How to Rate Wines

Video Transcript

"Hello, I'm Adrien Matthews with Tayst Restaurant in Nashville, Tennessee. Today we're going to talk about rating wine. You don't really need anything special to rate wine other than wine, although you may want to keep a notebook just in case you want to purchase some favorites down the line. Wine is of course, a very subjective subject, everybody likes what they like, which is great. So how do you tell one wine is better from another? You're looking for a couple of things. First of all, the mouth feel. The mouth feel should be silky and luxurious. It should almost coat the palette, should have a real sense that it's actually playing along with the tongue and the teeth. In addition to mouth feel, you should have a wonderful aroma. The aroma should be alluring, almost luxurious, and we're looking for a flavor that will coat the mouth. By the time you finish the full glass, you should be able to almost breath the wine. This is how you can tell the finer grades from the lower grades. One other way to tell viscosity and subsequently mouth feel, is to spin the wine in the glass and watch as the liquid rolls down the side of the glass. This is referred to as legs. And you can see how long the legs are from how viscous the liquid is. This will give you an indication that this wine will have a very luxurious mouth feel. This should start you well on your way to being able to rate your wines and have a rating system that you and your friends can make sure you always get a good bottle."