How to Become a Wine Tasting Expert

Becoming an expert in wine tasting might seem like a very difficult task, but let me tell you that it is not as difficult as you think. You will need a good sense of taste, smell, and sight, along with some dedication and passion, to become a wine tasting expert. Let's understand the essentials to become an expert at tasting wine.

The difference between a good wine taster and an expert is, experience. Well, you will gain experience with time, but apart from that here are a few things, that will help you to become a wine tasting expert:

Do you really want to become a wine tasting expert? This is the first thing that you should ask yourself. If you are not sure about your decision, then there is no point in trying, as, to become an expert, you will need complete dedication from the word go. You will be tasting hundreds of wines in your quest to become a wine expert, so if you do not love wines then it will be tough for you. If you are sure about your decision, then go ahead.

Apart from the sense of taste, smell, etc. mentioned above, you need 2 more things:

• A notebook
• A wine dictionary

An expert always knows the jargon. If you do not use the right lingo, not many people will appreciate your expertize.

 So you should use a wine dictionary, and understand and memorize, the vocabulary of wines. Why is the notebook necessary? As I mentioned earlier, you are going to taste several wines, and there are chances that you may not remember the characteristics of every wine accurately.

So, you should make a note of all the wines that you taste. When you make notes, you should not forget to describe the color, taste, smell, contents and age of the wine.

Do not waste any opportunity that you get to taste a wine, or discuss wines. It is obvious why you should utilize every opportunity to taste wines. Also, let me tell you why you should discuss wines. When you interact with knowledgeable people, you are enriching yourself.

The discussion that you will have will improve your understanding about wines, and if you are lucky, you might also get some very valuable tips. I recommend you to join wine clubs, and various forums to know more about wines.

The reason why most of the people who foray into wine tasting do not become experts is, that they are seldom keen on experimenting. You should move out of your comfort zone, and be eager to taste different wines.

Even if you spend hours of research on a wine, you will not be able to judge it unless you savor it. The moment you stop experimenting, you will stop growing as a wine taster. If you want to ensure that your knowledge about wines keeps on increasing, then keep experimenting with new wines.

You might have tasted numerous wines, and made hundreds of pages of notes, but if you do not test yourself you will never realize where you stand. To know how much you have learned, and how much you need to improve, you should test your abilities. How to test yourself? Take random samples of wines, and try to identify them. To make this more interesting you can blindfold yourself while tasting the samples!

Various institutions offer professional courses in wine tasting. The biggest advantage that you will gain, if you enroll in such courses is that, wine tasting experts will be teaching you. You will surely learn some good tricks to identify wines. Such courses will obviously develop your skills, and will also make you realize that wine tasting can generate a reasonable income, if you are really good at it.

I am sure that you will become a wine tasting expert, if you stay dedicated. Once you become an expert, you can take up wine tasting as a profession, and become a successful sommelier.