First, take a good look at your wine. Is it clear and brilliant like your winning personality, or cloudy and dull like Monday mornings?

For the best glimpse, hold your glass over a white surface in natural light.

The color of the wine can give you hints about the grape variety, and if it was aged in wood. The intensity of the color within each varietal offers a preview of what flavors lie ahead. As a general rule, stronger color means stronger flavor.

Next, enhance your wine experience by learning the art of swirling. No need to be intimidated by fancy techniques – just use a table!

Follow these simple steps:

• Make sure there’s enough room at the top of the glass (to avoid any messy mishaps).
• Put your glass down on the table.
• Holding the stem firmly, draw small circles on the table with your glass.
• Keep swirling for about 20-30 seconds.

Why swirl at all?

Sometimes, when you first pour a glass of wine, it’s hard to smell anything other than the alcohol.

But swirling aerates the wine, which opens up its aromas, and helps you to detect its subtler notes.

Smelling a wine before tasting it is essential to fully experience its quality. But don’t just give it a quick sniff – feel free to shove your entire nose right into the glass and move it around to pick up as many different aromas as you can!

With time and practice, you’ll be able to recognize even the most subtle notes and fully appreciate the complexity of wine.

If you’re new to wine tasting, don’t worry if you don’t pick up on specific aromas right away. It takes practice. Just keep on sniffing your way through each sample. With experience, your nose will begin to identify different wine aromas more easily.

The moment has finally arrived! It’s time to take your first sip of wine. It may have taken a few steps to get here, but it’s well worth the wait.

To properly taste the wine, take a slightly larger sip than usual and hold it in your mouth for 3-5 seconds. Swish it around like mouthwash, and try to suck in some air while doing so. This technique may take some practice, but it’s the best way to ensure the wine hits every part of your palate, so you can properly evaluate it.

Look for sweetness, fruitiness, saltiness, acidity, bitterness, and alcohol. What’s your overall impression? Is the wine balanced? Does any single component overpower all the others?

And, most important of all: Do you like it?

When it comes to tasting a wine, the finish is just as important as the initial taste. But what is the “finish,” exactly? Well, it’s the sensation you get after swallowing the wine.

So, how do you savor the finish?

Start by paying attention to how the wine makes you feel. Does it transport you back to a certain memory? Do the flavors develop as the wine sits in the glass over time?

Pay attention to how long the wine’s taste lingers. Some wines can stay with you for as long as a minute. A good finish should leave you wanting more, with a perfect balance of fruit, acidity, tannin, and texture.