Tasting : how to conclude a wine tasting ?

Learning to taste a wine appeals to you ? Easy with Beaux-Vins … Here you are at the last step : the conclusion.

We are finally at the end of our tasting and it's time to draw a conclusion. Regardless of the conclusions you can make in each previous phase, it is essential to make a global judgment on the tasted wine.

Ask yourself if your previous comments are consistent or if there are any contradictions. I consider that a hypothesis with three matches is very likely to be exact. For example, if a white wine offers a color with green reflections, has a vegetal tip on the nose and expresses a acerbic taste in the mouth, it can be concluded that the grapes were not harvested at sufficient maturity.

wine blog Fine wines learn tasting tasting conclusion wines

After opening your bottle, you admired the beauty of the wine dress, judge its aromas, and taste what he had to offer you. What can be judged from this information ?

What is the purpose of concluding a tasting? ?

Whether you are at a wine fair, in your living room with a good bottle or with a winemaker, there are many opportunities for a detailed tasting. Even if you don't follow to the letter all the techniques I've given you so far, it is important to follow the main stages of tasting : look at the colour, smell the aromas, taste the wine and then draw a general judgment.

This method will allow you to judge the quality of a wine and compare it to other similar wines., to know its guarding potential in order to taste it again at its peak. You can also try to find out what price range it is to drink it on the right occasion and to get to the wine price level.

Is it a question of whether I like this wine or not ?

The aim of such a tasting is to be as objective as possible. The systematic approach to wine tasting has the advantage of limiting the amount of subjectivity you have when drinking a wine. Beyond whether you like wine or not, this method allows us to judge it in relation to what it really is.

I am personally a big fan of light and fruity red wines. When I taste a Bordeaux, I may not appreciate it since I do not run behind this kind of wine, yet such a tasting method allows me to judge it in relation to what it really is : a Bordeaux wine. By dint of tasting wines using this method, you will be more and more able to judge any wine.

blog Beaux-Vins wine oenology Tasting how to conclude a good bad tasting

How to judge the quality of a wine ?

The first question to ask yourself in order to judge the quality of a wine is to ask whether it had one or more defects during the tasting. Did he have a cloudy colour ? Did you smell cork, oxidation or reduction ? Did the mouth have bitterness, a metallic or rotten taste ? If this is the case, your wine is definitely defective. In a group or in the presence of a winemaker, kindly report it to see if you are the only one to detect this defect and ask if it is possible to taste another bottle of the same wine.

Assessing the quality of a wine, means to be able to overcome the immediate and flashy sensations that some wines may present and strive not to make an early judgment. Often, first impressions can prevent us from looking for the complexity of a wine or the small discreet details.

How to assess the quality of a red wine ?

The most important point to judge a red wine is its balance in the mouth. Wine must offer :

The presence of an acidity that does not dominate the mouth,
Round and non-aggressive tannins to structure the mouth,
Warm alcohol, but which must not be hot.

blog Beaux-Vins equilibre vin recognize good bad wine — French version

blog fine wines wine chart balanced — English Version

A wine considered balanced must also have fat. It should leave an impression of volume and velvetiness in the mouth, without being pasty.

How to assess the quality of a white wine ?

Once again, the important thing is the feeling of balance of the wine. A white wine doesn't have tannin, so it is important to look at its acidity and sweetness, as well as fat. A beautiful acidity gives freshness to the wine, while an excess of acidity makes the wine acerbic. Sugar is nice, but can make the wine sickening because of acidity lacks. Fat balances the acidity of a wine. On the other hand, it will give a sweet impression on a less acidic wine. On the other hand, alcohol should not be hot.

And the aromas in all this ?

It is also important to judge the power, complexity and persistence of aromas. Did you find many aromas on the nose ? Are they discreet or very present ? Do they vanish quickly in the mouth or do they have a nice length ? So many points to judge the quality of a wine.

How to assess the aging potential of a wine ?

Through the dress of wine

During a tasting, it is interesting to evaluate the degree of evolution of your wine to know its future. A red wine in its youth will have a purplish hue and as it evolves it will take on a brown or tinted hue. A young white wine will have a pale color, even greenish in its youth and will evolve into a golden and brown hue.

blog Beaux-Vins wine oenology Tasting how to conclude an evolution wine tasting

Without having to go into detail, a young wine will have more aging potential than an already developed wine. We will therefore have to wait longer for the wine to reach its peak and see it give its best..

Thanks to the nose of wine

As for the dress, the nose of the wine can give you valuable information on the development of the wine. If you smell mushroom aromas, truffle, undergrowth, humus, game, leather, caramel, fig, nuts, dried flowers or even fruit jam, this means that your wine has developed tertiary aromas. These are a valuable indicator for judging the age of a wine.

Over the years, the wine captures oxygen. The aromas change structure thanks to the action of oxygen and the nose of the wine initially fresh, fruity in its youth, becomes ... tertiary.

blog Fine wines wine oenology Tasting how to conclude tasting evolution

Through the mouth of wine

In addition to the aromas you found on the nose of the wine and that you must find in its mouth, the acidity will help you judge the age of a wine. Focus on the freshness of the wine, its acidity. A young wine will have a significant acidity in its youth and it will fade during aging.

For a red wine, tannins can also help you judge the age of the wine. The tannins of a young red wine give an astringent character, rough, and greatly dry out the mouth. During aging, the tannins will combine with the coloring pigments. It is then said that the tannins have melted, that is to say, they are less present, less rough.

To sum up, when you taste a young wine and want to analyze its guarding potential, you need to analyze the sugar level on the tip of your tongue then think about the acidity level on the sides of the tongue and finally, (in the case of an red wine) tannins that will dry out your mouth and express bitter flavors on the back of the tongue. The more important its three elements are, the greater your wine's potential for aging.

Wondering about the price

Thanks to all the information noted above, you will be able to judge the quality of the wine and therefore its price. Ask yourself if the wine is rather cheap, at a good price / quality ratio, a high or very high price. This approach will allow you to discover small nuggets hidden and whose price is low for the quality of the wine.