Wine Instruction

For those that are new to wine and are starting out their journey into the world of wine tasting, taking notes can be something that can help the neophite get a better understanding of the wines they are tasting and to remember the quality of the wine.  A wine tasting sheet can make or break your early wine tasting experiences.  The better notes you take, the better you can rate the wines as you go along.  A good system will give you a great start from the beginning on taking quality wine notes.  In this article, the author shares what you should be making notes of and some ideas on how to take the notes, such as what terms to use.  Read on for some great ideas on how to make your own wine tasting sheet.

Some people are good at remembering tastes. But tastes are at times complex and our memories are fleeting. So it makes a lot of sense that making notes on your wine tasting experiences is an extremely useful exercise.

One main reason you would want to take notes is so that your tasting impressions will end up on a list of wines with different properties and a list from which you can choose wines in the future given your personal tastes and differing circumstances. These can include hosting a family dinner, throwing a wine tasting party or just going out on a dinner date.

Below is a brief and simple guide to compiling your wine taking notes.

- Identify the wine and if possible the source by name in your notes. While the name part is obvious, it also helps to know who makes the wine.

- Divide your note taking sheet under each of the following categories:

- C. For color and shading.

- N. For Aroma - what you pick up with your nose from sniffing the aroma.

- T. For taste.

- Make your notes under each heading using your own language. Remember that you are making these notes for your own benefit - not to submit to some evaluation panel. So use language that best reflect your impressions in a way that you would have them explained to you. This is extremely important as wine tasting can be such an involved experience and the taste of wines can be so complex that when it comes time to recall your experiences from your notes you want this recall to reflect exactly what you experienced at the time.

Using words such as fruity, yum-yum, old, hard, light, soft, sweet, pale, heavy, sharp, flat are all appropriate as long as these words can accurately reflect what you experienced.

- For a few days after having made your notes, go over them and try to relive the qualities or experiences they reflect. This is very useful in bonding these experiences to your sub-conscious so that over time, the memories will be extremely sharp in your mind.

Of course it goes without saying that you should organize your notes in the most appropriate way for you. Some people use dates, some use locations, or events. Whatever manner you choose, what is important is that you accurately record your wine tasting experiences in your wine tasting notes.

Use your notes to guide you in future wine selections, make the most appropriate food / wine pairings, or to just share with wine loving friends.

G. W. Smikle is an avid researcher and writer. He researches and writes about a myriad of topics with one of his favorites being wine tasting. Visit him at http://topicaldigest.com/winetasting to see more resources related to wines and wine tasting in particular.

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Publish Date: 02/12/2008