Our instore tastings and paid tastings are back.
Our tastings are presented in an informal way; everyone’s welcome. For those wanting a little info on how to taste before you come along, here goes.
Tasting wine is using the senses of sight, smell and taste to consciously assess a wine’s quality. Mostly what we regard as our sense of taste is actually what we smell, with most of us capable of recognising around 10,000 different aromas.
When tasting wine the first sense to use is sight. Hold the glass up to a white background and look at the clarity - is the wine bright or dull? Look at the colour - is it the same all over or different around the edges? Swirl the wine around your glass and look at the legs or tears (this is the wine running down the glass). This shows you how viscous the wine is and gives you an idea of the alcohol level – the slower the legs come down, the more viscous.
Next, smell the wine. To do this, swirl the wine around the glass. Have a good sniff (you’ll need to get your nose right into the glass). Your first impression will be the most important. Don’t think too hard or over analysis it. What do you smell? What does it remind you of?
Now it’s time to taste the wine. When you taste, you’ll sense different things in the various parts of your mouth - sweetness on the top of the tongue, acidity around the sides, bitterness on the very back of the palate, astringency and tannins around the edge of the mouth and gums. And when you taste the wine, make sure you roll it around your mouth to ensure it touches every surface - try to suck some air through the wine as you draw it into your mouth.
The hardest bit is then translating your thoughts of the wine and what you’ve tasted into words; this takes time and practice. The important thing to remember is that you can never be wrong. The whole process is a very personal thing, and what you think of the wine, what you like and appreciate, is all that matters.
We look forward to seeing you instore during September. You’ll find a full list of instore tastings up online here.
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