Instinctive Wine Tasting

Do you trust your instincts?

Yes I do, both in my life situations and also in pursuit of my life’s passions.

Wine : A Product of Passion

Whereas a lot is scientific methodology, techniques and machinery is involved in winemaking but in the end, wine is surely a product of passion.

This is supported by the fact that same plots of land with same terroir and similar machines can produce diversely different wines of varying quality where the major differential factor is the passion of the winemaker.

Structured Wine Tasting

Fast forward to wine consumption where the wine is often subjected to assessment of its quality and experience it offers. In today’s world this activity is primarily carried out by means of a structured wine tasting where structure elements of the wine like tannins, alcohol level, sugar and acidity are evaluated and bracketed in categories of mainly high, medium low.

Leading wine influencers also give ratings to wines, often marks out of 100, to establish their quality standard. Similar marking system is also done in various wine competitions.

Whereas in a competitive setting such a structured wine tasting, followed by a mathematical evaluation may be considered essential and even justified however, the pitfall of this is that if that’s the only way of evaluating we know and are used to, we subconsciously apply these methods even while sipping a wine casually at home or a restaurant, which is highly undesired and avoidable.

So where does all this lead to? Can there be any other manner of wine tasting ?

I googled this !!

Instinctive Wine Tasting

If wine is a product of passion then tasting it instinctively, makes sense. And when relying on instincts we enter a vinous realm that goes beyond just the analytical analysis of wine.

In fact we all are doing this already to a certain extent. When we take the first sniff and the first sip of any wine, and tell ourselves whether it’s a good wine or not – that in essence is the start point for the instinctive wine tasting.

For a start, we can ask the following questions to our own self in an Instinctive Wine Tasting:

Do the aromas and flavours of the wine give you a pleasurable sensation?

Does it conjure up memory of a past happening, either good or bad?

Are you enjoying it in the company around you or you feel it would have been more pleasurable with your close friends or family members around?

Any particular event you would like to celebrate with this wine – like the birthday of your child, a promotion celebration etc ?

Does the wine reminds you of place you’ve visited earlier or even one where you’d like to be at with this wine like a beach or hills?

To give a personal example, a refreshing Sauvignon Blanc with a crisp acidity will always remind me of our family holiday, where we had a great wine experience on a sunny day at the beach.

These are some suggested questions which can be used in an instinctive wine tasting. These are not exhaustive and all encompassing but certainly pave a path which can be followed by building more upon it.

NB: I referenced some of the views in this post from: https://awinestory.com/instinctive-wine-tasting/

Cheers !!