Can you tell what was the defining thing that made you fall in love with wine for the first time? Sure you can. We all have a personal wine story; the beginning of our endless love for wine, the elixir of life and passion.

The truth is, wine emulates aromas and flavours that exist outside the humble grape. You probably heard people say that a red wine has dark chocolate hint or blackcurant/cherry undertones. They are right because dark chocolate has specific chemical compounds that make it smell and taste the way it does. Well, the same chemical compounds are present in many wines and that is why we can smell and taste them.

If you still haven’t had this extraordinary feeling about wines and are wondering what all the fuss is about, read on to learn how to taste white wine to instantly fall in love with it and discover its charm.

Try Three Wines

The first step is to try 3 completely different types of white wines. For example, try Sauvignon Blanc wine, Chardonnay and Viognier. Each is different, but you are not obliged to pick out wines that come from different varieties only. Instead, yоu can go for three different wine brands that come from the same grape-family. For example Sauvignon Blanc wine, is a non-sweet dry white wine. On the nose you can sense fresh cut grass, passion fruit, tomato leaves, green pea, melon and asparagus. You can easily recognize these aromas as we have all have had some exposure to these flavours at some point in our lives.

Set The Mood

This doesn’t mean that you need to be in a special mood for wine testing. This means that you need to keep the wines at the same place in order to have the same temperature. It is recommended to refrigerate white wines to about 10-12 °C. Keep in mind that white wines shouldn’t be over 20 °C.

The next step is to serve all 3 white wines at the same time into white wine glasses. Have a glass of water next to you to rinse between each tasting.

Have A Sniff

Twirl the wine in the glass, put your nose on the top of the glass and take a short sniff, exhale and sniff again slowly. As a beginner you will smell the alcohol first, but after some time you will get used to it. After few seconds twirl again and have another longer sniff. This time you will sniff aromas. Repeat the same thing with the next two wines – no tasting, just sniffing. After you have sampled the aromas of each wine, you’ll be able to make the difference.

Tasting

After the twirling and sniffing, now it is time to taste each wine. Swirl the glass, take a sip, swish it back and forward and swallow or spit the wine. The most important factor about wine is not its price or region; it is whether you enjoy it or not. So if buttery Chardonnay is too heavy for you, go for a crisp Sauvignon Blanc wine. Try to decide on your favourite, and write down why it is better than the others. You don’t need to write complicated and long descriptions. Keep it simple.

Did You Fall In Love?

Getting to know the tasty reds and whites like Pinot Noir or Sauvignon Blanc wine can be a bit confusing. But by starting from the beginning and slowly developing a personal relationship with wine is the perfect way to delve into the world of this devine drink.