Wine Tasting 101 - The Nose Knows

I am sure that there are many things more pleasurable than a great wine, but when I have a glass in my hands with its intoxicating aroma I am hard pressed to think of what those things may be. A great glass of wine is one of the best sensory experiences available to us. In fact if you are not using all of your senses to enjoy that wine then you are depriving yourself of ever recognizing the full complexity of the glass that you are drinking.

Let's consider our sense of smell for instance. Our nose is a critical part of our anatomy, especially if you are a food and wine lover. In fact the vast majority of "tastes" that are tongue picks up on are not derived from the tongue at all. Our tongues are actually incredibly limited they can only recognize 4 tastes: Sweet, Salty, Bitter, and Sour. It is our sense of smell that lets us recognize a much wider variety of tastes and makes the experience of eating and drinking so enjoyable. For wine tasting this is crucial.

First choose your wine. Next get out the appropriate glasses - If you only have one set of stemware that is fine, but if you can you should use a narrow rimmed glass for tasting whites and a wide rimmed glass for reds. White wines have a fairly delicate aroma making their fragrance harder to pick up on. A narrow rimmed glass confines this fragrance to a smaller space making it easier for our noses to pick up on the various scents. Reds on the other hand have a much bolder aroma. Using a wide rimmed glass gives the red room to breathe making it easier for our noses to pick up on the wine's various complexities.

After you have poured the wine into your glass I want you to just give it a quick whiff. Do not breathe the fragrance in deeply or linger over it. All you are trying to do here is get a broad impression of how the wine smells. The next step is to give the glass a gentle swirl...

Yes, there is a reason we swirl our wine and it has nothing to do with trying to look sophisticated. One of those reasons has to do with the alcohol content. When we sniff the wine we do not want to be overwhelmed by alcohol vapors which will mask the complex fragrance we are trying to identify. Swirling the glass will dissipate some of these vapors.

Now that you have swirled your wine I want you to stick your nose into the glass and really try to smell the aroma. What you are trying to do here is ferret out the complexities of the wine's fragrance. Rather than simply trying to form a broad impression of the wine you are trying to distinguish individual scents.

Repeat this process several times and see how many difference scents you can recognize. Also take a moment to compare the broad impression you gained by giving your glass a quick sniff to the more focused impression you developed of the wine after sticking your nose in the glass. You may be surprised to find that these two impressions are very different from one another.

Most importantly enjoy yourself and enjoy that glass of wine. Happy tasting!

If you want to find out more about wine, wine tasting and wine culture then come visit us at: California Wine Clubs. Not only will you learn about wine culture you will also learn about the California Wine Club scene.

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