Tasting wine without the jargon

Why tasting is part of the job

If you work in a wine company, the product is the reason the spreadsheet exists. Tasting it, carefully and in small amounts, helps you understand what customers are paying for and why a complaint or a price point makes sense. You do not need to swallow anything to learn. Professional tasters spit. So should you at work.

Any tasting at work should be opt-in, within company policy and run with water, food and spit cups on the table. Colleagues who do not drink are welcome to join, smell the wines and take part in the discussion. Our guide to running responsible tastings at work covers the practical setup.

Look

Pour a small measure into a clear glass, about a third full. Tilt it against a white sheet of paper. Note the colour and how deep it is. White wines run from pale lemon to gold. Reds run from pale ruby to deep purple. As wine ages, whites deepen towards gold and amber while reds fade towards brick and tawny at the rim.

Check it is clear rather than hazy. A cloudy wine that should be bright is worth a note, because it can point to a stability or microbial problem. Crystals at the bottom of a white or on the cork are usually harmless tartrates, not a fault.

Smell

Swirl the glass to let air in, then take a few short sniffs. Most of what we call flavour is actually smell, so this step does the heavy lifting. Ask simple questions first. Is it clean? Is it fruity? What kind of fruit: citrus, green apple, stone fruit, red berries or dark berries? Is there anything beyond fruit, such as flowers, spice, vanilla or toast from oak?

If it smells musty like a damp cellar, or like vinegar, stop. That may be a fault. Our guide to common wine faults explains each one.

Taste

Take a small sip, move it round your whole mouth and then spit. Now you are judging structure, which is easier to describe than aroma.

• Sweetness. Dry, off dry or sweet. Notice it on the tip of the tongue.
• Acidity. How much your mouth waters afterwards. High-acid wines feel fresh and sharp.
• Tannin. In reds, a drying, grippy feel on the gums, like strong black tea.
• Alcohol. A warmth in the throat and chest. Higher alcohol feels heavier.
• Body. How heavy the wine feels, from skimmed milk to full cream.
• Finish. How long the flavour lasts after you spit.

Describe it in one plain sentence

Put it together: a dry white with high acidity, lime and green apple, light body, short finish. That sentence is useful to a buyer, a marketer and a quality lead alike. It also beats a paragraph of poetry nobody else can check.

Then form an opinion. Is it balanced, with fruit, acid, tannin and alcohol in proportion? Is it typical of its grape and place? Would the customer it is aimed at like it? Liking a wine and judging it well are separate skills. Professionals learn to keep them apart.

Getting better at it

Tasting improves fastest by comparison. Pour two wines side by side, such as an unoaked and an oaked Chardonnay, or a young and an older red. The differences jump out. Serving temperature matters too: whites and sparkling around 6 to 12 °C, reds around 14 to 18 °C. In an Indian office without air conditioning, reds usually need a short spell in the fridge.

The room matters as much as the wine. Taste away from strong smells, so no perfume and no biryani on the next desk. Use the same glass shape for every wine, because a different glass changes what reaches your nose. Go from light to heavy: sparkling, whites, rosé, then reds. A big tannic red tasted first will flatten every delicate white after it.

The shared vocabulary is what turns a tasting from a social event into training. When everyone on a team means the same thing by high acidity or drying tannin, conversations with the winemaker get shorter and better.