Wine Tasting

Wine tasting is the sensory evaluation of wine. The colour, aroma, flavour and feel of the wine in the mouth are all assessed. The main aims of wine tasting are to:

• assess the wine’s quality;
• determine the wine’s maturity and suitability for aging or drinking;
• detect the aromas and flavours of the wine;
• discover the many facets of wine, so as to better appreciate it;
• detect any faults the wine may have.

To assess a wine’s quality, one must gauge its complexity of aroma and flavour, determine the intensity of the aroma and flavour, check that the flavours and structural elements – such as acid, tannin and alcoholic strength – are well balanced, and finally see how long the wine persists in the mouth after tasting.

Practiced wine tasters will gauge the wine’s quality in other ways too. These include, whether the wine is of high quality with respect to other wines of its price, region or vintage; if it is typical of the region it is made in or diverges in style; if it uses certain wine making techniques, such as barrel fermentation or malolactic fermentation; or if it has any wine faults. Many professional wine tasters, such as sommeliers or buyers for retailers, look for characteristics in the wine which are desirable to wine drinkers or which indicate that the wine is likely to sell or mature well.