Tasting wine can be a complicated exercise. Which method should you choose? How do you hold your wine glass? What are the steps of a tasting? These are all questions we ask ourselves when the time comes to taste a wine. We invite you to discover a tasting method. By following these steps, you’ll carry a wine tasting through from start to finish. Nothing complicated: to taste a wine well, all you have to do is follow these steps and trust your senses. That’s enough to turn you into a real sommelier. And to finish, a surprise awaits you at the end of this article on how to taste wine.
The vocabulary of wine tasting
Tasting wine is a special moment. It isn’t simply about drinking wine, but about granting yourself a one-on-one with the bottle. So, before we get into how to taste a wine, we need to shed light on the vocabulary of tasting. With this tasting glossary, you’ll be able to hold your own against any sommelier. Here are a few words to remember in order to nail your wine tasting:
- Sight: the first step in tasting a wine, it consists of observing the wine.
- The nose: the second step of tasting, it consists of smelling the wine. The nose breaks down into two stages: the first nose and the second nose.
- The palate: the final step of tasting, it consists of tasting the wine. The palate breaks down into three stages: the attack, the mid-palate and the finish.
- Tannins: a substance extracted from the pips and skins of the grapes as well as from the stems of the bunches. Tannins give the wine its structure, and sometimes a form of acidity.
- Aromas: an expression of the wine that stands out as a recognisable scent.
- Length on the palate: the aromatic presence of the wine in the mouth, after swallowing or spitting it out.
- Caudalie: a measure of time that expresses length on the palate. One caudalie equals one second.
So, with these few notions laid out, you’re ready to discover how to taste a wine. To taste a wine well, all you have to do is follow the steps below.
Before the tasting: setting yourself up to succeed
Before tackling the question of how to taste a wine, you need to gather the conditions required to taste well. First, the place where you’re getting ready to taste a wine should be reasonably well lit and at a correct temperature. Naturally, you should avoid smells as much as possible: they could distort what you’re smelling. What’s more, choose the right glasses for your wine tasting. Tulip-shaped glasses will be the most suitable for your tasting. We’ll soon publish an article to help you taste a wine. In addition, you can also choose the right decanter and proceed to aerate the wine. On the other hand, you may store your glasses in particular places. In that case, a smell can develop there. To taste your wine well, you have to be careful to avoid those smells. So, rinse your glass, pour a little wine into it and rinse again. This practice is called “seasoning” the glass. You can do the same with your decanter. That said, there are also times of day when tasting is at its best. So, if you want to focus on tasting, it’s recommended to do it away from meals. Indeed, your ability to perceive tastes and aromas (organoleptic sensitivity) is at its highest when you’re hungry. Naturally, avoid doing a wine tasting if you’re unwell. What’s more, don’t consume strong-tasting products just before a wine tasting. Also avoid products whose flavours linger, such as coffee or tobacco. Set aside toothpastes and minty products. During the tasting, avoid consuming other products: they’ll affect your perception of the wine (if it’s aperitif time, you have an excuse). Final tips: avoid wearing too much perfume, but above all avoid wearing lipstick. The latter will distort your perception when you taste sparkling wines. Finally, you’ll of course need to make sure you hold your wine glass properly during the tasting. Once the conditions are right for a fine tasting, we can shed light on how to taste a wine.
How to taste a wine: the tasting method
To answer the question of how to taste a wine, you have to answer in several steps. Indeed, to taste a wine, you have to trust your senses. So, the first step of tasting is sight. Then, the second step in tasting a wine is the nose. Finally, the last step is the palate.
Sight, the first step in learning how to taste a wine
The first step in tasting a wine correctly consists of admiring it. What colour is the wine? That’s the question you need to ask yourself. Nothing beats the magnificent colour of a good wine. This step is called the visual examination. However, in the end you’ll get relatively little information about the wine during the visual examination. In a blind tasting, it’s nonetheless useful to do it. Indeed, the colour of the wine can give you an idea of the grape variety and therefore of where the vineyard is located. You can also deduce a more or less significant alcohol concentration from it, but the visual examination is far from being an exact science. What’s more, the highlights of the wine can give you interesting clues about the age of the bottle. First, the highlights of white wine evolve with age. So, the highlights of white wine are green at first. Then, over time, they become silvery, then gold. Finally, they turn bronze. As a result, by holding the glass at eye level and observing the highlights, you’ll be able to form an idea of the wine’s age. By way of illustration, a white wine with silvery highlights is surely no more than two years old. On the other hand, to admire the highlights of a red wine during the visual examination, you have to tilt the wine glass in front of a sheet of white paper. Then, look at the opposite side. The highlights of red wine also evolve with age: cherry at first, then more and more tile-like (brick-coloured). !the colour of the wine - wine tasting What’s more, you can use this step to admire the legs of the wine. That is to say the traces left by the wine on the rim of the glass when you tilt it. This is a practice that lets you determine the presence of sugars in the wine; particularly useful in the case of white wines. Finally, during the visual examination of the wine, you’ll be able to note the presence or absence of particles. This element will give you clues about the degree of filtration of the wine.
The nose, the second step in tasting wine
Once the first step is done, you can turn to the nose. Here you have to break this step down into two moments: the first nose and the second nose.
The first nose
To begin with, for the first nose, you need to smell your wine without aerating it. Generally speaking, this first nose is fairly gentle and reveals few aromas. Indeed, the first nose lets you recognise the faults of the wine. That’s natural: since the aromas are still barely developed, faults will be spotted very quickly. So, this is the ideal moment to spot the “cork taint”.
The second nose
For the second nose, it’s time to aerate the wine. At this point, we say the wine is opening up. As a result, the aromas are much more present. It should be noted that if you don’t feel any difference between the first and the second nose, that means you need to aerate the wine. On the other hand, the second nose is the moment to try to recognise aromas. For that, we can’t help but recommend the Le Nez du Vin box set (see below). When recognising aromas, you have to distinguish three families. First, the primary aromas. A primary aroma comes from the grape variety and the floral environment of the vineyard. Then, the secondary aromas. A secondary aroma comes from fermentation (a step in the winemaking process). Finally, the tertiary aromas. A tertiary aroma comes from the ageing of the wine (another step in the winemaking process).
The different aromatic families
During a wine tasting, it’s possible to recognise different aromatic families. To help you learn how to taste wine well, here is a directory of the aromatic families you can find in wine.
| Aromatic family | Composition |
|---|---|
| Fruity | Apple, peach, pear, banana, cherry, blackcurrant. |
| Floral | Violet, acacia, honeysuckle, jasmine, rose. |
| Vegetal | Cut grass, green pepper, hay, undergrowth, thyme, boxwood, humus, mushroom. |
| Woody | Dry wood, cedar, oak. |
| Animal | Game, fur, leather. |
| Empyreumatic | Smoky, toasted bread, coffee. |
| Spicy | Pepper, cinnamon, vanilla, liquorice. |
| Mineral | Petrol, iodine, flint, gun flint. |
| Balsamic | Pine, camphor, resin. |
The palate, the last step in learning how to taste a wine
Finally, the palate is the last phase in tasting a wine well: this is the gustatory examination. Before tasting the wine, you have to hold your glass properly; that is to say hold it by the stem. Bring the wine towards your mouth and let this elixir enchant you. At that point, you need to swirl the wine around in your mouth. Indeed, acidity, sweetness and bitterness aren’t perceived in the same places in your mouth. You can draw in air while drinking your wine, which will let you reveal the aromas all the more. This practice is called “drawing air through the wine”. You’ll make a bit of noise, but don’t worry, the people around you will understand. Once the wine is in your mouth, you have to pay particular attention to three phases. First, the attack is the first moment when you have the wine in your mouth. It’s the perfect moment to assess the power of the wine. Then, the mid-palate. This is the moment when the flavours develop. You’ll be able to feel the acidity of white wine or the tannins for red wines. You’ll be able to assess the structure of the wine. Finally, the finish; that is to say the evolution of the flavours in the mouth. Even once swallowed, the wine keeps revealing flavours. You can recognise a great wine by its ability to develop, both in the mouth and once swallowed. At the end of your tasting, remember to spit out the wine! That way you’ll be able to enjoy the whole tasting.
Bonus: the ear for drinking wine
Some might think it’s a joke. Yet hearing is one of the five senses you can call on during a tasting. Indeed, by bringing your ear close to your wine glass, you’ll hear a sound. You’ll see that some wines make more noise than others. For example, natural wines tend to produce a little more noise. That’s enough to impress your friends in a wine bar.
How do you nail a wine tasting?
We need to warn you about one important point. The method described above applies particularly well to blind tastings. Indeed, by following this method and practising, you’ll become able to recognise many elements. However, don’t fall into the trap of absolutely wanting to recognise a wine during your tastings. Stay open to what you’re tasting and enjoy this moment of pleasure. Finally, try to meet the producer of the wine, who will speak about it beautifully and let you discover it in depth.
The tasting note: telling a good wine from a great cru
If you haven’t recognised any fault in the wine you’re tasting, there are several tasting criteria. These will let you tell the difference between a good wine and a great cru. The first criterion to watch for in a wine is balance. Fruit, sugars, tannins and acidity must be balanced against one another. An excess of any one of these elements can make the wine boring at best, sickening at worst. What’s more, you have to watch the length of the wine. Length determines the time during which the aromas of the wine are present, once swallowed or spat out. To assess length, you should base it only on the aromas of the wine and not on its acidity or sweetness. To be very precise, the length of a wine is expressed in caudalies. The conversion is fairly simple: one caudalie equals one second. A good wine will have a length on the palate approaching 10 caudalies. The greatest wines will reach 20 caudalies: imagine what 20 seconds of aromatic presence represents. It’s simply wonderful. On the other hand, in your tasting note, you can analyse the complexity of a wine. Indeed, a wine with multiple aromatic nuances will be complex. Here again, a fine balance must be found between too much and too little complexity in your wine. Finally, expression. A low-quality wine will give you the impression of having been produced in a standard way, from some run-of-the-mill grape variety. Conversely, good wines and great crus will surprise you and sing you a particular tune. A great cru will be characteristic of its grape variety and its terroir.
Going further: books to learn how to taste wine
Finally, here is a selection of books to go further on the subject of wine tasting. Indeed, with these books, you’ll be able to become a true expert. However, you now have to move on to practice: the only way to make progress! To start, we recommend Ma première dégustation by Pierre Casamayor. This book will let you learn the basics of wine tasting. Our advice: read this book and apply it straight away. Then, you can choose to read Le grand cours de dégustation from the École du Vin de France. Published in November 2018, this book will bring you all the up-to-date information on wine. The work is extremely thorough and will let you progress quickly. What’s more, we couldn’t pass over the book by Émile Peynaud and Jacques Blouin, Le goût du vin. First published in 1980, this book was an immediate success. The latest edition dates from 2013 and is a true bible of wine tasting. With this book, you’ll find only one watchword: “know better in order to appreciate better”. Finally, turn to a box set to understand the aromas of wine in depth. Discover Le nez du vin, by Jean Lenoir. It will give you all the keys to improve your tasting and your appreciation of tastes.
A free tasting sheet
Now that you know perfectly how to taste a wine, we have a gift for you! All you have to do is enter your email address in the field below. Then, you’ll receive your tasting sheet free of charge and can have fun filling it in. How it works: you enter your email address and you receive a confirmation email (to check that you really are human). A few hours later, you receive your tasting sheet, which lets you taste wine like a sommelier. Tell us what you think, we’d be delighted to be able to improve it. We invite you to take a photo of the sheets you’ve filled in, and we’ll publish them to share with the community. Until then, we wish you a good wine tasting with this sheet!
An infographic on how to taste wine
The infographic below sums up how to taste a wine. By following these steps, you’ll taste like a real pro. !infographic - how to taste a glass of wine
