These days, anyone can interact with blind tasting. What was once an exclusive practice has become a democratized pastime. Many wine bars offer guess-it-right-get-it-free deals, and influencers flood social media feeds with videos of their routines for studious drinkers and passive scrollers alike to enjoy.
There are many ways to guess a wine correctly beyond recalling from memory. First off, the best way to taste blindly is to think deductively: List the grapes or regions that an unknown wine cannot be, and dwindle it down from there.
As the practice gets more attention, casual drinkers can turn to seasoned sommeliers to bolster their tasting abilities. Experienced sommeliers — whether in the thick of studying or already certified — are equipped with tried-and-true techniques acquired through countless blinds in their careers.
From analyzing color to detecting acidity levels with saliva, here are six sommeliers’ blind tasting tips.
Scott Woltz, Advanced Sommelier
Beverage director and general manager, Bibliotheque, New York City
@scowophoto
Color:
Color is one of the fastest filters, especially with red wines. I tilt the glass against a white background and look at hue and transparency. Lighter, ruby wines with visible light usually point to thinner-skinned grapes like Pinot Noir or Nebbiolo or cooler climates. Deep, opaque, purple suggests thicker skins found in Cabernet Sauvignon or Syrah, warmer climates, or more extraction. Purple tones often indicate youth, which immediately narrows the field.
Alcohol:
Alcohol is something I feel before I analyze. After swallowing, I pay attention to how far the warmth travels in my chest. If it barely reaches the base of my throat, I’m likely dealing with low alcohol. If it settles deeper into the chest, I know alcohol is higher. With practice, this becomes a reliable way to bracket alcohol levels before confirming with body and viscosity.
Dorian González Vega, Certified Sommelier
Beverage director, Union Square Cafe, NYC
@dorianjgv
Acid:
On the palate, many wines will share similar aromatics, and once you’ve narrowed it down to a couple of grape varieties, structure becomes the deciding factor. For example, if you’re getting apricot, pear, jasmine, and honey and debating between Viognier and Chenin Blanc, acidity will be a differentiating factor (among others), Chenin being high acid, Viognier typically lower. Take a sip, swish, swirl, and spit, then, with an open mouth, place the tip of your tongue just behind your two front teeth and tilt your head forward. If the spit hits the floor before your head is fully tilted… call it Chenin.
Martin Beally, Master Sommelier
Director of wine, beverage, and operations, Cooper’s Hawk Winery and Restaurants, Oak Park, Ill.
@martinbeallyms
Compare:
Spend some time comparing different wines. Sommeliers often spend too much effort on doing six-wine blind flights, which is better for studying for the format of an exam but doesn’t necessarily make you a better taster. If you are trying to understand the differences between Merlot and Malbec, do a six-wine comparison with three Merlots and three Malbecs. Exercises like this will help you dial into the differences.
Hannah Williams, Advanced Sommelier
Head of east coast sales, Thatcher’s Wine & Thatcher’s Imports, NYC
@hannzah
Order:
When given an exam-style flight of six wines, I always smell the whites first and select the order I am going to do them in. This is a very quick process of a few seconds, but I am already clocking key initial impact aromas (i.e., pyrazines, oaked whites, TDN, oxidation, etc.) and then pinning that information for later. I like to start with the wine that I think I know right away so I can get it out of the way, which will save me time for the wine that I need more time to unravel. If I smell a wine that has high intensity, I sometimes put that at the end of the queue so it doesn’t affect my tasting of a neutral wine like Pinot Grigio or Muscadet. Then, I repeat the process with red wines: Smell through, note initial impact aromas or general thoughts on grape/country, and select the order I want to taste them in. If I think there is a thin-skinned grape, I do that first. If there is a high-octane Amarone or Shiraz, I save that for last so it doesn’t blow my palate.
Sarah Looper, Master Sommelier Candidate
Wine educator and sommelier, Il Buco, NYC
@loopersomm
Oak:
When I’m blind tasting white wines and I detect oak, it makes my world much smaller. There are only a handful of testable white wines within the Court of Master Sommeliers that will have detectable oak on them, so if I can check off oak I start going through fruit and its condition, acidity, alcohol, and texture and I literally sniff around to see if there are any other markers that will help me deduce what the wine is. You gotta let the wine speak to you. This took me years of practice to truly understand, but once it clicked, I was off to the races.
Chris Blanchard, Master Sommelier
Northwest states division manager, Opus One Winery, Napa Valley
@djvitamix
Wine as Personalities:
I always teach individuals to think of blind tasting wines as people and personalities, so my tip would be to equate wine flavor and texture with memories related to people at a party. For instance, you might walk into a party and engage in a casual conversation with a mom and daughter. The mom is a professor, and the daughter may be a college student. I would relate this to a first growth and a second label. The mom, or first growth, is more reserved and cerebral, while the daughter, or second label, is more fun and open, while not quite as complex, but still a pleasure.
Editor’s Note: Quotes have been edited slightly for concision and clarity.
The article 6 Somms Share Their Top Tips for Blind Tasting Wine appeared first on VinePair.