ByThe Wine WhispererAs many have heard me say, enjoying wine means liking it. Appreciating wine means knowing why you like it. Unfortunately, many beginning wine lovers get put off by hearing people say things like, “Oh, yes…there’s some nice gooseberry notes on the nose, and the herbaceousness spreads across the midpalate as the smoky quince flavors kick in on the finish.”Huh?Actually, being able to detect and deconstruct the layers and flavors in a fine wine is a skill that anyone can learn…and it’s a skill that will contribute immeasurably to your enjoyment of not only wines, but everything you eat, as well. People who can taste a dish in a restaurant and then go home and make it have this skill…the ability to pick apart an overall impression of flavor into its component parts. It’s worth learning, and it opens up whole new worlds of enjoyment. My never-patented “Five S” approach breaks the experience down into See, Swirl, Smell, Sip, and Swallow (or Spit, if you’re tasting lots of wines at one time). So let’s start at the beginning.See – look at the wine in the glass. Is it clear? If it’s cloudy or off in color, it could be flawed. Can you see through it, or is it opaque? That tells us about the “body” or weight of the wine on the palate: light, medium, or full. The color can also tell you the age, more or less. Red wines turn a brownish brick color as they age. Whites become a darker yellow.Swirl – We swirl wine in the glass (or decant it first) to mix it with air and release the aroma and flavor components. Many people decant older wines as a matter of course, but I believe younger wines, that have not had the chance to develop in the bottle, need decanting more.Sniff – Put your nose way down inside the glass, close your eyes, and take a couple of short sniffs, like a puppy. The aromas of wine give us a hint of what to expect when we actually taste it. Most times, what you get on the nose will be what you get on the palate. Most times. Sniffing can also give us another indication of the wine’s condition. Does it smell sour? Like wet cardboard or newspaper? Or a burnt match? Those are clues to possible spoilage.Sip – This is the good part. Having sniffed, you should have some idea of what flavors to expect. Many times you’ll smell something you can’t quite place, but the first sip will fill in the blank. Swish the wine around in your mouth, “chew” it a bit, and you’ll expose your taste receptors to all the possible flavors. Remember that Old World wines will give you earth, floral and vegetal flavors first, while New World wines put the fruit right up front.Swallow – This causes the wine to contact and cover the taste receptors at the back of the tongue, and initiates what we call the “finish.” Generally, the longer the flavors linger, the better the wine. You want that nice long finish.Spit – When we go to professional grand tastings, where there are literally hundreds of wines to sample, spitting is a must, or we’d never make it to the end. One rule to remember: when you do spit, it’s a subtle, demure operation. It’s not considered polite to go for distance.Keep these guidelines in mind as you sample your next bottle. You’ll improve with practice, so drink a lot of wine.
