This wine tasting guide will guide us on the 4-steps wine tasting method which comprises of Look, Smell, Taste and Conclude. It focuses on the ability to identify key characteristics and flavour profile in a wine, and assess the quality of wine in both an objective and systematic way.

LOOK

Step 1: Pour approximately 75ml of serving into a wine glass.

Step 2: Angle the wine glass over a white backdrop, and under natural or white lighting to inspect the colour, opacity and hue at the rim of the wine glass. Various wine differ in colour, intensity and hue depends on the type of grape variety, production and age.  

Step 3 (Optional): Swirl the wine to see the viscosity in the wine glass. Viscous wine have higher alcohol and/or residual sugar content.

Notes: Wine legs/tears is a phenomenon caused by fluid surface tension created from evaporating alcohol. Sediments are particles left behind by unfiltered or aged wine, and they are harmless.

SMELL

Step 1: Hold & tilt the wine glass under your nose and smell once. 

Step 2: Swirl the wine glass to release aroma compounds into the air and smell again in a slower, longer & delicate manner. Think about the aromas when smelling.

Step 3: Tilt & move the wine glass to different positions around your nose. Fruit aromas are usually found on lower portion of the wine glass when tilted under your nose, while floral & earthy aromas are usually found on the upper portion. 

Notes: There are 3 different categories of aromas: primary aromas derive from the grapes, secondary aromas derive from the wine-making, and tertiary aromas derive from aging and oxidation.

TASTE

Start tasting the wine by taking a larger sip of wine, and follow by several smaller sips in order to identify sweetness, intensity, flavours, tannin, acidity and alcohol.

Step 1: Identify sweetness (e.g. dry, off-dry, medium, high)

Step 2: Identify the flavour intensity (e.g. low, medium, high), follow by primary flavours by the type of fruits (e.g. black fruits, red fruits, green fruits, stone fruits, etc) and elaborate on the type of fruits (e.g. black fruits - blackberry, blackcurrant, black cherry, etc), and follow by the secondary/tertiary flavours (e.g. vanilla, oaky, leathery, earthy, etc).

Step 3: Identify tannin (it is textural and dries our mouth palate), follow by acidity (it causes mouth watering sensation), and follow by alcohol (it causes burning effect at the back of our mouth).

CONCLUDE

After you have noted down the smell and taste traits of the wine, assess the wine based on the following:

Balance: Analyse if the various traits of the wine is balanced, dominate one another and/or faulty.

Length: Analyse if the finishing of the wine is short, medium or long finish.

Intensity: Analyse if the aromas & flavours intensity of the wine is low, medium or pronounced.

Complexity: Analyse if the wine has primary, secondary and/or tertiary aromas & flavours. And analyse if all these aromas & flavours integrate well with each other to make the wine complex.

Remarks: It will also be good if you can note down the traits & flavours of each grape varietal, region, vintage and producer. Thereafter, identify the wine that you enjoy and prefer, so that it can assist to better articulate when tasting or seeking new wine.