Improve Your Wine Tasting Abilities With these Tips

26 May Improve Your Wine Tasting Abilities With these Tips

Ask any genuine wine lover which aspect of the entire wine experience they like the most. Some will tell you they like to look for and stock fine wines of different brands, from across the globe. Others will tell you that they like to attend wine tastings and interact with people that love and enjoy tasting new wines and flavours.

Yet some others will state that they like to sit down for a good meal with a fine wine to accompany their favourite foods. There are many people that love choosing new glassware for different wines and like learning more about collecting wines and cellaring them. In short, wine means different things to different people and drinking wine isn’t just about taste.

It’s about savouring the entire experience, pairing the right wines with the right foods, knowing your reds from your whites and being able to tell when a certain wine will benefit from cellaring and which one shouldn’t be stored for too long. Pay more attention to the tasting process; this can help you get even more enjoyment out of any wine you drink.

Wine tasting involves a number of neural mechanisms: motor, sensory, cognitive, language and emotional. Some experts go so far as to state that a larger number of brain systems are involved in producing perceptions about flavour, than in any other type of human behaviour.

The right way to taste fine wine

Try this novel approach – Instead of sniffing your wine intently before you take a sip, try sipping some of the wine straight into your mouth; use the back of your tongue to direct the flavour and aromas as you breathe it out through your nose. When you do this, the aroma molecules from the liquid get carried out of the anretronasal passage positioned at the back of your throat to your nasal cavity.

The olfactory receptors will help you smell the wine from the inside. In fact, they also get combined with the myriad taste signals that are getting registered on your tongue, and deliver a tangible, 3D picture of the flavour of the wine, to your brain. Give this particular technique a shot the next time you pour yourself some wine and you will understand how different it is. If you don’t get it right the first time, try it again and then some more. Improving your palate’s wine-tasting ability never happens overnight and requires patience and practice.

Try drinking wine with lower alcohol content

There is some research that indicates drinking wine with lower alcohol content can make you appreciate its flavour in a much better way. Try tasting red wine that has an alcohol content of 13% and compare this with a one that has a 15% alcohol level. The former will activate a larger percentage of grey matter that’s associated with the perception of flavour; this will help you derive more pleasure from it. Many wine critics and winemakers believe that wines with higher alcohol levels tend to be unsubtle and one-dimensional.

The wine and music connection

This might sound a little difficult to believe, but it has been found that colour and sound as well as various tactile sensations that exist in the tasting environment can impact the manner in which you perceive a wine’s flavour. For instance, if you are playing very abrasive music while sipping on a glass of wine, that can cause the wine to taste sour. Contrastingly, playing, smooth, mellow and round music can enhance the flavour of the wine.

Aside from this, pick the right kind of glass – preferably a high quality, mouth-blown glass that’s light and has a fine stem and lip. This can go a long way in enhancing the flavour and enjoyment of your wine.

For information about custom wine cellar design and installation, you can call Signature Cellars on 02 9340 7515 or use this contact form to get in touch with us. We’ll be pleased to assist you and provide custom solutions that match your requirements.

Thanks for reading,
Neil Smallman
Signature Cellars
1300 570 636