How to Fake Wine Knowledge

Hello and welcome to Madame Classe TV. I’m your host, Nella.

A lot of us enjoy a nice glass of wine with dinner but few of us really understand wine as much as we would like to.

Wine comes in many varieties, colors and flavors and analyzing wines can be difficult without proper knowledge of how to taste and describe it in wine circles.

Having wine knowledge can make drinking wine more enjoyable and also make you appear to be the most cultured person in the room.

In this quick video I will teach you basic wine tasting techniques and vocabulary that will make you look like the wine connoisseur you one day will be.

Wine Tasting

There are six steps when it comes to tasting wine in a formal setting.

Step One: Looking at the wine

Step Two: Swirling the wine

Step Three: Sniffing the wine

Step Four: Sipping the wine

Step Five: Swishing the wine

Step Six: Enjoying the wine

Step one: Looking at the wine. In step one you want to make a guess at what kind of wine you will be enjoying. Is it red, white or a rose color? If it’s red it may be a merlot or cabernet sauvignon. White? Perhaps a chardonnay or pinot grigio. Rose colored perhaps a rose` or pink zinfandel. Make a guess and continue on with your tasting.

Step two: Swirling the wine. In step two you will swirl your wine in your glass. Swirling the wine enhances the aromas present in the wine. After you’ve swirled notice how the wine falls down the side of the glass. Does it fall fast or slow? If it falls fast expect the wine to light weight with light alcohol content. If it falls slow expect it to be heavy or dense with a higher alcohol content.

Step three: Sniffing the wine. Smelling the wine is a major component to tasting the flavors found in the wine. Place your nose deep into the wine glass and take a few big sniffs. Then ask yourself these questions: how bold is the aroma? What fruits or vegetables do you believe were used to make this wine? Do you think it was fermented in an oak barrel or not?

Step four: Sipping the wine. Take a generous sip but instead of ingesting let the wine sit in your mouth letting it touch all the different parts of your mouth.

Step five: Swishing the wine. Swish the wine around in your mouth. Doing this gives you a better sense of the taste of the wine by letting it hit all the areas of your mouth. This also warms the wine which evaporates it and enhances the taste of the wine in your mouth.

Step six: Enjoying the wine. After you swallow the wine the aftertaste of the wine will still linger in your mouth. This allows you time to make more observations about the wine while also enjoying it. 

Wine Vocabulary

When discussing wine there are a few vocabulary words that professionals use to describe wines. Use these words at your next tasting to sound like an expert.

Aroma or bouquet: This describes the smell of the wine and the word bouquet is usually reserved for describing the smell of older wines.

Body: This is the feel of the weight of the wine in your mouth

Crisp: This describes a wine with noticeable acidity

Dry: Dry refers to being not sweet

Finish: The aftertaste of a wine after you’ve swallowed it

Flavor intensity: The strength or the weakness of a wine’s flavors

Fruity: This describes whether or not fruit smells or tastes are present in the wine. This doesn’t describe how sweet it is.

Oaky: a wine that has an oak, toasty, or smokey flavor.

Soft: A wine that is smooth instead of crisp

Tannic: A red wine that leaves the mouth feeling dry.

A Wine Tasting

Today I will be tasting a 2013 Benziger Family Winery Chardonnay. 

Watch the video above to see my description of the wine using what we've learned today.

Conclusion

I hope this video has helped you with the basic wine knowledge needed to pass as an experienced wine connoisseur at your next wine gathering.

If you liked this video please make sure to click the like button. Want more videos about class and culture? Please subscribe and follow this blog. Today put in the comments below a wine that you've tried and how you observed it using today's skills and new vocabulary.

Until next time I’m Nella, stay classy.