LOOK: Let's try to make this as simple as possible. Lets start our wine tasting journey. First, pour your wine into a glass about one third full, and look at the appearance. Tilt your glass using a white or light background. What colors do you see? Is it Ruby red, purple, garnet? I have found that older red wines have the appearance of red brick or a brown hue. For white wine, does it have a golden hue, light green, brown or a pale yellow appearance. Next, is it clear or cloudy? A well filtered and perhaps young wine will appear clear, where as cloudy can mean an unfiltered pure high quality wine or just the opposite, just bad wine.
SMELL: Swirl your glass and take a quick sniff. Swirl again, and this time put the glass up to your nose. Now inhale through your nose. The aromas will vary depending on the wine type. Lets use a Chardonnay , these will have the aromas of butter, vanilla, lemon, apple, oak and spices. Now with a red wine , you will have the aromas of black berry, plum, vanilla, chocolate, tobacco, oak and herbs.
TASTE: Take a small sip and let the wine roll on your tongue. Now, let the wine sit on the front portion of your tongue while inhaling air between your top front teeth. This blends air with the wine and brings out even more flavors. When tasting wine, you hit three sensors on your tongue.
1. Wine hits the tip of your tongue which senses the sweetness
2. As wine hits the middle of the tongue it senses the acidity
3. The wine rolls off the inside of your cheeks and off the back of your tongue as you swallow. This is where you taste the bitterness and dryness of a wine, the tannins.
Practice tasting different wines. Don't be afraid to stick your nose into the glass, sip and swirl that wine around on your tongue. Soon you'll start smelling and tasting the aromas and flavors a wine has to offer. There are many wines out there, aging and waiting for people like you and I to enjoy. Now, I have mentioned this before and it's not the last. "I am not a wine expert." I just enjoy smelling and tasting all the different types of wine, and I love the wine experience it brings me.
Check out Gordon Ramsay with Cliff Richard in the wine review video
