Professional wine tasters do not treat the process casually. Maybe it's not even fun at times, since they have to dissect, in minutest detail, every sip of every wine. It's their job. You, on the other hand, are not accountable to anybody but yourself. The degree of seriousness aside, there are some key factors one looks for in assessing wine. You certainly don't have to like what is considered excellent wine, but you should have an appreciation for why it is considered such. Also, it makes drinking better wines a much deeper, richer experience.
There are several kinds of tasting. One is for people who barely know the difference between red and white - uncommon but not unheard of. In this case, choose five bottles, a light young red, a mature red, a dry white, a sweet white, and a port or sherry. For a more discerning group, choose five different varietals, like a Zinfandel, Pinot Noir, Cabernet, Merlot and Syrah, to illuminate the distinct differences in so-called "red" wines. Another method might be to select Chardonnays from as many different growing regions as is practical (include several countries and states) to determine what the "baseline Chardonnay" taste is, and how that taste can vary depending upon where it's grown. This is a delightful way to explore a single varietal in depth.
For the more serious taster there are horizontal and vertical tastings. Horizontal would be, for example, ten Cabernets from the same year but different wineries; vertical means all the Cabernets are from different years. This give insight as to what constitutes an excellent Cabernet - again, in your opinion.
You can taste blind -- without seeing the labels -- or in full view of the facts. Blind tasting insures you are not swayed by a wine's reputation. You'll detect what you're supposed to detect, not what you think you're supposed to detect. In blind tasting competitions, the object is to guess correctly the wine and the vintage, and the best team wins. In competitive tastings wine against wine, such as pitting Cabernets from California against Bordeaux from France, the tasting is done blind to insure a fair out come - so the more established reputation of the Bordeaux region doesn't wield more clout than it deserves to.
When several wines are being tasted, the order should be youngest and lightest wines first followed by older more full-bodied ones. To reverse this order is to overwhelm any subtleties a younger, lighter wine might have accrued and is not a fair assessment.
And what are you looking for in evaluating wine? Appearance first, then smell, impression in the mouth, total flavor in the mouth, and aftertaste.
Posts
