Blog #7: How to taste wine -> Step 1 Look 👀 at the wine

Wine tasting is the perfect way to learn about different wines and to learn what you like and why.

The first step, looking at the wine, is the easiest. It’s quite interesting how much information you can get from a wine just by looking at it. Let’s use white wine as an example::

If the wine is almost transparent or greenish in colour, this is probably because the wine is young and the type of grape used could be a Pinot Grigio. On the other hand, if the colour is pale and more on the golden, orange spectrum, this is probably because the wine has been aged in oaked barrels. A wine like this could be an oaked Chardonnay.
Cloudy wines are normally unfiltered, so this could tell you that the wine is a natural wine or maybe that the wine is faulty.
If you swirl the glass, you may notice what are called legs or tears. This will show the wine’s viscosity and it can give you some information about the alcohol levels of the wine and the sugar content.

How to taste wine: Step 1 – Look at the wine

You will need:
- Good lighting, ideally natural light
- A white background, for example an A4 white piece of paper
- And of course the wine(s) and wine glass(es)

Pour a small amount of wine into the glass, around 1/3^rd of the glass.

Tilt the glass at 45 degrees, hold it up against a white background and have a look:
- Is the wine clear or hazy?
- What is the colour? What is the colour intensity?
- Is there anything else peculiar about the wine? Are there any bubbles? Does it have any legs?

Find out more about how to taste wine here.

Sláinte,

Gloria

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