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VISUAL CLUES  Pour the wine in a glass to about 1/3 full, and look closely at the wine. If you already know what the wine is, especially if you’ve had previous experience with the style, you will have some expectations based on your knowledge. This experience is essential to honing your palate. Tilt the glass at an angle so you can fully appreciate the color. A white background, like a tablecloth or napkin, is ideal for highlighting the color variations. The color can give you hints about the wine. Young white wine should be clear, not cloudy, and range in color from as neutral as water to a straw, golden honey hue, depending on the grape type, style, and age. Red wines can range from a delicate, light ruby color to an obviously dense, almost black/purple, again depending on the grape, style, and age. Color can also tell us about the variety, and in some cases the condition of the wine. SWIRL & SMELL 
Swirl the wine in your glass and smell deeply. This is a critical step, both in the analytical process and because the sense of smell is so inextricably linked to the sense of taste. Swirling the wine in your glass will intensify the aromas. Do this vigorously enough, all in one direction, so that a small whirlpool effect occurs in the glass. With practice this becomes easy and graceful. The swirling increases the contact with oxygen, the key to amplifying all aspects of the wine. The aromas generated by a glass of fine wine can be many, intertwined in a most intimate and complex manner. They can take on many different forms, often very different from the smell of grapes. TASTE THE WINE 
Take a good-sized sip of the wine, holding it in your mouth for several seconds. Now, with the wine still in your mouth, gently draw air over it. This step requires some practice and can be a little tricky. Be sure to draw air slowly so you don’t suck the wine into your throat. Again, increased contact with oxygen is the point, intensifying flavor on your palate.After “slurping” the wine a bit, close your mouth, swirl it around again then repeat the slurping. Now swallow the wine and continue to draw air through your mouth, then your nose. Chew the wine and air together. Consider the flavors and textures for as long as they last. This is called the “finish.” This process is designed to intensify all aspects of the wine. Some components become much more enjoyable. Fruitiness can be fresher and sweeter, spices livelier. Others flavors, like tannin, can be overpowering. Tannin comes from the skins and seeds of the grape giving a drying, puckering sensation in the mouth. Young red wines can be quite tannic and on the tough side with the exaggerated slurping technique, but it adds structure and weight to the wine as well as the ability to age. |
