Mark DeWolf, Sommelier with By the Glass, demonstrates how to taste a wine from start to finish.

Wine Tasting Checklist
Wine tasting…it’s not the sole territory of sommeliers and experts. Tasting and accepting a bottle of wine from the wine steward is an expected practice in most fine restaurants and is often considered the prelude to a memorable dining experience. But wine tasting can take place with any bottle of wine you purchase – it’s simply your opportunity to do quality control to ensure your drinking pleasure.

For some people, the practice of wine tasting can be intimidating, but it needn’t be. These four simple steps will help you master that ultimate “wine steward” moment.

1. Test the Cork
Although you’ve likely seen people making a show of sniffing the cork, this isn’t really the best way to test a wine. While it’s true that wines badly affected by cork taint will have a slightly musty odour, the true test of the wine is to touch the cork rather than smell it. 

Once the wine is opened, take the cork in your hand and make sure it’s moist and not brittle.  If it’s very dry, it’s quite likely the wine was improperly stored.  When wines are not stored on their side with the corked end tilted down slightly (enough to ensure the liquid is covering the cork) there is the chance that oxygen can get into the wine – this can alter the character of the wine, and not for the better.

2. Check the Appearance
Once the wine is poured, lift your glass and look at the wine. Tilt the glass to get a full appreciation of the wine. Check the wine against the backdrop of the white linen of the tablecloth or napkin (a white piece of paper behind the glass will also do). If you don’t happen to have anything white, just be sure not to look at the wine in front of a strong colour, such as red or blue, because the colour of the surface will affect your perception of the wine’s colour.

So what are looking for? First look for touches of brown in the wine.  If you have a young wine with notes of brown extending from the centre of the surface of the wine to the edges (or rim), you may have an oxidized wine.  Where as older wines naturally gain orange, brick and brown notes over time, so it may be nothing to worry about. The true test will be in the taste and aroma. 

The colour of a wine tells a story – a story about the place it comes from, the grape(s) used to make it and the way it was made.  Generally speaking, a very pale wine is from a cool climate while one with a richer colour is more likely to come from a warmer climate. If the colour is bright and reflective then the wine has good natural acidity and is the sign of a good wine.

Also check whether the wine is cloudy or not. If it’s an older wine, a bit of cloudiness may mean that some natural sediment has become agitated.  In a young wine, it may mean that the wine was unfiltered. Winemakers will choose not to filter a wine to attempt to preserve as much character in the wine as possible. The back label of a wine bottle, or a winery’s website, will often tell you whether a wine is filtered or not.

3. Smell the Wine
Now it’s time to “nose” the wine, which simply means to smell it. First swirl the wine in your glass. The aromas of a wine are volatile compounds and it sometimes takes a little coaxing to get them out of the glass. Swirling your glass also gives your nose more places to smell the wine, from the puddle of wine at the bottom of the glass and the streaks of wine running down the sides as well. The first job is to check for any signs of mustiness, like the smell of wet cardboard.  This may be a sign of a rare case of cork taint. If this is your suspicion, simply put the cork back in the bottle and return it to the store or alert the wine steward.

Next you’ll want to get a sense of the wine’s character through its aromas.  Primary fruit aromas speak to the character of the grape – these are often the fruit characters we associate with wines, such as cherries, strawberries and blackberries.  But fruit character doesn’t necessarily have to mean fruity. Some grapes have qualities commonly associated with herbs or vegetables. Sauvignon Blanc grapes, for example, often have aromas that may remind you of green pepper, asparagus or freshly cut grass.

Secondary aromas are those that speak to the winemaking process and are most often associated with oak. If your wine has toasty aromas or hints of winter spice, vanilla or coconut, this may be an indication that the wine was aged in oak barrels or fermented with oak chips, which is becoming a more common practice.

Finally, if you’ve chosen an older wine, you may just get some developed tertiary character, also known as the bouquet. The bouquet may come in the form of earthy notes such as wild mushrooms, leather or gamey meat qualities. 

4. Taste the Wine
Finally it’s time to actually taste the wine. Take a sip, and if you can bring a little air in with the wine, do so. You may notice at wine tastings that professional tasters sort of slurp their wine. This is to ensure they get air in along with the wine for a full sense of taste.  If you’d prefer not to slurp, or your mother taught you this was impolite, no worries. It can enhance the tasting experience but certainly isn’t necessary.  

When tasting a wine, try to let the wine swirl about your mouth so that all your taste receptors have an opportunity to touch the wine. We taste four elements: salty, sweet, sour and bitter. What you’re looking for is to identify which one, or number, of these elements your wine is highlighting. Many of the greatest wines have a balance of sweet, sour and bitter.

You are also looking for a sense of the weight of the wine. Does it feel more like water or milk on our palate?  Weight plays a big role when it comes to food and wine pairing.  The lighter the wine (or closer in body to water), like a Pinot Grigio or Pinot Noir, the more likely it is to be paired with lighter dishes, such as salads or most fish dishes.  The fullest bodied wines, such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Shiraz can handle rich meat courses and full-flavoured cheeses.

Finally try to get a sense of how long the taste of the wine stays with you; this refers to as the "finish." The best and most complex wines have flavours that last for what seems like minutes. Now that’s good value!

Try writing notes about the different wines you taste and keep a log for future reference. A great tool to keep your log is the Personal Wine Journal. You’ll be surprised over time at how much more you write with each tasting experience. It’s also a great way to keep a record of the wines you loved, the ones you liked and the ones that you probably won’t buy again.