opaque in appearance before you begin to taste it.
On another level, you might want to try closing your eyes while you are wine-tasting. Closing your eyes can help you to block out any distractions and concentrate on your wine’s taste, helping to pick up any of the more elusive flavors.
Nose
Noses have a large role in wine tasting. In fact, for a large part, the things we think we are tasting are actually what we are smelling. Our sense of smell is also much more sensitive than our sense of taste.
Mouth
If you want to get the most out of your wine, it’s a good idea to slow down. When you are wine-tasting it can sometimes be all too easy to only taste through the act of swallowing. Our tongues are composed of four areas that taste different sensations – sweet, salty, bitter and sour.
When you are tasting wine it’s a good idea to thoroughly swish it around your mouth to make sure that the liquid has the opportunity to cover all four areas, to ensure you taste the full flavor of the wine. You may also want to pay attention to the texture. See if your wine is light, heavy, floury or oily.
What to look for
A good wine has an acidic or sour taste. Often this is balanced well with sweetness. You know a wine is off if it strongly smells and tastes of vinegar.
By: Glen Anthony Brown About the Author:
G. Brown is a writer for
Wine.com.au, a leading Australian wine directory. To read other articles on
wine tasting or to find wine-related Australian businesses please visit Wine.com.au today.
$13.45
Customer Review: I found this book a great addition to the article in Health magazine. I have always had healthy eating habits & exercised regularly, but w/menopause I was unable to keep my weight responsible. The first week of the diet helped me lose 10 lbs before m...
Now Eat This!: 150 of America's Favorite Comfort Foods, All Under 350 Calories
by Rocco DiSpirito
Amazon Price: $12.10
Customer Review: When I first heard about this book, I thought here we go another good way to cook. Well here we go it is a good way to cook and very cost effective no matter what you want to do with food. It seems this way of cooking can be used anywhere in the wo...
In The Warrior's Bed
by Mary Wine
Amazon Price:
Customer Review: The book wes a disappointment. Although the first chapter was promising, the rest of the book didn't follow through. The story was shallow and too much time was spent in describing detailed sex. Characters weren't fully developed outside of the bed...
