Must we taste like a professional?
By Allen R. Balik
Many casual wine consumers look at the gestures and facial contortions practiced by wine “geeks” and professionals when tasting a wine as patently unnecessary and more of show than substance. This reasoning is unfortunate since every part of the tasting exercise has a purpose and in reality, it is just a slowed-down and focused exercise of what we all do when enjoying a meal or glass of wine.
As an introductory paragraph in her May 2021 Decanter Magazine article on “How to Taste,” Victoria Moore succinctly explained the tasting process. “Tasting is both simple and highly complex. A child could do it [naturally, not with wine] and yet it’s a vast subject whose intricacies could fill many books. So how do you go about getting the most out of your wine glass?”
Moore then summarizes what many experts conveyed in her series of interviews. “Tasting: pay attention – get in the zone – eliminate distractions.” Of course this is more geared to serious tasting efforts, but it can also be simplified and easily applied to our everyday drinking pleasures. This is not unlike the perfumer who must carefully master the art of analyzing each facet and complexity of his product while the consumer just appreciates the beautiful scents produced.
So, let’s make it simple as we break it down by looking at a trail of “S” words.
Our first “S” is sight as we look at the wine in the glass to observe its color and clarity. This is an important step as an early guide to the age of the wine and a hint of its density that will play a key role in expressing a textural mouthfeel. Then we swirl the wine in the glass to greatly expand the surface area of the liquid, release the aromatic esters and enable us to detect flaws such as oxidation and spoilage.
Sniffing is next and gives us the opportunity to engage the wine on our first olfactory experience. Does the wine excite your senses and form your expectations of what’s to come on the palate? Or does the wine’s bouquet leave you flat? Hopefully, it’s the former and will be one more stepping stone to vinous pleasure.
Sipping comes next but we won’t go directly to swallowing. Take that first sip so that you have enough wine in your mouth to splash it around while sucking in a bit of air to further volatilize the aromatics. But, don’t sip so much to cause an accident! In the same Decanter article, Alex Hunt MW points out, “Everyone will have a different sweet spot, but it’s worth experimenting until you find the right sip size that gives you the most vivid impression of the wine.” Practice makes perfect and can be fun.
Splashing the wine in your mouth releases more olfactory and flavor qualities that work together in the perception of taste while textural senses coat your mouth. We can look at this splashing exercise as similar to chewing a morsel of prime beef before swallowing. Flavors and textures are released that spark your senses while enhancing your enjoyment.
But here’s where the final “S” may differ from a professional or wine aficionado finishing the tasting drill as opposed to a casual wine drinker savoring that last drop. The pro will spit and others will just swallow.
When conducting a tasting, I’m often asked how we can evaluate the finish if we don’t swallow. Since there are no tastebuds beyond the palate, it’s the complex olfactory impression that creates the finish. So spitting is fine and quite necessary when multiple wines are being tasted..
All the “S” steps have their place, and the pros break each one down to an individual stage with its own in-depth focus. The casual drinker, on the other hand, goes through the same process at (what they may consider) a normal pace with a glass of fruit juice or cup of coffee.
However, the overall tasting experience is far more complicated and our trek through the “S” trail helps bring it all into focus.
There are four specific taste bud groupings on the tongue to relay the impressions of sweet, sour, bitter and salty along with umami as a fifth more esoteric "savory" sense. We can all agree that our sense of taste goes far beyond any combination of the five. And that's where our olfactory senses contribute by further adding to our appreciation of aroma, flavor and finish.
Our nose is far more than that prominent structure in the middle of our face. It is a complex and interconnected system of membranes, neural sensors, transmitters, filters, etc. that extend beyond what we normally attribute to its role in breathing. Without our nose and its complex web of membranes and receptors, our sense of taste remains incomplete.
Does that burger, salad, pizza or melon taste the same when we're experiencing nasal congestion? Of course not. And the same will be true when trying to enjoy a glass of Cabernet, Chardonnay or Riesling with the Kleenex box nearby as we are sniffling and sneezing.
Our sense of smell (through its receptors and transmitters) extends to the mouth where it works in combination with our taste buds to create a perception of flavors. Whether we swallow or spit, aromatic elements have been volatilized and picked-up in the nasopharyngeal passage behind the palate to give us additional elements of taste as well as the "finish" that is so important in the gratification experienced in a quality wine.
Understanding the tasting process and the roles played by our different nasal and oral sensors will go a long way in answering Victoria Moore’s initial question: “So how do you go about getting the most out of your wine glass?”
We don’t have to follow the strict edict of a wine professional to enjoy each sip. All we need to do is just slow down and pay attention to a wine’s many attributes and everything else will follow. Continuing on the “S” trail, at your own pace, can help get you there with a big (last “S”) smile!