26 Apr Wine Tasting Notes
If you’ve been a wine lover for years or are just getting into it, there are a few ways you can help yourself improve your selections and find your favorite wines. Taking wine notes is a good way to learn about different wines, remember them, and compare them. Here are some ways you can take good wine tasting notes to help yourself delve deeper into the wonderful world of wine and wine pairings.
Firstly, create a template for your wine tasting notes so that you ensure you always are getting the same information for comparisons. Things like wine details, appearance, aromas and flavors, structure, finish, and overall rating.
For wine details, you’ll want to start with the basics. Who is the producer, what is the wine’s full name, region of origin, grape variety, alcohol percentage, and price. Also, be sure to note anything of interest you may know like the history, details about the vineyard like soil, or change in the winemaker. Sometimes this information can trigger a memory but also it can be interesting and fun to learn these things.
Under appearance, you may note if the wine is cloudy, meaning it could be unfiltered, or if an older white wine is darker or more golden. Appearance is less important today than it once was but these can be just interesting details you may want to take note of. You may have a personal preference in this area so it doesn’t hurt to have the information.
The aromas and flavors are one and the same as the two senses are connected but within this category, you can note more specific details. Try to note four or five aromas and be sure to have a wide variety of descriptors at hand. Think about fruits, flowers, spices, and things of that nature. Think of fruits in sub-categories like citrus being lemon, grapefruit, orange, etc. Melon, pit fruits, seed fruits, and tropical fruits are other good sub-categories. You can also consider things like baked goods, nuts, flowers, and other earthy tones.
The structure of the wine is composed of many parts including acidity, tannins, body, and texture. Acidity refers to the refreshment, and tannins are the dryness, particularly in red wines but also can be found in white wines. An easy way to note the structure is to go with a simple low to high scale for each structure point.
The finish of the wine is how long the taste remains on your palate. This stems from the concentration of wine’s flavor balanced by its overall finesse. A wine is of higher quality if the finish is longer, so keep that in mind.
Lastly, the overall ratings. Sum up your overall impressions in a final summary to give your wine a rating. You can do this by a star scale, a 1-10 point system, whatever you want. The point is to distinguish between a few of your favorite wines to know what kind of wines you like best.
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