a question on tasting technique

Jeff, drawing air though the wine in your mouth is what we call a "retronasal" tasting technique and it enhances the perception of aromas in the wine. The other method, drawing air through your mouth and exhaling through your nose after swallowing the wine, will actually enhance the perception of the "lenght" of the wine and its characteristics. As you can see, each serves its purposes.

I had no idea. So you don't breath out your nose when using the retronasal technique? I did that and it seemed to be better than exhaling after swallowing.

You don't taste wine, you drink it with suitable foods in a complete meal. This is an insult to the winemaker.

1. Open mouth
2. Drink
3. Close mouth
4. Swallow

Hmm while each person might be different, Jeffrey, IMHO I'd say that swallowing immediately is definitly wrong. No way are you going to be able to detect all of the nuances of a wine that way.

For me ... I take a small sip ... purse my lips and suck in air, kind of like "front of the mouth" gargling. Then I exhale through my nose and then swallow.

You're trying to both get the wine to the several areas of your tongue that "taste" and also to get the scents up through your nose which is the, IMHO, major organ that determines how you enjoy a wine.

Swallowing may allow you better chances at checking the "length" of the wine but in many tastings where I know I'm gonna taste a bunch of wines I often will spit right away and not even swallow.

Art Stratemeyer ============================

A Community Celebration the Joy of Wine,Gardening and the Arts

Cellar! Wine Software

Same as with life: you can wake up and go through the motions and go back to sleep every night or get into it and live every single millisecond of life you have. Plus, it's really hard for me to not analyze something, be it art, food, political situation. I just like to get INTO things and try to understand everything there is to them. Working in the wine industry also forces me to analyze beyond the simple enjoyment, which I practise at home, after work.

Hi Jeffrey This is the technique I employ when evaluating wines. I take a look at the colour then a swirl of the wine, check the viscosity then look at the colour bleed on the edges of the wine, swirl and sniff. I take a second to think about what I've learned about the wine so far, then I sniff some more. If I am tasting a LOT of wine then I will make a judgement about whether or not I will actually taste it at this point as my palate fatigues MUCH faster than my nose. If I do decide to taste it then I sniff again and sip a little wine, I swirl it around the mouth, I breathe in a little air over the wine, exhale through the nose and swallow (or if spitting, I always keep a little to swallow, a couple of ml or so) I'll then take some more air in as I think about what I've just tasted, I'll smack my lips a couple of times and swallow a time or two more as I evaluate the length, then I quickly jot my notes. This works well for me and that is probably the most important point. Try a variety of methods until you find what helps you to consistently get the most out of a wine. Cheers Andrew

Jeffrey,

As others have stated, both methods yield elements of the wine. The only warning is to make sure that, when you exhale, you do NOT force any wine THRO UGH you nose!

In all seriousness, I usually draw in air, AS I sip the wine, then "chew" it a bit, while exhaling (see warning above), swallow, then do a long, slow exhale, after the wine is gone.

Hunt

Utter nonsense! Winemakers _like_ it when you take the trouble to focus on the sensory effects of their wine. They know you're serious about it then - not just drinking it for the buzz.

Tom S

I can't say I've paid attention to the difference, but I have a good tip: Take a sip of the wine and, with your mouth closed, run your tongue over the _outsides_ of your teeth, top and bottom. I find that intensifies the flavor - at least for the first taste.

Tom S

I learnt da cerrect tsipping technik from a limey dude, Brian Strumpet abot

1934 on a sales trip to France. He and his missus own Da Gague and Heave Inn outside of Bone....he was head guy fer da Cork Dawks. He n his best bud Michael from Quebec who lived near Da Reiveria, woud put a big glop of wine on der tungs, vistle a tune like Mahlers lost children and dem flip it from side to side so da tung was coated ( a 38 short) den dey eithe got farclempt and spit or spritzed or if dey was eating Brians Yuckshire puddin, swallow. Den dey shtarted shouting too much TCA or unctuous, belched, passed major vind and shtarted over again. I waz a grand time and I unloaded all mine 1925 Chateau Tres Fascista--Lindboig cuvee on Brian an his wife Suqui fer dere vine list............. J.Murray Fefferman World most persistant winesalesman as told to

Never tried whistling the Kindertotenlieder whilst tasting wine, must give it a go (so long as there is someone nearby who knows artificial respiration techniques). As a student gargling a tune with beer was popular! Tip - never try to gargle beer and laugh at the same time.

James James Dempster (remove nospam to reply by email)

You know you've had a good night when you wake up and someone's outlining you in chalk.

That's me...

That is exactly how I do it !

Cheers Joe

Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link

"Utter nonsense! Winemakers _like_ it when you take the trouble to focus on the sensory effects of their wine. They know you're serious about it then - not just drinking it for the buzz."

You're full of crap. I drink for the flavor as the accompanyment of the dish. That's the only time I drink wine. I never engage in tastings, as it is a complete waste of my valuable time. Some friends and I get together several times a year and cook massive Italian regional dinners. We go through 7 or 8 bottles of wine per dinner. No-one "tastes" the wines, ever. We drink them. We know better than those fools who sip a bit of this and that with crackers and cheese. That's for morons.

You distribute your valuable time in a strange way - endlessly railing against those who enjoy tasting wine.

The Romans would have found such a question absurd. So do I.

Sorry, we don't accept reducio al absurdum proofs here. Only Visa or Mastercard.

S moT

The point being that it comes naturally. There is no 'right' or 'wrong' way.

In some things, yes, in others, no. In some things, do what feels natutal and comfortable. In all things, avoid pretentiousness and pedantry.