How to Taste Wine Like a Sommelier (in 5 Steps)

1. Look

Tilt the glass against a white surface and check the colour and intensity at the rim. Pale or deep? Purple, ruby or garnet? Colour hints at the grape, the age, and the body before you've smelled a thing. (See our wine colour guide.)

2. Swirl

Give the glass a gentle swirl. This pulls air into the wine and lifts the aromas. Watch the "legs" run down the side if you like — they mostly tell you about alcohol and sugar, not quality.

3. Smell

Here's the part most people rush. Put your nose in, mouth slightly open, and take short sniffs rather than one big inhale. Try to name what you get in families: fruit (citrus, red fruit, black fruit), floral or herbal notes, spice, oak (vanilla, toast, smoke), and earth (mushroom, leather, forest floor). You don't need to be right — naming it is what trains your palate.

4. Sip

Take a small sip and let it coat your whole mouth. Now read the structure:

• Sweetness — bone dry to dessert-sweet.
• Acidity — does it make your mouth water? High acid = fresh, food-friendly.
• Tannin (reds) — that grippy, drying feeling on your gums.
• Body — does it feel light like skim milk or full like cream?

5. Savour the finish

Swallow (or spit, if you're tasting several) and count how long the flavour lingers. A long, evolving finish is one of the clearest signs of a good wine. Note what the finish actually tastes like — it's often different from the first sip.

Then write it down — fast

The single biggest upgrade to your palate is recording what you tasted while it's fresh. An hour later you won't remember which wine was which. A quick score and a few notes, every time, is how casual drinkers become genuinely good tasters.