WINE TASTING The Essential Guide

The Study Library · The Cellar Journal

Wine tasting can look far more complicated than it really is. A professional puts their nose into a glass and starts talking about blackcurrants, violets, graphite, leather or wet stones, while someone listening may reasonably wonder whether all of those things are actually there, whether they are supposed to smell them too, and whether not finding them means they are doing something wrong.

It does not. Tasting wine is not a competition to identify the greatest number of aromas. It is a way of paying attention. The goal is to slow the experience down enough to understand what is in the glass: how intense it is, how fresh, how rich, how tannic, how aromatic, how long it lasts and, finally, whether you enjoy it. A useful tasting method is therefore not the most complicated one, but the one you can repeat consistently. The source follows the same principle, using professional ideas in direct language and emphasizing practical skills rather than memorization. WINE A TASTING COURSE

The central idea is simple:

Do not begin by trying to identify the wine. Begin by trying to understand it.