How to Become an Expert at Wine Tasting

Wine Pouring

Wine tasting 101: When you attend a wine tasting event, there are steps to take to get the true taste of the wine. These range from four to eight steps.

Here I will discuss six S's of wine tasting: See, Swirl, Smell, Sip, Swish, Swallow (some will say Spit). The important thing is you enjoy the wine!

Things You'll Need

• Wine Glass
• Wine

Instructions

1. 

   See. Hold up the glass to light and look at the color. Is it cloudy or foggy? It may be more difficult with reds, but the colors there should be reddish, not brown or orange.

2. 

   Swirl. Take your glass by the stem and give it a gentle swirl. This swirl oxygenates the wine to release the aromas.

3. 

   Smell. The next step is place your nose right into the glass to take a deep whiff. You will catch the wine's released aromas from the swirl. Each wine has its own unique combination of smells. Some common descriptions of the wines bouquet are sweet, smoky, oaky, flowery, citrus-like, or specifics like cherries, grapefruit, or vanilla.

4. 

   Sip. This is the step where you actually get to taste the wine. Start with a small sip and gentle swish it in your mouth.

5. Swish. Swishing the wine in your mouth (like mouthwash) allows full exposure to linger on your taste buds. This will give you a better taste of the wine than if you just quickly swallowed the wine.

6. Swallow. After tasting the wine, you can swallow it. This may not be etiquette in some places and spitting it out may be more proper. However, in many circumstances, the point is to drink the wine and not spit it out.

Tips & Warnings

• Have a designated driver, wine tasting will intoxicate you.

• Ask questions to educate yourself

• Many places require a nominal fee and other places offer free wine tastings.

Resources

• Wine Tours in Tuscany