A Crash Course in Wine: Part II

Ok, now we're getting to the good stuff! It's natural to think that when you drink wine, you're only using your sense of taste. However, we actually use three senses: sight, smell and taste. When pouring a glass of wine, it is tempting to jump right in and drink; but there are a few preliminary steps you should take to assess it and record your thoughts.

Sight: Clarity & Color
The first thing you should do once you've poured a glass of wine is evaluate its appearance.  Hold the glass at an angle against a white background. Does the wine appear cloudy or clear?  Generally speaking, if you can see through a wine, then it's ready to drink.

Next, you should note the color of the wine, and the consistency or concentration of that color. What is the color? Is it all the same hue, or does it fade at the edges? Color can tell you a lot about the age or condition of a wine, and even the varietal.

As seen below, white wines can range from pale yellow green to gold to brown, while reds can range from purple to ruby red to brown. As whites age, they generally get darker. Conversely, as reds age, they generally lose color.

Source: Windows on the World Complete Wine Course

Smell: Aroma & Bouquet
Contrary to popular belief, smell is likely the most important part of appreciating a wine. As Kevin Zraly notes, a person can only sense 4 tastes (sweet, sour, bitter, salty), but can identify 2,000+ different smells, with more than 200 of those commonly found in wine.

After you've evaluated the color and clarity of the wine, swirl it around in your glass. This motion "opens up" the wine by exposing it to oxygen to strengthen its smell. The aroma is the particular scent of the grapes, while the bouquet is the overall smell of the wine. Often, wine drinkers refer to the smell of the wine as its "nose".

Given the countless smells one can extract from a wine, it can be challenging to articulate many of them. Something that's been helpful for me is the scent wheel, seen below. This tool opens your mind to all the seemingly unconventional smells (stuff you seriously didn't think was possible) you can find in a wine. With it, the possibilities are endless!


After some smelling practice, you can begin to recognize patterns in common aromas associated with a certain grape, and even better anticipate what the wine may taste like once you actually drink it :)

Taste: The Major Components
Finally, on to the best part! Once you've noted the color and aroma/bouquet, it's time to drink. The first few times, let the wine sit on your tongue for 3-5 seconds before swallowing. This lets the wine warm up to your body temperature, sending the smells up through your nasal passage. Since 90% of taste is actually smell, doing this will actually enhance your tasting experience.

The major "tasting" components include: Residual Sugar, Acid, Tannins and Fruit. All of these elements can be recognized on a certain part of your tongue.

Residual sugar is any sugar from the grapes that wasn't converted to alcohol during fermentation. The sweetness from this can be felt immediately at the front tip of your tongue.

Acidity (sour or tart) can be felt on the sides of your tongue, cheek area and the back of your throat. White wines and many lighter red wines often have a noticeable level of acidity. Meanwhile, many fuller-bodied wines are lower in acidity. This occurs because grapes with more sugar - to be converted into alcohol - typically yield fuller-bodied wines. And as a grape's sugar level rises, its acidity falls.

Tannins are not a taste, but as Kevin Zraly says, a tactile sensation. They are a natural preservative that come from the skins, stems and pits of the grapes, as well as oak that may be used for barrel aging. Tannins tend to dry your palate. They are usually recognized first in the middle of the tongue, and if the wine has a lot of tannins, it can permeate your entire mouth.

Red wines are typically more tannic because the grape juice they come from is more frequently fermented with its skins, and they are aged in oak for longer periods of time. When wine, particularly powerful reds, is too young tannins can dry the palate too much, obstructing the fruity character of the wine. That said, as a wine ages, its tannins will fade while its fruit and color remain fairly intact, creating a "smoother" wine. This is why many robust wines are aged, and then consumed years later.

Fruit is also not a taste, it's actually a smell. However, the weight of the fruit (known as "body") can be felt down the middle of the tongue. Naturally, every drinkable wine will create that fruity sensation...since we know it's made from grapes!

Once you've swallowed the wine, pay attention to its aftertaste. Think about how long the overall taste and medley of components linger in your mouth. Typically a good wine will yield a considerable aftertaste, which wine drinkers call "length". The length of some really great wines can actually last for up to 3 minutes.

Overall, when consuming a quality wine that's ready to drink, good balance between the fruit, acid and tannins should be expressed - creating a complex, yet smooth, sensation in your mouth.

Part III coming soon...