Wine talk has a way of making people feel like they are missing something. Most of it is unnecessary. Break a glass of wine into four simple parts and you can describe almost anything in front of you, and more usefully, work out what you actually like.
This is the method we run on every Daily Tour, over lunch, in about twenty minutes. It is not a qualification and there is no right answer. It is a way of paying attention.
Start with what you can see
Hold the glass by the stem and tilt it away from you over something pale. A tablecloth works. You are looking at two things: the colour, and how intense that colour is.
A wine that looks pale and translucent at the rim is telling you something different to one that is opaque right to the edge. You do not need to name the shade precisely. Noticing that two wines look different is the whole exercise.
Then what you can smell
Give it a swirl and put your nose in. Three families of aroma cover most of what you will find: fruit, oak, and age.
Fruit is the easiest to start with. Is it dark or red, fresh or cooked? Oak often reads as vanilla, baking spice or smoke. Age brings in the savoury notes: leather, dried leaves, mushroom.
Record what actually reaches you, not what you think should be there. This is the point where most people talk themselves out of a perfectly good observation. If someone next to you names an aroma and you suddenly recognise it, that counts. Hearing the word is often what connects it to the sensation.
Then what you can taste
Five things, and every one of them is a physical sensation rather than a flavour:
- Sweetness: is there any, and how much?
- Acidity: does your mouth water afterwards?
- Tannin: that drying, grippy feeling across your gums and tongue.
- Alcohol: warmth at the back of your throat.
- Body: does it feel light or heavy in the mouth?
Nothing there requires a vocabulary. It is all things your mouth already tells you.
Finally, the overall profile
Now pull it together. Is it balanced, or is one element shouting over the others? Does it have character? Is there complexity, or is it doing one thing well? And how long does the flavour last after you swallow, the finish?
This is where a wine stops being “nice” and starts being something you can describe. And once you can describe it, you can ask for it again.
The part that makes it stick
On tour we finish with a glass poured blind. Three wines are tasted openly first, with notes made on each. Then the bottles go under the table, one is chosen at random, and everyone gets a mystery pour to match against their own notes.
On the count of five, everyone commits, the guide included, on sight and smell only, because they are driving. Then the bottle is revealed.
About six in ten guests pick it correctly. Getting it right is not really the point. The useful part is looking back at your notes and working out which sensation led you there, because that is the one your palate is most sensitive to.
Try it at home
You need three wines with clearly different styles, a glass each, and something to write on. Taste them openly, make notes, then have someone hide the bottles and pour one at random.
It is a good dinner party, and a better way to learn than any amount of reading.
We run the guided version on every Daily Tour: three boutique wineries, an Italian-style lunch and the Blind Tasting Experience, with door-to-door pickup so nobody has to drive. Have a look at how it works.
Taste it for yourself
Three boutique wineries, the Blind Tasting Experience and an Italian-style lunch — with door-to-door pickup, so nobody has to drive.
See the Daily Tour →