Tasting: Do it like the pros.

Well
isn’t this overwhelming? Deliciously so, but where in the
Expo do we begin in this sea of wine? As tempting as it is
to just jump in and taste I would strongly recommend forming
a plan before you wade in. That plan should consist first of
knowing how to assess wine, not just taste it. Knowing what
you prefer is just as important as knowing what you don’t
like, and knowing why you feel the way you do in either case
is even more important. Those of us who taste wines for a
living take a structured approach to the experience that
helps us express “why” we like or don’t like a wine. Knowing
this, we can more easily compare wines on several dimensions
and extrapolate what we learn about one wine to others. If
you know how to do this, you can skim the next few
paragraphs; otherwise please continue.

Knowing how to
professionally taste primarily consists of thinking about
what you smell and taste without any visual clues. For
example, if you stand over your stove while cooking bacon
it’s no surprise that you will smell, well, bacon, or more
specifically, cooking bacon. This same smell is often
present in Southern Rhone wines, but bacon seldom comes to
mind when most people put their nose in a glass. Similarly,
when you bite into a strip of bacon, you taste smoky,
caramelized meat, but you might not pick that up in a glass
of Grenache – though it is often in Grenache from France.
Your eyes tell you what smells and tastes to expect when you
see a piece of bacon. When you see a glass of wine you don’t
have that visual cue.

Smell in
particular is a very under utilized sense, and unless you
use it every day as part of your job, like a Sommelier or
Perfumer, smelling without seeing is probably not a strong
skill for you. However anyone can learn it with practice.
With the next glass of wine you pick up, think of what fruit
the aroma reminds you of. Move from general to specific. For
example, in a white wine, is there citrus? If so, is it
lemon? Grapefruit? In a red wine, do you smell red fruit, or
black fruit? If red, is it strawberries? Cherries? Beyond
fruit, consider earth notes, such as dirt, minerals or
grass. Are you picking up clues that oak was used in making
the wine, including vanilla or cinnamon?

Similarly, when
you taste to assess wine it is different than everyday
drinking. Take a sip and let it sit in your mouth. Swish it
around, covering every single nook and cranny. (Here I would
recommend spitting. It’s perfectly acceptable to do so at
wine tasting, especially when there are so many to taste.)
By tasting in this fashion you’ll notice that the wine is
certainly more complex and elements of the wine, like
acidity and tannin, are much more apparent.

Now analyze what
you are tasting, with the following questions: Do you like
the flavors? What flavors stand out for you? As with the
scents above, is there citrus? Are there red fruits? Black
fruits? Earthiness? Etc.

If it’s a white
wine how high is the level of acidity? Is it bright and
crisp? Creamy and round? Which of these sensations are
enjoyable to you?

With red, how is
the tannin? Tannin is that sensation of grip on the sides of
your cheeks, much like a strong cup of tea. Is the sensation
light or strong? Gripping or smooth? Again, which is
enjoyable to you?

Now that you’ve
had a short course in smelling and tasting, roll up your
sleeves and prepare to dive into the Expo. I recommend a
structured approach to selecting wines to taste, comparing
like-to-like at some level. Also, with as many wines as you
have to choose from, you’re facing the risk of exhausting
your palette, which makes it difficult to taste much of
anything. Your palate has more endurance when challenged by
a number of similar tastes than if inundated with a
multitude if drastically different tastes, such as going
back and forth between white and red wines.

Like-to-like
comparison doesn’t mean the same thing over and over, but
rather variations on a theme. For example, look and see if
there is a particular region that you are very familiar with
or would like to be. As a consumer, having the ability to
taste a great number of wines exclusively from one region or
even a sub region in order to directly compare and contrast
them is certainly a treat. The opportunity to do this is
usually rare for anyone outside professional wine
circles.

If there isn’t a
particular region that is attractive to you, pick a grape.
Only try out say, Sauvignon Blanc for a while. Try New
Zealand, South Africa, France, and Californian. What do you
notice stylistically between the different countries? See if
you have a preference, if so, why? And with that, I wish for
you an educational, and thoroughly enjoyable, drinking
experience.