I spent six years running the wine programme at a Michelin-starred restaurant in London, and the single most common question guests asked me wasn't about which bottle to choose — it was 'how do you actually taste wine properly?' The truth is, professional tasting isn't some mystical gift. It's a learnable skill, a systematic approach that anyone can pick up with a little practice and the right guidance. Let me walk you through exactly how we do it.
Setting the Stage: Before the Wine Hits Your Glass
Great tasting starts before you even pour. Use a clean, tulip-shaped glass — the ISO XL5 tasting glass is the industry standard, but any decent wine glass with a tapered rim will do. Pour roughly 50–75ml, about a third of the way up the bowl. This leaves room for swirling and concentrates the aromas beautifully.
Make sure you're in a well-lit space, ideally with a white surface nearby — a sheet of paper works perfectly. Avoid wearing strong perfume or cologne, and if you've just eaten something intensely flavoured, rinse your palate with plain water first. These details sound fussy, but they genuinely make a difference. Professionals taste in neutral environments for exactly this reason.
Step One: Look — What the Wine Tells You Before You Smell It
Tilt your glass at a 45-degree angle against that white background and really look at the wine. You're assessing three things: colour intensity, the actual hue, and clarity.
- White wines range from nearly water-white (think young Muscadet de Sèvre et Maine) through pale gold (Chablis, Albariño) to deep amber-gold (aged Sauternes, oak-aged Chardonnay from Burgundy's Meursault). Deeper colour generally suggests either age, oak contact, or a warmer climate.
- Red wines move from bright purple-ruby in youth (a fresh Beaujolais Nouveau or young Mencía from Bierzo) through garnet to tawny-brown at the rim as they age. A mature Barolo from Piemonte, for instance, develops that beautiful brick-orange edge after a decade or more.
- Clarity matters too. A hazy wine might be unfiltered by choice — many natural producers like Frank Cornelissen in Sicily embrace this — or it could signal a fault. Context is everything.
Step Two: Smell — Where Most of the Magic Happens
Here's a secret most people don't realise: roughly 80% of what we perceive as 'taste' is actually smell. This step is where professional tasters spend the most time, and where you'll see the biggest improvement with practice.
First, smell the wine without swirling. These initial, delicate aromas — called the 'first nose' — are the most volatile and vanish quickly. Then give the glass a gentle swirl to release the deeper aromatics and smell again.
Think in categories. Primary aromas come from the grape itself: the crushed blackcurrant of Cabernet Sauvignon, the lychee and rose petal of Gewürztraminer from Alsace, or the bright citrus of a Vermentino from Sardinia. Secondary aromas come from winemaking — the buttery, biscuity notes from malolactic fermentation in a Kumeu River Chardonnay, or the yeasty bread-dough character of a well-aged Champagne like Krug Grande Cuvée. Tertiary aromas develop with bottle age: leather, tobacco, dried fruit, and forest floor in a mature Rioja Gran Reserva from López de Heredia.
Don't worry about getting it 'right'. There's no wrong answer in aroma identification. If a Pinot Noir smells like strawberries to you and cherries to your friend, you're both correct — you're simply referencing different parts of your own scent memory.
Step Three: Taste — The Systematic Palate Assessment
Take a moderate sip and let it coat your entire mouth. Professional tasters often draw a little air over the wine — yes, that slurping sound you hear at tastings — because it volatilises the aromas and sends them up to your olfactory receptors via the back of your throat.
Assess these structural elements in order:
- Sweetness — detected on the tip of your tongue. Is it bone dry like a Muscadet Sur Lie, off-dry like a Spätlese Riesling from the Mosel, or lusciously sweet like a Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos?
- Acidity — that mouth-watering, salivating sensation. High-acid wines like Sancerre or Assyrtiko from Santorini make your mouth water intensely. Low-acid wines feel softer, rounder.
- Tannin — in red wines, this is the drying, gripping sensation on your gums and inner cheeks. A young Nebbiolo from Barbaresco will have firm, assertive tannins, while a Pinot Noir from Central Otago will be silkier and gentler.
- Body — think of this as the weight of the wine in your mouth. Skim milk versus whole milk versus cream. A Vinho Verde is light-bodied; an Amarone della Valpolicella is decidedly full.
- Flavour intensity and character — do the flavours match what you smelled? Are they muted or expressive? A great wine like Penfolds Grange will deliver layer upon layer of flavour that keeps evolving in the glass.
- Finish — after you swallow, how long do the flavours persist? A long, complex finish — thirty seconds or more — is one of the hallmarks of a truly excellent wine. Count the seconds. A top Châteauneuf-du-Pape from Château Rayas can linger for over a minute.
Putting It All Together: Practice Makes Perfect
The best way to train your palate is through comparative tasting. Buy two or three wines from the same grape but different regions — say a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc from Cloudy Bay, a Sancerre from Domaine Vacheron, and a Styrian Sauvignon Blanc from Tement in Austria. Taste them side by side using the steps above and note the differences. You'll be astonished how clearly climate, soil, and winemaking philosophy express themselves.
Keep a tasting journal, even a simple one on your phone. Note the wine, the date, and three or four descriptors for aroma, palate, and your overall impression. Within a few months, you'll start recognising patterns — and that's when tasting goes from a technique to a genuine pleasure.
Finally, be patient with yourself. I've been tasting professionally for over a decade and I'm still learning, still being surprised. That's the beauty of wine — the glass is never empty of things to discover. Pick up a bottle this weekend, slow down, and really pay attention. I promise you'll taste more than you ever thought was there.
