New To Wine Tasting? Learn How To Develop Your Palate With These Tips!
Looking for professional tips on Wine Tasting in PEC? At Hillier Creek Winery, we love sharing our wine tasting experience, food pairings and woodfire pizza pairings!
BUT FIRST…we want to clarify something VERY important!
We’ve noticed that wine tasting can be improperly portrayed as an unattainable art, reserved for those that know how to hold a wine glass perfectly and sip ever so politely.
But have you ever heard the phrase, “art is in the eye of the beholder, and everyone will have their own interpretation” (E.A. Bucchianeri)?
This phrase is commonly used to describe a given matter as subjective, abstract or of personal preference. Essentially, it means that some people will find the matter preferable, while others won’t.
Do you think that this pertains to wine tasting? We do!
Although there is definitely value in learning how to taste wine properly, how to develop your appreciation for the flavour of wine (your wine palate) and how to enhance the wine tasting experience, your preference is ultimately what will guide your first and lasting impressions.
All this to say, we do believe that wine tasting is an art, however we also believe it to be an art easily mastered, relying heavily on the individual taster’s preferences.
And those preferences are okay – even if they don’t match with those of other wine tasters!
As you continue to read through the following wine tasting tips, remember that these are simply GUIDELINES, designed to help direct the wine taster’s experience!
We encourage you to experiment with our suggestions, but also to be creative! Try different techniques, unique combinations and new flavour profiles in order to discover your wine tasting preferences.
Wine Tasting Is For Everyone – Here’s How To Get Started!
We love introducing our guests to wine tasting techniques! Not only do we get to enjoy the Hillier Creek Winery Experience over and over again in the process, but we actually get to learn new techniques from our guests as well!
Now, like we mentioned before, wine tasting is an art, but it is an art that you can very easily master! And we’re here to help you do that!
If you’re planning on visiting our Hillier Creek Winery patio, we’ll provide the perfect glass, the quality wine and the peaceful atmosphere – we’ve definitely mastered that combo!
But if you’re planning on hosting an at-home wine tasting experience, here are some tips that you can share with your guests in order to help achieve the best possible experience!
We also have a full page dedicated to Wine Tasting Tips For Beginners HERE!
Step 1 – Take It Slow
Our number one tip for wine tasting is to take it slow. Pay attention to the atmosphere and enjoy the moment as you learn to savor the varying flavours of your wine.
Develop Your Wine Palate
In order to properly develop your wine palate, your sensory receptors will need to learn how to identify, appreciate and recall individual flavours/aromas. If the process is rushed, you’ll miss some of the important notes.
Why Is Atmosphere Important To Wine Tasting?
When you go out for dinner, do you look for a busy restaurant with loud music, barking dogs and kids running around your feet? Not likely! And especially not on a date. That would defeat the purpose of getting to know the person, understanding their life story and generally enjoying their company.
The same goes for wine tasting.
Did you know that wineries are actually designed specifically to help cultivate the overall impression of their wine tasting experience?
The goal is to create a peaceful environment that allows wine tasters to:
- Concentrate
- Evaluate
- And Enjoy!
Wineries focus on their scenery, seating, music, lighting, landscaping, aromas and more in order to create a specific experience (ie. romantic).
Prince Edward County Wineries have done a beautiful job of cultivating these beautiful spaces!
Step 2 – Take A Look
Once you receive your glass of wine, the first thing we recommend is to simply look at it. Learning how to identify and evaluate based on sight is all a part of the art of wine tasting!
Did you know that looking at your wine while your glass is at different angles will actually tell you specific aspects of the wine?
These characteristics can include:
- Colour range
- Clarity
- Age
- Weight
- Alcohol content
- Flavour and more!
We recommend viewing the wine from a straight angle view, side view and tilted view. And then finish it off with a gentle swirl!
CLICK HERE to learn what characteristics of the wine you can see within each angle!
Step 3 – Take a Whiff
Smell is arguably the most important sense used in wine tasting because it contributes to both the flavour and aroma of the wine. In fact, one cannot exist fully without the other!
Did you know that there are two ways to smell wine?
- Internally
- Externally
Externally is when you sniff the wine while it is in the glass. Internally, however, is when you actually swish the wine around in your mouth and allow the flavours to enter your nasal passage.
How To Externally Smell Your Wine:
In the last step of looking at the wine, we recommended a gentle swirl of the glass. Once you’ve gently swirled the contents of your glass, allow the aromas to linger as you hover your nose over the rim of the glass.
Embrace the scent of the wine, then lean back and begin evaluating.
Questions You Can Ask Yourself Regarding The Wine’s Aromas:
- Do I sense any fruit or plant aromas?
- Are there any secondary aromas (ie. vanilla, coconut, spice)?
- Does the wine have any detectable wine flaws, making it abnormal?
Step 4 – Give It a Sip
Now, it is finally time to sip the wine!
We always recommend going back to Step 1 here and taking it slow – learning, savouring, enjoying and evaluating at your own pace!
Identifying Through Flavour:
Do you remember the aromas you sensed during Step 3? Now that you have tasted the wine, try to confirm or broaden those flavours in order to come to a conclusion.
- Is the wine balanced (identifiable flavours of sweet, sour, salty and bitter)?
- Is the wine evolved (holding “tertiary flavours” such as mineral or earth aromas)?
- Is the wine complex (flavours change as they linger)?
- Is the wine harmonious (all flavours are proportionate)?
- Is the wine complete (balanced, complex, evolved and harmonious)?
Step 5 – Final Thoughts?
And finally, the last step to the wine tasting process is simply to:
- Savour
- Think
- Enjoy
- And conclude your impression!
This is when you, the now professional wine taster, presents your full ovulation, preference and notable reactions!
Host Your Own Wine Tasting!
Now that you have some guidelines to get you started, try hosting your own wine tasting experience! We recommend having three different bottles of wine (ie. our Gamay Nouveau, Rose or Red Velvet) and having some fun with it!
If you’re feeling adventurous, you can even incorporate some of the best wine and food pairings!
What characteristics can you identify at each step of the tasting process? Are you able to sense unique aromas and flavours? Would you recall these attributes after the tasting?
As you begin to develop your wine palate, try to recall previous wines that you have tasted in order to help build your wine repertoire!
