Facts on Wine Tasting

There is something called the five S's of wine tasting: see, swirl, sniff, sip and swallow or spit. Some have added two more steps at the beginning and end: serve and score. Wine tastings have become almost ceremonial in modern culture, but their original purpose was born of necessity. From the far flung estates of feudal overlords to the restaurants and bars of today, a wine tasting is, first and foremost, a social event.

History

The wine tasting as we know it today began in medieval times as a way to make sure a guest wasn't being served a spoiled or poisonous beverage by the host of the house where the wine was served or made.

History

In pre-industrialized societies, with no standards for the production and distribution of wine, the tasting was a safety measure that eventually evolved into a social ritual.

Significance

Today a wine tasting is a social event designed for the comparing and contrasting of different wines and often conducted by a wine expert, known as a sommelier.

Function

The purpose of a wine tasting is to assess the character and quality of a wine by describing the sensory experience of taste, look and smell to fellow tasting partners.

Types

Some tastings are done blind, meaning the taster doesn't know the brand or type of wine she is tasting, and some are open comparisons, where the taster knows these things beforehand.

Considerations

Wine tastings have a perception of snobbery about them due to the expense of wine compared to other alcoholic beverages, coupled with the lingo often used to describe wine that many people find off-putting and pretentious.

Fun Fact

The popularity of the 2004 feature film "Sideways," set in California wine country, had a noticeable effect on the wine industry, with sales of the varietal Pinot Noir experiencing a surge after the film's release.