sight and wine

In traditional or analytical wine tasting, people think that the nose is the main organ used during the process. It is partly true that, the nose plays a great role during the tasting, the first and the second nose followed by the retro olfaction when the wine is in the mouth. But our eyes can give us a lot of information about the wine that we are about to drink.

So let’s see what we can learn by only looking at your glass.

As we talk about sigh, the environment is important. If possible, use natural light or neutral white light, dim light will impair your judgment. You will need a white support, to limit interference between the wine and other colors. A clean wine glass is mandatory. And something less obvious is to limit sonar pollution, loud music is not good. You want all your brain to be focused on sigh at this moment.

So, tilt your glass slightly. The first thing to note is the color. The spectrum of color for white wine gives some clues about the wine. If the color is pale yellow with some green, the wine is young. if the color is closer to gold, the wine could be aged or may be made with riper grape (it gives some clue of the location where the vines grew). If the color is brown, the wine is aged or overaged (when wine ages, the color tends towards brown).

For red wine, young wines have a purple color, with some evolution, the color will generally turn garnet. If the color turns brown, it’s an indication of an aged wine. With time all wine turns brown.

Color intensity is also important, it can be either pale or dark. The pale color gives some indication of the climate, the winemaking process, and the variety of the wine.

The pale color of red wine can indicate a cool climate, a thin-skinned grape variety, or a low level of extraction during the winemaking process. For the white wine, a pale color can indicate a cool climate but also less maturity of the grape berry (think about Vinho Verde).

A dark color in a red wine can indicate a thick-skinned grape variety, a warmer climate, or more extraction during the winemaking process. In white wine, like red, it can be a clue about a warmer climate and more fruit maturity, but also oxidation or an aged wine.

Finally, the last thing to check is the wine tears or legs. When you swirl your glass, you can see some trace at the top of the glass, tears (or legs) of the wine. This is the result of the evaporation of alcohol. More tears mean more alcohols (not only ethanol, but also glycerol, and mannitol…) in the wine. It indicates a warm climate (or a very sunny vintage).

As you see, you can have much information about a wine simply by looking at it methodically. You can even know more by testing the color against a color chart you can find on the Internet.