The familiar “Sniff, Swirl, & Sip” method of wine tasting that is a staple of introductory wine courses and manuals for beginners like “Wine for Dummies” was not designed for consumers.
Please allow me to repeat that. It’s not for you, and it was never intended to be.
It is the approved method for blind tasting that is part of the training for wine industry professionals. Candidates for certification by the Court of Master Sommeliers or the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET), for example, are required to correctly identify four to six wines (depending on the course and level) and to do so under strict time constraints.
Most consumers are unaware of this; most professionals never question it.
Presented without context, the ritual of swirling and sniffing, of identifying aromas of “pencil lead” or flavors of “raspberries” serves only to perpetuate the perception of wine tasting as elitist, pretentious, and inaccessible to the general public. Worse still, it leaves consumers feeling intimidated and fearful of “getting it wrong,” leading many to either give up on wine entirely or to tragically limit themselves to a few safely familiar bottles.
The modern movement to establish professional standards for members of the wine trade began in London in the 1950s and 1960s. By that time, the city had been at the center of the global wine trade for centuries. For brokers, blind tasting was a necessary skill, essential for detecting fraudulent or adulterated wines. Ultimately, the long-established practice of blind tasting was incorporated into the training and certification of wine industry professionals. Today, the process is less about detecting fraud (although this is still very much a problem) than establishing objective criteria to judge the character and quality of wine. Following a rigorous, step by step analysis, candidates build a logical chain of evidence to deduce the grape variety, country and region of origin, the vintage year, and the quality level.
By the 2000s the increasing popularity of wine in the US led many consumers to pursue wine education for themselves. Professionals answered the demand for introductory books and courses by teaching the same techniques they had learned. The influence of the movie SOMM (released in 2012) and its sequels led many to enroll in the same courses previously open only to members of the wine trade. In 2020, the COVID lockdown supercharged this trend as the desire for and availability of online courses swelled.
It is clear in hindsight how a curriculum created for wine professionals became the default standard for consumers as well. Unfortunately, while there may be some who fantasize about quitting their job and pursuing a career as a sommelier, most wine lovers have more modest goals. They simply want to learn enough to enable them to find wines they like.
For our purposes then, wine tasting can be reduced to: Step 1. Pour wine from bottle into glass; Step 2. Pour wine from glass into mouth; Step 3. Enjoy. Why interpose between steps one and two what feels like an overly elaborate and entirely unnecessary ritual? It comes across less like an established method for tasting wine and more like a prank or a fraternity hazing. As a result, there have been many attempts to “demystify” or “simplify” wine education, followed by the inevitable backlash decrying the “dumbing down” of something irreducibly complex.
I am not suggesting either of those things. What I am proposing is the replacement of an overly rigid and ill-suited catechism by a more flexible and open-ended approach, one designed to meet every wine drinker where they are.
I would like to invite all of you to discover the simple pleasures of wine in common with others. My intention is not to enforce a rigid code but to preserve wonder, foster joy, and help you build the confidence you need to explore the amazing world of wine without fear.
WINE OF THE WEEK
Domaine Sérol Turbullent Vin de France Pétillant Rosé
There are some wines that defy categorization. There is nothing about the style or the grape or the producer or the region of origin that defines the wine or allows you to compare it to other similar wines. Your first taste of the wine is like the firm, sure handclasp of an old friend. Familiar. Heartwarming. Full of unspoken emotion.
The pétillant rosé from Domaine Sérol is one such wine. From the Côtes Roannaise in the upper, upper Loire, far enough upriver that the limestone of the Paris Basin gives way to the granite of the Massif Central. It is home to Gamay Saint-Romain, a local clone of the Gamay grape peculiar to the region. The local appellation doesn’t extend to the production of sparkling wine, so it is bottled as a simple Vin de France. Most of the thirty independent producers that call this tiny region home make a little bit of sparkling wine, typically in the pét-nat or méthode ancestrale style. The name Turbullent is a play on words; the French word for bubbles is bulles.
WINE REFERENCE OF THE WEEK
Theise, Terry. Reading between the Wines. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010.
From wine importer and singular champion of German and Austrian wines Terry Theise. A philosopher of wine of sorts (he prefers wine guru). One of the most thoughtful and introspective wine writers around. He has spent more time than most exploring the aesthetic side of wine, a counterpoint to the dominant analytical paradigm. Anything profound or insightful I might say after twenty years in the business of wine has already been said by Terry in the pages of this book. Very much worth your time to read through it. And then do so again. And again.