The chef has put six wines on the pantry counter and asked you to write tasting notes for the guest folder before the charter starts. Left to instinct, you will write "nice" six times. A structured tasting approach gives you a repeatable order of operations, so that every wine gets described the same way — and so that two crew members can actually compare notes.
The Sequence
Always the same order: Appearance → Nose → Palate → Conclusion.
Appearance
Tilt the glass against a white background.
- Clarity — clear, or hazy? (Haze can indicate a fault, though some unfined wines are deliberately cloudy.)
- Intensity — pale, medium, deep.
- Colour — whites run lemon → gold → amber; reds run purple → ruby → garnet → tawny; rosés pink → salmon → orange.
Colour hints at age. Whites darken as they age; reds lighten and turn brick or garnet at the rim.
Nose
Swirl to release aromatics, then a short sniff.
- Condition — clean, or faulty?
- Intensity — light, medium, pronounced.
- Aroma characteristics, grouped in three families:
| Family | Source | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Primary | Grape and fermentation | Fruit, floral, herbaceous, spice |
| Secondary | Winemaking | Oak (vanilla, toast, smoke), lees (bread, biscuit), butter |
| Tertiary | Age | Dried fruit, honey, nut, leather, mushroom, petrol |
Palate
This is where the discipline pays. Assess these in order, each on a simple scale:
| Structural element | Scale | Where you feel it |
|---|---|---|
| Sweetness | Dry → off-dry → medium → sweet | Tip of the tongue |
| Acidity | Low → medium → high | Sides of the tongue; makes you salivate |
| Tannin | Low → medium → high (reds only) | Drying, gripping the gums |
| Alcohol | Low → medium → high | Warmth at the back of the throat |
| Body | Light → medium → full | Overall weight and texture |
| Flavour intensity | Light → medium → pronounced | — |
| Finish | Short → medium → long | How long flavour lasts after swallowing |
Separate sweetness from fruitiness. A ripe, fruity Shiraz is bone dry. Guests conflate the two constantly, and so do inexperienced crew.
Conclusion
State the quality, and whether it is ready to drink now, or would improve with keeping.
Onboard Notes
- Spit, do not swallow, when tasting on duty. Six wines swallowed is a serious amount of alcohol, and you are working.
- Neutral, plain vocabulary beats poetry. "Crisp, citrus, light and refreshing" tells a guest more than "a symphony of minerality".
- Watch how the guest reacts to the first sip, not just what they say. Politeness often hides a wine they are not enjoying.