Things Not to Do at a Wine Tasting

You're lucky enough to have been invited to a wine tasting or you're paying to attend one. It doesn't matter. There is etiquette to be followed. And, like much of the other etiquette in life, it is all about respect. Respect your hosts, respect the other guests, and respect the wine.

Wine tasting are about tasting wine. There shoud be no mistake to that. The label does not say getting drunk on wine or being obnoxious about wine. It says wine tasting. So, do that; taste the wine. With all of your senses.

If a wine tasting is being run properly, you and all of the other guests will be given a small pour of each wine. Note. Small. You have been given enough to taste, not to drink. In fact, it is a far bigger sin, believe it or not, to complain about the small amount you have been given than it is to leave some behind or even to spit some out into a spit or dump bucket.

When each guest has been served, look at the wine, swirl the wine, smell the wine, and then take a small taste of the wine, all the while listening to what the host/educator/sommelier has to say. Listen to their observations and ask your own. Feel free to ask appropriate questions. An example of an appropriate question to ask in the group setting might be. "Is this wine 100% [insert name of grape] or are there are other grapes in it as well?" A less appropriate question, although you can ask this more privately is "How much does this wine cost?"

Again, you are at a tasting. Your objective is to taste. Your objective is not to get drunk. Nobody really likes being at a tasting trying to savor the wine and learn something about it and having the drunk person always asking for more. Pace yourself. Sip. Taste. Savor. Remember, we all have our limits to the amounts we can comfortably drink. Just because the pours are small does not mean that 1 ounce times 5 has less effect than 5 ounces times 1.

And, then there is one of the biggest, most overlooked faux pas. Do not wear strong cologne or perfume or fragrance. Just don't. Strong fragrances interfere with the aromas of the wine. While in another setting, people might be entranced by the scent you have chosen, assume everyone else there has gone to savor the wine. Your fragrance has the definite ability to interfere with those wines. That's not fair to the other guests, so just don't do it. In fact, it is best to have little, if any, fragrance on your body.

To repeat, a wine tasting is to taste wine, to learn about what you are tasting, and to enjoy it with other people. Any other purposes are secondary.



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