The 4 basic steps of wine tasting

Hello to the one new subscriber who joined me on this journey 💫

Happy Friday, folks

It’s a snowy day here in Calgary. Cold, white, with wind that feels like a thousand icicles crawling over your skin.

So it feels like the sort of day for a light and easy-to-digest newsletter.

Let’s talk about the basics of wine tasting.

How to taste wine like the experts

The sommelier can make the whole wine-tasting process seem like playing an orchestra. It really doesn’t have to be that hard.

After filling your glass half-full, please follow these four steps. And you should be good:

Look

Yup, you need to look at the wine. What’s the color? Does it have any particular hues? Does it look funny? That last question is important because that’s how you notice if the wine has microbial spoilage or funny-looking sediments before you take a sip.

Swirl

Before you take a sip, you’ll need to aerate the wine. So, swirl your glass. Hey, don’t swirl the glass like it’s some yo-yo. Gently, genius.

Sniff

Were you expecting to take a sip already? Not yet.

Raise your glass to your nose and let the flavors waft into your nostrils. This is also an excellent way to notice if a wine is oxidized (when too much oxygen enters a bottle). It will usually smell like vinegar or rusted wet metal.

Sip

Now, it’s time to taste the wine. Take a sip and swish the liquid around your mouth. What flavors and textures do you pick up?

At this point, the question is →, do you like what’s in the bottle?

Your turn. Now, go uncork a bottle. It’s the weekend.

Dozie ❤️