When it comes to wine, it takes a long time to get acquainted with the taste by varietal, terroir, aroma, color, and other characteristics.
Given your palate is composed of taste buds, smell, and nerves that spark memories related to aromas, the first step to developing your palate is focusing on your sensual experiences. Read on to discover the six professional ways to train your palate to recognize numerous wines easily.
1. Pace Yourself
Coaching your wine palate becomes a hard act to follow when you haphazardly burn through wine bottles. Sipping half a dozen wine bottles at a time won’t give your palate mastery, but probably a headache instead.
Just as it takes time to learn any skill such as walking, reading, or singing, the evolution of the palate takes time. The most important etiquette for a wine lover is to savor every sip. Don’t glug it down like milk because there are several layers of flavors to uncover in every swirl.
For example, be mindful of the tastes and sensations you experience in every sip of wine. Soon, you will discover how the taste differs from bottle to bottle. Simply put, slow down to enhance your senses.
2. Look And Smell First
Wine is not like a beer that you crack open and drink straight from the bottle.
The three steps to get started with any wine are:
- Step 1: Look at its color, depth, and viscosity
- Step 2: Smell its aroma
- Step 3: Taste the wine
If you don’t follow this order, it’s easy to miss out on the color, texture, and aroma of the wine you’re tasting. For example, if you do a blind tasting of the light-bodied Gamay without smelling the funk, it’s easy to mistake it for a white wine like Muscat.
3. Learn How To Visualize And Isolate
Now that you know that seeing the wine is inextricably linked to the tasting process, it’s time to shut your eyes and let your brain visualize the multi-layered scents and flavors of wines. Truth be told, sipping wine with your eyes open is like kissing with your eyes open.
For example, you might think of cherries and fields of red with Riesling or the English sun with a glass of Chardonnay when your eyes are shut. On the other hand, you might be distracted by the friend, the trees, or the crickets when your eyes are open.
Moreover, research says that closing your eyes helps the brain to visualize easily and remember experiences accurately. Hence, meditative concentration is key to isolating the taste of different wines.
4. Identify Flavors
While recognizing the tasting notes of Sauvignon Blanc is important if you’re a white wine lover, you don’t need to learn it in a minute, day, or a week. Put simply, take your time with wine. Wine enthusiasts often get hung up on contradictory results in the early days and give up easily.
In short, you don’t need to pin down the one flavor that Google highlights for Bordeaux. Instead, look for other flavors and notes that you can naturally recognize.
While it’s useful to remember the tastes and aromas of wines for a master sommelier, there are diverse wine varietals, wine growing regions, and winemaking techniques that make wines taste different. Keep in mind that subtle tastes contribute to a wine’s unforgettable experience.
5. Texture And Body
The aroma, body, and taste of the wine depends on its texture. Moreover, it adds another dimension for distinguishing one bottle from another. That’s why you need to zoom-in on the wine to get a clear idea of how it looks before tasting it.
For example, the creaminess you feel in the middle of the palate when you taste a Burgundy is a function of the chalky texture of the wine. Viognier, on the other hand, has an oily texture that hits the middle of the tongue. On the flip side, you can detect the minerality in an Aligote from Chablis by rubbing it on the roof of your mouth.
6. Build Up Your Memory
You can create a foundation for remembering notes of varied wines by associating it with certain tastes. For example, Pinot Gris is intensely-peachy and this very association can help you pick it out in any wine tasting party. Another smart way to train your palate is by pairing these libations with the right dishes.
The key is to pick out the main tastes in every wine and train your memory by repeatedly identifying them. Additionally, you can keep a journal to start recording the dominant tastes you notice in several varieties of wine to help your brain organize and remember different flavors and profiles.
Bottom Line
Hard work is the key to developing a palate that discerns a Rioja Tempranillo from a Napa Cabernet. You need to slowly distinguish the tasting notes, look, and smell the wine before tasting it. Additionally, visualize and isolate notes by closing your eyes.
Most importantly, take your time to identify the flavors without setting any deadlines. You should also take a closer look at the texture and body of the wine to train your memory to remember specific tastes even during a blind tasting session.