Evaluating a Wine

Evaluating, or judging, a wine is a fundamental part of "wine lore". Everyone does it, and at its simplest level the question is "Do I like this?" and then, "Why?" Expert or professional tasters try to specify what they like - is it the color, the aroma, the flavor? At competitive levels, wine judges assign points to these and other categories, and rank wines in comparison to one another. That's how medals and other prizes are awarded. We don't expect all our customers to be wine judges, but you may want to familiarize yourself with some of the basics of tasting and evaluation.
Here are some things to remember:

HOLDING THE GLASS:
A wineglass should be held by the stem or the base. If held by the bowl, fingerprints may hamper the ability to judge the clarity of the wine. The hand also tends to warm the wine above its proper serving temperature.

THE CORK:
How many times have you been presented the cork by a wine waiter and wondered exactly what to do? First examine it visually to ensure it hasn’t become dry or crumbly and allowed air to get at the wine. Next smell the cork. What you’re smelling for is any impression of moldiness (damp cardboard odor, musty root-cellar smell). If you get these smells you’ve got what is known as a “corked” wine and it should be refused or returned.

SENSUAL PERCEPTION: Evaluation of a wine involves four of your five senses. To make it easy to remember, we have simplified wine tasting or "sensory evaluation" to what we call the five "S's" of tasting; See, Swirl, Smell, Sip and Savor. *

"SEE" the wine. Hold the glass against a white background such as a tablecloth or up to a bright light and make notes as to both its color clarity.

In a white wine, the color should range from pale yellow to golden. Note that any tinge of brown in a table wine (not a fortified wine like sherry) may be an indication of too much contact with oxygen or "oxidation" - a serious wine flaw. This can be most easily detected around the meniscus (where the wine meets the edge of the glass). Different types of white wines are expected to have certain shades of color. Young, light wines should be pale straw in color. Older, richer wines will be more gold, while dessert wines might be deep amber.

Color in reds can range widely and certain shades are expected for specific types of wines. Young, light reds will have light colors with "pink" edges. Heavier reds made from Cabernet Sauvignon, for example, will be purple-black. An older red wine might develop a slight orange hue (not brown). Clarity of a white wine is easy to judge - just look through the glass. You shouldn't be able to see any suspended material making the wine appear "cloudy". Cloudiness in a wine indicates it has spoiled and turned to vinegar. Red wines are harder to judge, particularly the very dark ones, because you can't see through them. The color should be brilliant, not dull. Look at the edge of the wine, just where it touches the glass.

"SWIRL" the wine in the glass. This helps to vaporize the volatile aromatic components of wine so that you may smell them more readily. This is why you should only fill a glass a third to half full. More, and you will risk "sloshing" the wine out of the glass.

“SMELL” the swirling wine. Place your nose into the bowl of the glass and smell. the wine. You must sniff deeply. During normal breathing, only 5 to 10 percent of inhaled air gets into the upper nasal passage where you do your smelling. So to get more air into this passage, you must really sniff. (What do you do if someone says, "Do you smell something burning?" Same technique applies here.)

* Smells in wine are difficult for many people to describe to others. Often it is fun to try and pick out smells in a wine described by experts such as blackberry, cinnamon, leather, oak, grapefruit, cherries and more. Everyone smells things differently, however, so if you disagree with the expert don’t think you’re wrong!!