Best Way To Taste Wine

So for the past two weeks I have been in Wisconsin for the Holidays and that is why I have not posted a blog in awhile. I am sorry. That being said everything is unpacked from my trip so I am now going to start writing again.

(Wine Part 3 brought to you by Quamut)

So I started out with how wine was made, then I talked about how to talk about wine, part 3 is going to be about HOW TO TASTE WINE. There are specific ways to taste wine and some may say “you don’t need to do that”. This process is necessary so the wine drinker can enjoy the wine to the fullest extent. If you think it looks weird or pointless, think again. Using your different senses enable you to fully enjoy the wine, using the 5 S’s can help you remember how to every time. See, Swirl, Sniff, Swish, and Swallow.

See – When you look at the wine it builds up anticipation of the taste. The “visual attributes” of the wine are important. While looking at the wine in the glass you should take into account:

Clarity and color of the wine.
White Wines – pales green, yellow or deep amber
Red Wines – Dark blue, purple, red, brown
Legs of the wine.
You test the legs of a wine by tilting the wine a little bit on its side and then lay it flat again. Some wines will form “rivulets" which run down the side of the glass, which people call the legs or tears. The legs of a wine show it’s “wine viscosity, or flow, and the rate of evaporation of the alcohol.”

Swirl – When people swirl wine they are working air into the wine, this helps break out the flavors. You want to swirl the wine in the same direction consistently.

Sniff – After the swirl you want to sniff the wine. When you stick your nose into the glass you take a whiff of the aromas. At first it might be hard to pick out the flavors by sniffing but as you sniff more wines it will get easier and you will be able to pick out the oak, fruity and/or other flavors.

Swish – The first taste should be a small mouthful of wine that you swish around for a few seconds in your mouth. The wine has a beginning, middle and end. The different stages create different flavors and textures in your mouth.
Flavors: Sweetness, dryness, sourness
Textures: thickness, thinness, roughness, smoothness

Swallow – When you swallow the wine you don’t want to take a sip again right away. You want to enjoy that sip and figure out the lingering finish of the wine “cleansing, acid crispness lingering on the deep back and sides of the tongue”.

Repeat as followed

By:Quamut