Why Taste Systematically?

Tasting wine is more than just swirling, sniffing, and sipping. Taking a deeper approach on tasting unlocks all the hidden flavors, aromas, and textures in your glass and makes every bottle a little adventure. Each bottle has a story of where it grew, who tended the vines, how it was made, and how it wants to greet your senses. Tasting systematically lets you read that story fully, rather than just skimming through.

Why it is important: You’ll pick up subtle flavors and aromas, understand what makes a wine shine or stumble, and make confident choices, whether you are at a casual dinner or hunting for the next hidden gem.

What is needed:

• Glassware: Clear, odorless, and ideally ISO-shaped. A 5 cl (50 ml) pour is perfect to swirl without spilling.

• Environment: Odor-free, well-lit, and spacious. Spittoons nearby if needed and tasting multiple wines.

• Palate prep: Skip toothpaste, strong food, and alcohol before tasting. Hydration is key.

• Notebook: To write down your observations and thoughts. You can use our templates.

By following this guide, you will taste wine with intention, have fun exploring flavors and textures, start a new blind-tasting game night with friends, or maybe even become a sommelier yourself.

How to do it: While tasting your wine, follow this step-by-step guide through Appearance, Nose, Palate, and Quality Assessment. Think of it as a treasure map with your senses as your compass. Use our wine tasting templates to guide you along the way!

Before you start to taste wine, remember, everyone tastes differently. We all have different palates and perception. Some people train for years to do this professionally, but for most, this is meant to be a fun experience to better understand each bottle.

And no, we don’t do this every time we have a glass of wine!

Join Gabriele Alessandroni, WSET Educator and expert wine tour guide in Tuscany, as he walks us through the official WSET approach to tasting wine. In this video, Gabriele provides a clear, step-by-step visual guide using professional wine terminology, perfect for anyone who wants to learn how to taste like a pro.

If you’re inspired to take your wine education further, consider a course with Gabriele in Florence or join one of his immersive wine day trips through Tuscany. Learn more at Wine School Italia 

1. Appearance

Your first clue about a wine comes from its look.

Clarity: Is it clear or hazy? Most wines are crystal clear. Haziness could hint at a fault or a winemaker's intentional style.

Intensity: How deep is the color? Tilt the glass 45 degrees and see how far the color reaches from the center to the rim. Pale, medium, or deep helps you judge how concentrated the wine might be.

Color: 

Color gives hints about age, grape variety, and winemaking style.

• Deep amber white? Likely aged or oxidized.

• Bright ruby red? Youthful and fruit-forward.

Whites: Lemon-green, lemon, gold, amber, or brown

Reds: Purple, ruby, garnet, tawny, brown

Rosés: Pink, salmon, copper, orange

Other observations:

• Legs or tears: Streams of wine sliding down the glass. Thicker legs = more sugar or alcohol. Thin legs = delicate wine. Contrary to popular belief, “longer legs” are not an indicator of “quality”.

• Sediment: Could be unfiltered wine.

2. Nose

A huge part of wine’s magic is in its aroma.

This is one of the most fun and difficult parts of tasting wine. Don’t overthink it when trying to find the correct aromas. Rather, write down what immediately sparks in your brain. Over time, you will build a memory book in your senses and begin to understand why certain aromas are present in your glass.

Condition: 

When the server opens the wine at the restaurant for you to taste, it isn’t about whether you like it or not. It is to check for a fault in the wine. The first thing you do when opening a new bottle is check these.

• Cork taint (TCA): Damp cardboard, muted fruit. One of the most common.

• Reduction: Rotten eggs, boiled cabbage, blocked drain (definitely don’t want this smell in your wine).

• Oxidation: Toffee, honey, caramel, lack of freshness. In aged wine or sherry, these aromas are present. But if your wine is 2 years old and showing these aromas, pour it down the drain.

• Volatile acidity: Vinegar or nail polish remover.

• Brett: Smoked meat, leather, animal notes, barnyard (some love it, some avoid it).

Some aromas that seem unusual can actually add character, but that’s for another story in the future.

Intensity: Sniff gently.

• Light: Hard to detect

• Medium: Noticeable but not overwhelming

• Pronounced: Smells hit you immediately

Aroma characteristics:

“Mmmmmm, grapes” is not an answer here. Everyone in the wine world has heard that joke! This is the hardest part for most, but also the most fun. Enjoy it, don’t be scared to say whatever comes to mind. To smell a wine, we break it down into three kinds of aromas:

• Primary: The natural aromas from the grape variety itself and the fermentation

• Secondary: From the winemaking style

• Tertiary: From development of aging

Every wine will have primary aromas, but not all will have tertiary, as those come with time.

Primary aromas (from grapes and fermentation):

• Fruit: Citrus (lemon, lime, grapefruit), Tree/Stone fruit (apple, peach, apricot), Tropical Fruit (pineapple, mango, passionfruit), Red fruit (strawberry, raspberry, cherry), Black fruit (blackberry, plum, blueberry)

• Floral: Rose, violet, elderflower, white blossom, saffron, jasmine

• Herbaceous: Green bell pepper, fresh herbs, grass, mint, oregano

• Other: Mineral notes (graphite, chalk), subtle spice, earth

Secondary aromas (from winemaking):

• Oak: Vanilla, toast, coconut, smoke

• Malolactic: Butter, cream, yogurt

• Lees contact: Yeasty, biscuit, brioche, sourdough

Tertiary aromas (from aging):

• Oxidative aging: Coffee, caramel, toffee, nuts

• Bottle aging: Honey, mushroom, dried fruit (raisin, date, fig), petrol

Development: 

Development refers to how a wine’s aromas evolve over time, moving from fresh, youthful notes to deeper, more complex characteristics as the wine ages and opens up.

• Youthful: Dominated by primary and secondary aromas

• Developing: Hints of tertiary aromas emerge, secondary aromas start integrating

• Fully developed: Tertiary aromas dominate, all elements harmoniously integrated

• Past its best: Attractive aromas fade, unpleasant aromas may appear

Tip: Don’t try to identify everything at once! Take a sniff, swirl, sniff again, and enjoy the story unfolding. Take your time and take your notes!

3. Palate

Now for the part you’ve been waiting for: taste. Let the wine speak to your mouth. Take small sips and notice how it moves across your palate, revealing different sensations as it dances over your taste buds.

Sweetness: 

This is the amount of residual sugar remaining in the wine, not the texture of the wine. Most wines are dry.

• Dry: No detectable sugar

• Off-dry: Tiny hint of sweetness

• Medium-dry: Noticeable but subtle sugar

• Medium-sweet: Sweet enough to enjoy with food, but not dessert-level

• Sweet: Dominant sugar, think Sauternes or Port

• Luscious: Dessert-level viscosity, sticky sensation (Trockenbeerenauslese)

Acidity: 

The backbone of wine. This is the mouth-watering, tingling sensation you feel on the sides of your tongue. The more your mouth salivates, the higher the acidity in the wine. Think of the sharp bite of a lemon compared to the softer acidity of a ripe pear.

• Low: Soft, round, broad

• Medium: Lively, refreshing

• High: Sharp, crisp, makes your mouth water

Tip: Keep your mouth shut after you swallow the wine, and let your tongue do the talking. You will feel it salivate, thus determining the level of acidity.

Tannin: 

This is the drying, astringent sensation you feel on your gums, cheeks, and tongue. It is often mistaken for bitterness, but it feels more like your mouth being gently dried out. Tannins come from grape skins, seeds, and stems, which is why they are most commonly found in red wines, or in white wines with extended skin contact, called orange wines. You can compare the sensation of tannin to black tea, black coffee, or dark chocolate.

• Low: Silky, soft, light grip

• Medium: Noticeable but integrated

• High: Full drying, astringent, full-bodied

Tip: To feel the tannin after swallowing the wine, rub your gums and teeth gently together. Think of tannins as the wine’s strength or grip.

Alcohol: 

Alcohol is the component of wine that gives it warmth, weight, and body on the palate. It can make a wine feel light and delicate, balanced, or full and powerful, depending on how much is present. You may also notice it as a gentle heat or spice sensation in your mouth.

• Low: <11%, light, delicate

• Medium: 11-13.9%, noticeable but balanced

• High: 14%+, warm and full-bodied

Body: 

Body is the overall weight, texture, and presence of a wine in your mouth. It is what makes a wine feel light and delicate, balanced and approachable, or full and mouth-filling. Think of it as the wine’s “texture,” shaped by the combined effects of alcohol, sugar, acidity, and tannins.

• Light: Delicate, refreshing, easygoing

• Medium: Balanced, not overwhelming

• Full: Big, bold, mouth-filling

Flavor intensity:

How strong or pronounced the flavors of a wine are on your palate. A wine can be delicate and subtle, or bold and powerful. We categorize this as light, medium, and pronounced. The more fruit concentration, the higher the flavor intensity.

Finish: 

How long do flavors linger?
This is how long those flavors linger on your palate after you swallow. You can identify the length by counting in your head. The longer the pleasant sensations stay, the more memorable the wine. A long finish would be 10+ seconds, whereas a short finish fades within a few.

• Short: Quickly fades, simple wine

• Medium: Satisfying but not endless

• Long: Flavors linger like a good story, minutes of pleasure

Tip: Focus on the pleasant sensations and the fruit concentration. A lingering bitterness, or warmth from alcohol is not part of the finish.

4. Assessment: Quality and Readiness

Quality level: 

This is where all the elements of a wine come together, helping you decide if it’s something to savor now, cellar for later, pair with a meal, or purchase again.

To judge quality, focus on four key criteria:

• Balance: Are fruit concentration, sweetness, acidity, tannins, and alcohol in harmony? Or does the alcohol or tannin overpower the other components?

• Intensity: Are the flavors clear and concentrated, or muted?

• Length: How long do the wine’s flavors linger on the palate?

• Complexity: Are there layers of aroma and flavor that evolve with each swirl and sip, or is the wine simple and straightforward?

Ratings: 

Wines are typically rated as Outstanding, Very Good, Good, Acceptable, or Poor based on how they score across these criteria.

Determining if a wine is truly outstanding:

An outstanding wine hits all four marks; balanced, intense, long, and complex. If one or two elements are missing or weaker, the wine may still be enjoyable, but it is more likely rated as very good or good. Wines that are enjoyable but lack structure or clarity may fall to acceptable, while wines with glaring flaws land in the poor category.

The trick isn’t just personal taste, it’s understanding the grape, region, and winemaking style. For everyday wine lovers, the ultimate measure is simple: do you enjoy it, and does it make you want another glass?

Readiness for drinking:

Some wines are meant to be opened now, fresh and fruity with no aging needed, as they will not develop over time. Most wines are in fact meant to be enjoyed young.

Others benefit from time, with tannins softening, flavors developing, and aromas evolving. These are the wines with a powerful fruit concentration, high acidity, high tannin, and great balance. These wines age beautifully.

Some are too old, with flavors faded and wine past its prime. Drink them now.

A thoughtful assessment helps you decide whether to enjoy today or cellar for the future. A bottle is not a puzzle to solve, it is a story to enjoy. Knowing when to sip and when to cellar makes all the difference.

Tasting wine systematically is not about being a snob. It is about unlocking the story in your glass. Having an approach to tasting wine is fun, rewarding, and activates all of your senses. Next time you pour a glass, follow this guide, take some notes, trust your senses, and have fun discovering your palate.

Grapestained Wine Tasting Templates