How To Taste Wine Properly: A Comprehensive Guide For Beginners

Blog • 6 February 2023

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Learning how to taste wine properly will open you up to a world of sensory pleasure. Wine tasting can have a bad rep, being associated with snobbiness and seemingly nonsensical descriptions of “bouquets” and “notes”. But when you understand the process and how to do it correctly, you’ll start getting the most out of what can be an incredibly rewarding experience.

We have been making award-winning English wine at our Sussex estate for half a century, and have been offering wine tasting experiences for years. Allow us to take you through how to taste wine for beginners, explaining each step and its significance, so you can become a wine tasting connoisseur in no time at all.

How to Do a Wine Tasting Correctly in 5 Easy Steps

First of all, make sure you know how to serve wine properly to get the most out of your tasting, including serving temperatures and correct glasses. You’d be surprised at how much of a difference these factors make!

The trick to tasting wine properly is knowing the three key components of wine: fruit, alcohol, and acid. Keep these in mind when going through each step. There are five main elements of proper wine tasting, that many refer to as the 5 S’s: See, Swirl, Sniff, Sip and Savour:

1. See

You’d be surprised by how much you can tell about a wine just by inspecting it. A deeper, more intense colour, whether that’s white or red, can indicate how strong the wine’s flavour may be. It can also indicate a wine’s age. White wines gain darker hues as they age, while red wines actually lose their colour over time.

Looking at the wine before you drink it helps you check if there’s any sediment. Sediment is normal with red wines. If you notice any, you just need to allow it time to settle at the bottom of the bottle and pour carefully to avoid getting any in the glass.

2. Swirl

Swirling wine in its glass before you taste it is an important part of the tasting process. It adds oxygen to the wine, allowing the flavours to open up and aromas to rise, catching on the lip of the glass – which will help with the next step.

Sometimes, you may notice that the wine stays a while on the sides of the glass. This is referred to as “legs” or the “tears” of the wine and indicates its viscosity. A more pronounced viscosity generally translates to a more rounded mouthfeel.

3. Smell

After you’ve swirled the wine, allowing its aromas to rise, it’s time to smell by putting your nose right into the glass (without touching the wine!).

You might smell vegetation, wood, minerals, and even smoke or wet stones. These exist in wine aromas because of the rich array of flavour elements. It’s normal to detect unusual aromas. A wine’s smell can also change once it’s in contact with air.

4. Sip

The main event! The steps before should have given you a good feeling for the wine and how it may taste. To properly taste wine, try to let some air in while sipping and hold it in your mouth for 3-5 seconds. To get technical, there are three types of flavour to look out for:

- Primary: These are the most dominant aromas and come from the grapes themselves. They could be fruity, floral, spicy, or anything in between.

- Secondary: Secondary flavours come from the fermentation process, or the actual barrel that the wine was put in, so are often oaky, for example.

Tertiary: The tertiary flavours can become more complex as time goes on because they occur through the ageing process. Again, you may notice odd flavours here, which is perfectly normal.

5. Savour

The final step is to “finish” your taste of wine. No matter if you swallow it or use a spittoon or a bucket, you’ll notice how the flavours linger on your palate. You may notice a powerful finish, where new flavours develop, or there might be a nice acidity which has a cleansing effect. Take time to savour the flavours and see what you notice.

How to Describe the Taste of Wine

Wines come in a variety of styles and flavours, from red to white, still and sparkling. As such, there are a variety of ways to describe the taste.

Every wine has a structure. Some will contain more tannins than others – tannins are natural compounds that are found in the skins, stems, and seeds of a grape. Wines with greater tannin content will make your mouth feel a little drier, while a lower tannin content can contribute to the sweetness of the wine. Others are acidic or creamy.

Common Wine Tasting Terms Associated With Taste and What They Mean

Acidity: When you taste your wine, you may notice a tingling sensation around the back of your throat which makes your mouth water. This is caused by acids which are added to wine to sharpen its taste. The longer your mouth waters, the more acidic the wine is.

Balanced: A balanced wine is one in which the fruit, alcohol, and acidity work harmoniously together, with no one element standing out over another.

Body: The “fullness” of wine and how it feels in the mouth is described as its body. So, full-bodied wines are rich in taste and often much higher in alcohol content, while wines with a lighter body feel much more delicate in the mouth.

Bold: Bold wines are often fruity and particularly striking in flavour. The opposite of this is an “elegant” wine, one that is more understated in taste.

Bouquet: This is another way of describing the aroma of a wine – its smell, essentially. Common bouquets described when tasting wine include fruit, flowers, herbs, earth, grass, tobacco, and chocolate.

Complex: This term is used to describe wine that changes its flavour noticeably from first taste to aftertaste.

Finish: The finish is how long the taste of the wine lasts in your mouth after swallowing (or spitting it). Generally, the longer the taste lasts, the higher the quality of the wine.

Minerally: Wines that are neither fruity, herby, or spicy are described as “minerally”. They may have an almost metallic taste with a noticeable tang.

Oaky: Oak has a huge influence on a wine’s flavour, second only to the actual grape variety. A wine that’s aged in oak barrels will have an oaky taste. For white wine, this might taste like vanilla and butter, while in red wines it could be more smokey. Wines without oakiness have a tendency to have lemony notes.

Zesty: A “zesty” wine is one of noticeable citrus notes and acidity.

How to Taste Red Wine

When tasting red wine, remember that its naturally higher tannin content may make it feel drier in your mouth. Red wine should be served just under room temperature, so around 16 °C. This allows the tannins to smooth out. Some red wines, like the Pinot Noir, can actually benefit from being a little cooler at 14 °C.

Pour red wine into a glass with a wider opening. This allows ethanol to evaporate and tannins to soften, allowing for an even smoother drinking experience.

How to Taste White Wine

White wines are best enjoyed at cooler temperatures of 8-10°C. A standard fridge is colder than this, so make sure to take white wine out and let it warm for a few minutes before you taste it.

To get the most out of tasting white wine, serve it in a glass with a smaller bowl. Doing so helps elevate the wine’s aromas while also preserving fruity, floral notes as the wine will be closer to the nose.

Why Do People Spit Out Wine at Tastings?

There are a few reasons for spitting out wine when tasting. As you get more intoxicated, you’re less able to detect subtle nuances in flavours and aroma, as your palate gets overwhelmed with alcohol and your senses dulled. A wine tasting event might mean sampling up to 40 or more wines, so spitting is the only realistic way to sample them all.

Sometimes, swallowing the wine does give a better overall experience because it reaches the taste buds at the very back of your mouth. And when you exhale, you get even more flavour.

Book the Ultimate Wine Tasting Experience With Bolney Wine Estate

Want to see how the professionals conduct a wine tasting? Visit Bolney Wine Estate’s 50-year-old vineyard in the heart of the Sussex countryside for the ultimate wine sampling experience. You’ll get a dedicated Bolney guide taking you through a fully tutored tasting of some of our award-winning wines, showing you exactly how it’s done.

Browse our full list of wine tasting experiences and discover the journey from vine to wine on an immersive day that satisfies all the senses.

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