How can You Taste Wine Like a Sommelier?
Learning how to taste wine like a professional not only enhances your enjoyment of wine. The taste of wine can also reveal hidden information about the wine you’re drinking, such as the grape varieties used, geographical origin, winemaking techniques, and the vintage. Experienced sommeliers can even detect specific vineyard plots and tell you what the weather was like that year.
Why Wine Tasting Matters?
Sommeliers wine taste using a structured approach that uses the senses to analyze and draw conclusions about the characteristics of the wine. In this article we’ll take a look at how to apply these steps and how to develop your palate over time to get even more out of your wine tasting journey.
Step 1: Choose the Right Wines
Step 2: Taste Wine Using Your Five Senses
- Appearance: The first step is simply to look at the wine in your glass. Note down what you can see. This might include bubbles, the colour of the wine, and the depth of color. You should also pay attention to whether the wine is clear or cloudy. Each of these aspects can tell you valuable information about the wine.
For example, lighter white wines are often paler in color, while grapes with thin skins like Pinot Noir tend to produce wines that are a pale ruby red. It can be helpful to use a wine taste chart to categorize the color in a consistent way.Color and Depth – Light or dark, pale or intense?
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Clarity – Is it clear or cloudy?
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Bubbles – Present or still?
You can also practise swirling the wine in the glass and observing the “legs” or the liquid that runs down the glass afterwards. If the legs are thick and slow-moving this is a sign of high viscosity which is usually found in wines with higher alcohol or sugar content.
Aromas: The next step is to analyze the aromas by swirling the wine and putting your nose just inside the glass. Swirling helps to release aroma compounds into the air. In the beginning, it can be hard to identify what you are smelling. It’s best to start by thinking about what kinds of fruit you can smell. These aromas are known as primary aromas since they come directly from the grape. White wines often have citrus and orchard fruit aromas like lemon and apple, while other white wines might have more tropical fruit notes. Red wines tend to have either darker fruit notes like cassis and blackberry or red fruits like strawberries. Secondary aromas come from the fermentation process and may include butter, yeasty, or nutty notes. The final group are tertiary aromas which come from the aging process. These might include hints of tobacco, earth, or dried fruit. At this stage you can also use a wine taste chart to help you identify what you are smelling. These charts show all the aromas that you might find in a wine. They also include common wine faults that you can detect by smelling the wine, such as corked wines which often smell like wet dog or damp cardboard.
Primary Aromas – Derived from the grape (e.g., citrus, apple, blackberries, or strawberries)
Secondary Aromas – From fermentation (e.g., butter, yeast, or nuts)
Tertiary Aromas – From aging (e.g., tobacco, earth, or dried fruit)
- Flavours: Now it’s time to taste the wine. When sommeliers taste wine, they typically take a big sip and swirl it around in their mouth to get all the flavors. You can then use a similar process as you used for the aromas to map out the flavor profile of each wine. Flavors are often similar to aromas, but there may be some differences between the nose and the palate.
- Texture: Just as important as the flavors and aromas is the texture of the wine. As you swirl the wine in your mouth, think about how it feels on your tongue. Wines that feel lighter are described as light-bodied, while heavier wines are full-bodied. You may notice your mouth watering, which is a sign of higher acidity, or you may notice a drying sensation on your gum, which indicates higher levels of tannins, especially in red wines.It’s also important to consider the alcohol levels of the wine. The alcohol should be well-integrated into the wine rather than sticking out on the palate or even leaving a burning sensation.
Pay attention to how the wine feels:
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Body – Is it light, medium, or full-bodied?
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Acidity – Does it make your mouth water?
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Tannins – Do you feel a drying sensation on your gums?
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Alcohol – Is it balanced, or does it leave a burning sensation?
A well-made wine will have a harmonious texture, with no one element overwhelming the others.
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- Draw Conclusions: The most important step in learning how to taste wine like a sommelier is to draw conclusions that tell you something meaningful about the wine. When you first start your tasting journey, this might be as simple as deciding whether you like the wine or not. But over time, you should be able to develop your palate and discern certain flavors, aromas, or features of the wine that tell you what grape variety it is and how it was made.
Evaluate what you’ve learned:
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Do you like the wine?
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Can you identify the grape or region?
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Does it show quality and complexity?
As you gain experience, your conclusions will become more detailed and accurate.
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Step 3: Develop Your Palate Over Time
Becoming a skilled wine taster takes time and exposure. Here are some tips to accelerate your learning:
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Attend Wine Tastings – Local wine shops, vineyards, and events offer excellent opportunities to sample and compare.
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Experiment – When buying wine, try unfamiliar grapes like Fiano, Aligoté, Zweigelt, or Aglianico to expand your horizons.
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Keep a Tasting Journal – Record your observations and preferences to track your progress and refine your palate.
For more inspiration, explore curated selections from boutique producers—California and beyond—and let your taste buds guide your journey.
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