A simple guide to wine tasting

by Roger Gordon

An integral part of the whole wine tasting experience is making a close observation of the wine itself. Please be aware, the process of wine tasting refers to the whole experience, as opposed to the mere taste of the wine. Your understanding of the wine will increase immensely simply by observing it. The wine should always be tasted in a glass that is clear. The colour is best observed when held in front of a white background

The colour of the wine is an important factor in the taste of the wine. One thing you will notice is that not all red wines have the same red colour while not all white wines are actually white. This range of colour is something you are after. The longer a product ages and the more flavour that it actually possess, the more colour it has. In white wine, too much colour is not a good thing. White wine is actually ruined or tarnished in flavour by the aging process. On the other hands, red wines improve with age in flavour. They too range in colour. As red wines age, their colour actually lightens, unlike white wines which usually darken with age. The lighter the colour, the older a red wine is.

To discern a wines age by its colour you must tip the glass slightly to one side to make the edge of the glass clearly visible. This is known as the rim colour. If the colour has a purple tint this denotes the wine is of a younger age. An orange or brown tint conversely would suggest a more mature wine. You should also aim to, swirl the wine which enables you to view the body of the wine. A thicker consistency would indicate greater alcohol content and a sweeter flavour. You can learn a lot about a wine from just looking at it.

While tasting wine is important, so is smelling your wine. As part of the process of experiencing full wine taste, you do have to smell the wine in the right manner. In fact, the scent of your wine will truly determine if you have a wine that you enjoy or one that you may not enjoy in the least. Most individuals will simple take a sniff of their wine, when there is a more full bodied method to doing so that will truly allow you to experience all that the wine has to offer to you before you even sip it.

First off, you will experience most of your scent of wine because of the molecules that are within the wine. These allow you to truly smell the aroma of the wine. In wine tasting circles, you’ll hear them referred to as the bouquet of nose of the wine. You may hear about different bouquets but most are from this selection: wood, fruit, spices, herbs, floral, or earthy. These aromas can each have their own unique taste to them, though.

The correct procedure to smell your wine is to, swirl it first. Moving the wine about frees the molecules to enable you to smell them. The next step is to have a quick sniff of your wine. Next, have a deeper inhale of the wine. You should now be able to smell the difference? Some experts dismiss the first, short initial smell of the wine. In either case, you can actually smell it. Consider the aroma. What does it bring to mind?

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