"It consists in tasting with attention a product which quality we wish to appreciate. It is about submitting it to our senses and getting to know it, searching for its different defects and qualities, with the purpose of expressing them. Winetasting is studying, describing, defining, judging and classifying."
Peynaud
Tasting Steps:
1 » With the glass slanted on a white background, watch the color and intensity of the wine: its appearance (clear, bright). Rotate the wine glass and see that there will be drops trickling down the sides of the crystal glass. These "legs" or "tears" will give us a hint of the body, texture and alcoholic strength of the wine.
2 » Hold the glass by the stem and literally introduce your nose in the goblet. Breathe in deeply through your nose and try to perceive the aromas. Swirl the glass to release aromatic components and repeat the operation. Compare the perceived aromas with other odors you know. If it smells of fruit, try to precise what fruit: white or red? Tropical fruit or berries?
3 » This is the moment when you confirm what you have noticed in the other two steps. Drink a sip of wine, large enough so as to impregnate all your tongue and the inside of your mouth. Suck in a small quantity of air and swirl the wine inside your mouth. Try to discover the tastes and textures of the wine, as well as the sensation it provokes. When you have discovered as much as possible, swallow it or spit, if you are to continue tasting.
n other words, tasting the wine is an art containing elements of science and it is a kind of knowledge accumulated by experience.
Tasting the wine is a global process in which many factors take part. Attention must be paid to the five senses: hearing (the sound of wine when it is served), sight (color, hue, transparency, brightness, shades, etc.), smell (aroma), taste and mouth touch. They enable tasters to enjoy the wine more intensely. For such reasons, there are four main sensory aspects to bear in mind when tasting wine:
» Smell Testing
Smell is vital for wine tasters due to its wide range of sensory registers. We smell through the nose both before and after moving the glass to swirl the wine and thus be filled with oxygen, and then, we smell through the so-called retronasal canal, access to our olfactory mucosa, when the wine is in the mouth. When exposed to the heat of the mouth cavity, certain aromas are liberated and captured by the smell epithelim. This is what we call mouth aromas. The primary aromas appear normally as very frank sensations which remind of red or ripe white fruit and of floral smells, whereas the secondary and tertiary aromas -the consequence of fermentation and breeding- are more complex and persistent. It is typical to associate the smells of wines with aromas from the vegetable universe: flowers, fruit, herbs or spices, and other smells that are part of our habitual environment, such as leather, chocolate or tobacco.
» Taste Testing
The taste papillas are limited to four sensations: sweetness (taste felt on the tip of the tongue), acidity (on the sides), saltiness (behind the tip of the tongue) and sourness (at the end of the tongue). A correct wine is such capable of managing harmony of the four sensations. It stimulates the taste and remains for a minimum period in the mouth once ingested. Words such as balanced, tasty, powerful, etc. are used in descriptions.
» Visual Testing
The color, the intensity and the general aspect of wine is described in this test. Its appearance may unveil youth, maturity, dullness, clearness, density, fluidity or effervescence. Young red wines have a deep red color with a darker violetish maroon border, though the grape variety used to make the wine determines its color. When aged, red wines change from a ruby-maroon color to rusty, orange or slightly yellowish shades. Aging in the bottle turns them into tile ruby and ochre, brown and yellow. Rosé wines are already damaged when they turn orange. The color of young white wines and sparkling wines must be pale, always with greenish shades. Those aged in casks or subject to aging in the bottle are golden yellow. Regardless of the age of the wine, it must always be very bright and never opaque. » Touch Sensations
This is the stage in which the concepts of temperature and texture stand out once the wine is in the mouth. This latest sensation is very useful and it depends on the very composition of the wine. A wine with good acidity produces a sensation of freshness so that the wine is defined as fresh. On the other hand, a wine rich in alcohol causes a sensation of heat and is qualified as hot or burning if the content of alcohol is too excesive. The higher or lower roughness of the wine when it passes through the mouth will define a soft, silky wine and, according to the touch sensation produced, well-managed wines may remind of the touch of silk or velvet. In order to define defects, words such as rough, hard, harsh, etc. are used.
» If you are going to taste wine, you should start with the white, continue with the rosé and finally taste the red; and within a same group, first the dry and then the sweet; the lightest before the most structured ones.
» Make sure the wine is at the right temperature.
» Use a fine and transparent (non-carved) crystal glass.
» Prefer a place with good light and air.
» Do not wear any strong perfumes. 
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