There’s nothing like a trip to the wine country. Any wine country. Whether you’re heading to the Willamette Valley, Walla Walla, Napa Valley, Sonoma or beyond, the clean air, beautiful vineyards, bucolic small towns, great food and sheer romance all make for a great time.

 

As a visitor to many wine regions over the past 40 years and an insider in the wine industry, I’ve observed that if you act like a pro and avoid rookie mistakes when tasting, you’ll get more respect, better treatment and, most importantly, have a better overall experience.

 

So, how can you avoid making boozy blunders and risk looking like an amateur? Don’t worry, your fearless wine columnist is happy to steer you in the right direction.

 

No Chugging. Tasting wine in the wine country is a marathon, not a sprint. The pros generally don’t swallow their wines in order to avoid becoming inebriated during a day filled with tastings. Here’s the preferred tasting method: Stick your nose into the glass and take a good whiff, then take a full sip, swirl it around your mouth, let it sit on your tongue for a bit and then spit it into a cup or dump tank. Wineries are happy to provide either and will immediately understand you’re there to experience their offerings, not get pounded. You’ll also make more informed and rational purchase decisions later in the day (trust me on this one).

 

Never wear perfume or cologne during a tasting. Classic rookie mistake. Much of your sense of taste comes from what you are smelling. The two senses are intrinsically linked. Do you remember when your mother made you eat something you hated and you held your nose as you forced the forkful into your mouth? The lack of smell actually cancelled much of the flavor. Imagine what turbo-charging the air with superfluous scents does to the perceived flavor in your glass. And worse, the glasses of those tasting around you. You may even notice the soaps at most wine country hotels are fragrance free. It’s not a coincidence.

 

Hold your glass correctly when tasting. It sounds silly, but it actually matters. You should always hold your wine glass by the stem. Pungent foods or even washing your hands with fragranced soap just before taking a sip of wine will leave a lingering smell that affects the wine’s flavor if you hold your hand near your nose on the bowl of the wine glass. Another reason to grip the wine stem is that the temperature of your hand is much warmer than the contents in the glass and will heat up the wine and affect the flavor. No bueno.

 

Legs don’t matter. Don’t make the rookie mistake of trying over-analyze the ‘legs’, or streaks, that form on the side of a wine glass after swirling the wine. It’s an urban myth that that the length of the legs is a predictor of the quality of the wine. The legs are formed by the alcohol mixing with air and, while aesthetically pleasing, offer no meaningful information to the drinker.

 

Trust your palate. The definition of a great wine is a wine you like. Don’t let others dictate what you should buy and certainly don’t be influenced by a higher price tag. More expensive doesn’t necessarily mean better for you. Wine preferences are completely subjective. If your palate is doing a Happy Dance, you’ve got a winner. That’s all that counts.

 

Tasting isn’t a performance…it’s an adventure. A wine enthusiast doesn’t so much drink wine as taste its secrets. Now go forth and enjoy your next wine trip like a pro!