Wine needs a chance to breathe before it is tasted to let some of the alcohol and other off-putting aromatics that may be in a freshly poured glass evaporate. To help it breathe, swirl the wine in the glass after pouring it, or let an open bottle sit for an hour before tasting it. For enhanced aeration of red wine, pour it through a wine aerator, or pour it into a decanter. There are many different types of aerators on the market, ranging from $20 to $40 that work wonderfully well. For many wines, aerating greatly improves that first taste.
Temperature
To fully taste wine it should not be too cold. Red wines should be a room temperature or just slightly below. White wines taste best slightly chilled, but not too cold. If there is condensation on the outside of the glass it is too cold. Some people like to put ice in their wine, especially white wine on a hot day. OK. The experts shudder, but so what? However, before putting ice in a glass of wine, first learn which wines taste best without it.
Aroma
Does the wine smell good or unpleasant? Does it smell rotten or moldy (after all it is made by fermentation, which can produce really bad smells.) Does it smell strong, or have very little smell at all? Does it make you want to drink it?
Character
Some wines have a lot of body; they seem heavy in the mouth, so they go well with heavy or spicy foods, such as steaks or lasagna. Some are light, and so go best with light foods, such as fish or chicken. Some wines are high in alcohol content and that taste may come through the wine, giving it an unpleasant “hot” taste. (The alcohol in wine comes from fermentation of the sugar in the grape juice.) Some wines will be sweeter than others because they started out with more sugar, some very sweet, and some dry or acidic. The best wines have a balance between acidity and sweetness; they may taste sweet at first, on the tip of the tongue, then they balance that with acidity further back in the mouth. Red wines are red because the juice is kept for a long time with the skins. That gives the wine color, but it also gives it tannin. Tannin is bitter or astringent. Cabernet sauvignon, will have a lot of tannin; other wines, such as pinot noir, will be relatively low in tannin. Tannin will moderate as the wine ages. Aged red wine with low tannin is expensive to buy, but young wine can be stored in a dark place, and where the temperature is fairly uniform, to let it mature.
Flavor
Does the wine have a pleasant flavor? Because different parts of the mouth taste different things, wine should be rolled around in the mouth before it is swallowed. Because smell, too, is an important part of taste, a sip of wine should be aspirated by sucking in some air with it (quietly, of course), then letting the air out through the nose. That will bring out smells such as flowers, vanilla, leather, or grass.
Aftertaste
Wine experts call this the “finish.” Does the taste linger? And is it pleasant or not? How long does it last? A finish of 30 seconds or more is a sign of a high quality wine.
Many thanks to Michaela Rodeno, St. Supery Vineyards and Winery, for her advice and counsel in writing this article.
(For more about the complexities of taste, read the Suite 101 Article The Compexities of Wine Tasting. For suggestions about having fun with wine tasting, read the Suite 101 article Having Fun With Wine Tasting.)
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