Also, practicing spitting with water is actually a good thing to do so that you don’t end up dribbling wine all over yourself or onto your friends! I recommend using water to start your practice sessions, either at your kitchen sink or while you’re in the shower. Or have a water spitting contest outside with the kids! See who can spit the furthest! Get some water in your mouth and practice shooting it out of your mouth in one steady stream. If you dribble the water onto yourself, who cares?! If you can get the feeling of this action right, you’ll be a pro in no time with spitting wine at your tastings.
Once you have taken your first sip of wine, think about what tastes you are experiencing. Are they fruity? What kind of fruit? Berries? Lemon zest? Pineapple? Strawberries? Spices? Flowers? Think about your produce shopping- are you able to recognize anything you smell or taste from home? Next, either after you have spit or swallow, notice the acidity. Is your mouth watering? That’s acidity. Was it pleasant and smooth, plush but with no noticeable mouth-watering happening? That’s fine, too. Next, notice the tannins- does your mouth feel really dry, like you just licked a piece of paper? That’s tannin. Oak is a component that can be a little bit hard for people to understand. French oak can make a wine taste like vanilla; American oak can make a wine taste like coconut- Banana Boat sunscreen to me- or fresh dill. These are things to think about when trying to figure out what you are tasting in your glass. What is the weight of the wine on your palate? I equate this feeling with the different weight of milk on your palate- nonfat milk, whole milk and a half and half have very different weights in the mouth. See if you can figure out what milk weight equivalent your wine is!
Finally, do you like wine? If you think about the fruits you discovered, how the acidity and tannins feel on your palate if you notice any oak, the weight of the wine- is there a pleasant taste in your mouth, one that you want to keep discovering? Or does one part of the wine totally overwhelm you? Sometimes a red wine which has been aged in a new French oak barrel tastes very much like the vanilla frosting to me- blackberry vanilla frosting. And while some folks love that, it’s not my thing. To me, that feels like the oak is overwhelming the wine. Or, sometimes I have had a wine which is labeled as a Pinot Noir, but in the glass, it is very rich, dark and dense, as well as too dark purple, which for me is not what a well-made Pinot Noir is supposed to taste like. In my experience, if these pieces fit together well- the fruit, the acid, the tannin, and the oak- we call it being a balanced wine, and for me, I love it.