Wine tasting is basically the sensory evaluation and examination of wine. Even if this practice and idea of wine tasting have been there for a lot of years since the discovery of wine, the formal way of wine tasting was developed only in the 14th century. Nowadays, there are people that are hired as professional wine tasters and they use specific terms to describe the smell, look, and taste, as well as the aromas, flavors, and the main characteristics of vintage wine. But there is an increasing trend in the practice of tasting wine that focuses on the less formal side and more on the personal and general appreciation of wine.
The different stages of tasting wine.
You need to know that there are four main stages when it comes to wine tasting. They are the appearance, aroma while in the glass, the sensation it provides in the mouth, and the finish or the aftertaste that happens.
All of those stages are used at the same time know the properties and quality of a wine. There are qualities that a professional taster needs to consider. They are the complexity and character, the potential of the wine for drinking or aging, and any faults that the wine has.
But the professional wine taste will still base his or her opinion by doing some research from the place where the wine was made and how the wine was made. For instance, a wine made in a winery on a specific wine region might taste different from the same kind of wine made in another region. The taster needs to see to it that his or her opinion is not biased.
You need to know that blind tasting is not actually done by someone that is blind. It is actually a process that allows complete impartiality during the wine tasting in order to determine the best wine. It is done in wine tasting in order to make sure that the tasters did not see the label of the bottle. One way of performing a blind taste is to serve the wine from a black glass even if it will prevent the taster to see the appearance of the wine.
A lot of people are aware that the perception of the taster on wine can be influenced greatly if he or she knows the details like color, reputation, geographic region, and price of the wine. Scientific research even shows that perception can greatly influence the expectations of a person.
The difference between horizontal and vertical tasting.
Contrary to what others may think, horizontal tasting is not done by drinking wine while lying on the back or flat on the floor or ground. It is the tasting of wine that has the same vintage but come from different wineries in the same region.
Contrary to what some people may think, horizontal tasting does not involve drinking wine while lying flat on your back (or collapsed on the floor). It is the tasting of wines that are all of the same vintages but are from different wineries in the same area. Vertical tasting, on the other hand, is done to know the variation in different vintages. The difference between the vintages will be determined by tasting the same type of wine that is produced by one winery but with various vintages.