Tasting wines should always be a fun experience. Over the years, so much emphasis has been placed on all the various attributes about wine that it has become more and more difficult for people just to enjoy the tastings.
Anyone can taste and enjoy a new glass of wine. But there are certain aspects of tasting that can enhance your experience without it becoming an overwhelming task. There are some basics about wine that everyone should be aware of. This doesn’t matter if you are tasting a Red, White or Rose wine.
Color and Clarity
Aroma/Boquet
Taste (Dry, Sweet)
Body
Finish
Color This is the ‘hue’ of the wine color. Most white wines should always be light in color, some may have a pale yellow tone, some a deeper golden color, while some may be almost colorless. But you always want to look for the clarity of the wine. Should be brilliant, not cloudy and without any particles.
Aroma/Boquet In pure terms, Aroma comes from the type of grape in the wine, while Boquet is what is developed after the wine is fermented. Personally, I use these terms interchangeable. I am sure you have watched people tasting wines where they almost put their entire nose into the glass! May look a bit strange, but this is one way in which you can start to detect all the different aromas/boquet in different wines. Here is where you will hear the terms: vanilla, chocolate, mint, blackberry, currant, smoke and much more. Dont be concerned about all of this, just try to pick out an aroma that you can smell. And if you cant, dont worry about it.
Taste (Dry,Sweet) This is probably the easiest one for anyone to distinguish. Basically, dry wines are those that all of the sugar has been fermented out, while sweet wines maintain some residual sugar. Your tongue will be the judge to determine a dry wine from a sweet wine.
Body This is a difficult attribute to describe. You will hear full body, thin, lean, etc. What does all that mean. The easiest way to identify the body is to use an analogy of milk. Heavy Cream to Non-Fat A full bodied wine fills your mouth just as heavy cream would do. And on far opposite, a thin wine would be like having non fat milk.
Finish For me, this is one of the most important attribute about a wine. The finish is how long the taste of that wine stays with you after you swallow. Is it a quick hello and goodbye? or is it a long lingering aftertaste that stays with you for a long time to remember.
These are just some very simple terms in basic wine tasting. Its enough to get you started so that you can enjoy tasting wine at a retail shop, with friends or any place. One thing I can guarantee is that after you start tasting wines for a while, you will develop more intense feelings about it, picking out subtle differences between grapes. My biggest advice is to always take notes about the wines you are tasting.