How do you know if the wine is good? How do you rate it? How to fully enjoy it before taking the first sip? Here’s what to look for when tasting wine.
When tasting wine, it is important to turn on all your receptors and senses – the tongue, nose and eyes are all involved in the tasting. Take a tall stemmed glass so that the wine does not heat up in your hands and does not change its properties.
There should be no extraneous odors and drafts around, the glass itself should be clean.
Evaluate the appearance of the wine – what color and transparency it has. To do this, bring the glass to a well-lit white background and look through the glass. If the wine is red, then a small amount of sediment is acceptable. Do not confuse sediment with turbidity, wine should not be cloudy. The older the wine, the lighter its shade. Also, the color depends on the grape variety from which it is made.
In sparkling wine, bubbles and foam are evaluated in appearance – the bubbles should be thick and sharp, the foam is persistent and dense.
From the way the wine flows down the walls, one can assume the strength of the wine. If it flows quickly, the wine is light, if for a long time, it is most likely stronger or sweeter.
Now appreciate the aroma – shake the glass of wine a little and inhale the scent. The simpler the smell, the younger the wine. With age and aging, the smell as a result of fermentation is enriched and changed, a lot of shades appear. Turn on your imagination and think about what the wine smells like – flowers, fruits, wood, herbs?
It’s time to evaluate the taste. Do not swallow wine quickly, hold it in your mouth and spread it over the entire surface of your tongue – this will connect all the taste buds. Take in a little air with your lips – the taste of the wine will open more. Like aroma, the taste can be simple and complex, set off by the bouquet, or only grapes can be felt.
After swallowing the wine, sort out the aftertaste, it should be pleasant and long – these are the signs of a good product.