How to Taste Wine in 5 Easy Steps

Want to learn how to taste wine like a pro? The world of Italian vino is vast – just ask our wine shop experts, who curate a selection of more than 1,200 bottles in our wine shops. The best way to expand your vino palate is, simply put, to taste it. Just follow this step-by-step wine tasting guide to get started!

Each wine boasts unique flavors and aromas all their own, thanks to factors like terroir, grape variety, production methods, and climate. Tasting can both sharpen your palate and allow you to identify what kind of wines you prefer.

Grab a pencil and a notebook, then choose around three to four bottles of wine to help you compare the different qualities of each wine without overwhelming your palate. Now, you're ready to taste!

First, pour 2-3 ounces of wine into a clean wineglass. Be sure to use a transparent glass without any patterns or tint, so that you can accurately see the color of your wine. We also recommend using a wineglass with a stem so you can better swirl the wine without warming it up from the heat of your hands.

Hold your glass at a slight angle in front of a white background as you examine the color, intensity, and other visual aspects of the wine. For whites, is it almost clear like water, pale yellow, or a deep golden color? For reds, is it more purple, ruby, garnet, or even brown? This can tell what type of wine it might be, how old it is, and/or what kind of winemaking techniques have been used. Is there a difference between the rim and center of the glass? This can be an indication of the type of wine or the age (the older the wine, the more variation).

As for other visual cues, are there bubbles? Some types of seemingly-still wines actually could be frizzante or very lightly sparkling. Is there sediment at the bottom of your red glass? These are tannins that break down as the wine ages.  Are there legs, or tears, running down the glass? This shows how viscous a wine is, which can be attributed to alcohol content and/or sugar, but it's not an indication of quality!

We've all seen the pros elegantly swirl their wine without somehow sloshing it all out of the glass. We'll teach you an easy way to do it too.

First things first, take a quick sniff of your wine before you swirl it. Is anything jumping out at you right off the bat, or is the wine more whispering at this stage? Some wines are more powerful than others without even needing any agitation.

Now, place your glass on a flat surface. Place your fingers on the bottom of the glass where the stem meets the base. Swirl your glass in small circles while keeping it on the table. As you get more confident, you can swirl faster and even do this motion in the air.

Once you've swirled your glass a few times, take another sniff. Notice a change? Swirling the wine breaks the surface tension of the wine, which releases the "volatile aromas." These aromas might be harder to pick out, but even grabbing one or two will help your brain start to remember different smells. Think of flowers, fruits, and even some vegetables and plants you sometimes smell. We'll dive into it further when you taste, but write down whatever you're starting to sniff out.

Time for the best part - tasting! Take a sip of wine and be sure to coat your palate, paying attention to the sensation of the wine in your mouth. Close your eyes as you experience the flavors, and be sure to breathe slowly out of your nose after you swallow so you can sniff out the aromas. This also is when some people "slurp" their wine. This helps aerate the wine (just like swirling) so you can taste even more flavors.

As you taste, think about some different categories: are there floral notes, like honeysuckle, rose, or violets? What about fruits? For white wines, you could get lots of fruits: green fruits like apples, melons, and pears; citrus fruits like grapefruit, lemons, and limes; stone fruit like peach, and apricot; and tropical fruit like lychee, mango, and pineapple. For red wines, fruits are more red like cranberry, raspberry, red cherry, red plum, and strawberry; or black fruit like blackberry, blueberry, black cherry, and black plum.

Feeling bold? Challenge yourself to go one step further - do the fruits seem fresh and juicy? Or more underripe and sour? Or overripe or even dried? Don't forget about some plant-y and other tastes: green notes like fresh cut grass or green bell pepper, herbal notes like eucalyptus, fennel, or mint; spicy like black or white pepper, and even mineral like wet stones! Some other flavors you might get are from winemaking processes. A few classic ones are vanilla and baking spices from oak aging; butter or cream notes from malolactic conversion (think buttery Chardonnay!); or toasted bread and yeasty notes from sur lie aging or autolysis, like in Champagne.

Once you've written down some of the flavors, let's jump into the palate. Is the wine sweet or dry? How about acidity? Try taking a sip, swishing it around your mouth, then tilting your head forward. Is there lots of saliva gathering at the front of your mouth? The wine has a lot of acid! Does it feel like you can breathe fire when you breathe out? The wine might have a lot of alcohol or be "hot." For red wines, is it tannic, making it feel like your tongue is stuck to your teeth? Are the tannins smooth or rough? Light-bodied or full-bodied? These all contribute to the body of a wine. An easy comparison is like milk: skim, reduced fat, and whole milk are like light, medium, and full-bodied wines.

Last but not least, are the flavors and palate hanging around for a while, or do they seem to disappear as soon as you taste them? And how many flavors did you write down? Some wines are inherently complex while others might have only a few characteristics, but it can also be an indication of quality if the flavors keep going and going for a long time.

Be sure to take a few sips of your wine, as each sip will reveal more and more about the wine!

Once you've tasted this wine to your heart's content, it's time to move on to the next one. If you have only one glass to taste with, rinse out your glass with a little bit of water (you can drink it too!) and clear your palate with a small piece of bread or plain crackers. You're now prepped and ready to keep tasting. Don't just take our word for it – tasting wines side-by-side is actually the best way to help you develop your wine vocabulary. What better reason to raise a glass? Grab a fresh glass, and pop the next cork!