How to Taste Wine Like a Pro (Even If You're a Beginner)

If you're new to wine or looking to sharpen your palate, learning how to taste wine properly will elevate every sip. For our wine, we’re tasting a VQA Kacaba Vineyards’ Jennifer’s Pinot Gris – a vibrant Canadian white wine that was a part of our February Valentine’s gift baskets.

In this wine tasting guide, we’ll walk you through a simple, repeatable 4-step method. If you need help deciding on bottles, our wine monthly subscription is the best place to start.

Why Learn to Taste Wine?

Understanding how to taste wine helps you:

• Assess quality
• Improve blind tasting skills
• Refine your personal preferences
• More importantly, it helps you appreciate what’s in your glass—from structure to flavour to balance.

The 4 Steps to Tasting Wine

There’s a simple framework sommeliers and wine lovers use everywhere:

1. Look
2. Smell
3. Taste
4. Think

Step 1: Look at the Wine

Before you smell or taste, start by assessing the wine visually. This gives your first clues about the wine’s age, grape variety, potential flavour profile, and even faults or imperfections.

How to do it:

Pour the wine into a clean, clear glass. Hold it at a 45° angle over a white background—like a napkin or a sheet of paper so you can assess the colour without interference. Additionally, make sure you're in good lighting conditions to see its true qualities.

Here’s what to evaluate:

Hue (Colour):

The hue tells you a lot about the grape variety and age of the wine.

• White wines range from pale straw to deep gold. Younger whites tend to be lighter, while older or oak-aged whites may show deeper golden hues. If a young white wine is showing browning or amber tones, it may be oxidized.
• Rosés span from pale salmon to vibrant pink to onion skin. Lighter tones usually suggest a more delicate style.
• Red wines go from bright ruby to deep garnet to brick red or brown. Young reds often have a purple or blue tinge at the rim, while aged reds turn more garnet or tawny. Brick or brown tones in a young wine can be a red flag that something may be “off” in the wine.

Intensity (Depth of Colour):

This gives hints about the grape variety and winemaking technique.

• Low intensity (pale wines you can easily see through) could indicate a cooler climate, delicate grape (like pinot noir or gamay), or minimal extraction.
• High intensity (deep, opaque wines) often points to thicker-skinned grapes like syrah or cabernet sauvignon, riper fruit, or more extractive winemaking.

Check if the colour is uniform from the core to the rim or if there's a gradient. A pronounced rim variation often indicates age.

Other visual clues:

• Clarity: A clear wine suggests good winemaking hygiene. Hazy or cloudy wines may be unfiltered, but excessive cloudiness could point to a fault
• Tears/legs: Swirl the wine gently. The streaks that form on the glass can hint at alcohol or sugar levels, but don’t overinterpret this, it’s not an indicator of quality.

Step 2: Smell the Wine

Your nose is your best tool for wine evaluation. Around 80% of what you “taste” is actually smell, so don’t skip this step.

How to do it:

Gently swirl the wine in your glass to release aromatic compounds. This increases the surface area of the wine and lets oxygen begin to “open it up.” Then take a few short sniffs, followed by a longer, deeper inhale.

What to evaluate:

• Intensity: How strong are the aromas? A quality wine typically has a clear and expressive nose. If you have to hunt for smells, the wine might be too young, too cold, or just lacking complexity.
• Aromas: Break it into primary, secondary, and tertiary categories: 
  • Primary aromas come from the grape itself—think fruit, herbs, flowers, spices. For example, sauvignon blanc often smells like citrus, green apple, or cut grass.
  • Secondary aromas come from winemaking—yeasty notes from lees ageing, or buttery smells from malolactic fermentation, or vanilla and toast from oak.
  • Tertiary aromas develop with age—dried fruit, leather, tobacco, forest floor, mushroom. These are key indicators of complexity and bottle age.
• Off-Aromas: If the wine smells like wet cardboard, mildew or mold, it may contain 2,4,6-trichloroanisole, also known as TCA, meaning the bottle is “corked” or tainted. Additionally, the smell of vinegar, or sulphur (rotten eggs) can indicate that the wine has gone off. Learn to spot these indicators.

Step 3: Taste the Wine

Now you put it all together. Take a decent sip, enough to coat your mouth. Swish it around and then swallow. Immediately breathe out through your nose. This triggers retronasal perception, helping you detect flavours more clearly.

Ask yourself the following:

• Is it dry or sweet?
  Most wines are “dry”, meaning they are low in sugar. A slight sweetness might come from ripe fruit or actual sugar.

Try to distinguish between the two: quality off-dry (slight sweetness from residual sugar) wine are balanced by acidity.

• How’s the acidity?
  Acidity gives wine structure and refreshment. You’ll feel it on the sides of your tongue, or notice your mouth watering. High-acid wines feel crisp or even sharp (like a good Chablis), while low-acid wines can feel flat or flabby. In well-made wine, acidity balances richness.
• What’s the texture like?
  Texture is the mouthfeel. Is it silky, oily, rough, chalky, thin, plush? Texture often reveals winemaking decisions (lees stirring, oak, filtration) and grape type.
• Are there tannins?
  Tannins are bitter, mouth-drying compounds mostly from red grapes and oak. Feel for grip along your gums. Quality tannins should be ripe and integrated, not harsh or green. They add structure and ageability.
• What’s the alcohol level?
  Alcohol contributes warmth and body. You’ll feel it as a warming sensation in your throat or chest. Excessive alcohol can unbalance a wine, making it hot or overwhelming. Ideally, it’s harmonious with the other elements.
• What flavours do you notice?
  Identify the key flavours – do they match what you smelled? Are they layered and evolving? Quality wine usually carries the aromas onto the palate, often with additional depth or nuance.
• How long does the flavour last?
  This is the “finish.” A short finish drops off fast, and a long finish lingers, evolving as it fades. Length is one of the clearest markers of quality.
  

Step 4: Think About the Wine

Once you've gone through appearance, nose, and palate, take a moment to reflect. This is where subjective enjoyment and objective evaluation meet. Aka, this is all about your own taste and preferences.

Ask yourself:

• Is it balanced?
  Balance is harmony between sweetness, acidity, alcohol, tannin, and body. No one element should overpower the rest. Even bold wines can be balanced if all components are in proportion.
• Is it complex?
  Does the wine change in the glass? Do you notice new aromas or flavours as you go? Complexity isn't just a laundry list of notes, it’s about nuance and evolution. Some great wines may be subtle but deep, not loud or obvious.
• Would I drink it again?
  This is your final gut check. Even a technically “perfect” wine might not be to your taste. Quality matters, but so does personal enjoyment. Great wine should make you want to come back for another sip (or another bottle for later).

Tasting Example in Practice

The different parts of the steps may seem overwhelming, but they’ll become intuitive with practice. Use a physical or digital notebook to track your impressions. As you keep tasting and taking notes, this process of tasting wine will start to feel automatic.

Here’s an example of our tasting notes for Kacaba Vineyards’ 2023 Jennifer's Pinot Gris

Step 1: Look (Appearance)

Hue: Pale straw with a subtle pink tint, indicating minimal skin contact during fermentation.

Intensity: Light and translucent, suggesting a delicate wine.

Clarity: Clear and bright, free from haze or sediment.

Step 2: Smell (Nose)

Intensity: Pronounced aromas that are immediately noticeable upon swirling.

Nose (Primary): Lychee, honeydew, cantaloupe, and apricot preserve.

Secondary Aromas: Subtle hints of honey, possibly from fermentation processes.

Tertiary Aromas: Not prominent, as this is a young wine.

Quality: No off-aromas detected (if the bottle smells moldy, it is likely “corked” and .

Step 3: Taste (Palate)

Sweetness: Dry

Acidity: Crisp and refreshing, providing a lively mouthfeel.

Texture: Medium-bodied with a smooth, slightly oily texture.

Tannins: Negligible (expected in a white wine).

Alcohol: Moderate.

Flavours: Peach, pear, honey, and citrus.

Finish: Medium-length, with lingering citrus and stone fruit notes.

Step 4: Think (Consider)

Balance: Well-balanced, with acidity and fruit flavours in harmony.

Complexity: Moderate complexity, offering a range of fruit flavours and aromas.

Personal Impression: A refreshing and enjoyable wine, suitable for various occasions. Will be pairing with a book and lounge chair this spring.

Food Pairing Suggestions: This pinot gris will pair well with giant freshwater prawn, thin-crust sourdough margarita pizza, and red leicester cheese.

The Power of Practice

Every time you use this 4-step method, you build a stronger palate. You also start to recognize wine quality and style faster, making you feel more confident in yourself and your own tastes. 

Now you can be the go-to person to order and inspect a bottle of wine at a restaurant and impress your friends and loved ones. You can also buy wine online and get it delivered to your door.

Want a shortcut to tasting more and learning faster?

A subscription to WineClub.ca gets you expertly selected Canadian wines, taking out the overwhelm and confusion from deciding on what bottles 

Each bottle is a new opportunity to sip, swirl, and discover.

Bonus Tools for Learning

Wine Folly Colour of Wine Chart – A great visual aid to compare wine hues

Wine Folly Aroma Wheel – A handy reference for identifying common aromas

Your own tasting journal – Have a dedicated journal (physical or digital) to take notes, track preferences, and watch your palate evolve over time.

Ready to taste like a pro?

Join a canadian wine club to discover great wine, follow the 4 steps to tasting wine, and don’t forget to enjoy yourself. Discovering great wine is about the journey of your own tastes and preferences.

Remember to bookmark this wine tasting guide for future reference.