Tasting like a professional

As a follow-up to last weeks post, I thought I would share the techniques and concepts that we use as professionals in this industry. I am not giving up trade secrets or compromising some code of ethics. I am just trying to open the door to what happens on your palette when you taste food or wine. This will be a simplified look at what we teach in our classes but it will give you a few pointers on how it works.

First and foremost, the 4 tasting zones on the human tongue:

1. Sweet
2. Salty
3. Sour
4. Bitter

That is it!

Did you know that these are the only things that the human tongue can tell us? Flavors like Raspberry, Vanilla, Apple, etc... are detected with your nose. Don't believe me?
Try this, Grab a handful of Jelly beans and put them out on the table. Using just your sense of sight determine the flavor of the different candies in front of you Purple = Grape, Orange = orange and so on. Now, drop Jelly beans in a brown paper bag. Next, close your eyes, hold your nose and try to discern the flavor of one or two of them.
Can't do it, right? ok, last step, let your nose go and you will notice that magically you know exactly which flavor it is! You are still blindfolded so your sense of sight hasn't influenced you and your taste buds are doing exactly what they were doing just a minute ago and yet now you can "taste" the flavor.

The 5 S's of wine tasting:

1. Sight
2. Swirl
3. Smell
4. Sip
5. Slosh

All of your senses are in play when you are tasting wines.

Look at the color of the red wine you are tasting. Is it lightly colored an easy to see through? It is likely lighter fruited, and lighter bodied on your palette. Does it have dark inky purple hues? Chances are that it is probably heavier in your mouth and darker fruited... generally.

Now swirl it in your glass to build up an aroma cloud and put your nose right down in to the glass. Smell the wine... Are you getting Raspberry and Cherry aromas or more brooding Cassis, and Blueberry notes? This is another clue as to what you can expect when you taste the wine.

Third we will put a taste of the wine in our mouth and tilt our chin down (important), next you kiss and/or lightly sip air over the wine that is toward the front of your mouth to help accentuate the flavors and aromas.

The next step will be to slosh the wine around in your mouth so that it touches all of the different areas of your palette and the soft tissues in your mouth. This helps to show the level of acidity and tannins.

At the store our wine staff uses this technique time and again throughout the day to help us evaluate wines that we are considering for our shelves. These are also the steps used by critics, collectors and many other wine fans to help them to enhance their experience while enjoying their bottle of wine.

This is a very simplified overview of one of the topics and techniques we teach in "Wine 101". Learning this has opened the door to many of our students and customers and gives anyone using the steps a much greater tasting experience.
I invite you to try it and see if you agree.

Please feel free to ask questions about this and other things that can help you to increase you knowledge and enjoyment of wine.

We are here to help!

-Cheers