Wine Tasting – The Seven S’s

Welcome to our new blog series on wine tasting as we learn about the Seven S’s.

There’s a particular order in which we experience wines so that’s the order we’ll use.

First, we’ll take a look at the appearance of the wine. What colour is it? Is it cloudy or clear? Is it dark or light?

Second, we’ll swirl the wine in the glass. Does it fall quickly back to the surface or drop slowly in streams?

Third, we’ll use our sense of smell to determine the aromas that come naturally from the wine. Try not to dip your nose too deeply into the glass.

Fourth is the step you’ve been waiting for. Taking the first sip to determine the flavours in the wine. Oh, but don’t swallow it yet!

Fifth is to slurp it in your mouth. That’s right, around your teeth, over your tongue, everywhere. By adding air, you’ll notice it brings out even more flavours. Don’t swallow yet, there’s more to do.

Sixth is when you want to savour the mouthfeel and flavours the wine has to offer. Be patient and avoid swallowing just yet.

Lastly, spit the wine out into your spittoon. Don’t worry, you can use any receptacle you like for a spittoon. The flavours will linger for a length of time depending on the wine.

It may seem a waste to spit out the wine but imagine if you were tasting a dozen wines. Using a one ounce measured pour, you’d already have consumed 12 ounces of wine! That’s almost half a 750 millilitre bottle! At least if you’ve spit out all of them, you can go back to the ones you liked best and take a real sip of just those.

Note-taking is recommended at each of the 7 steps. More on that later.

We hope you’ll enjoy our new blog series on wine tasting and that the 7 S’s have you intrigued to learn more.

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