Introduction to wine tasting

When evaluating wines, you should look to examine them from the perspectives of appearance, bouquet, taste and aftertaste.

Appearance

After pouring into a glass, firstly examine its colour. With the galss about 1/3 full, hold it by the stem and look at it in front of a white background-a piece of plain paper will do.
Next, give the wine a swirl  in the galss to further examine its appearance. As the wine cascades down the inside of the glass we look for its "legs"- the lines formed as the wine settles again. An examination of a wine's "legs" will give you information concerning its body: slowly falling drops indicate a rich, full bodied wine, while quickly falling drops indicate a light bodied wine.

Bouquet

The aromas are the most important part of tasting and enjoying wine and, as anyone who has had a cold with a stuffy nose can attest, the sense of smell is integral to tasting.

Taste

The palate perceives only 4 tastes: sweet, sour, bitter and salty. Sweetness is perceived on the tip of the tongue with sour and bitter mostly in the middle of the tongue and its sides. Salty flavours are sensed at the back of the tongue, but are not a characteristic found very often in wine. If it is, it  is not likely to be a positive attribute.
Take a decent sip of the wine and let it cover the entire inside of the mouth so that all of your taste centres can come into play-don't swallow it yet! Move your wine around your mouth and feel its weight, or body.

Finish

This is the lingering effect of a wine on a palate. The lenght and flavour of the aftertaste is a positive characteristic and great wines can linger for 2 or 3 minutes or even longer in some cases.