Tasting Wine
It's impossible not to taste wine when you drink it. But if you want to have a more critical appreciation of your wine, you will need to look out for a few different things.
Firstly, have a look at it and get a feel for the wine's appearance. 'What colour is it?' is the easiest question. Does it have any bubbles? The depth and concentration of the colour is likely to be reflected in the smell and taste of the wine.
Next up is smelling the wine, seeing if it has a good 'nose'. Wine can smell of all sorts of things. Red wines often smell of red and black berry fruits, while many white wines have a strong citrus character. But it doesn't stop there. Some wines are said to smell of old leather, coffee, toast and any number of both sweet and savoury flavours. This is also where you might pick up on a fault in the wine.
Finally, taste the wine and see what it's like on the palate – arguably the most important aspect. Take just a sip and then slurp a few short bursts of air into your mouth. This gets the air into the wine in your mouth and enhances the flavours on the palate. Most wines will immediately taste somewhat fruity and reflect the aromas on the nose. There might also be some secondary flavours on the palate to follow – savoury things like pepper, wet wool, tar... again, the list goes on.
So those are the basics. Trying a lot of wine is the best way to explore the different aromas and flavours. By comparison it becomes possible to pick out the individual character of different wines.