Posted on 09/03/2021
A few tips to help you enjoy your wine to the full
Every wine deserves to be tasted in the best possible way. Whether you're a professional or an amateur, good wine tasting can be done. Although it may seem complex, it's simple for one thing: it's personal.
Tasting your own wine is a unique experience for everyone. If you don't feel exactly the same as the person next to you, don't panic! Some people have a more sensitive sense of taste or smell, and will experience wine more intensely.
One of the first things to consider when tasting wine is choosing the right glass. The right glass will allow oxygenation to take place and release the wine's aromas. You can find some tips here.
There are no "right" places for wine tasting. It can be done by the bottle, directly from the barrel or at a friend's house, around a table. But there are a few rules to be observed. There are two key factors in wine tasting: temperature and age.
TEMPERATURE :
This notion is undoubtedly one of the first to be taken into account when tasting. A wine served at the wrong temperature could spoil it.
A red Burgundy wine can be served at 16° to start with. It will gradually warm up during tasting, making it all the better.
For a white wine, the optimum temperature is 12°.
Too cold a temperature will tighten your wine and"lock in" the aromas, preventing them from expressing themselves.
If the temperature is too hot, the taste of the alcohol takes precedence over all the aromas, which is not pleasant on the palate.
THE AGE OF WINE:
Today, the age of wine is less of an issue. More and more people like to drink wine in its prime . And for good reason: we sometimes have very few bottles, and the greed of wanting to taste it right away often takes over.
What's more, some people don't have the right cellar to store their wines properly.
If you're capable of maturing a wine properly, it's obviously advisable! A Burgundy Grand Cru that is 10 - 15 years old is exceptional. Tasting them gives you different emotions every time, and it can become addictive!
Tasting is then divided into three key stages: the eye, the nose and then the mouth. These provide all the information you need to know about the wine, the grape variety, and so on.
THE LOOK:
The color of the wine gives you an important indication of its age. The color of wine changes dramatically with age. In the case of a white wine, when it's young it will have a greenish hue, and as it ages it will turn bronze.
A red wine can also vary from purplish to reddish-brown. Tears on wine (the marks left on the glass after tilting) provide information on the sugar content of the wine. The sweeter the wine, the more intense and dense the tears.
NOSE:
The second stage then focuses on the sense of smell. It should be done in several stages. First, smell your wine from the bottle, without aerating it for the "first nose". Then, once aerated, the "second nose" arrives. You can then smell all the aromas present in your wine, be they floral, fruity, woody or other.
MOUTH:
The last step is obviously the most important. For optimal tasting, it's a good idea to"swirl" the wine on your tongue to taste all the flavors - acid, bitter, sweet, etc.
You can also suck in air while your wine is in your mouth, to bring out even more of the aromas. Once this is done, you can evaluate your wine by taking three criteria into account: initial power, then mid-palate, i.e. the moment when the flavors are best felt, and then the wine's evolution, i.e. its capacity to develop both in the mouth and when swallowed.
