A guest hands you a glass at the pre-dinner tasting and says: "Tell me about this." You have perhaps twenty seconds. What you say has to be accurate, has to be free of jargon, and has to end with a judgement they can act on. That is the real test, and it happens at the table.
A structured approach to tasting
Taste the same way every time, so that differences are the wine and not your mood. This is our own structured method, written in our own words. It is not the WSET Systematic Approach to Tasting and does not reproduce WSET material.
- Appearance — clarity, intensity of colour, hue. Hue is your first clue to age and grape.
- Nose — condition (is it faulty?), intensity, then aroma character grouped as primary (fruit, floral, herbal, from grape and fermentation), secondary (oak, lees, malolactic), tertiary (development: dried fruit, nuts, mushroom, leather).
- Palate — sweetness, acidity, tannin, alcohol, body, flavour intensity and character, finish length.
- Conclusions — quality, readiness, and the explanation.
The step that defines this course: explanation
For every observation, name a cause.
| Observation | Plausible cause |
|---|---|
| High acidity, low alcohol, green apple | Cool climate, early harvest |
| Deep colour, firm tannin, black fruit | Warm climate, thick-skinned grape, long extraction |
| Vanilla, toast, smoke | New oak, medium-plus toast |
| Creamy texture, low acid | Malolactic conversion, lees ageing |
| Dried fruit, nuts, savoury notes | Bottle age and/or oxidative maturation |
Say "and therefore" out loud until it is a habit.
Judging quality
Quality is not a matter of taste. Judge it on five criteria, and be able to defend each:
- Balance — no single component sticks out; acid, tannin, alcohol, fruit and oak are in proportion.
- Length — how long flavour persists after swallowing. The least fakeable marker of quality.
- Intensity — concentration of flavour.
- Complexity — number and layering of distinct aromas and flavours.
- Typicity — does it taste like what it claims to be? A Sancerre that tastes like cheap Chardonnay has failed, however pleasant.
Grade honestly on a scale of your own and apply it to every wine: faulty, weak, sound, strong, exceptional. Price is not evidence of quality; it is evidence of scarcity, reputation and cost of production.
Readiness for drinking
Ask three questions: Are the tannins still hard? Is the fruit still primary and shut-down? Is the acid supporting the fruit or towering over it? A wine is ready when structure and fruit are in balance; too young when structure dominates; past it when fruit has faded and acid or tannin stands alone.
Talking to a guest
Translate. "High acidity with pronounced citrus and a long finish" becomes "It is crisp and lemony, and the flavour hangs around after you swallow, which is a good sign." Never correct a guest and never sell up on a wine you cannot justify.
Onboard Notes
Keep a small tasting note book onboard for every bottle in the owner cellar. Two lines each: what it tastes like now, and when you would drink it. Over a season that book becomes the most valuable document on the vessel.
A reminder on status: xplor is not a WSET Approved Programme Provider and is not affiliated with WSET. No WSET qualification, examination or certificate is awarded here, and nothing in this course counts toward one.