words suzy atkins

Here’s an experiment that should convert even the most sceptical to the joys of wine tasting. It works like this: take a bottle of decent wine (white or red, but preferably a distinctive, full-flavoured style) and pour yourself half a glass.

Then, without pausing to study its colour or smell its aroma, quickly take a generous gulp and swallow without the liquid so much as touching the sides of your mouth. Try to describe the wine.

Repeat the process, but first spend a few moments looking at its hue and texture, before giving the glass a swirl to release the scent. Stick your nose close to the liquid and while the wine is settling, take small sniffs, thinking hard about the perfume. Next, sip slowly and let the wine slosh around your mouth, again considering the flavours, fruity or otherwise, that emerge and evolve.

After you have swallowed the wine, take a minute or two to reassess its character - this is when you might spot sweetness/dryness, high acidity or rich, chewy tannins. Now describe the wine again. This time, you’ve just examined a wine in much the same way a winemaker, buyer or critic would do, and simply by taking your time and paying close attention, you will undoubtedly have discovered a lot more about it.

If you don’t have a clearer, more exciting picture of the liquid in your glass, I’ll not only eat my hat but drink my spittoon with it. Of course, in the process you may have unearthed characteristics you didn’t like, but even so, the close attention has added to your overall experience.

I hope this doesn’t sound too earnest. Wine tasting doesn’t have to be stuffy. That’s not to say you should practise the full-blown tasting technique over casual drinks with friends. But when the moment is right, it pays to give wine more of your time. Its colour, scent and complex flavours are there to be enjoyed and appreciated, so why knock it back like just another vodka and tonic?

Swirling the wine releases its aroma, while sloshing it around your mouth makes sure that it reaches all parts of the tongue that detect sourness, sweetness and so on. So give your sensory organs a chance to do their work. The simplest and most important question to answer is ‘’do I like this wine’’? That’s not the same as ‘’should I like this”? Wine is just like fashion or literature - everyone has their own personal taste. The tasting process gives you a chance to understand what suits you (and your favourite foods) the best.

There’s still a daft sense of mystery that surrounds wine tasting - a misplaced idea that only those with a gifted palate can assess the stuff. What rot. We can all do it. By opening the mind and taste buds to enough new flavours almost anyone can become more expert, and quite rapidly, too.

Expertise simply comes with practising your new skill. That said, you might struggle if you are a heavy smoker or have a stinking cold. And I recommend you lay off using strong perfume, aftershave, scented hand creams or air-fresheners if you want to pick up subtle whiffs.

Above all, you need to make sure you’ve got the right kit. Use plain (not coloured), tall-stemmed glasses - preferably not cut crystal. Thin glass is best for examining a wine’s appearance, while a tall stem allows for easy swirling and keeps hot, sticky fingers away from the bowl. A decent corkscrew is a must; a spittoon may be - or just a large jug for chucking out any dregs from your glass. If you’re tasting many wines, it’s wise to have a few plain water biscuits to hand, for clearing the palate. Crunch on one every now and again, wash down with still water, then start again.

It’s important to plan your tasting session so you move from the lightest to the richest wines. Your taste buds will find it impossible to pick up the finer points of a delicate Riesling, say, after being bombarded by spicy, ripe Shiraz. My method is to start with sparklers, then go for the light, dry whites, moving on to richer whites and rosés. Light reds come next, then bring out the heavyweights at the end - big hearty reds, dessert wines of all shades and fortified types, such as port.

Whites, pinks and sparklers should be chilled, but only a little. Serving wine too cold will mute aroma and flavour slightly, so for tasting purposes put bottles in the fridge for up to an hour only. Another way you might blunt the taste buds is to drink strong coffee or eat spicy, garlicky or oily food, so take these off the pre-tasting menu.

Consider tasting your wines ‘’blind’’ from time to time, too, with the help of friends. Ask everyone to bring two or three wines, their labels hidden, and taste the range without knowing what is in the bottles or how much each one cost. It is a useful way of banishing any preconceptions. Don’t be shy about making notes. A few well-chosen words about each wine will help you recall what you liked and why.

Finally, a plea on behalf of the more reserved, introverted and even shy - wines, that is. There are some real show-offs around - those pungent, hearty, monster styles, white and red, that weigh in at nearly 15 per cent alcohol. These tend to shine at a tasting, if only because they stand out. But they are not necessarily the best bottles.

Sometimes the more elegant, restrained styles are more interesting, especially when matched with food. Think about this when tasting, and ask yourself: ‘’Would I actually want to drink much of this wine?’’ You may be surprised how posing this crucial question changes your view of the contents of your glass. And that’s the whole point - and joy - of wine tasting. Good luck!

© Telegraph Media Group