The S's of Wine Tasting

Now, depending on who you ask there can be a variety of S’s to wine tasting which can range from the most basic 4 to the far more complex 8 S’s (or more). For me I prefer the nice middle ground of 6 as it's still short and to the point and not horribly bogged down with too much detail. We start the 6 just as the 5 are listed above with see, which is sadly ignored by many (even myself on occasion).

We follow that look at the wine with smell, my personal favourite. After that, move the glass around to get a good swirl going - followed by yet another glorious smell of the wine. Finally, you take a nice sip of the wine and move straight into the oh so important savouring of the wine. As you can see all we really did was add another smell to the original 5 mentioned above, but this addition is quite important to get a better understanding of the wine you’re drinking. So, why don’t we now take a more in depth look at each of these to actually see why they are so important and what they can add to your experience (and why not have a glass of wine while reading to follow along).

To begin our little lesson here we will first take a look at the first S, see. As said above this is one part of wine tasting that a lot of people forget to do, even people like myself. Sometimes it just doesn’t cross your mind, especially if you’re in a crowded tasting room feeling a bit rushed. But this is really something that shouldn’t be overlooked (pardon the minor pun), as it can add to your overall understanding of the wine. So, whenever you get a glass hold it up to the light and put the glass at a slight angle (not too much though, you don’t want to spill any). While looking at it ask yourself what is the colour like on the particular wine? How intense or deep is the colour? Is there anything floating in it? Some may chuckle at the last one, as you don’t generally think of things floating in your wine, but it is quite important. Particulates in a new wine can generally mean that it’s not quite as pure (or even didn’t finish fementing), where as in an old wine it just means all the stuff in the wine has just finally settled. This of course affects the clarity of the wine which is just a less desirable trait for a wine, but it can also affect taste, though in reds it can actually be a good sign of decent acidity.

After getting a good look at the wine the next important step is to get a good smell of it. This initial smell of the wine has a very important purpose which is to check to make sure the wine hasn’t gone bad. You really want to check to see if the wine has an aroma of wet cardboard, damp basement or vinegar to it. The wet cardboard and damp basement smells tells you that the wine has succumbed to a chemical called TCA, or cork taint (which can even happen with alternative closures). This isn’t as much of a problem as it used to be in the 90’s but can still happen and basically means your wine has gone bad. The vinegar smell on the other hand is quite simple, your wine has just turned to vinegar and of course is now undrinkable (unless you like vinegar). Besides checking if the wine is good or not you can get a bit more out of your first smell in the way of alcohol content. Generally in your first whiff that alcohol is really the only smell you’re going to get as the wine hasn’t “opened up” yet. So if you get a really intense smell of alcohol you can be pretty sure that the alcohol content may be a bit higher than if it’s only a light smell of it.

So, how do we “open up” the wine to get all of the wonderful aromas? Well that’s fairly simple, we just swirl it around a bit (best way being to set it flat on the table and move it in a small circle, with your fingers on the base of the glass). What swirling does is it exposes more of the wine to oxygen which helps bring out all of the great aromas and flavours trapped in the wine. Basically you’re force “aging” the wine. It’s the same basic principle behind putting wine in a decanter; you expose it to oxygen, thus causing it to mature. Besides this though, you also get to see how viscous the wine is, which can be an indicator of how sweet the wine may be. This is because the more sugar you have means generally the more syrup-like the consistency is, which makes it stick to the glass. Yet another part of the swirl is seeing the “legs” of the wine; these being the streaks it leaves along the side of the glass as it starts rolling down back towards the wine. These streaks are caused by the difference in surface tension between water and alcohol. This means that if you have more streaks along the side of your glass that generally you have a higher alcohol content in your wine.

After you swirl the wine around for a little bit you move onto getting another good smell out of the wine. This time you aren’t looking for faults or alcohol but rather all of the amazing aromas of the wine. So go ahead and don’t be shy, just put your nose right in the glass as far as it can go and breathe in all those aromas as deep as you can. Notice how much more fragrant the wine is after you swirled it for a bit. That alcohol smell is gone (usually) and now the complexity of all the beautiful aromas are what comes through. And don’t forget most of taste comes from your sense of smell, so the more intense the fragrance the more intense the taste should be. So, as you are smelling the wine start to think about what that smell is made up of to prepare yourself for the tastes to come. Do you get fruit, floral or both? Is it herbal, earthy, spicy, nutty or some interesting combination of them all? Finally, try and indentify exactly what fruits or spices make up the smell that you are getting. Now don’t be discouraged if you can’t get it, figuring out exacts takes years of practice and even then two people can get two different answers. Remember wine is personal so if you get a different smell than someone else you aren’t wrong, you just got a different experience than they did.

Well, now that your palate has been prepared by the beautiful and amazing aromas of the wine you can finally take a nice sip of it. Now you’re probably thinking there can’t be much to this, I mean come on it’s just a sip. And yes this is true you can just take a sip and be done with it, but remember we are trying to get the full experience here. So, to make a sip more complex (though not much) what you want to do is, as you’re taking the sip, suck in a little air as you are doing it. This light slurping forces more oxygen through the wine releasing more aromas, and remember most of your taste comes from smell, so this helps you get more flavor out of the wine. After this you want to move it around your mouth a bit to let it cover every part of your mouth. Your mouth is full of taste buds so give them all a try. Again this is just designed to bring out more flavours and let you experience how these flavours change as it is exposed to more air and warmth as it is moved around your mouth. While all this is happening think to yourself what’s this wine like, how do the aromas carry over to the taste? Does the body of the wine feel like its light, medium or full/heavy? Does it dry out your mouth or make it water (tannin and acid respectively) and how sweet is the wine? All of these add to your experience and again, like smell, is quite personal and differs from person to person generally.

Finally, we move onto the last S, and arguably the most important, savour. Out of all of the S’s we have gone through this one is definitely the most simple as there is no special way to swirl, sip or tilt your glass of wine. All you have to do here is enjoy the wine and just notice how it changes as you drink it. While all the thoughts of the aromas and tastes are still fresh in your mind from your first smell or sip compare them to what you think of the wine after a few more sips. How has the wine developed from when you first got your pour, has anything changed? These are important things to think about as it is one of the best parts about wine, it changes. The wine is constantly evolving, both in the bottle as it ages and in your glass as you drink, adding subtleties that didn’t exist before. Not only this but your own palate is changing as you’re drinking it, causing you to notice things that you may not have noticed in the beginning but were present. But above and beyond all of this, just enjoy the wine.

The S’s of tasting are a great tool for those among us who wish to learn more about the wine we drink. They really help you get every last drop of experience out of your wine and all that it is made of. Sight adds a layer of visual aesthetics to wine that many overlook, and also can give you a bit of information of what to expect. The first smell can tell you if your wine is drinkable or not as well as how much alcohol is stored within. The swirl prepares the wine and also tells you about its sugar content and more about its alcohol content. The second smell of the wine shows you the beauty of all the aromas that the wine holds and prepares your palate for your first sip. This sip then comes and brings together all the previous steps into their glorious conclusion. And finally, why drink wine if you aren’t going to savour and enjoy it as it was meant to be enjoyed? The S’s of tasting bring you closer to your wine, whether you use only 4 or even 10, and really help you appreciate just how amazing this bit of the human experience is.