I'll have the 1982 Lafite, please

So the sommelier pours you the wine to taste. You smell and taste it, but how do you know it's good?


Let's talk some wine, shall we, more specifically how to properly taste wine. These are the absolute basics. It would take volumes and days to document everything about wine. I just want you readers to understand the ABC's so you gents can impress your girls. Anybody with an ability to smell and taste can become a great wine taster. You're able to tell which beers you like, right? Then why not be able to distinguish wines?

First, take a look at what's in your glass

Tip your glass at a 45 degree angle and hold it against a white background, such as your napkin or table cloth, to truly see the "color" of your wine. There are 3 areas to look at: the core, the rim, and the highlights. The core is what's in the middle. The rim is the top edge, and the highlights are the left and right sides. Each will tell you something about the wine. For example, bright green highlights indicate a very youthful, energetic wine. A brick colored rim will indicate an aging red wine.

These are both white wines. One is young (left), and one is aged in the bottle many years (right). Not all white wines have the same color. Just like there are different colors of rum and tequila depending on barrel aging, white and red wines can similarly be barrel aged and change color. Chardonnay, for example, is typically put in barrels because it would otherwise taste/smell like not a whole lot. The barrel aging imparts a darker yellow tone than if it were otherwise not aged. 

Colors for white wines can be pale yellow, straw, green, gold, brown, etc. Reds can be ruby, purple, brown, brick, dark red, blue, etc. Typically when young, the stronger the wine, the darker the color will be. A Pinot Noir will be light, and a Cabernet will be dark. Upon aging in the bottle for many years, the colors will transform. Whites will darken to a gold and later brown color (as in the picture above). Reds will lose color and become brown and brick colored.

As you put the glass back down, take note of the droplets that cling to the sides of the glass. These are called "legs." Many legs can indicate either high alcohol content, or a high sugar content.

If you find strange things floating in your wine, such as small filaments, a haze or clouds, or sediments, it can indicate improper bottling at the factory. This is called the "clarity" of the wine.

Next, take a sniff...or two...or three...

Most of our sense of taste comes through our sense of smell, so pay attention here!!!

To smell, swirl the wine around in the glass vigorously. This breaks the surface tension and allows oxygen to interact with the fruit (fermented grapes) to release aromas. Smell the wine several times. You will pick up more things each time.

What is a Corked wine?

This is the first thing you should smell for--the "condition" of the wine. The best restaurants will have the sommelier taste the wine before you do to see if its condition is good. But at most restaurants, the waiter leaves the decision up to you. A corked wine is one where oxygen has leaked into the bottle and aged the fruit improperly. The wine will smell like damp, wet cardboard in a basement. I've also seen corked bottles that smell like wood.

You can tell the wine is corked before even smelling it by looking at the cork (hence the name corked). It may look like this:

It will have streaks of wine running from pole to pole. This means a faulty cork. Have an expert taste it to see if it's good, since there's a possibility it's still drinkable. 

Experts disagree on smelling the cork (some say it tells you nothing, others say it does). The cork is presented for you to judge the storing of the wine, and its age. Some waiters will not give you the cork if you look clueless about what to do with it. A cork should be very wet and stained to indicate contact with the wine (a bottle stored on its side). If it is old, it will have tiny pieces of sediment stuck on. This is a good sign you're in for a treat!

Other signs of a poor wine may be the smell of sulfur (who farted?), rancid nuts, mold, sweaty animal fur, rotten eggs, and bruised fruit. Sulfur is used to preserve the wine at bottling, but an overdose causes a funk. Some of these smells can be released by letting the wine sit in a decanter and breathe a while. 

Continuing with the "Nose"

After you determine your wine is not corked, determine the intensity of its smells (nose). Is it difficult to pick up scents, or can you smell the wine from across the table? "Intensity" can be low, medium, or high. (For example, in order, a soave, chardonnay, and then a sauvignon blanc).

There are two basic smells to indicate the maturity level of the wine--aroma and bouquet. "Aroma" refers to young wines, while "Bouquet" refers to older, aged wines. After a wine peaks at its bouquet, it goes downhill and becomes vinegar. The best wines will age decades. Most can only last several months or years.

For white wines, aromas will typically be things like grass, apples, citrus fruits, stone fruits, tropical fruits, herbs, minerals or rock. Bouquets will be things like spices, earth or mushrooms, caramel, butterscotch, or even vanilla.

Red wine aromas will smell like black or red fruits, plums, cassis, vegetables, cherries, blackberries, licorice, vanilla, earth, jelly, etc. Bouquets will smell like dried fruits, autumn leaves, wet forest leaves, spices, and herbs.

Strong wines will have stronger smells. For example, a Shiraz from Australia will smell like dark blackberry jelly, because it's a strong grape with a high sugar content due to the intense ripening under the Australia sun.

The vanilla/dairy smell is a dead giveaway that a wine (either red or white) was aged in a barrel. Almost all reds are barrel aged, and some whites, such as Chardonnay. Too much barrel or a poor quality wood will give the wine a fake smell, woody taste, and strong alcohol content.

A wine with a high alcohol content will smell like what else...alcohol! Think of smelling a bottle of vodka. It burns your nose! The wine will be difficult to drink and match with food. The taste will be overpowered.

On to the Palate

Put the wine in your mouth and swirl it around vigorously. Many experts will even lightly suck in air through their mouth to increase oxygen flow and contact with the grape juice (wine). When sucking in air, you can enhance the fruit flavors. Also, you will be able to feel the alcohol burn a bit and sense if there's too much alcohol.

Your tongue has 5 receptor areas of taste:

Aside from sweet, salty, sour, and bitter, there is a new taste called "umami," which refers to meaty, earthy tastes, such as tomato or a portobello mushroom. Don't worry about umami for now, though. 

I'm a very patient person, but I'm annoyed when people say they want a "sweet" wine and point to what is in reality a dry wine. 95% of the wines you see in a store or restaurant are dry. There are several levels of "sweetness" which you detect with the front of your tongue: Dry, Off-dry, Medium Sweet, Sweet, and Dessert (Fully sweet). Most of the times, these people mean they want a "fruity" wine, one with tropical fruit notes and lots of acid. A sweet wine is not riesling, or chardonnay, or sauvignon blanc. These are dry and at best off-dry. A sweet wine is something like Port or Sherry. A dessert wine is a Sauternes or Tokaji. If you're talking red and you want a sweet--ahem, fruity--wine, go for something with low tannin, like Pinot Noir. Ok! Now that that's over with...

"Acidity" is reflected on the sides and bottom of your tongue. An acid wine will literally make your mouth salivate, or even pucker (think of a sour grape). Levels range from low to high. Acidic wines go best with food because they cleanse your palate as you eat.

"Tannin" is that astringent, drying sensation you get around your gums when drinking red wine. It comes from the skins and seeds of red grapes. It can also come from the barrel. A highly tannic wine needs high acid or sugar to balance the wine in your mouth. For example, the tannin dries your mouth, and the acid makes your mouth water. Whites do not have tannin. The stronger the red wine, the more tannin you can expect. 

"Body" refers to the amount of alcohol present in the wine. You can feel this with your tongue. Think of several levels like this: water, skim milk, whole milk, cream, heavy cream. If you can differentiate those, you can differentiate a Pinot Noir from a Cabernet or Shiraz. High alcohol is OK if the other components balance it out. Usually, the presence of high alcohol is where you can most easily distinguish cheaply made wine from good wine. You can also distinguish the body when you swallow the wine. If it burns your throat, there's too much. If you swallow and then breathe in some air and feel your tongue cool, it's the alcohol evaporating on your tongue.

Pick out now the "fruit character" of the wine. Is what you smelled similar to or different than what you taste in your mouth?

Finally, the grand finale, the "finish." Is the taste in your mouth short, medium minus, medium, medium plus, or long? A short finish is kind of like water, it's there and it's gone once you swallow. A long finish indicates a great wine. It can last well over a minute. I've had a wine or two I tasted for 15 minutes! It goes on and on, sometimes even giving different flavors as time passes.

Conclusion: Is it Balanced?

You're done! Well...not yet. Think of how all the components above match together. Does one thing really stick out, degrading your enjoyment of the wine? Or is everything balanced? A good wine will be balanced in all components. Is it a good value for the money? A $5 wine will not drink like a $100 bottle, but it may well be good compared to other $5 wines.

Once you do this a few times, you'll be able to tell how old a wine is, how long it was on the vine, under the sun, and eventually even where in the world it came from. It's fun to try a new wine every time you go out. For the next time, I'll share how you can use these tools to match with food! I promise a shorter read! Lol.