It is not uncommon knowledge that many people around the world enjoy a glass of wine, whether that might be with their dinner or just simply to relax after a long day of work.
Many people have their favourite wines, some might prefer a summer fruits type of wine while others might enjoy a glass of Cava, everyone has different tastes, which means that everyone will have a different type of wine.
But sometimes people might question how to know if the wine that they are drinking is actually good or not, there are a couple ways to be able to tell this however, and we’re here to help.
If you are a big wine drinker and have a large collection of wines it may even be worth investing in having a place to store all of your wine.
4 Ways to know if your wine is good
1. Smell
Yes it is true, just like what you might see sometimes in the movies when they pull out a wine. Smelling your wine in a glass is the first way to tell if it is good or not.
Before you take that first sip be sure to take a deep whiff, if you smell a nice fruitiness to it or perhaps a lovely floral aroma then you have a good wine on your hands. However if you take a smell of it and it’s got more of a wet towel or maybe even a soaky piece of newspaper then that wine is most likely to have been corked and not quite got that quality you are looking for.
2. Balance
So your wine has passed the first test, but will it pass the test of balance? If you were to go to a wine tasting class or attend a beautiful vineyard in the south of France then you might often hear an expert tell you that the ‘’balance of wine is important’’. Well this is also true.
If a bottle of wine is out of balance you may say to your friend or family member that you don’t like it without even knowing. But why is that? The reason for this is because when you drink a glass of wine none of the components stand out more than the other, (acidity, tannin, alcohol, or fruit).
If you are tasting high levels of acid then your eyes might seem to water more, while an overbalance of tannin might taste like you are licking a sheep, instead of wine. However, if the wine tastes fresh, the tannin is supple and to proportion, while the fruit is not overpowering and the alcohol is just right, that is a well balanced wine!
3. Depth
The third test is depth, what does depth mean when it comes to wine you might ask? Well when you take that glass and sip on it, give it a little swirl around your mouth, try to really taste it, is the wine just fruity? Or can you maybe taste other layers of flavour, maybe there’s a touch of nuts or maybe a little grapefruit in your white. How about chocolate or coffee in your red.
You may notice that while you’re having your dinner the taste of the wine may change in flavour, that is called depth, and if you have that in your wine then it is certainly up there for being called a good wine.
4. Finish
The last and final test is it’s finish. Simply swallow your wine and see how long the flavour lasts for, the longer you taste it the better the wine.
If you swallow your wine and the flavour of it doesn’t linger in your mouth then it is likely to not be a good wine, however if it lasts three to four seconds it’s certainly far better. And if the wine lasts for up to around ten seconds then you have just hit the jackpot.
So next time you pop open your next wine, remember these four simple steps to test your wine, and if you have all four of these elements, smell, balance, depth, and finish then you have a great wine in front of you.
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