Tasting Wine: The Flavor

You've looked at the color, smelled the aroma and are now ready to taste the wine. Take a small sip of wine and let it sit on your tongue. Savor it a moment before swallowing. Let the wine spread out in your mouth and pay attention to where it lands and where you sense the flavor.

As you take a sip of wine, flavors aren’t sensed in isolated spots on the tongue—they’re experienced across the entire palate. Sweetness, acidity, saltiness, and bitterness are all perceived together, while alcohol creates warmth and body through the mouth and throat. Texture matters too: tannins create a drying sensation, shaping the wine’s overall feel and balance.

Continue reading about how you can taste and deduce elements of the wine structure

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Detailing the Flavor Profile

Once you've tasted the wine, organize the flavors that come forward. Use the same flavor construction as your aroma experience: red or white fruit and its condition, non-fruit flavors like floral or spice and, finally, earth and wood. Next, reflect on the structural elements we covered earlier and the finish of the wine.

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Quadrant 1: Fruits

White Wine Fruit

Citrus: lemons, limes, oranges, grapefruits, tangerines
Tree fruit: green, red or yellow apples; pears; quince
Stone fruit: peaches, nectarines, apricots
Tropical fruit: pineapples, mangos, papayas, passion fruits, melons

Red Wine Fruit

Red fruits: cherries, raspberries, red plums, cranberries, strawberries, pomegranates
Blue fruits: blueberries, boysenberries, marionberries
Black fruits: blackberries, black cherries, black plums, black currants

Fruit Condition

Baked
Cooked
Candied
Dried
Tart
Preserved

Quadrant 2: Non-Fruit Flavors

Floral

Fruit blossoms: orange, apple, lemon, lime
White/yellow flowers: baby’s breath, carnation, hawthorn, honeysuckle, jasmine, lily rose, chamomile
Red/purple flowers: geranium, lavender, lilac, rose, tulips, violet
Green/weed: clover, dandelion, grass

Spice

Basil
Celery
Chervil
Chives
Cilantro
Dill
Fennel
Lemongrass
Mint
Oregano
Parsley
Rosemary
Sage
Tarragon
Black tea
Green tea
Thyme
Tobacco
Verbena

Quadrant 3: Earth & Wood

Earth Organic

Forest floor
Compost
Mushrooms
Potting soil
Barn
Truffle

Earth Inorganic

Mineral
Stone: limestone, chalk, slate, flint, volcano
Seashell
Petrol
Saline

Wood

Old
New
Large
Small
French
American

Other

Beans/nuts: almond, cocoa, coffee, lentil, walnut
Animals: cured meat, leather, musk, wool
Edibles: honey, maple, soy

Quadrant 4: Structure, Finish & Complexity

Structure

Sweetness: bone dry, dry, off dry, sweet, very sweet, luscious
Acidity: low, medium, high
Tannin: low, medium, high
Alcohol: low, medium, high
Body: light, medium, full, creamy, round, lean

Finish & Complexity

Flavor length: short, medium, long
Quality: tart, astringent, silky, bitter
Number of aromas and flavors: low, medium, high