Have you ever had a glass of wine with friends and thought, “Gee, that tastes good. It tastes…. Red” and then been unsure of what else to say? Yeah, me too. When I first started tasting wine, back in my post-college days in the Santa Cruz Mountains, all I could think of was that either I liked the way something tasted, or I didn’t, and that was it. All of the pontificating and describing seemed so pretentious, and while I sometimes found the tasting notes provided at wineries helpful, it was hard to figure out what to say about the wines myself. I knew I hated the snobbery and high-nosed “I’m better than you” air that I occasionally witnessed from other guests while tasting.
Fast forward to me working in a coffee shop, where we were required to taste and describe coffee to be able to sell it to customers. At first, I had the same reaction: “Gee, it tastes like…. Black Coffee.” And then one morning, I smelled the black coffee in the tasting cup and the smell of dark chocolate covered blueberries came bursting into my nose. “Holy Smokes! That smells great!” Out of nowhere, it was like my nose woke up. I could smell lemon zest in African coffees, walnuts in Latin American coffees, and even chocolate - and believe you me, I love me some chocolate! My taste buds seemed to have bought in around the same time, as I discovered that the neat things I was smelling suddenly translated onto my palate.
When I started working in wine retail, our weekly required staff tastings were at once intimidating and yet somewhat familiar. While the base products are quite different, the types of aromas and flavors I could pick out in coffee were present in wines, too. I could pick out specific berries and citrus, as well as the smell of wet dirt and rocks, which as an avid home gardener were familiar. When I did my weekly grocery shopping, I began to take the time to linger in the produce section, inhaling the aromas of different fruits and vegetables and tried to pick out the smells of fruits and vegetables before I saw them. I took my time at the flower stand, thinking about the different smells of the flowers and plants on display. All of this served me quite nicely in my wine tasting, and as a bonus, the products I purchased were perfectly ripe fruits and veg!
So, let’s get to it! First of all, find a bottle of wine at your local retailer, grocery store, or winery that you can afford, and which you find interesting - even if you buy it just for the label! Next, the glassware you choose actually really does matter quite a bit. I’m not advocating spending $50 on a wine glass to get “the perfect” tasting experience. But a glass that has a stem, and a generously sized bowl is recommended. Why? You’ll be able to smell the aromas of the wine better in a glass with a bigger bowl. There are some great $10 glasses on the market that will do just fine. Schott Zweisel’s Tritan Forte “Chianti/Zin/Water” glasses are my personal favorites. Short glasses with tiny, narrow bowls will not provide you with the room to really smell and taste what’s happening in there, and while super adorable, neither will most vintage French wine glasses or short cafe wine tumblers. And why a glass with a stem? The heat from your hands will warm up the contents of the glass as you taste, and that’s not always a good thing.
Now that you have your bottle of wine, and your glass, it’s on to figuring out what happens next!