Wine tasting is both an art and a science that requires knowledge, skill and practice to master. As an experienced sommelier, I have dedicated my career to studying the nuances of wine evaluation and developing the ability to critically analyze every aspect of a wine through the senses of sight, smell and taste. In this guide, I will share the techniques I have honed over decades for properly assessing the colour, aroma, taste and aftertaste when tasting a wine.
Evaluating the Colour
The first aspect of a wine we evaluate is its colour and appearance. While assessing colour may seem straightforward, there are many nuances that an experienced taster can detect. Always examine the wine by holding the glass at an angle against a white background in natural light.
For white wines, look for hues ranging from pale green-yellow to deep golden yellow or amber tones. A younger white will appear paler, while an oaked or aged white will have a deeper yellow or gold colour. For reds, the colour can range from pale ruby to deep opaque purple, brick red or even brownish garnet as the wine ages. Swirling the wine in the glass will allow you to evaluate its viscosity and “tears” or “legs” which form on the sides – an indicator of alcohol content and body.
The appearance should be clear and brilliant, without any cloudiness or particles, indicating a wine without faults. Observing the subtle colour variations is the first insight into a wine’s grape variety, age, winemaking techniques used and overall condition.
Assessing the Aroma
After evaluating the appearance, the next crucial step is to assess the aroma or “nose” of the wine. Swirling the glass allows more oxygen to open up the wine’s bouquet of aromas. Always smell from the widest point of the glass, taking short sniffs to gather the full range of scents.
With experience, you’ll begin to detect and differentiate hundreds of potential aromas in wine. For whites, common aromas include citrus, stone fruits, green apple, tropical fruits, floral notes like honeysuckle, and herbs or grassy tones. In aged whites you may find nutty, buttery, honey or petrol aromas from bottle aging or oak influence.
For young reds, look for red and black fruit aromas like cherry, raspberry, plum, blackberry and black currant accented by floral violets, herbs, spice notes and sometimes bell pepper or fresh vegetative scents from the grape stems. As reds age, their bouquets evolve to include leather, tobacco, truffle, mushroom, cedar, cigar box and a host of other complex tertiary aromas.
Faulty wines will present unpleasant odors like mustiness, vinegar, rotten eggs, burnt rubber or even a dry, lifeless nose lacking any fruitiness. Learning to recognize off-aromas is just as important as appreciating a wine’s positive aromatics.
Tasting the Wine
With your senses of sight and smell engaged, you’re ready for the central aspect of evaluating a wine – tasting it. Take a sip and roll it around your mouth, drawing in air to further release the flavors and aromas. Note the fundamentals of the wine’s body, alcohol level, acidity, tannins (in reds) and residual sugar (in some whites).
The taste should correlate with the sight and smell evaluations, allowing you to detect the same fruit flavors, spices, oak influences and other components you picked up on the nose. Think about whether the different components are well-integrated and balanced.
Beyond the core flavors, assess the texture. Is the mouthfeel round and velvety or more austere? Does it have a lush, full body or a lighter, more delicate frame? Discern whether the acidity is crisp and fresh or flabby and low. For reds, gauge the grip and presence of the tannins – are they ripe and resolved or harsh and grating?
As you hold the wine in your mouth, dozens of additional flavors will continue to reveal themselves through the magic of retronasal smell perception. Make mental notes of these nuances as they emerge.
Finally, after swallowing or expectorating the wine, evaluate its finish or aftertaste. Quality wines should linger elegantly on the palate for 15-30 seconds or more, allowing the delightful complexities to continue unfolding rather than quickly dissipating. Take note of the length and characteristics of the aftertaste as the final component in fully gauging the wine’s quality.
Developing Your Tasting Abilities
Formal wine tasting and evaluation takes years of devoted practice to truly master. But even a novice can quickly improve their skills by focusing their senses and applying the same methodical approach each time a glass is poured.
Start by tasting wines with exaggerated aromatics and flavors to calibrate your smell and taste receptors. Over time, train yourself to detect more and more nuanced scents and flavors by exposing your senses to benchmarks of different varieties and styles.
Read published tasting notes by experts to understand the precise language used to describe a wine’s character. Attend guided tastings and study resources to cross-reference your own impressions against a master’s analysis. Recreate environments and serving protocols that enable focused evaluation, minimizing ambient distractions.
Most importantly, keep tasting frequently with the goal of expanding your frame of reference. With patience and an inquisitive mind, you’ll be amazed at how quickly your sensory perception skills evolve and the new layers of enjoyment that develop from tasting mindfully.
Wine is a complex, living work of art formed through the confluence of soil, climate, winegrowing techniques and the artistic vision of its creator. By learning to fully analyze each component – the visual cues, the kaleidoscope of aromatics, the interplay of tastes on the palate and the wondrous aftertaste – you’ll gain a profound appreciation for the magic captured in every glass. Cheers!