Sula Wines

The wine-tasting ritual is not just an elaborate way to confuse new wine drinkers. There’s no rule saying you can’t gulp your wine down in a hurry, but if you’re interested in better understanding and appreciating the finer qualities of a wine, a step-by-step tasting is the way to go.

See
Hold the glass up to the light (a piece of white paper placed behind the glass works well) and look at the colour and opacity of the wine.

The descriptions often used for assessing the colour of the wine can be pale, mid or deep, green/straw/yellow/gold for white wines, and pink/ purple/ crimson/ ruby/ garnet/ tawny/ brown for red wines.
A healthy wine should reflect light and be bright, not dull.

Swirl
Swirling takes a little practice, so don’t be alarmed if at first you splash the wine around more than you’d like. The goal is to keep the wine in the glass, and off your clothes. Try swirling with water first to minimize stains. The best way to start learning is to leave the glass on the table, place two fingers on either side of the stem, and make small circles with the base.

Observe the wine as you swirl it: the more it sticks to the sides of the glasses (the technical term is legs or tears), the more viscous it is. This is a rough indication of a more full-bodied style that has a high alcohol or sugar content, or both.
Swirling also releases odour molecules in the wine, leading you to the next step of the tasting, smell.

Smell
This is arguably the most important factor in the sensory evaluation of a wine, and requires concentration and practice. A lot of new drinkers tend to simply say “It smells like… wine.” until they gather experience and a vocabulary to talk about that wine-y smell in more detail.

Swirling the wine helps release the wine’s aroma and bouquet. Don’t be afraid to stick your nose right into the glass and take a couple of deep sniffs.

A wine can display a variety of different aromas, such as fruity (citrus, berry, tropical, etc.), floral (jasmine, rose, orange blossom, etc.), spicy (black pepper, cinnamon, anise, etc.), woody (oak, vanilla, toast, etc.), mineral, vegetal and so on. See what the smells from your glass remind you of.

Taste
You finally get to taste the wine! Take a generous mouthful – don’t be afraid – and swirl it around in your mouth. Try sucking in some air through your teeth to further aerate the wine. This increases the amount of aromas that reach your nose retronasally via your mouth. Now you’re ready to assess the wine’s taste characteristics.

Sweetness: The fruit sugars contained in the wine. In the world of wine, the opposite of sweet is dry. A wine can range from being bone-dry to medium-dry to sweet.

Acidity: The acid levels in a wine impart a refreshing feeling in the mouth. Acidity contributes to a wine’s crispness and liveliness; without it, a wine would be dull and “flabby”. The acidity of a wine causes a tingling sensation in the mouth.

Tannin: Tannins are more common in red wines than in whites since they are derived from grape skins, seeds, and stems. They cause a dry, astringent feeling in the mouth similar to that caused by a cup of extra-strong tea.

Other things to look for when tasting a wine include mouthfeel (weight/body of the wine in the mouth), alcohol levels, finish and aftertaste (can be short, medium or long).

A well-balanced wine has all the above elements working in harmony to give a pleasurable experience overall.