FRANKLIN LIQUORS HOW TO TASTE WINE

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HOW TO TASTE WINE

Wine tasting can be broken down to five basic steps:

1. Wine Color

Wine colors vary due to the type of grape used, the age of the wine, and the aging process.
In general, white wines take on more color as they get older while red wines lose color. Wines aged in wood (like oak barrels) can also take on more color.

The best way to determine the color of a wine is to use a white background. (Paper if you're poor, silk if you're extravagant.) Hold the well-lit glass in front of the background and evaluate it using the following color scale. (Don't try comparing it to the colors on your monitor. They are only approximate and you'll probably dump your glass onto your keyboard anyway.)

White Wines		Red Wines

Yellow-green		Purple


Straw Yellow		Ruby


Gold		Red


Deep Gold		Brick


Yellowish Brown		Reddish Brown


Brown		Brown

2. Swirl

O.K. This is the fun part. We all do it, and we can all do a really good job at it. But what's it for?

Swirling wine in the glass has one purpose, to oxygenate the wine. The addition of oxygen releases the chemical components that produce those heady aromas we search for, and frequently smooths out the taste of the wine.

Everyone's heard about letting a wine breathe, that is, uncorking the bottle and decanting it or letting it sit open for awhile before drinking. The purpose, again, is to allow oxygen to do its work. Swirling does the same thing, but in more interactive way... and it's also real fun.

3. Nose

Once the bouquet of the wine is released through skillful swirling, smell the wine to help you determine its characteristics.

Hundreds of words have been used to describe the scents and tastes associated with wine and, unfortunately, many of them do not immediately call a particular scent to mind. Fruity, nutty and corky are pretty apparent, but what about austere and short?

And certainly there is the classic foxy wine. What is a foxy wine, you ask? Why, it's a wine that smells like a wet fox, of course. Don't believe me? Well, find yourself a garden hose and a fresh fox....

Even if you can't put your nostrils on a specific word to describe the wine you're smelling, you should be aware of some odors that warn you that the wine isn't up to par.

Smells to warn you that something's fishy

Smell		Cause
Sulfur		Too much sulfur dioxide used
Vinegar		Acetic acid; wine's gone bad
Sweet sherry		Wine has oxidized; leaky cork
Corky		Bad cork

By the way, is it necessary to sniff the cork when it is placed next to you in a restaurant?
No, you can get the same scent from the wine in the glass. But look at the cork for signs of leakage, sugar crystallization (common in very sweet wines), and cork degradation.

4. Taste

Finally, the moment you've been waiting for... take a small amount of wine into your mouth and hold it there. Let it flow over your tongue, and all around your mouth. Think about the sensations perceived by your brain via your tastebuds.

Is the wine sweet, fruity, acid, tannic (dry due to wood aging), and does it leave an aftertaste. Different areas on the tongue are responsible for perceiving these tastes.

If you're tasting a wine as a potential purchase, or selling one to a potential buyer, remember the adage:

Buy on apples, sell on cheese.

Apples tend to bring out harsh flavors in the wine, cheese tends to mellow them out.

5. Finish

Once you've tasted the wine, let the feeling of it sink in. Run through a mental checklist of what you like in a wine, and did this particular one meet the standards you like to see.

Did the wine: