THIS is where the learning process starts to get fun, and educational at the same time. You can read, study, and take tests all you want, however, the true test of knowledge lies on your palate. It is very difficult to try and describe a wine to a potential buyer and close the sale if you have never tasted it yourself. It can possibly be done, but not with the same effectiveness. My earlier recommendation to attend tastings is still the best and most cost effective way to learn. Should you choose to do this I would recommend that you consider taking notes along the way. Even the most professional of wine tasters, do not have the palate memory, allowing them to remember all the different facets of a wines unique and individual personality.

There are four basic steps to tasting wines, each shows you a major component of that particular wine, and each enhances the enjoyment of the other. Let’s investigate:

1. COLOR: After pouring approximately one ounce of wine into a wineglass; observe the color and the clarity of the wine. This process will give you some insight into what is in the glass. Different wines have different color characteristics. Once you become familiar with these characteristics they will help you determine what might be in the glass even if you do not know at this time. The color will also give you indications of the age, and quality of the wine.
   1. A white wine’s color can appear anywhere from light green, to clear, to straw yellow to golden to brown. As a white wine gets older it becomes maderized or oxidized and begins to turn brown in color this is generally due to improper storing conditions, and is definitely not a good sign.
   2. Red wines tend to be purple, ruby red, brick red, to reddish brown. As a red wine matures they tend to lose color and take on a brickish tint. This is most apparent around the meniscus, or the area of the wine where it meets and slightly rises up the side of the glass.
   3. The color of wine is most affected by three conditions, the age of the wine, the varietal, and whether the wine was aged in wood or not.

NOW SWIRL THE WINE IN THE GLASS, BY DOING THIS YOU ARE ALLOWING OXYGEN AND AGITATION TO RELEASE MORE OF THE AROMA AND BOUQUET

2. SMELL: What is the first thing you think of when you smell this wine? Is it a particular fruit? Freshly mown grass? Do you pick up a hint of wood or flowers? What ever you find write it down and try to remember what it is you first discovered in this glass of wine. This will be your first hint of what this wine will be like since you taste with your nose as well.
   1. Watch for “off odors” here, a hint of vinegar will tell you that the wine is either bad or has too much acetic acid. A hint of a sherry smell will tell you that the wine is oxidized. A musty smell will tell you that the wine is corked.
   2. The smell of ripe fruit can tell you that the wine may be very young.
   3. If you detect Vanilla, that will tell you that the wine has probably been aged in new oak casks.
   4. A hint of Butterscotch, will tell you that the wine has undergone a second fermentation process called malolactic fermentation, this process is very desirable in some wines, specifically Chardonnay, where you would expect to pay much more for that bottle.
    

3. TASTE: Your tongue has four different tasting “zones” which each pick up certain taste characteristics.
   1. The tip of the tongue picks up sweetness, or fruitiness.
   2. The sides of the tongue pick up tartness or sourness.
   3. The center of your tongue picks up saltiness.
   4. The back of your tongue picks up bitterness

            Taste with all of your taste buds, keeping in mind:

1. The body or the weight and feel of the wine on your palate, Cabernet will appear much heavier or fuller than a white wine or lighter styled red.
2. The acidity derived from natural acid found in grapes, creating astringency.
3. The level of tannins, this is a property that wine needs in order to improve with age. They are not a negative characteristic, but when excessive they may leave you feeling like you have “little sweaters” on your teeth and tongue.
4. The sweetness, this can come from either the grape varietal fruit characteristics, the amount of residual sugar, left in the wine after fermentation, or the compounds that come from barrel fermentation in oak barrels.

4. FINISH: After swallowing your first sip of this wine, ask yourself these questions:
   1. Did you like the wine? Why or why not?
   2. Was it light, medium, or full-bodied?
   3. Were all the components of this wine in balance, in other words did any one characteristic over power any of the others? Did the acidity of the wine balance out the residual sweetness?
   4. How long after swallowing your first sip did the flavors and aromas linger?
   5. Will this wine enhance the entrees that your guests have ordered tonight? If so, you can give them an honest recommendation that you will feel good about.

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