How to improve you wine tasting skills -by Robert Ilko
To get better at tasting wines, which I know that I need to constantly improve, there are some easy steps and some fun steps to improve our wine tasting skills. This article is not about how to judge wines on points but what can people do to enjoy the wine they are drinking more. To be more knowledgeable.
What I hear from wine critics, judges and wine enthusiasts is to drink many different wines as possible. That is fun and all but is that going to improve your tasting skills? Not immediately. Rather than “taste, taste, taste”, I prefer “taste, educate, taste”. You need reference points to gauge what is one taste and what another taste is. You need exposure to various smells such as spices, flowers, chemicals, wood, coffee, licorice, fruit, faults, etc. Some people have a natural ability to taste and smell, for the rest of us, we need to learn. Both smell and taste changes over time. Our bodies age or become damaged so our senses do too. What I liked as a child is not necessarily what I like know except I still roundly dislike cooked spinach. Sometimes what I had last month for dinner is no longer my favorite. Wine is like that too.
Things to Do:
1. Experiment, learn and make tasting “deposits”:
- Go to the grocery store or spice shop and smell everything.
A winemaker, who I don’t remember who (they seem to all blend together over time, get it “blend” together). He said he goes to the grocery store and he spends an hour just smelling everything from breads to produce. He tries to make mental notes as he smells an item. He called it akin to muscle memory. I like you to think of smelling something and making a deposit into your tasting memory bank for later withdrawals when you need it.
- Know something about the wine, winemaker, winery or area harvested.
Before you try a wine, look for information about the winery, the winemaker, when harvested, and the area (appellation) that the wine is made. Is the winery a large multi-million case producer that gets wines from different locations or is the winery a single source winery? Is it a blended wine from different grapes or just one grape varietal? Winemakers come in two categories to me. One is the “old timer” that has years of experience and is tried and true. The other is “young buck” that is willing to learn but try new methods or varietals. Is the wine from a cold climate or warm climate? Due to weather and water, were the grapes harvested early or late? Lastly, what are the special effects of an area on the grapes (think Napa versus Northern New York).
2. Taste in the right environment:
- Be aware of background smells.
- Try to avoid wine tasting in a kitchen and near foods (unless you are pairing your wine with your food).
- No perfumes or heavy deodorants.
- I thought this was unusual. When you are overloaded with aromas? Neutralize your nose by sniffing your forearm. www.winefolly.com/review/how-to-taste-wine-develop-palate/
3. Cleanse your palate before tasting wine:
Mike Dawson from the Wine Enthusiast collected some ways to cleanse your palate from experts. www.winemag.com/gallery/sommelier-palate-cleansing-tips/
- Michael Schachner, Contributing Editor, Wine Enthusiast uses unripen pineapple.
- Joe Czerwinski, Managing Editor, Wine Enthusiast uses a banana followed by water.
- Paul Brady, Manager at Hearth NYC uses a pilsner beer.
- Scott Turnbull, CMS, Sommelier, Solbar, Calistoga, CA likes tortilla chips.
- Kevin Zraly, The Windows on the World Complete Wine Course prefers rare beef.
Other ways to cleanse your palate are:
- Olives
- Water crackers
- Coffee beans
- Celery
- Room temperature water (but don’t drink much)
4. Find more flavors when you taste:
What can we do when we are tasting wine to help figure out what the flavors are? According to Madeline Puckette, “try coating your mouth with a larger sip of wine followed by several smaller sips so that you can isolate and pick out flavors. Focus on one flavor at a time. Always be thinking from broad-based flavors to more specific ones, i.e. the general “black fruits” to the more specific, “Dark plum, roasted mulberry, jammy blackberry.” http://winefolly.com/review/how-to-taste-wine-develop-palate/
Another interesting technique is called “aspirating”. Vogue food journalist Rachel Signer says “to truly taste wine in a way that educates your palate, you have to slow down and practice something called aspiration: rolling a sip of wine over your tongue and sucking air into it. Does it look weird at first? Sure. But by allowing oxygen to release more of the wine’s flavors, you’ll notice more aspects about how it was made, such as the oakiness or acidity.” In her research she says consulted with Nick Gorevic, a wine industry professional who believes that “If you want to taste more, you have to practice and think about it with a critical eye.” He goes on to say “Really focus on what’s in your mouth and leave it there for a long time. Let it stay there, aspirate, and chew it around.” www.vogue.com/13419159/wine-tasting-how-to-train-your-palate/ To aspirate wine for tasting, while you have some wine in your mouth, open your lips only a little bit and inhale just enough to pass air through the wine. This should really expose the wine to your taste buds and add to your sense of smell.
5. Visit a wine shop with Enomatic machine:
Some wine shops but more wine bars have an Enomatic machine (closed system wine dispenser) that allows you to pour as much as you like from an open bottle. You can taste a splash or have a whole glass. You pay by the amount you use. Typically, you prepay for whatever amount of money you like to spend that is put on a magnetic strip card that you use to tell the machine which wine you want to try. The one place we went had over a hundred wines to sample. The environment can be noisy and distracting.
6. Join wine tasting group:
For me it was matter of luck that I happen to bring up my new interest in wine with someone that I thought only drank beer. It turned out he was the President of a monthly wine tasting group called the San Diego Wine Guild (www.sandiegowineguild.org). I went to their Summer party and couldn't write the membership check fast enough. The guild is the second largest chapter of the American Wine Society (www.americanwinesociety.org). The wine guild holds a potluck dinner and arranges for a winemaker to come in to talk about 7-8 wines. A lively social and educational experience.
7. Go to charity wine tasting, visit wineries or wine bars and attend wine pairing dinners
8. Throw your own wine tasting event:
Buy various wines or invite friends to bring a wine to share. You will be surprised by how much your friends and neighbors know about wine. If they don't they may want to join you on your journey of enjoying wine more (or more wine!).
9. Ask a restaurant if they have a Sommelier:
When talking with the Sommelier, ask more than which wine to order. Ask follow up questions about why that particular wine versus another. Find out how they came to like that wine.
10. Take a sensory analysis class:
Wine consultant and blogger Betty Kaufman says that she took a sensory analysis class at the Culinary Institute of America in Saint Helena. The course was two days where they smelled the first day and tasted the second day. Betty writes that she “got so much out of the class, I think I could take it many times over and benefit each time!”. This is something I want to explore myself. www.bettyswinemusings.com/fine-tuning-your-wine-tasting-skills
11. Read books about wines:
Simon Stockton from Sugar and Yeast writes that “reading wine books is an essential part of learning about wine and it's imperative you learn from experts in the field.” He goes on to say that “it's helpful to absorb the way wine writers/critics describe wines they've tasted so you can emulate this at some stage of your own development”. Here are some of his books that he recommends. The Champagne Guide by Tyson Stelzer, Why You Like the Wines You Like by Tim Hanni, The Concise Guide to Wine and Blind Tasting by Neel Burton and James Flewellen, and Wine Grapes by Jancis Robinson, Julia Harding and Jose Vouillamoz.
12. Buy a wine aroma tasting kit:
Manufacturers make a kit of wine aromas that come in small vials that you can smell. The object if you make it a game is to see how many you can correctly guess. They can include red wine and white wine aromas but also faults as to what wine should not smell like.
13. Most important and one that you have done is read wine blogs like this one!
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