Quick youtube video we created to help with the 5 S's - click here

The 5 'S' - See, Sniff, Swirl, Sniff, Slurp - Then let's evaluate!

SEE – Take note of the colour and clarity of the wine. White wines can be gold, lemon, amber or almost translucent and can often show green hues. Red wines can be a light, translucent ruby, purple or garnet, to deep and opaque in these colours.

SNIFF – Place your nose deep into the glass and take note of the first smell(s) you detect. These first aromas could be a range of things; fruity, candied or jammy, woody, mineral, earthy, smoky, spicy, to name a few.

SWIRL – Set your glass back down on a flat surface and swirl the wine around. This will give you more clues to its depth of body, as well as allowing it to open up into the air, bringing out more aromas.

SNIFF – Again! This second sniff can show different aromas following the swirl and will almost certainly do so for a fine and complex wine.

SLURP – When you taste, make sure one of your first sips is an actual slurp. One key element is to bring air in through your mouth as sipping and pushing this through your nose as you taste. Swilling or slurping the wine in your mouth further aerates the wine revealing its layered complexity.

Now, let's evaluate the wine:

FLAVOURS

There is often a difference in flavours that present initially, to mid palate, finish and after taste. In addition, second and third sips of the wine can bring certain elements to the fore once your palate has settled into the wine.

AROMAS

It can be interesting to try and define the primary, secondary and tertiary aromas of a wine. Primary aromas come from the grapes themselves (often floral and fruity, sometimes with subtle spice or herbs), whilst secondary aromas are created through vinification (such as vanilla, smoke or toast from wood treatment, buttery elements from malolactic fermentation, or bread and nuts from time spent on fine lees), and tertiary aromas are developed with age (eg earth, tobacco, truffle or leather).

CONCLUSION

If you are blind tasting, this is the time to compare your notes to those on the bottle or those on our website. Compare these and take note of any similarities and differences. There is no ‘right or wrong’ taste interpretation to a wine. Elements that differ could be due to changes in the bottle whilst developing with age, or simply the result of your individual palate. A fine wine to one person may not agree with their taste, so taking care when tasting will help you to understand what you personally look for in a wine.

LET US KNOW!

Feel free to feed back to your wine merchant as they will always welcome your opinion. You can review your purchase from Turton Wines easily on our website.