The art of tasting

When tasting wine, there are several steps to follow. First, you observe the wine, swirl it in your glass and analyze its color. Then you smell it to get an idea of its aromas and the mouthfeel it’s about to offer you. Finally, it’s time to taste it.

Taste analysis of the mouth

Tasting wine is not the same as tasting fruit juice or soda. It’s a meticulous process that some people have made their profession. There are three phases in the gustatory analysis of wine: the attack, the mid-palate and finish. We can add a synthesis last.

The mid-palate corresponds to the moment when the aromas diffuse in the mouth and clash with the walls and our palate. The finish is the persistence, the length in the mouth (the candaulie) of the aromas that you feel once you’ve spit out or swallowed the wine. Synthesis is when we put words to the wine’s aromas, harmony and body afterwards.

The wine attack

Well, let’s concentrate on the attack now. The attack of the wine corresponds to the first impression of the wine on the palate. These are the aromas you first smell when the wine caresses the tip of your tongue.

When you suck in a little air and the wine’s aromas are released, the attack during the first three to four seconds allows you to identify the quality of the tannins and aromas. This allows us to determine the wine’s profile.

The attack can be aggressive, rustic, elegant, round or soft, depending on the wines tasted.

On attack, you will be able to smell different aromas:

• Sweet. It is felt at the tip of the tongue very quickly, peaking after 2 seconds and disappearing after 10 seconds.
• The acid. It is rapidly perceived on the sides and underside of the tongue and lasts longer than sweetness.
• Savoury. It can be found on the edges in front of or in the center of the tongue. It appears and disappears more or less at the same time as the acid.
• Bitter. It appears on the back of the tongue, develops slowly but increases and remains with time.

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