Even though many just assume that wine tasting
is sipping, swishing, and swallowing - many are amazed to find
that it’s actually a bit more. Wine tasting is more of an art,
an art that is used to distinguish the taste of fine wines. Wine
can be a tasty and refreshing drink - if the bottle was stored
correctly and aged properly.
Wine tasting begins with the swishing. The reason why wine
tasters swish the wine around in their mouths is to get the
taste. Both the front and the back areas of the tongue contain
taste buds, although neither one has any distinct sensation in
taste. Taste buds can detect food and liquid that is bitter,
salty or sweet, without a problem. To get the proper taste from
wine however, you need to swish it around in your mouth and
allow your taste buds and sense of smell to bring out the unique
and fine flavors in the wine.
When you have a cold however, the wine can taste very different.
When tasting your wine, your sense of smell has a major impact
on the taste. What many fail to realize, is that over 75% of our
taste is due to our sense of smell. When we have a cold, our
sense of smell is affected. Therefore, when eating or tasting
wine with a cold, the taste will appear different. Wine tasters
all over the world will tell you that tasting wine is more about
a sense of smell than the actual taste buds.
The art of wine tasting is indeed an art. Wine tasters do
however, follow some general guidelines and rules that judge how
great a wine is. These techniques can help you bring the most
out of your wine, providing you follow them and know how to
bring out the taste.
The first thing to do with wine is to look. With wine, you can
tell quite a bit about it by looking at it. You should always
start by pouring the wine into a clear glass, then taking a few
minutes to look at the color. As far as the color goes, white
whines aren’t white, but actually yellow, green, or brown. Red
wines on the other hand are normally a pale red or dark brown
color. Red wine gets better with age, while white whines get
more stale with age.
Next, is the smell of the wine, which you should do in two
steps. You should start with a brief smell to get a general idea
of the wine, then take a deep, long smell. This deeper smell
should allow you take the flavor of the wine in. The more
experienced wine tasters prefer to sit back a bit and think
about the smell before they actually taste the wine.
Last but not least, is to taste the wine. To properly taste the
wine, you should first take a sip, swish it around in your
mouth, and then swallow. Once you swish the wine around in your
mouth, you’ll bring out the rich and bold flavors of the wine.
After swallowing, you’ll be able to distinguish the after taste
of the wine, and the overall flavor.
Once you have looked at the wine, smelled it, and finally tasted
it, you’ll be able to evaluate the wine from a taster’s
standpoint. This is the easiest way to determine the quality of
the wine, and whether or not it has been properly stored and
aged. As with all things in life - the more you taste wine - the
better you will get at distinguishing the unique flavors.
