Step 2: Smell

This step, known as the olfactory examination , is particularly interesting with Burgundy wines, which give off intense, complex aromas.

This is a 2-stage exercise:

- First, without moving the glass, smell the wine from directly above. This is the first nose and allows you to detect light, fleeting aromas and determine the overall character of the wine.

- Then turn the glass two or three times and breathe in, sniffing as if you were smelling a perfume. The second nose allows you to smell the aromas that develop with oxygenation. Your own sensitivity will help you to distinguish between the 700 possible aromas (spicy notes like cinnamon or vanilla, floral notes like acacia, animal notes like leather or fur…). If the second nose is more expressive than the first, this is a promising sign for tasting the wine.

Step 3: Taste

The final stage and certainly the most enjoyable one: thetaste examination.

Take a small sip of wine, hold it on your tongue and move it around inside your mouth. On the tip of the tongue you will notice sweetness, lthe sides of your tongue will detect acidity and the base, bitterness.

- In the first instance, one judges the attack which means the few seconds when the wine enters the mouth. It can be smooth, clean, lively….etc.

- Next, the wine coats the surface of the tongue and allows us to discover its astringency, acidity or mellowness.

- After swallowing, the taste persists on our tongue: this is known as length or persistence in the mouth.

Oenologists measure this “length” with a special unit of measure, the “caudalie”. This corresponds to one second of tasting perception. Some great Burgundy wines have a length of several dozen seconds.

If you want to put these tasting principles into practice and broaden your knowledge, whether you are a novice or connoisseur, why not take part in a wine-tasting course (lasting half an hour to a whole weekend)? You’re sure to find one of the many courses on offer to suit you!