Enjoying wine in silence - the guide

Texture | Swirl your wine glass in steady movements. This dynamic allows you to observe the density of the liquid. Basically, the more and thicker the wine runs down the wall of the glass, the richer it is. A connoisseur speaks of tears instead of drops.

Colour I Hold the full wine glass in front of a white background to take a closer look at the colour.  For white wine, the darker the colour, the older the wine. The opposite is true for red wine: the lighter the colour, the older it is, as the colour pigments settle to the bottom as the wine ages. Similar statements give an indication of the intensity. Very dark-coloured wines usually come from very hot growing regions.

Hold your nose deep into the glass. Repeat this process until you can recognise all the nuances. In general, a distinction is made between seven aroma families: floral, herbal, fruity, spicy, caramelised, smoky and microbiological. When naming the actual fragrances, familiar odours are used. These can also be easily categorised into the seven families.

When drinking the wine, make sure you take in the air at the same time - this is called ‘sipping the wine’ in vinophile parlance - and then keep the wine in your mouth. In order to taste the variety of flavours, it is advisable to ‘chew’ the wine repeatedly with your tongue. The sweetness and acidity impression is assessed first, before the flavours develop over time. These are then assigned to the seven families of flavours.

Make a note of your impression.
It always makes sense to take notes during a tasting. This is the only way to finally assess the overall impression of the wine. Does the flavour deliver what the smell promises? Were your assumptions about age and intensity based on the colour correct?