The PIQUANTE method for wine tasting: taste and evaluate

The wine is in your mouth. What things should you notice? Learn how to critically evaluate a wine in the final part of my wine tasting series

Welcome to the fourth and final part of my wine tasting series. Are you ready to get to the next level in your vinous appreciation? No snobbery here, just love for wine! My four-part series about wine tasting is structured as follows:

1. Introduction to wine tasting and outline of the PIQUANTE method
2. PIQUANTE method: prepare and inspect 
3. PIQUANTE method: sniff and swirl
4. PIQUANTE method: examine the palate and draw evaluations (this article)

The PIQUANTE method is a systematic approach that I always use when wine tasting. The acronym “PIQUANTE” stands for Prepare, Inspect, QUietly smell, Agitate, Nose, Taste and Evaluate. In this article I will focus on the last two steps: Taste and Evaluate. I will deal with the impressions gathered from the “palate” of a wine. Then, I will illustrate how to marshal the information gathered so far to form a critical impression of your wine.

Taste: the palate of a wine

You have looked at the wine and focused on its visual components. Swirled the glass and had a good sniff of the wine’s flavours. Now it’s time to appreciate your wine on the palate. Take a sip and direct your attention to the sensations in your mouth.

I’m sure you’ve drunk wine for ages, so it’s not my intention to teach you how to do so here. Still, there are a few expedients to consider. A sip should be more or less the equivalent of a teaspoon. Once the liquid is in your mouth, move it around to make sure it reaches every corner of your mouth. Wine connoisseurs emit gurgling sounds when tasting wine on their palate. It might sound inelegant at first, but this practice has a specific purpose. It allows you to aerate the liquid in your mouth, unfolding its aromas. While the wine is in your mouth, suck some air through your teeth and lips. It ultimately allows the taster to get a grip of all the wine’s nuances.

A question I often hear is “should I spit when tasting wine?” My answer is “it depends!” If you are enjoying a bottle of wine with friends, then of course it’s ok to swallow every single sip of your drink. That’s part of the pleasure. The same applies if you are tasting only a limited amount of wines (2 or 3).

However, if you are attending an official tasting, odds are you will be sampling a high number of wines. In this case, there are a couple of good reasons why you should use the spittoons provided by the event organiser and refrain from swallowing everything. First of all, you won’t get drunk. I believe in moderation: the pleasure is in quality, not quantity. Furthermore, a wine tasting venue is not the right place to get wasted. Avoid being a hassle for yourself and your wine loving peers. Secondly, not swallowing the alcohol will help you maintain focus and concentration throughout the wine tasting session. As you might have noticed by now, wine tasting requires your full attention and sharp senses. Those are hardly maintained with loads of alcohol running through your system.

What impressions does the palate of a wine communicate to the taster? There are five areas to consider: aromas’ nature, intensity of flavours, structural components (sweetness, acidity, tannin, alcohol, body), mousse (for sparkling wine) and progression. I will detail each of them.

As a side note, bear in mind that it’s virtually impossible to fully gauge the wine’s dimensions in a single sip. The good news is that you don’t have to. Feel free to have several measured sips. Great wines cannot be grasped all at once. They require patience to be savoured and understood. Focus on a few elements at a time. For example, first examine acidity and sweetness. In another sip consider alcohol, body, tannins, etc. Another approach could be to form a very general impression with the first taste. Then use the subsequents sips to refine your first perception and get more detailed information.

Aromas’ nature

As I explained in my article What you need to know about wine flavours, we perceive aromas both on the nose and palate. In both circumstances, flavours are recognised by our sense of smell. The latter operates in two different ways. When we sniff scents, we are using the so-called orthonasal olfaction. It’s a more direct way of capturing flavours. The other way is the retronasal olfaction which takes place when aromas are detected via our oral cavity, using the retronasal pathway (located behind the mouth at the back of the throat).

The two olfactions operate in a slightly different way. When wine reaches the mouth, our body warms the liquid which brings out the less volatile compounds in the aromatic profile. Some scents become stronger when warmed up. A good example is garlic. It has a stronger smell when heated up. This is why it’s important to observe the flavours on the palate. Expect more or less the same flavours you found on the nose to be on the palate. However, you might find some aromas are more accentuated or missing. Occasionally you will find new aromas on the palate that you didn’t capture on the nose.

Regardless of the particular olfaction used to capture aromas, the way you classify flavours is the same. As explained in my previous article, flavours belong to three categories: primary, secondary and tertiary. Each category has clusters containing an array of similar nuances. In turn, each cluster contains specific aromas.

Intensity of flavours

The terminology for intensity of flavour is the same whether it is sensed on the nose or the palate. I covered this in my previous article so I will only provide a brief summary here. When describing intensity, the following terms are generally used:

• Light: the wine has faint scents, difficult to catch and pinpoint
• Pronounced: the aromas are very strong and concentrated. They are detectable even before dipping your nose into the glass
• Medium: indicates a moderate intensity, between light and pronounced

To measure intensity (and the other quantitative dimensions of wine) you can use either a 3-point or 5-point scale. In the 3-point scale, you use terms such as low (or light), medium and high (or pronounced). You can use a 5-point scale if you want a more precise evaluation. In such a case, you add 2 intermediate values: medium- and medium+. Medium- means on the medium zone, but closer to low rather than high. Conversely, medium+ indicates the dimension’s value is closer to high (but not quite that) than to low.

Structural components: the backbone of the wine

I wrote extensively about the structural components of wine in my two articles What constitutes wine? Part 1 – Sweetness and acidity and What constitutes wine? Part 2 – Alcohol, tannins and body. They provide a detailed insight about the building blocks of wine: sweetness, acidity, alcohol, tannin, and body.

I will offer a brief recap here, since you require this to appraise all the aforementioned dimensions when working the wine on your palate.

Sweetness

Sweetness is the taste of the sugar in wine. In wine lingo, dry means absence of detectable sugar. There might still be some grams of residual sugar, but you just don’t notice it. You can find the expression bone dry, meaning the wine tastes “drier than dry”. Usually dry and bone dry are synonyms. On the other end of the spectrum, a wine is sweet when sugar is its prominent feature. Sweet wines are normally drunk with dessert. Examples include Port, Sauternes, Tokaji, Alsace SGN, Icewine.

Some wines fall between the two extremes (dry and sweet) and these have a specific terminology. For example, off-dry wines have a barely noticeable touch of sugar. A number of gewurztraminers and some German rieslings fall into this category. The words medium-dry and medium-sweet are used to describe wines where the sugar presence is distinctive, but not enough to be the major feature. Some Vouvray and sparklings fall into this category.

Acidity

Acidity is a measure of the freshness and crispness of a wine. Acidity makes your mouth quench giving a sense of focus and precision to the flavours. 

To detect acidity on the palate, remember that acidity makes your mouth salivate. The more the mouth waters – and the longer – the higher the acidity in the wine. This sensation is usually more evident on the sides of your tongue.

A wine that displays a high acidity can be defined as lively, fresh, bright, firm, zippy, crispy, racy, angular. High acidity can be the mark of wines produced in cool climate (as discussed in this article). Some grape varieties have an inherent high acidity. These include riesling, sauvignon blanc, pinot noir, cabernet franc.

On the other hand, a low level of acidity makes the wine taste flabby, shapeless and dull. Wine produced in warm and hot countries tend to have lower levels of acidity. But low acidity can also be due to the nature of the grape variety. Grapes such as gewurztraminer, palomino, grenache, dolcetto naturally have a low acidity.

Acidity can be measured with a 3 (or 5) point scale: low, (medium-), medium (medium+), high.

Tannin

Tannins are phenols that affect the taste and texture of red wine. These compounds originate from the grape’s skin, stems and (when used) oak barrels. Mainly, tannins have two effects on the taste of wine. Firstly, they cause a drying sensation in your mouth. Think about eating an unripe persimmon. Secondly, tannins affect the wine’s texture. The extent to which these effects express themselves in the wine depends on the nature of the tannins.

Tannins have a number of different natures. Ripe, evolved tannins might not cause a pronounced astringency in your mouth. Instead, they will contribute to a full body and a mouth-coating effect. The wine will feel dense on the palate. Less ripe or green tannins taste drier and more bitter. In this case the astringent effect is more pronounced.

Tannins can be measured with a 3 (or 5) point scale: low, (medium-), medium (medium+), high.

Alcohol

Alcohol in wine has both a taste and aroma. From a taste perspective, alcohol contributes to the texture and the body of a wine. Alcohol is more viscous and thicker than water. Therefore the greater the alcohol, the fuller the body of the wine. When the alcohol content of wine is high, you can sense a boozy burnt flavour that is almost peppery.

Alcohol content is usually measured using a 3-point scale: low, medium and high. Generally a wine below 12% abv is said to have a low alcohol level. Several German rieslings and Moscato d’Asti fall into this category. Wine described as having medium alcohol content is usually between 12% abv and 13.5-14% abv. Higher than that, the wine is considered to have high alcohol. Full bodied Australian Shiraz, Amarone della Valpolicella, zinfandel/primitivo are in this category.

Body

Body is the textural impression or the weight on the palate created by a wine. Body is not a single component, but more the combination of several factors: alcohol, tannins, acidity and sugar.

Alcohol is really the main aspect contributing to the body. Crucially, the more the alcohol the fuller the body. Sugar content also enhances body. I’m sure you’ve noticed that sweet wines usually feel viscous to the palate. On the opposite side, high acidity decreases the perception of body, providing wine with more freshness and kinetic energy.

When talking about body, people normally use expressions such as: light-bodied, medium-bodied, full-bodied. A useful analogy to grasp the essence of body is milk (skimmed, semi-skimmed, whole milk). On a very general level, we can describe the three main levels of body in wine as follows:

• A light-bodied wine has subtle flavours, feels quite watery and thin on the palate; think skimmed milk; some examples: sauvignon blanc, pinot noir, schiava, German Kabinett riesling, pinot blanc, Beaujolais, Prosecco, Vinho Verde 
• A full-bodied wine is rich, complex, textured in the mouth; it feels “dense” and thick, with more viscosity on the palate; think whole milk. Some examples: Brunello di Montalcino, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, zinfandel/primitivo, Australian Shiraz, Châteauneuf-Du-Pape
• A medium-bodied wine sits somewhere in between the two extremes; it can be compared with semi-skimmed milk. Examples include: Chianti, red Bordeaux, red Burgundy, cabernet franc, Valpolicella, mencia

If you want to be more precise, you can use a 5-point scale. In this case, you add terms such as medium+ (between medium and full) and medium- (between light and medium). 

Mousse: the bubbles’ texture

When tasting a sparkling wine, the carbon dioxide creates a mousse that should be considered when assessing the palate. We can describe the mousse as delicate, creamy or aggressive.

• Delicate: the bubbles are very soft and delicate on the palate. This is a characteristic of more refined and subtle sparkling wine, such as aged Champagne
• Creamy: most fizz fall into this category; a creamy mousse generates a lively sparkle sensation; the bubbles tingle your mouth but they are not too aggressive
• Aggressive: these wines seem to explode on the palate, and the sparkles get in the way when gauging the other characteristics of the wine; usually very young wines or cheap fizz exhibit this feature

Progression

Every wine has a story to tell. Depending on its complexity, it can be a single sentence… or a full book! Pursuing the parallelism between wine and stories (after all, this is what this blog is about!), try and observe how the wine’s story evolves on the palate.

Looking at the progression of a wine in your mouth, you can identify three phases: attack, mid-palate and finish. Pay attention to how the wine’s flavours, their intensity and structural components unfold throughout the three stages. Take some notes about this development. As I said, it’s like listening to the story the wine is telling you!

• The attack is the beginning of the story. It defines the initial sensations of the wine as it lands on your palate and comes into contact with your tastebuds
• After the attack, you experience the middle of the story – the mid-palate. Once the liquid has filled the mouth, the sensorial impressions settle. You might be able to discern new aromas or have a better understanding of some structural components. There might be an evolution from the attack or, as it happens with simpler wines, the sensations remain pretty much the same
• When you swallow (or spit) the wine, you enter the last phase: the end of the story – the finish. Observe the final impressions that linger in your mouth. For red wines, usually the finish is characterised by more astringency on the palate. An intense and long finish is the hallmark of great wines (see my next article on wine quality). In this phase you clearly see the wine’s harmony. All the flavours and the wine’s nuances magically coalesce in the finish

Evaluate: draw your conclusions

You have noted the visual characteristics of your wine. Appreciated its nose. The wine has told its story on your palate. Did you duly take notes during the process? Good, because now it’s time to consider all the information you have gathered. At this point, the taster should answer three questions. Do I like the wine? Is it a good wine? Is it ready to drink now?

Do I like the wine?

“De gustibus non disputandum est.” This Latin adagium translates as “about tastes, it should not be disputed/discussed”. It could not fit more here. Whether you like a wine is really a matter of personal preference. There is no right or wrong answer. Nonetheless, it would be good (for you) to understand why you like a particular wine. Is it because of its pronounced fruity primary aromas? Or because it has a high acidity? Your tasting notes should help you better understand your own taste. 

Is it a good wine?

Theoretically quality (in wine and life) is an objective factor. As such quality is measurable and explainable. In practice, however, this concept is much more elusive.

A judgement like “I love this one” is totally different from saying “this wine is of great quality”. You might encounter a wine that is technically outstanding, but you still don’t like it. Vice versa, you might love (for various reasons) a wine that is not qualitatively great. That’s totally fine. 

Quality is a huge topic in the wine world. Loads of books exist on the subject. It is such an extensive topic that I will explore quality in wine separately in my next article.

There is no general consensus among wine critics and connoisseurs on what quality is and how we can measure it. For the time being, consider that you need to find out some measurable quality criteria and base your judgment on these. I will offer my personal view.

I believe there are six characteristics that determine quality in wine:

• Balance
• Intensity of flavours
• Complexity
• Clarity
• Typicity
• Length of finish

See my next article on quality in wine for further details about each of the above criteria.

A judgment on quality

Once you know which quality factors to consider, you can proceed to making a judgment for each wine you have tasted. Some people find it inappropriate (even offensive) to judge wine. They say making wine is a form of art and as such it shouldn’t be rated with trivial or objective means. Personally I don’t find anything wrong in judging wine. We rate movies, music, books – why should wine be an exception?

There are a few approaches to scoring wine:

• A discrete quality level terminology; for example, the WSET School uses 5 values: poor, acceptable, good, very good, outstanding
• A “star” system; Vivino uses a five star scoring system; wines are judged with stars instead of quality terms, but it’s basically the same thing
• Some wine critics use a 100-point scale, or 20-point scale (Jancis Robinson)

Consider your quality criteria and how many boxes the wine ticked. Is it great in each category? If yes, it’s outstanding (or 5 stars). Does it score highly in four out of the six categories? Then it’ll probably be very good (3.5 – 4 stars).

Find the system that best suits you and incorporate it into your critical evaluation. Even though I have nothing against rating wine, I advise against only using a scoring system. Try to integrate your judgment with words. A sentence or two to explain your critical assessment will make your judgment more complete and round.

Is it ready to drink now?

The readiness for drinking is usually part a wine’s critical evaluation. In other words, you ask the question: will the wine improve with age? Or would you be better off drinking it now?

Regarding its readiness, a wine can be classified as the following:

• Too young: indicates that the wine is a bit rough now and it will definitely get better with age. For example, some very young Bordeaux or cabernet sauvignon may fall into this category. Their tannins and acidity may need time to mellow
• Not suitable for ageing: the wine won’t improve with age. It lacks the intensity and structure to mature positively over time. A wine may also be in this state if it’s already fully developed, therefore further ageing will just detract from the current aromatic profile
• Suitable for ageing: if a wine has a pronounced intensity of flavours, with good complexity, high level of tannins (for red) and acidity (both red and white), then odds are it can be aged and it will positively evolve over time. Please note that a wine that is suitable for ageing can be drunk immediately as well. Whether you prefer the taste of aged wines or you favour young and fruity wines is a matter of personal preference and is not the sign of a connoisseur
• Too old: when a wine has declined to the point that the negative sensations (lack of freshness, staleness, etc) prevail

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have reached the end of my wine tasting series. If you read all my four (rather long) articles you are certainly in a good position to become a wine connoisseur. You now know how to analyse the visual components of a wine, appreciate the unfolding flavours on the nose, gauge the wine’s characteristics on the palate. You also know how to consider all the information gathered in the process to make critical evaluations about the wine you have tasted.

Alas, reading a wine tasting series on a blog (as amazing as it can be… nudge, nudge!) is not enough to turn you into a wine expert. As I pointed out in my first article of the series, practice, time and patience are required.

That’s one of the fascinating aspects of wine. It’s a complex subject, and to get a glimpse of it you need an extensive knowledge of places, traditions and people. Want a better way to improve your vinous expertise?  Why don’t you organise a wine tasting? I think you have everything you need by now…