Step 3: Taste. Get that wine to your palate.

Now for the fun part: Tasting! You can enhance the flavor of the wine by “sucking” or aerating the wine when you take a sip. Roll the wine around in your mouth so it touches all parts of your tongue. Consider how the previous steps of glassware, temperature, appearance and aroma affect what you are sensing. Take note of any flavors the wine evokes and what you like and don’t like about the flavor.

Now that you’ve tasted the wine, you can either swallow it or spit it out. Whichever you choose, be sure you note the aftertaste of the wine. The finish of a wine is an important part of evaluating it. It may become more complex or have different flavors in the aftertaste – or even nothing at all.

Finally, think back on all the steps of the wine tasting and what you discovered with each one: the glass you used, characteristics due to temperature, the way it looked, any special aromas and the taste. Take a minute and appreciate your experience with the wine and the story you’ve unearthed!