Proper wine tasting is an art, but also a technique that requires following specific rules. It's also about discovery—of aroma, color, astringency, and taste. Daniel Aniołowski, a professional sommelier, advises on how to do it and what tools you'll need.
Have wine glasses always looked the same?
Today, a wine glass consists of three parts: the base, which supports the entire weight of the glass; the stem, used for holding the glass; and the bowl, which holds the wine. However, in history, even before the birth of Christ, wine was drunk from goblets, which, lacking a stem and base, resembled cups more than modern glasses. At that time, they were made of metal and ceramics.
Over the centuries, the vessel for enjoying wine evolved. First, glass became increasingly common—mostly richly decorated, often vibrantly colored, and the goblet was enhanced with a stem. Only later, essentially in the last century, engraved glass was abandoned, and we got a smooth, clear, thin-walled glass. As wine awareness grew, glasses of various shapes were also produced, adapted to different types of wine. These were designed to emphasize or highlight its specific qualities. The size of the glass was adjusted to the occasion and the amount of wine intended for consumption.
So, what are the best wine glasses?
With extensive knowledge of wine and long experience in using wine vessels, we know that the ideal glass, both for drinking and tasting wine, should be transparent, neutral to the nose, and durable, which means glass is the perfect material. However, not only the material but also the shape of the glass is important, and its proper design is the greatest challenge, undertaken only by the best. It's no coincidence that Krosno Glass, a glassworks proud of its vast knowledge and many years of experience in producing top-quality glass, undertook the production of the Ethereal professional wine tasting glass line for the most demanding wine lovers, sommeliers, and tasters.
You speak of "drinking and tasting wine." What's the difference between drinking wine and tasting it?
Wine tasting is a very complex activity during which we extract the maximum amount of information about the wine being tasted, such as: grape varieties, terroir, geographical and sea level altitude, harvest time, vinification method, aging method, wine age, and many other fractional elements of a mosaic that we try to piece together. Furthermore, tasting is, of course, also a moment of communion with a naturally produced, unique beverage that reveals a bouquet of aromas and an individual composition of flavors.
What is needed for proper wine tasting?
The basic tools we use during tasting are our senses: sight, smell, taste, and touch. The first two are highly dependent on the vessel in which the wine is contained, and here the glass plays a major role. Sight is of immense importance during tasting, as the appearance of the wine tells us, among other things, about its age and strength, and can also warn us if it is faulty. Smell introduces us to the world of aromas, which will tell us what grape variety this wine was made from or reveal if the wine was aged in a barrel; it can also inform us of defects. Taste and its proportions, meaning what we perceive through several receptors like taste buds, will tell us in what climate the wine matured and will reveal the skills of the enologist overseeing the grapes and vinification. Touch, on the other hand, will introduce us to the perception of tannins, which are responsible for astringency in wine and will reveal whether the wine needs more time to settle; it will also expose a wine poorly balanced in terms of alcohol. This is a very brief description of technical tasting, which professionals conduct, but there is no greater pleasure in experiencing wine than that which wine amateurs represent. They don't delve into such a large amount of data and admire what wine gives us in the form of aromas and taste.
Which glass to choose for wine tasting?
Returning to our glass, I will point out some technical information regarding its use. The most important thing is to have a glass that is clean and polished, which is necessary to observe the wine's color and density. The color of the wine directly tells us about its age, so I recommend holding the bowl with wine against a white piece of paper, after ensuring appropriate lighting, of course. Here's a small tip: white wines darken with age, red wines, conversely, fade. Both eventually turn brownish-rusty when they are oxidized.
How to pour wine into a glass?
It's very important not to pour wine past the widest part of the bowl so that we can swirl the wine freely. Typically, the widest part of the bowl does not exceed 1/3 of its height. Here, I'd like to mention that the shape of the glass bowl is a very important aspect, as it determines how the aromas, which are meant to reach our nostrils, will move. The shape of the glasses has been designed to, as it were, collect and accumulate the bouquet contained in the wine, and then direct it quite quickly to the rim of the glass, having a somewhat elongated path along the way. In the best glasses, the opening is of an appropriate size and adapted to the needs of the aromas releasing from the glass. It is sized so that the bouquet can be easily sensed, and at the same time, so that the aromas do not escape from the glass excessively.
How to analyze the wine's bouquet?
The first sniff is performed over the glass standing on the table, but subsequent ones require oxygenating the wine by swirling. On this occasion, when we are about to pick up the glass, I owe you an important tip - do not touch the bowl of the wine; hold the glass by the stem or the base. This way, we will avoid heating the wine with our body temperature and also ensure the aesthetic appearance of the glass by not leaving fingerprints on it.
We now know how to properly assess the wine's aroma and how to hold a wine glass. What next?
Once we've explored its bouquet and allowed it to open up, it's time for a sip of wine. This sip shouldn't be too small, so we can freely spread the wine across our entire mouth, but also not too large, as it would limit its movement. When holding the wine in your mouth, I recommend learning to slurp it, as after such intense aeration, it reveals its qualities more intensely, and the tannins will fully unfold. All that remains is to swallow the wine and observe its finish. When tasting multiple types of wine, I recommend spitting the wine into a spittoon to maintain clear, untainted senses, which will be useful for getting acquainted with subsequent wines.
What else do we need to remember?
Glasses should, of course, be kept clean, washed after use, and then polished with a clean, lint-free material, preferably microfiber, and stored in a case or box to prevent dust accumulation. This way, they will always be ready for use when guests unexpectedly arrive with a good bottle of wine.
