The Wine Noob Tries Her Hand At Tasting Notes

I opened a bottle of 2006 Pillar Box Reserve Shiraz from Henry's Drive Vignerons this afternoon. It's an Australian, and at $20 it is by far the most expensive bottle of wine I've ever bought. Yeah, I'm just extravagant like that.

So how does one properly taste wine? I called upon my trusty sidekick, Google, for some guidance. There's plenty of information out there, to be sure, and I settled on How to Taste Wine Like a Pro from the folks over at eHow.

Step one: Observe the color. It's pretty. Deep, inky purple. I want that color on my toenails. It would be sassy.

Step two: The classic Swirl'n'Sniff maneuver, which wine snobs in movies execute with a dramatic, comic flourish. "Try to detect the smell of fruity or floral notes. Decide what they remind you of if possible."

Okay. Um. I dunno. I drew upon the article's own list of example adjectives for some prompting. Peppery. Chocolaty. Burnt toasty. Those made some sense to me. Maybe a little bit of burning Autumn leaves in there, too. (They had "smoke" on their list, but that felt inadequate.)

Step three: The Sip'n'Swish, a small sip with a bit of air swished in. "Spicy" is a slam dunk. Syrupy. Toasted. Mole sauce and cheap cigarettes. It was reminding me of something, but I couldn't put my finger on what, exactly until I rummaged through my spice drawer. Cardamom. Yes. That would be the missing link.

Step four: Note the length of the finish. Hmm. Well, it seems longish to me. The aftertaste leaves me badly wanting a thick slice of fresh buttered sourdough.

Frankly, this particular Aussie shiraz isn't really my cup of tea. I think it was very highly rated by one of the wine rags, or I wouldn't have picked it up for the price. However, the bottle does say it benefits from decanting. I don't have a decanter, but I'll usually pour a glass and put a potholder over it for an hour to let it breathe, figuring that's close enough for government work. I might like this better tomorrow after it's had some more air time.

So how do you taste wine? I probably still don't know, but this was a fun little experiment that tickles my natural wordsmith streak, so it's definitely one worth repeating.

EDIT: For amusement, here's the Wine Advocate review:
"The grapes for the 2006 Reserve Shiraz were selected from the best Shiraz parcels used to make Pillar Box Red. They were aged in new oak, 75% French and 25% American. Opaque purple-colored, it offers up a classy bouquet of smoke, vanilla, saddle leather, bacon, and blueberry. This leads to a full-bodied, plush, seamless wine with no hard edges to its lengthy finish. It has the stuffing to evolve for 2-3 years but I can think of no reason for delaying gratification. It is a great value." - Wine Advocate