Get to Know Your Tongue
We taste different notes on different parts of our tongue.
Click to read each description
We taste bitter flavors on the back of our tongues.
We taste sour and acidic flavors on the sides of our tongues. An acidic wine will tingle here for a while.
We taste salty flavors on the front sides of our tongues.
We taste sweet flavors on the tips of our tongues.
We taste savory flavors on the centers of our tongues.
How to Assess Wine Like a Pro
When we drink a glass of wine, what are we looking for? We can assess through:
1. Appearance
2. Nose (Smell)
3. Palate (Taste)
1. Appearance
White wines run on a color scale between lemon-green and brown. Darker wines could indicate that it is older, or maybe it was mixed with its skins for a substantial period of time.
Rosé wines run on a color scale between light pink and orange. In most cases, the pinker or darker a rosé, the more color and flavor extraction it has.
Red wines run on a color scale between purple and brown. Fresher, or newer wines still have their inky purple hues, and darken in the winery with exposure to oxygen, or over time in the bottle. Color Intensity Can Give Clues.
Some wines will display a pale, or lightly colored hue, whereas others are more pronounced. The intensity of color is not indicative of a wine’s quality. but it can give us clues about how the wine may taste.
Pale wines may be light in body and have a crisp taste (think about a very light lemon color of a Sauvignon Blanc).
Deep-colored wines could indicate higher flavor intensity or higher tannin levels (think of a spicy, black Malbec from Cahors, France).
2. Nose
Swirling for Smell: Our noses are complex and smart! There are so many notes we can pick up on just by putting our nose into our wine glass (it’s okay to stick it way in). When we swirl, the oxygen causes the flavors to smell more intense.
Aromas & Flavor: When we sniff wine, we should be able to smell the dominating fruit. For white wines, do we smell green fruits? Citrus fruits? Tropical fruits? A Sauvignon Blanc from a cool region in Argentina will showcase more green fruits, whereas a ripe Chardonnay from South Africa or Australia may smell like tropical mangoes and pineapples. In red wines, we will smell for red fruits, black fruits, or possibly stewed fruits.
We can also smell other aromas like flowers, herbs, minerals, butter, pastries, spices, honey, mushroom, petroleum, earth, tobacco and even meat!
3. Palate
Taste the wine. Here are some questions you can think about as you sip:
Flavors: Do you taste fresh fruit? Cooked fruit? Flowers? Spices? Are the flavors subtle or intense?
Acid: Do you taste acid on the sides of our tongue? The longer the sour taste lingers, the more acidic the wine may be.
Tannin: Do you feel the “cottony” texture from the grape skins? Is it subtle or intense? (red wine)
Alcohol: Most wines have an ABV rate between 11% and 13.9%. Alcohol creates a warming sensation in your mouth. How warm does it feel? Wines with higher ABVs may taste warmer on the tongue.
Body: How heavy is the mouthfeel? Is it light like water? Or Full like whole milk?
Balance: A quality wine will have a good structure (backbone) and enjoyable flavors. But sometimes a wine may be out-of-balance like too little fruit or too high of an ABV. Ask yourself, do the parts of this wine complement each other, or does something seem “off?”
The Finish (or aftertaste of yummy flavors) helps us to determine the quality of a wine. Do the delicious flavors linger in your mouth for a long time or quickly disappear?
A high-quality wine will have good structure, intense flavors, complex notes, and a long finish.
Cheers!
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