How to properly taste wine

Wine is like love, you have to enjoy it with all 5 senses (yes, today we have woke up as a romantic).

It is easy to think that wine knowledge is something reserved for sommeliers or great experts, but anyone can enjoy and analyze the sensations that wine produces when we taste it. We just need to fine-tune our senses, especially sight, smell and taste. 

So if you are in the mood for wine to make you vibrate… Keep reading!

Visual Phase → part 1 of the conquest.

We must look at it delicately, with a seductive look. We take the glass (preferably by the stem), so we do not heat the wine (although we may do it with the seductive look). Tilt the glass (about 45º) on a white background.

We will observe the color, this will give us an idea about the age of the wine. Generally, in red wine, the more violet or purple the wine is, the younger it is. On the other hand, if it has a garnet or russet color, it is usually a more aged wine.

If behind the red wine we put a paper with text, and we cannot read what is behind the glass, we will say that it is a high layer wine, if we can see clearly through the wine we will say that it is a low layer wine. This depends on the grape variety, the production of the vineyards, the weather that year and the winemaking process.

Both reds and whites evolve their color as they age: whites acquire a more intense color, and reds become lighter.

If we move the wine slightly we will see how the “wine tears” fall. These will be more or less dense depending on the wine.

Olfactory phase → Without shaking the wine, we put our nose in the glass and smell (if you notice the perfume emitted by the wine, you’re in luck! You don’t have Covid!).

Two things are mainly valued. 

The intensity: if its aroma is more or less powerful. And the type and quality of aromas. We can perceive the primary aromas, typical of the grape, of a fruity or vegetal nature. Secondary aromas, those originating from fermentation. And the tertiary aromas, those that come from aging. If we move the glass slightly, we oxygenate the wine and we will obtain all its aromatic expression.

Tasting phase → This is our favorite phase. We sip the wine ( without overdoing it, you scoundrel), with our tongue we pass it from one side to the other and try to appreciate the four basic flavors: salty, sweet, acid and bitter. What we know as round wine is the one that achieves a perfect balance between the four. 

We will determine the texture (this is where touch comes in). We can notice smoothness and unctuousness as positive factors, or roughness and astringency as negative ones.

We spit it out (or drink it) and expel air through the nose. This is known as retronasal (aroma in the mouth). In this way we can perceive the aromas of the wine again. 

A wine will be more or less long depending on how long its flavor and aromas persist in our mouth.

The taste of a good wine remains pleasantly after drinking it.

With all these tips… Tell us, what do you think of Zeena? Has it made you vibrate? ????????

Cheers! ✨