Tips for better wine tasting
*Be adventurous!
The best way to learn nothing about wine is to continue to drink what you already know you like. Yet many people drink the same wines (or the same varietals) over and over again. You can’t learn very much by having such a limited exposure to flavor. There are over 5,000 varieties of grapes in the world—waiting for you to experience the wines made from them.
*Taste more than one wine at a time
One of the big advantages wine professionals have over consumers is that pros often get to taste and compare several wines at a time. To learn about wine more quickly, try opening two wines at a time and comparing them. (You can then store them both—even reds—in the fridge so they last you for a few days; just take the red out of the fridge 20 minutes or so before you want to enjoy it again).
*Don’t swallow quickly
Swallowing wine quickly pretty much guarantees you won’t taste it—or understand anything about it. To get the most out of wine, you have to hold it on your palate for three to four seconds so that every taste—sweet, sour, salty, bitter and savory—register.
*Taste wine with other people
Tasting wine with others helps improve your tasting skills because someone else will always have an impression or get a flavor that you did not. We all have strengths and weaknesses in wine tasting (which is why most wineries have more than one winemaker), so tasting with others will open your mind to possibilities you could not have experienced on your own.