The first time someone sits down to taste wine «properly», the same thing usually happens: they look at the glass, smell it, and can’t think of anything to say. That’s normal. Wine tasting isn’t a natural talent; it’s a way of paying attention, and like any other skill, it can be learnt. The good news is that it can be learnt quickly and with very little equipment.
Always taste by comparison
This is the only tip that really makes a difference. A single glass tells you almost nothing; two glasses side by side tell you a great deal. Open two bottles made from the same grape variety but from different regions, or from the same region but different vintages, and place them side by side. Suddenly, what was simply «red wine» becomes «this one’s more acidic», «this one has a sharper finish», «this one smells of ripe fruit and this one of fresh fruit».
You don’t need to identify aromas by their first and last names. You need to notice the differences. The name comes later, and it comes of its own accord.
Focus on three things and forget the rest
- The temperature. This is what ruins a bottle of wine at home more than anything else. Whites are often served too cold and reds too warm. Ten minutes in the fridge for a red and ten minutes out for a white will sort out almost any bottle.
- The cup. You don’t need a different glass for each variety. A decent-sized glass, with a rim slightly narrower than the body, will do for everything. Fill it to a third at most: the wine needs space above the wine.
- The order. Start light and build up: begin with something light, then move on to something more intense. If you start with the strongest wine, everything that follows will seem watered down.
A simple method that works
Hold the wine up to the light and simply note whether the colour is pale or intense, and whether it has violet, ruby or terracotta hues. Smell it without swirling and go by your first impression. Then swirl the glass and smell it again: you’ll almost always detect something that wasn’t there before. Take a small sip and pay attention to three things: whether it makes your mouth water (that’s acidity), whether it feels astringent or drying (that’s tannin) and how long the flavour lingers after you’ve swallowed.
Sum it up in one sentence. Just one. «Light, tart, smells of green apple, fades quickly» is a perfectly valid tasting note and far more useful than half a page of copied adjectives.
Build your own reference
The aim isn’t to get it right, but to build up a bank of references. Once you’ve tasted fifteen or twenty wines, paying at least a little attention to each one, you’ll start to recognise families: «This is similar to the one I tried in the spring.» That’s the moment that really matters, because from then on you’ll no longer be buying blindly.
And above all: if you like a wine, you like it. No guide can change that.
