Just Some Basics

The Taste of Wine: Many wines will absolutely taste different from another. Lets say you are comparing two different brands of white or red wines. They may very in color , clarity, taste, smell and even the thickness of the legs after swirling it in a glass.

seattle.cbslocal.com 

Color: The color is an interesting aspect of a wine which can tell you a lot about how it was made and its quality. When looking at a wine you should hold your glass up to the light, swirl it around a then look down at the wine from above, then look from the side. This can help you determine the density of the wine. Then ask your self is it cloudy or transparent which would indicate weather it was filtered or unfiltered. Is it darker or lighter which can help you determine whether the wine may have a lot of tannin's or light tannin's. Then tilt the glass and look at the edge of the wine, does the color of the wine thin out an look watery, does it not change much at all, does the color change from red to brown, garnet or rusty colored. This is a good indicator of how the wine may have been aged.

The Swirl: When swirling a wine, place the glass on a table, grab the stem of the glass with your pointer finger and thumb, and swirl the wine lightly enough for the wine to get on the insides of the glass. Then raise the glass and from the side look at the legs of the wine that forms on the inside of the glass. If they are thick legs the wine is more likely to be higher in alcohol content which are usually wine's with fuller flavor, body and sometime higher in tannin's. You can probably guess that if they are thin the wine will probably be lighter, have less body and tannin's.

The Smell: The smell of wine isn't just the smell of wine. You can smell a lot in wine!! This is a lot of fun. The smell definitely vary person to person, trust me because I have heard some interesting description's customers, friends, family and written description's from management and even from the vineyards them self. But here are some basic scents you may pick up when smelling a wine. Both white and red wines can have notes of dark and light red fruits, citrus fruits, floral, musty, earthy, oaky, and grass notes. I have even heard of some funny ones like bubble gum, pencil shavings, and even barnyard. See what I mean.  A lot of these notes or smells may make you wonder if its just imagination. Well some times it can be but that is just what make tasting a wine fun and interesting.

Taste: What makes a wine differ
ent from another. First things first never determine a wine on the first sip!!! Give it a chance! Now the taste is one of the best ways to learn about a wines character. The taste can be fruity or acidic. Is it a lighter with which means light tannin's or is it dry to the point where your tong feels like sand paper which means high tannin's. Is the wine full bodied where it just fills your mouth with flavors or is it light in body, where you get the taste and it can just fall flat and finish with a clean tasteless finish. You can also try to name different flavor's you may taste on your palate. These are just a few ways to simply taste a wine and maybe have fun talking about the taste of flavors.