A lot of wine drinkers care not a whit about becoming better tasters, learning how to develop the their senses of smell and taste while partaking. No swirling, sniffing, slurping; just quaffing.
Good for them. Wine should be consumed in a fashion that suits the consumer.
Still, they're missing out on a truly fun learning experience. For those who do want to develop their tasting skills (including your humble correspondent), I asked for tips from some of the most experienced tasters around -- winemakers and winery owners. Their responses:
Kim Stare Wallace, Dry Creek Cellars: "I always recommend that people not be embarrassed to stick their schnozzes deep into the glass. This, combined with plentiful swirling to aerate the wine and open up the aromatics, is critical in wine tasting. Frankly, I think smelling the wine is almost more important than tasting it. If you can train your nose to be discerning, the mouth will follow."
Thomas Rivers Brown, Schrader, Outpost and Rivers Marie: "You look for the general first, then try to dial in the specific over time."
John Shafer, Shafer: "The first thing you should get in the aroma is not necessarily the fruit component, but the sharpness, the focus, how well-defined the wine is."
David Ramey, Ramey Wine Cellars: "You don't drink flavor descriptors. You drink texture. [Aroma is] not the main event, folks. Texture, balance, harmony. Put it in your mouth. It's tactile rather than a bunch of descriptors."
Ken Wright, Ken Wright Cellars: "Take advantage of any opportunity you can have to taste multiple wines at a time by getting a group together. And any opportunity you get to taste blind, which strips away any influences and makes the other senses a little more acute, do it, ideally with the same varietal or from the same general area."
