Hello! I’m extremely new to the world of wine, but I find it all quite interesting. I barely even know what I like, usually I’ve stuck with what I would describe as rich and full bodied reds, but I want to branch out. Anyway, I’m digressing…
I would like to begin tasting my wines with more intentionality and attention. I plan on opening up a bottle tonight, and would like to get some pointers on what to pay attention to, or any other tips for someone who’s brand new to this. Thanks in advance!
The biggest thing I would suggest is take notes on what you drank (write down the producer, the name of the wine if it has one, grape(s), vintage, anything on the label, and price you paid for it) and then take notes on what you did or didn’t like about it. I didn’t do this for a long time and forgot all sorts of things that I had to re-learn about my preferences.
As for what to pay attention to: that’s up to you really. The more you read on this board and other places you’ll hear things about how it smells (the “nose”), then all sorts of flavor descriptors, discussion of acid prevalence, etc. But some of that may never be of interest to you or maybe not at first. Most important is: do I like this? What do I like about it? How does it compare to others?
Then I ask myself: “I paid XXX for this bottle, would I pay that again for it?”
Other than that have fun!
I learned a lot reading “How to taste” by Jancis Robinson.
Rich and full-bodied reds are a common starting point, and one you might always retain an interest in, or find your focus moves elsewhere.
Some suggestions for the journey:
Finding a winetasting group locally can be very useful, both learning from each other, but also crucially recognising that there are differences in palates, which helps the most important lesson, that there isn’t objectively good/bad wine, but rather wine that may be good / bad to your tastes.
Writing tasting notes isn’t easy to start with, as we’re not used to putting words to what we taste. This sheet might prove useful. It was devised by an Aussie wine enthusiast (TORB - Ric Einstein) as a multi-choice sheet. The idea is start using it like that, then start to piece the words together, adding emphasis etc. to create something coherent.
https://www.wineberserkers.com/uploads/short-url/lHavbyYIdS5jab9X9CvzHupyS3f.pdf
specialist books are often good, e.g. Michael Schuster’s essential winetasting
All of this leads to cellartracker.com, a site where wine enthusiasts post tasting notes, and the effort you put into working out how to express what you taste, will aid you in tapping into the experience of others.
Great suggestion. I started with the 24 hour wine expert same author. Quick read, very basic.
I think the first step is just being aware while you taste.
Some people are super structured in that awareness. They use a format from the Guild or WSET etc. That can be useful. It’s how I started.
But I think just as useful is asking how the wine makes you feel, what memory does it remind you of, what music would I want with this wine, what food, etc. That is more how I think now.
Whatever awareness gets you brain going, that’s good.
The next step is to record what you’re aware of (so the knowledge can stack). I started with a notepad, then Vivino, and now cellar tracker. Some people like videos etc. I’d go with whatever is easiest for you.
Don’t overthink things at the start. First impressions of a wine may be the easiest to pin down.
I was in your shoes a couple of years ago. I found it easier to start with extremely basic ideas rather than exact flavor profiles. I concentrate on 5 things. I drink mostly Riesling, but these things apply to most.
First is overall “smoothness” and “length” of the wine. Basically if the wine goes down easy and coats the mouth. You can have a very smooth wine that doesn’t have great length, but I have found often that the wines that are very “smooth” to me coat my mouth with flavor that lingers and evolves.
Second is Sweetness vs Acidity. This is very important to me as a Riesling fan, but you can often distinguish if a wine is well balanced fairly easily. If the acidity gives that lively feeling and that is balanced out by the sweetness level you prefer. That equals well balanced to me. This varies a lot by personal preference as some people really prefer the acidity that makes your teeth fall out and some wines have very little sweetness, but if you can get a feel for acidity (especially in white wines) it becomes very helpful.
Third (mostly for red wines) is the tannin level. This is the stuff that can make it feel like it dries your mouth. Tannins dissipate with time, but are super important for the ageability of the wine. When a wine is considered to be “tight” it often means the tannins are still a bit strong and it needs more time in the bottle. Decanting or getting air into the wine can help with this as well. When the tannin level reaches that perfect range you hit the “drinking window”.
Fourth is the “heat” or alcohol level. Some wines do fine with a high alcohol level and others do not. I prefer a slightly lower alcohol level for my wheel house, but other really enjoy the heat of a higher alcohol wine.
Lastly and most importantly is did you enjoy the wine. In the end, if you enjoyed he wine than it’s a winner.
After you get the basic structure of wines you enjoy then you can work into specific flavor notes. I still give very few exact flavor notes because my palate is just not great at picking up very specific flavors like others can. Another big tip for people just getting into wine is to make sure to decant or give your wine some time. Some beginners open and start drinking, but almost all wine opens up with time and gets better after an hour or so (some take longer).
I am a relative novice, especially with red wines so there will be far better answers than mine, but start with the basics and just enjoy the wines. If you like the wine than it’s a good wine to you. I’m glad you found the wine world and these forums. There are great people on here and it’s a ton of fun!
This is excellent advice, to focus on structure over parsing the flavours. Also a good approach for matching with food.
Thank you all for the replies. I’m going to start with a longform notebook wherein I note what I’m drinking, the retail price, and just some general impressions. I’ll probably also incorporate some of the specific characteristics described above, like heat, tannin level, sweetness and length. Eventually, I’d like to get more serious about storage, though I don’t have tons of dispensable income at the moment so I’m not sure I could afford a solution that requires spending a lot. Anyway, that’s a topic for a new discussion. Thanks again!
CellarTracker is a great tool even if you’re not tracking a cellar. It’s a great repository for your notes and allows you to view notes created by others.
I also agree with @Kevin_Porter
Jancis Robinson’s book How To Taste: A Guide To Enjoying Wine is a pretty great starting point.
For branching out there are other books that can help as well. These below cover a wide range of wines, but they are far from all encompassing.
Wine Bible by Karen McNeil
The World Atlas of Wine by Hugh Johnson & Jancis Robinson
Native Wine Grapes of Italy by Ian D’Agata
Vino Italiano: The Regional Wines of Italy by David Lynch & Joe Bastianich
The world of wine is vast, evolving, and it can be overwhelming. In terms of which grape, or region to delve into next, there is no right path. If you remain curious, paths will continue to open up and you will continue to find wines that you are excited about.
One other thing you should consider, is to find trusted sources.
Trusted sources are invaluable. Each can be like a mentor in its own way.
Lastly, if a region or grape intrigues you, do a search on here to see if anyone made a post requesting people’s favs from that region or grape. If not, make your own post. This forum is a valuable asset, with plenty of knowledgeable people who are eager to help.
Enjoy the journey!
If you can find a Wine 101 type class with a good instructor, they’ll be able to walk you through the basics in person, with wines, much more efficiently than you can do with lots of reading. Don’t get me wrong; I also recommend lots of reading, but explaining acidity (as just one example) in person, with a couple of contrasting wines, is much easier than trying to do so in text without wines. You can get there with just books and dedication, but a 2 hour class will be worth many more hours of reading and figuring out. Then the reading will get you further, faster.
Enjoy the journey!
I would recommend opening a CT account and track all your tastings and notes on it. Easier than doing it on a spreadsheet and you can find some other notes useful (and some not so useful too!)
I’d throw in having good glasses, like Grassl or Josephine. Really thin glass. I often pour daily drinkers into a highball glass but when I really want to appreciate a good bottle, good glass makes a really big difference.
This is such a great question in that it goes directly to how we experience wine. Agree that there is a great deal of good advice in this thread. FWIW I tend to be fairly systematic and examine several specific aspects (well explained by G Curd) on each showing including appearance, scent (big one for me), description of what the wine tastes like on the palate (fruit, tannin, acidity, texture), and finish. They are, after all, potential “gifts” that the wine is giving at that time and indeed they can change over the course of whatever time frame the wine is open.
So all my tasting notes, which happen to be on CellarTracker, tend to look the same. But within that framework I can go back and spot the things that stood out amongst the above variables. If I have tasted the same wine several times, I can see how the wine has evolved over the years, which is fascinating in its own right. If there is a particular aspect of a wine’s profile such as let’s say “fresh acidity”, that I seem to enjoy, I can look for other wines and producers with similar values on the vast CT site and elsewhere.
You may well have to work on how you perceive nose and palate descriptors, acidity, tannin, structure, finish, and other variables you might want to add. In the end, though, this enjoyable enterprise just allows you to focus on the wine more, which of course is the original intent. Once purchased, a bottle of wine has the capacity to be a true delight on multiple levels when opened. Have fun!