When it comes to tasting wine, every expert has their own approach. Australian wine writer and judge Mike Bennie tastes more than 100 wines a week, so he’s got his process down to a fine art. It involves blind tasting wines in groups of 20 that have been categorised by style and then tucked into brown paper bags.
That might be a bit extreme for the average person who just wants to compare a few Pinot Noirs at home with friends. But taking the time and following the right steps can help you enjoy wine in a whole new way.
“There’s a difference between wine appreciation and general wine consumption,” says Mike. “You’re assessing the complexity of a wine, its soundness, its quality in the glass, general deliciousness, creativity… All those things factor into how you appreciate a wine.”
Mike is a big believer in finding pleasure in the wines you try, rather than tasting just to criticise and find faults. Sydney-based sommelier and wine show judge Louella Mathews agrees.
“Wine tasting is really subjective,” she says. “If a professional critic doesn’t like a wine, it doesn’t mean you’re not going to enjoy it. My pet peeve is when people say, ‘I hate this wine’. Well, what don’t you like about it? What do you like about it? Why?”
So you’ve got a great wine to taste, or a few wines you want to compare, and you want to do it right. Here’s how to taste like a pro.
Step 1: Look
Fill your glass about one-third full and observe the wine’s colour. This will give you clues about its style, body and character. Colour can also reflect the wine’s age. Generally, white wine deepens in colour as it ages while red wine gets paler. Then examine the clarity and brightness. Is the wine clear or hazy? How much does it reflect light?
Step 2: Swirl
Give the glass a swirl while holding it on a flat surface to spread and aerate the wine, releasing its aromas. (Don’t worry – swirling without sloshing takes practice.)
“When you pick up a wine glass, pick it up by the stem,” says Louella. “It’s easier to swirl it that way, and you’ll look a lot more sophisticated!”
Step 3: Smell
We can only taste five flavour sensations (sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami), but we can identify thousands of different odours. So a good sniff will reveal much more about your wine than if you jump straight in to tasting. In fact, experienced tasters can find out almost everything about a wine just by smelling it.
“When you’re tasting a wine, you’re investigating it, and the first clues will be on the nose,” says Louella. “Then when you taste, it’s either going to confirm those first clues or contradict them.”
Step 4: Taste
It’s finally time to taste and find out more about the wine. Five key things to assess are:
- Sweetness/dryness – most Aussie table wines you taste will be dry or off-dry.
- Acidity – wines with high acidity will make your mouth water, as if you’re eating a green apple or lemon.
- Tannin – a wine with strong tannins is like drinking a cup of very strong tea.
- Alcohol – wines high in alcohol can taste more tannic or sweeter, and give a sensation of heat.
- Body – is it light, medium or full bodied? A light-bodied wine will have a lighter, thinner, less viscous mouthfeel; a full-bodied wine will feel heavy and creamy.
And what about those flavour descriptors you read about but can rarely actually taste, like cut grass, roasted fig and gooseberry? Identifying these types of flavours takes a lot of practice but it’s also very subjective. So Mike recommends focusing more on aromas and how the wine feels in your mouth instead.
“When you say something smells like rose petals, most people know what you’re talking about,” he says. “But when you say it tastes like blackberry, that becomes a much more difficult thing to pin down. It’s more important to be more general about flavour profile and talk about weight and texture … What’s the shape and feel of the wine?”
Step 5: Conclude
Savour the wine and think about what you’ve experienced. What’s your overall opinion? Does it taste balanced? Are there particular characteristics that stand out? What have you learnt about the wine?
“If you find it delicious and you want to drink more of it, it’s typically a really good wine,” says Mike. “And that goes for everyone from entry-level appreciator right through to expert.”
Honing your wine tasting skills takes time and plenty of practice – but learning doesn’t get much more fun than this. Best of all, you’ll learn how to find and appreciate wine you really love.
Want to know more?
Download the ‘Introduction to wine: the ultimate guide’ and learn all about the basics of wine, including more about how to taste it, how it’s made, how to serve it, and Australia’s top wine styles and regions.
