How to Taste Wine Like a Pro

People have different tolerance levels and perceptions, so tasting is subjective. WSET gives that as one reason to use its Systematic Approach to Tasting (SAT), which separates tasting into appearance (how the wine looks), nose (how the wine smells) and palate (how the wine tastes), then draws conclusions on quality. On a WSET course, the SAT lets the educator calibrate the group's palate, allowing for an objective assessment of the wines. According to Steven Spurrier, Decanter's former consultant editor: "Michael Broadbent's flow of tasting still rules: colour, nose, palate, aftertaste and spit." At home, the habit is the same: look, smell, taste, then conclude.

• WSET SAT order: appearance, nose, palate, then conclusions on quality.
• Tasting is subjective because people have different tolerance levels and perceptions.
• A shared method lets an educator calibrate a group's palate for an objective assessment of the wines.
• Quality in the SAT is judged on balance, length/finish, intensity and complexity.

Start by looking. Pour the wine into a clear glass, hold it in front of a white background such as a piece of paper or a tablecloth, and tilt the glass to examine the colour and its intensity. The WSET grid checks clarity, intensity and colour. A handy way to read the glass is three clues: depth, hue and rim. Depth is the intensity line on the WSET grid: how dark or light a wine is, from pale through medium to deep. Jancis Robinson's site gives this test for reds: hold the glass at a 45-degree angle over a book. If you can easily read through it, it is pale; if you cannot see a hint of lettering, it is deep. The grape and how much colour is extracted from the skins both affect depth. Varieties with relatively high levels of extractable anthocyanins, such as Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, or with relatively thick skins for the size of their berries, such as Petit Verdot and Petit Sirah, tend to make deeper-coloured wines. Pinot Noir lacks acylated anthocyanins, a more stable form, and generally produces lower levels of anthocyanins, so its wines are generally lighter in colour. In the winery, the amount of colour extracted depends on methods such as the length of fermentation. Hue is the colour itself. Youthful reds range from purple to ruby, and with age they progress to garnet, then tawny. Youthful whites range from lemon-green to gold, and pale-lemon wines progress to gold, then amber, with age. Whatever the starting colour, oxygen causes all wines to brown with age. A red's colour also tells you about its oxygen history: young wines are typically vivid, with fresh red and purple colours, and as they see more oxygen the colour shifts toward the orange and brick red spectrum. The rim is the third clue. In a tilted red, the centre looks darker than the rim because the centre holds more wine. Bricking of an older red is first seen at the rim, because that is where the colour is less intense. Not every brick note means age, though: Decanter's tasting glossary uses "brick red" for the absence of the violet or purple colours of some very young wines, more a lack of intensity than a sense of maturity. In whites, a broad, watery, nearly colourless rim means pale, while colour that stretches to the rim means deep. Clarity sits first on the WSET grid. The majority of wines are clear, and haziness can sometimes indicate a fault or a winemaking choice. Appearance can help you narrow down a wine's age, grape variety and winemaking, but as Jancis Robinson's site puts it, "you should never try to guess a wine by sight alone."

• Look against a white background and tilt the glass: check clarity, depth (intensity) and hue (colour).
• Depth depends on the grape and on how much colour is extracted: Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah tend deeper; Pinot Noir is generally lighter.
• WSET red scale: purple, ruby, garnet, tawny, brown. White scale: lemon-green, lemon, gold, amber, brown.
• Bricking of an older red shows first at the rim, where the colour is less intense.

Swirl the glass a few times to aerate the wine and release its aromas; keeping the glass on the table makes this smoother. Then bring the glass to your nose. Tasters separate the first impression from the "second nose", the more studied reflection gained by swirling the wine in the glass to release more than it gave at first. The first sniff is key. Nasal adaptation means your nose quickly gets used to smells, so each further sniff seems progressively less intense. If your nose feels tired, reset it by smelling yourself, for example by burying your nose in the crook of your arm. WSET sorts what you smell into three layers. Primary aromas and flavours come from the grape and alcoholic fermentation. The WSET Level 2 lexicon groups them into clusters such as floral (blossom, rose, violet), black fruit (blackcurrant, blackberry, blueberry, black cherry, black plum) and spice (black or white pepper, liquorice). Secondary aromas and flavours come from post-fermentation winemaking: yeast (lees, autolysis, flor) gives biscuit, pastry, bread, toasted bread, bread dough, cheese and yogurt; malolactic conversion gives butter, cheese and cream; oak gives vanilla, cloves, coconut, cedar, charred wood, smoke, chocolate and coffee. Tertiary aromas and flavours come from maturation. For red wine the lexicon lists dried fruit, leather, earth, mushroom, meat, tobacco, wet leaves, forest floor and caramel. For white wine it lists dried fruit, orange marmalade, petrol (gasoline), cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, almond, hazelnut, honey and caramel. Try to name a few things you smell, using those clusters as prompts: floral, fruit, spice, oak and, among the tertiary notes for red wine, earth. At WSET Level 3 the nose also gets a development call: youthful, developing, fully developed, or tired/past its best.

• Swirl, then nose the wine: note the first impression, then a second nose after swirling.
• The first sniff is key: each further sniff seems progressively less intense. Reset a tired nose by smelling the crook of your arm.
• Primary: the grape and alcoholic fermentation. Secondary: post-fermentation winemaking (yeast, malolactic conversion, oak). Tertiary: maturation.
• Name what you can, using the lexicon clusters as prompts: floral, fruit, spice, oak and, among tertiary notes for red wine, earth.

Take a sip and aerate the wine in your mouth. WSET teaches bringing the aromas to the back of the palate so they can be smelled again retronasally. Flavours on the palate are detected by the nose and not the tongue; the tongue can only taste sweetness, acidity, bitterness, salt and umami. The palate part of the WSET grid covers sweetness, acidity, tannin, alcohol and body, followed by flavour intensity, flavour characteristics and finish. Sweetness runs dry, off-dry, medium, sweet. For acidity, the duration of the mouth-watering sensation is a good indication of the level. Tannin comes from the skins, seeds and stems of the grape, and strong black tea is a familiar example of it. Most wines are medium in alcohol (11 to 13.9% abv); low-alcohol wines are below 11% abv and high-alcohol wines are 14% abv and above. Body is a combination of alcohol, tannin (in red wines) and sugar (in sweet wines), and runs light, medium or full.

• Aerate the wine in your mouth and bring the aromas to the back of the palate to smell them again retronasally.
• The tongue can only taste sweetness, acidity, bitterness, salt and umami; flavours on the palate are detected by the nose.
• Acidity: the duration of the mouth-watering sensation is a good indication of the level.
• Tannin comes from grape skins, seeds and stems; strong black tea is a familiar example. Body combines alcohol, tannin (reds) and sugar (sweet wines).

The finish is judged by how long the flavour characteristics linger and develop on the palate after the wine is spat out. It is one of the four parameters WSET uses to assess quality: balance, length/finish, intensity and complexity. The conclusion then places the wine on WSET's quality scale: faulty, poor, acceptable, good, very good or outstanding. In the WSET approach, a quality assessment is not an assessment of how much you like or dislike a wine.

• Finish: how long the flavour characteristics linger and develop on the palate after spitting.
• Quality parameters: balance, length/finish, intensity, complexity.
• WSET quality scale: faulty, poor, acceptable, good, very good, outstanding.
• Quality is separate from preference: it is not an assessment of how much you like or dislike a wine.

The WSET Level 2 specification lists serving temperatures as descriptors. Sparkling and sweet wines are served well chilled; light- and medium-bodied white and rosé wines chilled; full-bodied white wines lightly chilled; medium- and full-bodied red wines at room temperature; and light-bodied red wines at room temperature or lightly chilled. Jancis Robinson's site sets out the principles: the cooler the wine, the less it will smell; the warmer the wine, the more it will smell; low temperatures emphasise acidity, bitterness and tannin, and high temperatures minimise them. The site's rough guidance in numbers: light, sweet whites 5-10°C (40-50°F); sparkling whites 6-10°C (42-50°F); light aromatic dry whites 8-12°C (46-54°F); full sweet whites 8-12°C (46-54°F); medium-bodied dry whites and light reds 10-12°C (50-54°F); full dry whites 12-16°C (54-60°F); full or tannic reds 15-18°C (59-65°F). How much you pour matters too. Fill the glass no more than two-thirds full, or preferably less than half, which leaves room for the wine to be swirled and for the aromas to collect in the upper part of the glass.

• WSET: sparkling and sweet wines well chilled; light- and medium-bodied whites and rosés chilled; full-bodied whites lightly chilled.
• WSET: medium- and full-bodied reds at room temperature; light-bodied reds at room temperature or lightly chilled.
• Cooler wine smells less and shows more acidity, bitterness and tannin; warmer wine smells more and shows less of them.
• Pour no more than two-thirds full, preferably less than half, to leave room to swirl.

Primary sources (Wine & Spirit Education Trust): https://www.wsetglobal.com/media/13156/wset_l2wines_sat_en_may2023_issue2.pdf https://www.wsetglobal.com/media/11766/wset_l3wines_sat_en_may2022_issue2.pdf https://www.wsetglobal.com/media/13022/wset_l2wines_sessionplans_en_may2023_issue2.pdf https://www.wsetglobal.com/media/19132/wset_l2wines_specification_en_april2026_issue21.pdf Secondary sources: https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/blind-tasting-part-2-gathering-visual-clues https://www.jancisrobinson.com/learn/drinking-wine/how-to-serve-wine https://www.decanter.com/premium/wine-tasting-an-expert-guide-455662/ https://www.decanter.com/learn/how-to-analyse-wine-colour-2-63415/ https://www.decanter.com/learn/taste-wine-in-the-restaurant-364949/ https://www.decanter.com/wine/victoria-moore-were-more-sensitive-to-certain-odours-when-hungry-551527/ https://www.guildsomm.com/public_content/features/articles/b/jamie_goode/posts/the-visual-assessment-of-wine https://www.guildsomm.com/public_content/features/articles/b/gus-zhu/posts/behind-the-glass-the-chemical-and-sensorial-terroir-of-wine-tasting https://www.decanter.com/learn/how-to/how-to-read-tasting-notes-51254/ Last verified 2026-11-02