The Secret to Becoming an Expert Wine Taster

It is a dream of every wine aficionado to learn wine tasting. The expertise in terms of tasting wine creates the bridge between a simple wine lover and a sought-after wine expert. The ability to learn wine tasting, however, will not take the same period needed for wine to age… in fact, in less than a day, you will be able to grasp the basics of this skill.

There are four basic steps which one needs to develop and master in order to learn wine tasting. These steps will entail the use of senses either singly or a combination thereof. Here are some secrets to becoming an expert wine taster:

LOOK at the wine—to learn wine tasting, it is an important skill to judge the wine according to its appearance. Pour the wine into a glass to about one-third full. Identify the hue, clarity and intensity of the wine.

SWIRL the wine—swirling the wine enables you to identify the amount of alcohol in the wine. The more “tears” there are, the greater the alcohol content is. To learn wine tasting and identify the alcohol content, you have to place the wine glass in a flat surface and swirl it around.

SMELL the wine—this is a quite exciting part because the sense of smell is incredibly sensitive. Once the wine has stopped swirling, start sniffing the wine from the rim. There is no clear-cut technique to learn wine tasting through smelling and it depends on a person’s skill and mastery to identify the smell of the wine.

And lastly, TASTE the wine—this is quite tricky and will require some techniques in order to learn wine tasting correctly. While the aroma is still reverberating in your senses, take a sip of wine just enough to work in all your mouth for about fifteen to twenty seconds. Once you have fully tasted the wine, swallow it slowly and exhale through your mouth and nose. This will test how long the aroma and taste would linger in your senses.

Photo Credit: Leon Brocard