How to Be a Wine Tasting Expert

Dispel the common myth that only an elite few can be expert wine tasters and take on the challenge yourself. Like learning any skill, to become an expert takes knowledge and practice, both of which anyone can learn and have fun doing in the process.

Instructions

1. Learn the basic wine tasting steps with an appreciation of sight, smell and taste. Adopt the habit of examining the color, the bouquet and slowly savoring the different tastes every time you drink wine. With practice, you will notice the differences and will find it easier to identify wines.

2. Expand your selections when you buy wine at the grocery or liquor store. Avoid the temptation to stick with your "tried and tested" and instead choose unusual selections from different world regions or grape varieties that you aren't used to. This is the best way to expand your knowledge first hand and discover some new favorites in the process.

3. Buy a wine dictionary or read a variety of wine guides to familiarize yourself with the vocabulary of wine. You can have the best palette or nose in the world but nobody will consider you an "expert" until you have mastered the lingo.

4. Take notes every time you taste a new wine and make a list of the region, grape variety, strength and year as well as your own observations of color, smell and taste. You will remember which wines you liked most and learn the world wine regions and their characteristics.

5. Practice blind tasting with samples from several different wines. For obvious reasons, choose similar colored wines and if you are confident in your ability, only use a single grape variety. Make notes and compare your correct and incorrect answers with the wine descriptions. Test again and look out for the things you missed.

6. Take a course for professional wine tasters that will expand on your knowledge and teach you some insider tricks of the trade. You can choose an online or mail order course for convenience, but there is really no substitute for in person tasting and comparing.