Santa Margherita

It is best to taste wines when you are in good physical and mental shape. It is a waste of time tasting when you have a headache, your stomach is out of sorts or you have to rush off to get to another appointment. The best time of day is late in the morning, on an empty stomach, when you are just starting to feel hungry and all your senses are at their sharpest. Your oral cavity should be free of the taste of sweets or cigarettes, and you should also avoid the use of scents or cosmetics. The tasting sequence is also important: this should start off with lighter and younger wines, so as not to blunt your senses. Between one wine and another, in order to “cleanse your palate”, you may wish to eat a piece of bread or a breadstick, as long as they are absolutely neutral in taste.
Lastly, do not allow yourself to be influenced and do not try to influence others. We do not mean by this that – in unofficial tastings – you have to follow a strict, silent ceremonial, but just that we can often be conditioned by the opinions of others (especially of people we consider to be more expert than ourselves). Be calm and attentive when carrying out the organoleptic analysis of a wine, and always bear in mind that there are innumerable types of wine, made from an infinite number of grape varieties in the most far-flung regions of the world. A taster’s skill does not depend on his (or her) ability to identify correctly the name of the grape variety, the age of the wine, the area of origin or the name of the producer, but it lies in his capacity to describe and measure in a clear, accurate and comprehensible manner his own visual, olfactory, gustatory/tactile and retro-olfactory sensations. It is at this point - and only at this point – that he will be able, based on his own tasting experience and the points of reference he has acquired over time, to come to a logical conclusion as to the wine’s origin and the way in which it was made.