Tasting Wine in 5 Easy Steps

When I run a wine tasting, I always start off with a quick demonstration on how to “taste” wine. I don’t present it as something you have to do every time you pop the cork on a bottle of Bin 65. Rather, I try and show people how this will increase their enjoyment of the wine.

So here’s a quick summary of the steps I use to taste wine. When demonstrated, they have the potential to look a bit pompous, so try and have fun instead. And keep in mind that I don’t do this all the time. It’s useful with a wine I’ve never tried before, a “special” bottle or a new vintage of an old favourite.

1) Seeing: Hold your glass up to a white piece of paper or some other white surface. How intense is the colour? This intensity will give you some indication of how rich the wine will feel in your mouth. A lighter-coloured wine will feel “lighter” in your mouth. This is especially true with white wines. Compare an extremely light-coloured wine, like a Pinot Grigio, with a darker-coloured wine, like a Viognier or oaked Chardonnay. Look at the difference in colour, and compare how they feel in your mouth.

2) Swirling: Take your glass and swirl the wine around. This is why you always pour a small amount for tasting - you don’t want it to slop over the side of the glass. By doing this, you are aerating the wine. The organic compounds that are responsible for the wonderful smells and flavours are brought out by contact with air. If you don’t aerate the wine, you won’t get the best result when you smell the wine.

This is also where you can see the wine’s “legs”. After swirling, look along the side of your glass. You’ll see drops of wine rolling down the side. These are the legs. Despite what you might have heard, there really isn’t such a thing as “good” legs or “bad” legs. It’s a measure of the alcoholic strength of the wine. If the drops roll down slowly, there’s a lot of alcohol. If they roll down fast, the alcohol level is lower.

3) Smelling: No shame here, you’re among friends. Stick your nose in the glass and have a good long sniff. What you smell will give you a hint as to what the wine will taste like. Not always (as in the case of Pinot Noir), but you will have a good indication as to what you can expect in the glass. If your wine is off, chances are good that you’ll be able to tell in this step. If it smells like wet dog, cheap sherry (assuming you’re not drinking sherry) or wet cardboard, put it down. Let the wine sit for a few minutes and try it again.

And some wines are meant to be funky (especially good French Pinot Noir). If it has a certain funk to it that won’t go away, try tasting it. The smell and the taste don’t always match. If your glass smells like a barnyard, have a sip anyways. You might just be pleasantly surprised.

4) Sipping: Harder than it sounds. Our taste buds are in different places around our mouth, so if you simply swallow the wine, you stand a chance of missing some of your taste buds. Swish the wine around your entire mouth before you swallow. If you’re feeling particularly adventurous, try opening your mouth and bringing air over the wine as you swish. It requires a lot of coordination, but it can be done. Just don’t wear your favourite shirt the first time you try it.

5) Swallowing: This isn’t always done. If I like the wine I’m tasting, I am not going to spit it out. But if you’re tasting a lot of different wines, if you don’t like the wine or if you have to drive afterwards, spitting out the wine can be a good idea. Make sure you have a proper container and that your hosts are OK with this. Some people get offended if you start spitting. And spitting back into your glass is generally a bad idea. Try using a spit-bucket (there’s a great name) instead.

Once you’ve gone through this, all you have to do is repeat steps 4 & 5 (mouth-swishing optional) and you’re on your way.

Manitoba Wine Tip: Some of the private wine stores are selling the Wolf Blass 2001 Grey Label Cabernet Sauvignon (tasting notes here) for around $17. I just saw it in Ontario for $33 or $34, and the last time this wine showed up in Manitoba, the price was over $30. I can’t recommend this wine highly enough, especially for $17. Act now, there’s a lot out there, but it’s selling quickly (and by the case!).

Primitivo in the Springtime

Well, it’s a balmy 13 degrees here in Winnipeg, so it finally feels like spring. And in spring, a young man’s heart turns to thoughts of…wine? Doesn’t sound quite right, but I hope it will do.

April is one of the in-between months in Winnipeg. Right now it’s beautiful. Tomorrow, it could be nice again, or it could snow. You never know. So I try and aim up the middle. Rich whites and medium-bodied red wines are my April favourites. And a safe bet for this time of year is a bottle of Primitivo, specifically the Pasqua “Terre del Sole” Primitivo. Yum. Can’t beat this one for the combination of taste and price ($12-ish at the private stores).

Primitivo has identical DNA to California’s well-known Zinfandel grape, and both are related to an obscure Croatian red grape. But (at least in Winnipeg) Primitivo is generally a much better bargain than Zinfandel. You get the same kind of flavour in the two wines (lots of spicy berry fruit with a long, velvety finish), although the Italian wines have a bit more earthiness and acidity.

But a decent Zinfandel will set you back at least $17-18 in Winnipeg. So I’d recommend a Primitivo any day. The private stores have a good range, and so does the MLCC.

What’s this all about?

So what’s this all about? Well, I’m a resident of Winnipeg who enjoys wine. I work part-time in the “field” and I really enjoy what I do. And sometimes I get frustrated when I read the wine columnist in our local paper. It’s not that I disagree with him. He has his own opinions, and I have mine.

Instead, I don’t think he gets what people in Winnipeg really want to see in a wine column. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not presumptuous enough to think that I know what people want either. But after nine years of working in a wine store and answering a lot of questions, I think I can hazard a guess.

What do I think people are looking for in a wine column? Well, this is Winnipeg and we do love our bargains. People here want to know about well-priced, tasty wines. They don’t (for the most part) want to hear about expensive wines that you’ll never find in our local stores.

So you won’t find a lot of reviews of the latest cult Napa Valley wines. I’m not going to huff about the quality of this year’s Bordeaux harvest versus the 1990 vintage. Instead, I’m going to write about the wines that most people (including me) buy - namely those under $20 (CDN).

Beyond this, I plan on talking about all sorts of wine-related topics based on questions people have asked me over the years - namely details on different wine grapes, regions, producers, local restaurants, aging and so on. Wherever possible, I’ll try and include a Canadian perspective, since I believe that the Canadian wine industry is totally under-appreciated and doesn’t get the respect it deserves.

And I hope to do so in a non-pretentious way. Wine should be fun and accessible. I don’t have the patience for long-winded wine writers. There are enough of them around, so I plan to do things my way. On that note, you’ll find some links to other wine sites on the sidebar. Consider these folks my influences, I’ve learned a lot from them.

And finally, I welcome comments. If you have any questions, I will do my best to answer them. But I would really like to keep the tone of this blog as positive as possible, so please bear that in mind when posting a comment.

(Just a few caveats)

1. This blog represents my personal opinion (not that of my employer), so take it for what it’s worth. After all, wine is all about individual tastes.
2. Most wines I review here are purchased at my own expense. I do have some very generous friends, so every now and again I’ll write about something I didn’t buy.
3. I still work for one of the private wine stores in Winnipeg. It doesn’t matter which one, but to be fair, I will try to only write about wines that are widely available - either in the MLCC or in all of the private wine stores. I don’t want to be seen as favouring one system over the other.
4. It has come to my attention that a private wine store here in Winnipeg has registered a domain name very similar to this blog. Just to be absolutely clear, there is no affiliation between this blog and the website operated by Deluca’s Fine Wine. I shop there, but I don’t work for them. If you’re in town though, be sure to check their store (and their adjacent Italian grocery) out. You can find their website here.