Become a Wine Expert in 3 Easy Steps

1. How Should Wine Look?

According to the School of Bourgognes Wines in France, the first step to wine tasting like the pros is to evaluate its colour, opacity, sparkle and clarity.

White Wines: Acceptable shades for quality white wines are white gold, green-gold, pale gold, yellow-green gold, pale yellow, orange-yellow or amber-yellow.

Rosé Wines: Quality rosé wines should be violet-pink, raspberry-pink, orange-pink, salmon, apricot or red onion coloured.

Red Wines: Finer red wines tend to be deep violet-red, pomegranate, ruby red or cherry red shades.

Quality wines should have a deep, rich colour rather than a translucent one and it should also be crystal clear and sparkling. Poor quality wines will lack that lustre and sparkle.

2. How Should Wine Smell?

First and foremost, quality wines should have a pleasant aroma. To really determine if the quality is good, swirl the wine around the bottom of your glass for a few seconds and let the aroma come to you. If the wine smells strong, yet pleasant, it is likely to be a fine wine.

3. How Should Wine Taste?

After looking at your sample of wine and smelling it, it’s time for the fun part: tasting it. When you sip a quality glass of wine it should be supple and tender with an even balance of flavours. If one flavour is more overpowering than the rest, it may not be the finest of wines. More importantly, the wine should be smooth rather than aggressive.