Learn To Taste Wine with A Master Of Wine

In today's video, I'll take you through the steps that I've used to taste and evaluate wines for the last few decades. If you're in a wine education program, maybe you'll soon be visiting wine region, or if you just want to improve your wine tasting skills, you're in the right place. In this video, I'll evaluate two wines, one white and one red. To put the technique into practice, hit pause, go pour yourself a glass of wine, any wine will do, come back and hit play. To get the most out of your wines, tasting like a pro is a useful skill. But first, there are some basic but important considerations. White wines are often served too cold, red wines too warm. As a general rule, white wines show their best at around 10 degrees celsius, aromatic whites a bit cooler. As for reds, a bit warmer, closer to 15 celsius, botanic reds a bit warmer still. High-end glassware is nice, but here I'm using a good inexpensive all-purpose glass. Before pouring the wine, it's always a good idea to check the glass to make sure it's free from dust or off aromas. The proper hold of a wine glass is by the stem, away from the bowl. Some people may choose to hold the glass by the base or foot. Avoid holding the wine glass by the bowl. Don't do this, this, or this. It'll leave smudges and it'll warm the wine in the glass. Every glass of wine has a story to be told. Four senses are used to decode what's in the wine glass. Sight, smell, taste, and touch, or tactile impression. Grape variety plays an important role in the base profile. The fermentation releases a much broader range of characteristics. What's detected in the wine glass is split into three categories, primary, secondary, and tertiary. More on that in a bit. Sight can provide heaps of information before the wine's aroma and taste profile are checked. Hold the glass at a 45 degree angle over a plain white surface. Look at the core, then the gradation towards the edge of the glass. What is the color of the wine? What is the density? Is it clear or is there some haze? White wines tend to deepen with age. Red wines tend to lighten over time. With this side-by-side, the wine on the left is youthful with a deeper core and less fade at the edge. The older wine on the right is less deep with more fade and a slight amber edge. Aside from clues about age, appearance provides information about the grape variety and how the wine was made. For example, a deeper, denser red is one sign of use of a thicker skin grape variety. Aroma reveals more about a wine than any other scents. Press the glass on a flat surface or lift it and give it a good swirl. This effectively increases the surface area of the wine along with aerating it. This helps to accentuate the full range of aromas. Then place your nose at the edge of the glass or just above it. Think of primary fruit characteristics as being derived from the fruit itself versus the winemaking or aging process. It's most evident in wines that are youthful, usually within a few years of vintage. In white wines, it can show itself as citrus, tropical, or orchard fruit characteristics. In red wines, it includes black and red fruit notes. In addition, some wines may show floral, herbal, spice, or vegetal characteristics. Secondary characteristics develop during winemaking and are often present along with the primary notes. This includes aging in barrels or malolactic conversion. Secondary characteristics tend to become increasingly prominent as the primary notes recede over time. And tertiary traits occur through extended aging in barrels or bottles. It'll impact the appearance, aroma, and taste of the wine through a slow oxidative process. Some wines develop characteristics that were not at all present in the younger wine. Dried fruit, mushroom, nuttiness, honey-like traits are all common. It can be a positive or negative attribute depending on the wine and the level of development. Every wine has its own life cycle. First, it shows youthful characteristics, then peak maturity, and finally a period of decline. The life cycle can be as short as a year or two. For others, it can extend decades and beyond. Sift and then draw some air through your mouth before swallowing. The wine should cover your entire palate. This will link your sense of smell and taste for the full experience. Pro taste and tactile impression provide more to the story. Included is the weight of a wine, which is closely linked to the alcohol level. Lower level tend to be lighter on the palate. Higher alcohol wines tend to have more volume and weight on the palate. Acidity comes into play in many ways. It can lend vitality, freshness, brightness to a wine, much like a splash of lemon used in a dish that's a bit flat. Bitterness is a taste sensation that's mostly detected on the back of the tongue, while astringency is a tactile impression, a little grippy or dry sensation. Both can be linked to tannins in wine. Think of tannins as being similar to a cup of tea with some bitterness. Other common terms used to describe wine are complexity, balance, and length. Complexity refers to the degree of layered or nuanced characteristics. More is better. Balance refers to no one characteristic dominating the wine. Acidity, alcohol, extract, sometimes sweetness or tannin, all in harmony. Length is how long a wine lingers on the palate, and extended time is a sign of higher quality. To bring it all together, the appearance, aroma, taste, and tactile elements are largely shaped by grape variety, fermentation, winemaking methods, and aging techniques. It's time to put it all into practice. If you've not yet subscribed to my channel, please consider doing it right now. Hit the like button. Definitely hit that notification bell. If hype is an option, please hit that as well, and share with your like-minded wine friends. All of this helps to grow my channel. It's very much appreciated. First wine up is the 2024 Clos de Lune Lune d'Argent Bordeaux Blanc. The wine runs about $25. Various vintages can be found at Total Wine. It has a very youthful appearance. Slightly green tinge, no sign of oxidation. The color is aligned with Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc based wines. So with the aroma, this is definitely more that primary fruit character. It has that note of some bright citrus, a little bit of a lemon rind character. There's also a little bit of a peach character here, but it has that fruit purity to it. It's quite expressive, and there's a bit of secondary characteristic, and that comes through with a bit of oak. You get a little bit of a vanilla, smoky, charred component. It's subtle, but it's certainly there, and this is a wine that has no tertiary characteristics whatsoever. So in that regard, it's quite evident this wine is very youthful. Yeah, there's this freshness, bright vitality to it. It has this really clean, pure character, nice intensity to it, and there's no alcohol heat on the aroma, which leads me to believe that it would be from more of a cooler vintage or more of a moderate region in terms of climate. On the palate, there's some good weight here. The wine certainly is not heavy, but the fruit is ripe. There's some nice density here. That Sauvignon Blanc character really does show through. Primary fruit, a little bit of a herbal characteristic. It has that citrusy note to it. All of that checks the box for Sauvignon Blanc, but it also has more of a rounder, weightier characteristic, a little bit of a waxy component, which is very typical of what you'll find with Semillon. Gives the wine a little more heft and a little more weight to it. That oak characteristic is evident, but again, it's quite subtle. The acidity is high, and the wine has all those youthful characteristics. Again, there's nothing here that leads to any type of tertiary note. There's also some very good volume here. The wine is not thin, and it leads me to believe that the secondary characteristic, this wine actually has had some aging on the leaves. They give it a little more volume, round it out, give it a bit more heft. Really good length on the back palate. The wine is put together really well from start to finish. There's no obvious flaws. There's no problem in that regard, and it really has the classic origins that tie back to Bordeaux. There's this lean character, a freshness to it. There's precision on the palate. Very good length on the back palate as well, and the structure here is good, and it would lead me to believe this wine could age a few years with no trouble whatsoever. As for the tactile impression, the acidity, you definitely feel that on the sides of your tongue. That's one characteristic that you'll find, but the wine has good length to it, nice structure. This is really well put together, and it truly does have that sense of place. The red wine example is the 2023 La Fuga Grosso di Montalcino from Tuscany. Production is small. The wine's priced around $25 to $30. Medium density red at the core with some fade at the edge. The lack of color density is one marker of a thinner skin grape variety, in this case Sangiovese. The core will lighten with age, and the edge will become increasingly pale, eventually starting to brown as tertiary characteristics take effect. I wish YouTube had smell-o-vision. This wine really does tell a story with grape variety and place of origin. Certain grape varieties will have markers that consistently pop up again and again. With Sangiovese, it's tart cherry, dry thyme character, savory, sometimes a little bit of a peppery note. This ticks all the boxes in that regard. Also, there's a bit of oak here, so it has that primary fruit character, but there's also some secondary note. Tertiary really doesn't come into play, so it's obvious this wine is youthful, and that secondary note is that smoky oak character. A little bit of a subtle vanilla baking spice sort of component to it. There's also some alcohol heat here, and it leads me to believe warm vintage, which 2023 is. There's been a good number of warm vintages in many places around the world, and with that, you'll get more of elevated alcohol content. In this case, it's not off-putting, but it really is quite evident. On the palate, the good story just continues. It's weighty, full, dense. Fruit is ripe. There's nothing lean or green about it. That dark fruit, dark cherry characteristic shows through. That slight herbal note to it. Definitely savory, a bit peppery, and that oak note is there as well. It lends a bit of a smoky, charred note, rounds the wine out as well. Really good length to it. Sangiovese, many wines from Tuscany, will show some elevated acidity. This wine certainly has that. Finishes very dry on the back palate. There's also a bit of tannin there, a little grainy tannin, and it's not coarse or astringent, but it certainly is there. The wine has put together extremely well from start to finish. It's balanced. It's nuanced. It really does show many positive attributes, but it doesn't have the character of being ultra-premium. This doesn't have the notes that would indicate something like Grunella di Montalcino, but it's really well put together. It has a sense of place. Probably a wine that can go three to five years with no trouble, and the wine is really, really superb. This is nice. Every glass of wine has a story to tell if you know what to look for. Recently, I posted a long format video on the wines of Rioja. To deep dive into the topic, please click that link. If you have any questions or comments, post it down below. I always do my best to follow up on each and every one. Stop back again for too long. Cheers.