How to taste white wine

Welcome

Simple guidelines for tasting wine.... 

Look 

Look at the wine. The way a wine looks can tell you many things! The best way to get the most out of a visual evaluation is to use a white tablecloth or a piece of white paper to hold the glass up to. Take the glass, angle it, and take a look at the color. Is it dark yellow, straw-colored, or more clear? Does it have a tinge of green? The color of the wine may help you identify it.

Pale to dark straw color indicates a very youthful white, an unoaked white, or some varieties of wine, such as Muscadet, Moscato, or Albariño.

Wines with a yellow to greenish tint may indicate wine such as Sauvignon Blanc/Fumé Blanc or Sémillon.

Golden wines include Pinot Grigio/Pinot Gris, Chenin Blanc, or Viognier.

Darker golds tend to indicate more oak used in the winemaking process or a more golden-colored wine, such as a Chardonnay.

Amber and nutty brown colors indicate deeply aged wines, dessert whites, and fortified wines.

Now, gently swirl the wine around the glass. Notice the lines that form as the wine travels back down the glass. Those are called “legs”. The longer the legs, the higher the alcohol or sugar content in the wine.

Smell

Stick your nose deep in the bowl of the glass and take a big sniff. Smelling wine can tell you as much about the wine as tasting it can. Note any aromas, swirl the wine, and sniff again. Notice how the aromas adapt as swirling aerates the wine. 

Taste

It’s time to sip the wine. When you put the wine into your mouth, swirl it around so it covers the entire tongue and then suck in some air while you have the wine in your mouth. This oxygenates the wine so you can taste it better. Write down everything you taste such as fruit, earth, mineral, floral, and other types of aromas you find in the wine. Write down anything else you found such as viscosity (called mouth-feel) or acid levels (a zingy character). 

Finish

Finish is defined as how the wine tastes right after you swallow or spit it out. How does it change? Does the taste go sour? Perhaps it just trails off and it tastes like your just sipped a glass of water? Or, maybe the finish was smooth and lengthy with the flavor lasting on and on. 

The Final Step

Make subjective statements such as do you like it or not, would you drink it or would you rather clean your drain with it?