Anyone can taste wine. Don’t be intimidated by remarks and descriptions from the cognoscenti. Any respected Wine 101 education guide would tell you that associations of taste and smell are personal, so everyone is always right!

In tasting a wine, first of all notice the intensity of the color, hue and clarity. The differences in color can tell you a great deal about a wine’s age and how it was made. The color of red wine can range from purple-black to orange-brown. The deeper the color, the younger and more full-bodied it will be. Rosé is a light-bodied red wine, in which the skins have only been in contact with the juice for a short time and thus have only given off a hint of their color. The hue ranges from almost colorless to light salmon pink to the orange hue of an onion skin.

White wine varies from almost colorless through yellow-green and deep golden yellow to brown. The lighter the color, the younger and lighter-bodied the wine will be. White and rosé wines must be clear, but red does not necessarily have to.

Take a sniff, then swirl. The purity of the aromas is important. They come from the grape and from the method of preparation, and will change during ageing. Words from groups of odors, such as fruity, spicy, floral, animal, woody and burnt are used to describe the various aromas. Usually the ‘nose’ of a wine will be made up of a combination of elements.

Take a little sip and roll it around all of your mouth while carefully taking in a little air. This is one occasion where slurping is highly recommended! The phases of taste can be divided into (in order of appearance) start, development, finish and aftertaste. The first impression is one of relative smoothness and sweetness. Then as the taste develops, the acids make themselves manifest. At the finish, any bitter tastes become prominent.

Tastes are also perceived through the nose. This is the aftertaste, or more correctly, mouth feel. The more intense, complex and longer-lasting the aftertaste, particularly after swallowing, the ‘bigger’ the wine.