How To Taste Wine Like a Sommelier
There’s a moment…right before the first sip of a new wine…when everything holds its breath. The swirl, the sniff, the stillness. And then, the taste.
Tasting wine like a sommelier isn’t about being snobby, and truth be told I hate people using that term when it comes to sommeliers.
It’s about paying attention and slowing down enough to hear what the wine is trying to tell you.
Because yes, it does speak.
It tells you the story of the weather the year the grapes were growing in the sunshine, the taste of the air around the vines, the stories of the ghosts of the grapes that went into the bottle, and the hands that took some ordinary fruit and made something ethereal.
Let me walk you through the practice of enjoying and tasting wine like a sommelier, not with stiff rules, but with reverence. This is the art of tasting wine like a professional…measured, meaningful, and even a little bit magical.
Step One: See
Hold your glass up to something that is a white background (napkin, paper, etc) like you’re trying to read words through your glass.
Color tells you a lot about a wine. A deep garnet red could suggest age, while a pale straw white might hint toward freshness. If the rim looks more watery than the center that normally tells me a story about age as well.
Clarity shows quality (most of the time) Cloudy wine isn’t always flawed, but sommeliers notice it. This has to do with wine making preferences. If you’re enjoying a wine like a Pet-Nat (sparkling) then you should expect some cloudiness. Some wineries also prefer not to filter or fine their final products so there might be some sediment floating around. Nothing wrong with it per say, just take note of it.
Legs (or tears, but tears sound sad so I prefer legs because they’re more sexy) don’t mean much about quality, but they can hint at alcohol or sugar content. Swirl the wine and watch it drip. The longer the legs cling, the higher the alcohol.
Think of this step like reading the back of a book cover. It sets the tone before you even flip the first page and you should have some idea of what kind of story you’re about to dive into.
Step Two: Swirl
This is where the wine opens up and starts to come alive in your glass. You swirl maybe 10% for show (I swear if you can master the swirl everyone will think you know what you’re doing), but mostly it’s to wake up the aromatics.
Wine has literally thousands of aromatic compounds…and many of them are volatile. Swirling releases them, offering a bouquet that would’ve stayed sleeping otherwise.
The alcohol is less dense than the water inside of the wine, so when you swirl the aromatics lift a ride out of the glass on the back of the evaporating alcohol compounds. Yes, alcohol begins evaporating almost immediately, but not enough to change your glass in any meaningful way unless you abandon it for hours, so don’t panic. Also, alcohol abandonment is alcohol abuse, which is sad.
Step Three: Smell
Now lean in and absolutely don’t be shy. I’d recommend you put your mouth on the glass as if you’re going to sip it (keep your mouth cracked for better air circulation) and shove your nose as far in the glass as it will go. (I feel the need to warn you not to dip your nose in the wine if your glass is small).
Sommeliers smell deeply, three times. First sniff is quick and instinctive. The second sniff feels slow and searching, then the third is where my memory begins to spark.
Ask yourself if you smell fruit? If so, what kind? Ripe cherries? Green apples? Dried figs? Are they baked, broiled, grilled, ripe, juicy, underripe and chewy? Go as far as you can, trying to narrow it down as much as possible.
Are there any earthy notes? Like forest floor or fresh-cut herbs? Think about the time you got caught in the rain during a hike, or the way it smells when you’re piling leaves up in your backyard.
How about oak? Hints of vanilla, toast, smoke, or spice? Does it remind you of a pencil sharpener (are you too young to remember those?) or a wood shop?
This part is deeply personal, so there aren’t any wrong answers. What I smell might be different from you. One sommelier smells saddle leather, another smells wet pavement on a summer night. Both are right.
Step Four: Sip
Finally, we came all that way for our first taste.
But a sommelier doesn’t just sip…they slurp (sorry if that bothers you as much as it does my sister). Gently pull the wine into your mouth being sure to bring in some air with it. It’s noisy, yes, but purposeful. Oxygen unlocks flavors just as it does aromas.
Let the wine coat your tongue faster than me in a snow storm. Move it around your mouth until every inch and crevice has had the chance to caress the wine. Pay attention to as much as you can notice. Sweetness is fairly obvious so a lot of people assess it first, is it dry or off-dry (a little sweet), maybe it’s sweeter than expected?
Acidity is something else we look for. Does it make your mouth water like lemonade? How fast and how aggressively you salivate under your tongue after swallowing will tell you just how low on the pH scale your wine goes.
You know that drying sensation on your gums, tongue, or inner cheeks? That’s tannin. Take note of how they feel. Are they aggressive and demand your attention? Maybe they’re more soft and rounded versus angular.
Alcohol is obviously in the glass, but does it feel warm going down? How low does the burn go? I once knew a sommelier who could tell you the alcohol percentage within 2% correctly by feeling how low it burned in his throat on the way down.
Also take note of the body and texture of the wine. Is it light like skim milk, medium like 2%, or rich like whole?
And then, finally check out your finish. How long do the flavors linger? A great wine haunts you in the best way.
Step Five: Speak
A sommelier puts it all together into a beautiful, textured and slightly emotional story.
You don’t just say “red berries.” You say, “ripe raspberries kissed by a hint of clove, dancing on a silky backbone and lingering pleasantly longer than expected.”
Okay, maybe don’t say it like that if you’re out on a first date and you want a second one.
But notice the wine, feel it, and if you’re into it…describe it however you want.
The more you taste, the more your vocabulary grows. Over time, your mind becomes a library of flavors and you’ll start to understand that wine is a time capsule: sun, soil, weather, hands, all captured in liquid form, the rebirth of spoiled grapes.
Tips for Getting Better
Taste in Flights – Try three Sauvignon Blancs side-by-side. One from New Zealand, one from California, one from France. You can absolutely notice the differences. You might think you wouldn’t be able to tell, but you can, especially when you try them one after another.
Use a Wine Journal – It’s not nerdy, it’s smart, and just a little nerdy. Note what you liked, what you didn’t, and why. Take photos of labels you like as an easy way to recall it later. I know some people who use cellar-tracker apps so they can revisit later.
Blind Taste – Have someone cover the labels of your wines and guess the grape and what year it was made. You’ll be surprised how much you learn. You’ll end up paying more attention to the subtle things about that wine.
Attend Tastings – Your local wine shop likely offers them and there are restaurants you can find who do them. Go and listen, ask all the questions.
Smell Everything – Literally, start sniffing anything that stands still long enough (I’ve heard people make calls on “dog paw” and “the inside of a cereal box” before. Herbs, spices, fruits, florals, smell them all. Develop your scent memory.
Take a Class – Even just one will open your mind and palate.
The Role of Glassware
Believe it or not, the shape of your glass can change everything, just in case you weren’t overwhelmed enough as it was.
Wider bowls allow more oxygen in…great for bold reds.
Narrow rims concentrate aromas, which is ideal for aromatic whites.
Flutes trap bubbles…perfect for sparkling wines. (Pro tip, most sommeliers ditch the flute and use something wider rimmed to enjoy the aromatics on that wine)
A sommelier doesn’t need fancy gear, but having the right tools enhances the experience.
(If you want to try my favorite starter set, here’s a great set of wine tasting glasses on Amazon. They’re elegant, versatile, and won’t break the bank.)
Food and Wine: A Love Story
Tasting wine solo is one thing, but pairing it with food, now that’s where the real magic happens. A good wine pairing works together to make both the wine and the food taste better. In wine pairing sommelier world, one plus one equals three.
Acidic wines (like Sauvignon Blanc or Chianti) cut through richness, which is perfect with fatty foods.
Tannic reds (like Cabernet) crave protein, so bring on the steak.
Sweet wines (like off-dry Riesling) are magic with spicy cuisine like Thai or Indian.
Sparkling wines go with everything. Yes, even fried chicken and fries (try potato chips or anything that ends in -itos!).
What Makes a Sommelier Different?
It’s not about better taste buds, it’s more about paying attention to the elixir in your glass than anything else.
Sommeliers train their palates the way musicians train their ears. It’s a craft, yes, but one you can absolutely learn. No fancy certificate required (even though I liked to collect them at the beginning of my career)…just curiosity, humility, and a willingness to listen to what the wine has to say.
Let the wine talk and allow yourself be surprised as you listen to it. Let go of what you’re supposed to think and find out what you really feel.
Wine isn’t meant to intimidate you, it’s meant to connect you to history, to a sense of place, and to each other.
So pour a glass tonight, look at it, swirl it, smell it, then sip it. Close your eyes if you need to, then taste it. And I mean really taste. That’s what a sommelier would do.
