Wine tasting and attending a wine tasting party, contrary to popular belief, does not involve a lot of sipping, swishing and swallowing. While there is a definite art to wine tasting and many different wine-tasting forms, the popular theory of sipping and the like could not be farther from reality. It does, however, take years of practice to master the technique.
The art of wine tasting is used to distinguish fine wines and relies on a trained palate, often acquired over many years. If stored properly and aged correctly, wine can be an exquisite experience.
Wine tasting is totally dependent upon our sense of smell with more than 3/4 of the impact on our senses tied to the smell prior to even beginning to taste it. Most wine lovers will retell the experiencing of a fine wine and speak more of the wonderful aroma and then the taste. After the smell, it becomes the personal preference of the wine taster.
Proper wine tasting is initiated with the swishing that is most familiar to novices. The purpose of this activity is to circulate the taste of the wine by moving it between the front and back areas of the mouth in order to reach the taste buds contained in the tongue.
Taste buds do not necessarily have a noted taste factor, but they are capable of properly identifying food and beverages that are sweet, salty, and bitter with no problems at all. Therefore, the process of swishing is more about giving the senses an opportunity to extract the aromatic flavors in the wine being tested.
With even a basic understanding of the swishing technique, its purpose and the dispelling of long held myths, wine tasting will wind up looking less like something silly and more like a talent and skill that is part of the whole wine making process. Wine aficionados will be able to tell if the wine cellar designs and the features of a wine cellar have served their purpose or fallen short. All of this will be reflected in the end product.
When the wine is poured, it should be ideally poured into a crystal, clear glass so that the first step - observation - can take place. With the sample in hand, this step should not be rushed and instead, it should be slow, deliberate and the moment, appreciated. White wines, in spite of their name, are actually not completely white ranging in color from golden, pale brown to a slightly tinged shade of green. Red wine, on the other hand, is usually darker with a pink hue that leans toward a darker brown color.
The second step is closely observing the smell of the wine that is actually accomplished in a two-step fashion. First, you should take a brief whiff of the wine to get a general idea of what you are dealing with. Next, you will take an extended, deep drawn in smell in order take in the full aroma of the beverage.
Wine experts will usually let the aroma waft over them as they reflect on the total experience of the wine up to that point.
After letting it come fully into their consciousness, a wine taster will then take a sip, swish it around to activate all of the taste buds to ascertain the wine and savor it fully prior to swallowing. This method allows all senses to be engaged in the process of taking in the wine, figuring the quality of it. This allows wine growers to figure out if their grapes, distillation process, and procedures used to store it in a wine cellar or storage unit was sufficient to produce a fine quality wine.
As it is with any skill, practice is part of the overall wine tasting methodology. While wine tasting is considered a skill that can be learned, wine experts will tell you that it is really more of an art.
The art of wine tasting is used to distinguish fine wines and relies on a trained palate, often acquired over many years. If stored properly and aged correctly, wine can be an exquisite experience.
Wine tasting is totally dependent upon our sense of smell with more than 3/4 of the impact on our senses tied to the smell prior to even beginning to taste it. Most wine lovers will retell the experiencing of a fine wine and speak more of the wonderful aroma and then the taste. After the smell, it becomes the personal preference of the wine taster.
Proper wine tasting is initiated with the swishing that is most familiar to novices. The purpose of this activity is to circulate the taste of the wine by moving it between the front and back areas of the mouth in order to reach the taste buds contained in the tongue.
Taste buds do not necessarily have a noted taste factor, but they are capable of properly identifying food and beverages that are sweet, salty, and bitter with no problems at all. Therefore, the process of swishing is more about giving the senses an opportunity to extract the aromatic flavors in the wine being tested.
With even a basic understanding of the swishing technique, its purpose and the dispelling of long held myths, wine tasting will wind up looking less like something silly and more like a talent and skill that is part of the whole wine making process. Wine aficionados will be able to tell if the wine cellar designs and the features of a wine cellar have served their purpose or fallen short. All of this will be reflected in the end product.
When the wine is poured, it should be ideally poured into a crystal, clear glass so that the first step - observation - can take place. With the sample in hand, this step should not be rushed and instead, it should be slow, deliberate and the moment, appreciated. White wines, in spite of their name, are actually not completely white ranging in color from golden, pale brown to a slightly tinged shade of green. Red wine, on the other hand, is usually darker with a pink hue that leans toward a darker brown color.
The second step is closely observing the smell of the wine that is actually accomplished in a two-step fashion. First, you should take a brief whiff of the wine to get a general idea of what you are dealing with. Next, you will take an extended, deep drawn in smell in order take in the full aroma of the beverage.
Wine experts will usually let the aroma waft over them as they reflect on the total experience of the wine up to that point.
After letting it come fully into their consciousness, a wine taster will then take a sip, swish it around to activate all of the taste buds to ascertain the wine and savor it fully prior to swallowing. This method allows all senses to be engaged in the process of taking in the wine, figuring the quality of it. This allows wine growers to figure out if their grapes, distillation process, and procedures used to store it in a wine cellar or storage unit was sufficient to produce a fine quality wine.
As it is with any skill, practice is part of the overall wine tasting methodology. While wine tasting is considered a skill that can be learned, wine experts will tell you that it is really more of an art.
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