Simple Wine Tasting Mat
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Wine tasting mats will help to organise the flow of your wine tasting event. The placemats let the guests know what they need to do without having to ask.
Simply print and lay out a place mat in front of each of your guests. Preselect between 4 – 8 wines for your guests to taste.
You could also laminate the placemats and grab some reusable pens to you can use the mats again and again.
What to do:
- Print the Wine Tasting Mats for each person
- Select between 2 – 8 wines to taste
- What’s the first thing you smell? Berries? Coffee notes? Passionfruit? Toast?
- What does it taste like? Bitter? Sharp? Earthy? Sweet?
- Make a note of something you really like or don’t like
- Give the wine a rating.
Tips on what types of wine to serve and when
White before Reds
White wines are lighter than red wines. A heavy red can dull your palate so start with light whites to begin.
Light body before heavy body
It’s very challenging to taste the subtilty of Pinot Noir after sipping a big, full bodied Cabernet. Likewise, a Pinot Gris after a Chardonnay will get lost.
Sweet before dry
When you start with sweet wines, the drier wines taste too acidic. So you’ll have your Riesling before your Sauvignon Blanc. But because of the light body vs. heavy body rule, you’ll have your Chardonnay as your last white.
Smell – Swirl – Smell – Sip – Suck – Sip – Suck
- Smell the wine try to identify the aromas
- Swirl the wine gently in the glass – this will release more aromas
- Smell again – do you notice anything different?
- Sip – take a small sip of the wine and hold it in your mouth
- Suck in a little air it helps to breathe the to open
- Sip again the flavour will be different than your first taste.
Tips on scoring
Forget numbers and focus on what really matters. Does this wine make you: happy? angry? disappointed? randy? You’d be surprised how many professionals just draw a smiley face at a large professional wine tasting.
Final tip
Make sure you have lots of water for your guests to sip during tastings to cleanse their palates and to keep them from slipping off their chairs! Some people serve French bread or water crackers between sips.
At the end of the wine tasting pour a glass of your guests favourite wine and enjoy a cheese platter with cheddar, mozzarella, crisp apple and pear. olives, more crackers and bread.
