Wine Tasting

Everyone wants to drink good wine. Classic wine quality test is tasting that can reveal all advantages and disadvantages. Our impressions we can analyze using our senses: sight, olfaction and taste. These senses could tell a lot about wine.

The key to sight evaluation is a clean transparent glass. Then by looking at wine against the light one can evaluate the purity and color. Wine has to be clear and scintillating especially white wine. Color intensity indicates wine age. As a rule wine gains darker tints during aging.

Good wine has to smell like wine. If you can distinguish odor nuisance (acetic, musty, rotten egg) something goes wrong. Otherwise good wine reveals wide range of different aromas, light tones and tinges. At first one has to place the nose not far from the glass brim and breathe in the mildest volatile aromas. Right after that one could whirl the glass to reveal heavier aromas.

Right after sight and olfactory evaluation we can continue with wine tasting. A small quantity of wine is sufficient enough; wine has to be rolled on the whole tongue surface to fill in taste buds. During tasting we could smell the wine ones more by inhaling the air through our teeth. Emerging aromas will go through nasal cavity. After that we can swallow the wine and assess the duration of aftertaste.

The tasting is not just a technique but ability to describe ones sensations. Every human is an individual being and his senses differ. That is why winemakers have their own language, by means of it they can make description more thoroughly. Wine could be “sparkling” with “mild” odor, “floral” aroma and “elegant’ character.

If you taste large amount of wines you should follow the rule: taste white wines before red, dry before sweet, young before aged and cheap before expensive. But it is not dogma. Milos Michlovsky usually uses white, red, white, red combination. Wine tasting is not just sommelier’s domaine, it could be amazing among your friends. One could be able to describe wine properly…