Do I need a special wine glass to taste wine?
You don’t need a special shaped wine glass to taste wine and find all of its flavours and aromas. Any type of wine glass is suitable. There are special tasting glasses that wine professionals use that are slightly smaller and narrower than a standard wine glass. Their tulip shaped bowls narrow towards the rim and are designed to capture a wine’s aromas – these can then be analysed using professional tasting techniques.
If you want to have a go at this technique then you’ll need to swirl the wine around in the glass then have a good, short sharp sniff of the contents to identify any aromas. If the glass is tulip shaped – that is it narrows slightly towards the rim – then it concentrates these precious aromas making it easier to get a nostril full when you sniff and then analyse what these aromas remind you of.
If your wine glass flares out then it will be slightly harder to identify any aromas as these will spread out into the air, leaving a smaller quantity to go up your nose to reach your olfactory bulb. This area at the top of the inside of your nose detects the chemical molecules given off from the wine and translates these into an electrical message which it sends to the brain. Your brain then compares this to your memory bank of aromas and identifies it.
So you can use any wine glass, but if it is tulip shaped then that makes it easier to identify aromas – plus it means you are less likely to slop wine out of the glass as you swirl it.
Wine tasting recommendations by wineuncorked.co.uk
Taparoo Merlot 2020
£3.99 Tesco
5*
A new value addition to the Tesco range selling at just £3.99 – and it’s great tasting too. Spicy plum and dark chocolate muffin flavours with a hint of black coffee. Nicely balanced and quaffable.
Porta 6 White 2020
£7.50 Tesco
4*
Don’t be confused with the tasty red version of Porta 6 which is also from Portugal – this white Vinho Regional Lisboa is made from a mix of native Portuguese grape varieties with added Chardonnay and Viognier for buttery complexity. This is a great everyday wine that will match most foods and moods with its flavours of apple sponge pudding and fresh lemon. It also has a pretty label that shows the Lisbon tramway making its way through the streets.
Jam Shed Chardonnay 2020
£6 Morrisons, Tesco, £7 Asda
4*
The name gives a clue to what this wine is all about – being jammy and sweet. But surprisingly not so sweet that it becomes sickly. There is some creamy peach and subtle butter flavours that have a balance of light lemon.
19 Crimes Red 2020
£8 Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrisons, £9.99 Majestic
4*
This Aussie red is a blend of various grape varieties, which I can’t tell what they are as the label doesn’t give that information. Which is a shame as the wine’s cherry and butterscotch flavours are extremely tasty and become even more so when matched to a dessert of vanilla ice cream that’s been topped with a grating of dark chocolate. Heaven.
The wineuncorked.co.uk wine rating system uses a maximum of 5 stars:
5* outstanding – the top rating given by wineuncorked.co.uk
4* very good wine
3* good wine but over priced
2* a disappointing wine
1* little to offer
0* avoid – pour down the drain
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© Paula Goddard 2021 www.wineuncorked.co.uk
