Intro to Blind Tasting!

Hi everyone, welcome to video number two in our blind tasting mini course.

In this video, I’m going to run through the tasting process with white wines using Pinot Grigio as our example.

We’re going to cover sight and the visual clues.

We’ll cover the nose and the aromas you get from certain wines.

We’ll talk about palate and structural clues.

Then we’ll cover process of elimination, using all those clues to figure out what’s in the glass.

Have your blind tasting guide ready.

Have your Pinot Grigio guide ready too, since we’ll use it as our example.

Let’s start with sight.

Sight is the first box on your blind tasting guide.

It’s separated into two areas: color, and intensity or concentration.

Color is usually the most important clue for white wines.

Concentration matters too, even though it’s subtler than in red wines.

Color refers to the hue of the wine.

The different color options are listed on your blind tasting sheet.

Your first job is to decide which color category your wine falls into.

Concentration or intensity is how well you can see through the glass.

This is easier to assess in red wines, and harder in white wines.

For whites, I like to look at the center of the glass and see how far the color extends toward the rim.

If the color stays deep all the way to the rim, that suggests deeper concentration.

If the center has color but the rim turns watery and pale, that suggests a paler concentration.

In general, concentration is influenced more by winemaking.

Color is influenced more by the grape itself.

So what else can impact color and concentration?

There are four things I like to consider during process of elimination.

First is the DNA of the grape.

Some grapes are naturally more phenolic and more pigmented, often in more aromatic or thicker-skinned varieties.

Viognier is a good example.

Gewürztraminer is another example.

Other grapes are naturally paler in pigment.

Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc often fall into that paler, clearer-looking camp.

Second is oak aging.

If a wine is aged in barrel, it sees oxygen over time, and that can deepen color.

Varieties that may see oak include Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, and sometimes Pinot Grigio.

Third is bottle age.

If a wine has enough acidity and concentration to age, slow oxygen ingress over time can deepen the color.

Fourth is late harvest, or noble rot (botrytis).

When grapes hang longer, they shrivel, concentrate, and can deepen the wine’s color.

This only shows up in certain varieties.

Riesling is a classic example.

Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon (especially in Bordeaux contexts) can show it too.

Sometimes Gewürztraminer does.

Sometimes Pinot Gris does.

So when you’re looking at color, ask four questions.

Does the color make sense for the grape’s natural DNA?

Could the wine have seen oak?

Could it have some bottle age?

Could it be late harvest or botrytis-affected?

Now let’s apply this to Pinot Grigio.

This wine looks clear and pale.

I’d place it around lemon-yellow, in that middle color range.

The concentration is pale because I can see right through it.

That fits Pinot Grigio, which usually doesn’t have much pigment.

Because it isn’t deeper or more golden, oak seems unlikely here.

That fits too, since Pinot Grigio is typically stainless-steel made and meant to be youthful.

Bottle age also seems unlikely, because Pinot Grigio is usually consumed early, especially from Italy.

Late harvest is possible in some Pinot Gris styles, but most Pinot Grigio is picked earlier and made for freshness.

Next up is aromatic intensity.

This is about how quickly those aroma compounds reach your nose.

If you can smell the wine from a distance, that’s pronounced aromatic intensity.

If you start smelling it around chin level, that’s medium intensity.

If you have to put your nose deep into the glass to get anything, that’s low intensity.

Low intensity usually means a more neutral variety.

High intensity wines often feel very perfumed.

That’s often driven by identifiable compound families.

One is terpenes, which tend to read as floral.

Another is pyrazines, which tend to read as vegetal, like bell pepper or jalapeño.

Another is thiols, which tend to read as tropical and exotic fruit, often discussed with Sauvignon Blanc.

High intensity wines often include thicker-skinned, higher-phenolic varieties.

Think Gewürztraminer, Viognier, and Torrontés.

For our Pinot Grigio example, I’d call this medium intensity.

I can smell it around chin level.

I’m not digging my nose into the glass.

Now let’s dive into aroma notes, starting with fruit.

Fruit is the easiest category to work with.

No matter your level, it’s more useful to think in fruit camps than to chase one exact fruit.

The fruit camps are citrus, orchard (tree) fruit, stone fruit, and tropical fruit.

These camps are influenced by grape chemistry and by climate.

Citrus-driven wines often show up more in cooler climates.

They can feel fresher, like lemon and lime.

Examples might include Albariño, Pinot Grigio, and sometimes Riesling.

Orchard fruit tends to show in more moderate climates.

Think apple and pear.

These often show up in more neutral varieties like Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, and sometimes Pinot Grigio.

Stone fruit tends to show up with warmer conditions or more direct sunlight.

Think peach and apricot.

You may see this in some Riesling styles, Viognier, or warmer-climate examples.

Tropical fruit tends to show up in warmer to hot climates.

It can also be influenced by thiols in certain varieties, like Sauvignon Blanc.

Think papaya and pineapple.

A key note here: fruit camps aren’t locked to one grape.

Many varieties can span multiple camps depending on climate and winemaking.

Chardonnay is a great example, ranging from citrus in cool climates to tropical in warm climates.

In blind tasting, I like to choose the one or two fruit camps that show up most strongly.

For this Pinot Grigio, I’m getting mostly orchard fruit.

I’m thinking yellow apple.

I also get a little citrus, and a small hint of peach.

But if I had to pick one, it’s orchard fruit.

That suggests a relatively neutral variety in a moderate climate, which fits Pinot Grigio.

Next are non-fruit aromas.

These are trickier and often less expressive than fruit.

On the blind tasting guide, they include floral, herbal, vegetal, spice, and mineral.

Floral notes are tied to terpenes and often come from grape skins.

They’re most obvious in aromatic varieties like Gewürztraminer, Torrontés, and Viognier.

They can also show more subtly, like baby’s breath or soft white flowers, in semi-aromatic varieties.

Vegetal notes are linked to pyrazines, especially in Bordeaux varieties.

For white wine, Sauvignon Blanc is the classic example.

It can show bell pepper, jalapeño, snap pea, or grassy notes.

Spice can be tricky because it can be grape-derived or oak-derived.

Grape-derived spice can be more pungent, sometimes described as white pepper, like in Grüner Veltliner.

Some phenolic whites or skin-contact whites can also show spice.

Herbal notes can show as fresh herbs like rosemary, basil, thyme, or oregano.

They can come from skins and stems, and whole-cluster pressing can emphasize them.

Mineral notes are best treated as an association, not a literal soil compound.

There isn’t strong scientific evidence that a specific “soil flavor compound” travels into the wine.

I think of minerality as freshness, a lack of fruitiness, and a lack of oak.

It can read as wet stone, sea spray, or saline.

It often shows up in stainless-steel wines and cooler-climate profiles.

Now back to our Pinot Grigio.

Not a lot is shouting out of this glass, which makes sense for the variety.

I get subtle white floral notes, more like baby’s breath than anything perfumed.

I also get a mineral-driven wet-stone quality.

That lines up with a stainless-steel, cooler-climate-leaning Pinot Grigio profile.

Next are secondary notes.

These come from winemaking, not directly from the grape.

The big three are oak, malolactic fermentation, and lees aging.

These often make a wine feel richer aromatically.

Vanilla and baking spice often point you toward oak.

Butter and cream often point you toward malolactic fermentation.

Bread, toast, biscuit, or cracker can point you toward lees aging.

Oak can contribute vanilla, coconut, and baking spice-like notes.

If you’re getting those rich vanilla or spice cues, consider a variety that commonly sees oak.

That often includes neutral varieties, especially in warmer climates.

Malolactic fermentation converts malic acid to lactic acid.

It can create a dairy-like aroma, often linked to the compound diacetyl.

That’s the classic buttered popcorn association, though it can also read like sour cream or yogurt.

Lees aging can contribute toasty, bready, yeasty notes.

Lees are dead yeast cells that can be left in the wine and stirred to build texture and add those aromas.

For our Pinot Grigio, I’m not getting much winemaking richness.

No oak.

No obvious malolactic.

If anything, maybe a hint of lees texture, but overall it’s stainless-steel fresh.

Last are tertiary aromas.

These come from aging.

When you get tertiary notes, you should think about varieties that can age in bottle or oak.

Many varieties are meant to be consumed young, like Pinot Grigio, Albariño, and Grüner Veltliner.

Those wines usually won’t show much tertiary character.

Common tertiary signals include dried fruit.

Another is petrol, which is most famously associated with bottle-aged Riesling and intensified by sunlight and age.

Honey can also show up with age, often as a deeper, dried-sweet impression.

And there’s an earthier aged category, like dried leaves, nuttiness, and reduced fruit presence.

For our Pinot Grigio, it smells youthful, fresh, and vibrant.

I’m not getting any aged aromas, which fits perfectly.

Now we move to the palate section.

First, you compare what you smelled to what you taste and see what changes.

But the palate is mainly about structure.

A lot of what we call flavor is actually aroma, and structure is the key differentiator.

For white wines, structure includes sweetness, acidity, alcohol, and body.

For red wines, you add tannin.

For white wines, instead of tannin, you may note phenolic bitterness.

These structural components interact to create balance.

Start with sweetness.

Is the wine dry, or does it have residual sugar?

Residual sugar can come from stopping fermentation early, late-harvest fruit, or back-sweetening.

Sweetness is a sensation on your tongue, not a flavor.

It often shows up immediately.

Sweetness is commonly confused with fruitiness.

A useful trick is to exhale after you taste.

If you get fruity flavor on the exhale, that’s fruitiness, not sweetness.

Now acidity.

You gauge acid by how quickly and how much you salivate after a sip.

Immediate, intense salivation suggests higher acid.

Delayed salivation suggests lower acid.

Some grapes hold acidity well almost anywhere, like Riesling, Chenin Blanc, and Sauvignon Blanc.

Others tend to be lower-acid, like Gewürztraminer, Viognier, and often Chardonnay.

Climate matters too.

Cooler climates preserve acid.

Warmer climates tend to soften it.

Malolactic fermentation can also reduce the perception of acidity.

For Pinot Grigio, acidity often lands around medium to medium-plus, depending on where it’s grown.

Cooler sites push it up.

Warmer sites pull it down.

Next is alcohol.

Alcohol is driven largely by ripeness, which is driven by sunshine and climate.

More sun tends to mean riper grapes, more sugar, and higher potential alcohol.

Cooler climates often mean less sugar and lower alcohol.

Alcohol can also be lower if fermentation is stopped early and some sugar remains.

You can gauge alcohol in a few ways.

Visually, higher alcohol can create thicker legs after swirling.

On the nose, ethanol can register as heat or spice high in the nasal cavity.

On the palate, you can track where the warming sensation lands when you swallow and exhale.

If warmth stays mostly in the mouth, think lower alcohol.

If it sits mid-neck, think medium.

If it pushes lower and feels like a chest burn, think higher.

Most white wines sit around medium alcohol, roughly 13%.

Pinot Grigio usually sits around that range, sometimes slightly lower.

Next is body.

Body is the weight and mouthfeel of the wine: light, medium, or full.

The milk comparison helps a lot.

Light body feels like skim milk.

Medium body feels like 1% or 2% milk.

Full body feels like half-and-half or cream.

Body is driven mostly by alcohol and fruit ripeness.

Higher alcohol and riper fruit usually mean fuller body.

Lower alcohol and less ripe fruit usually mean lighter body.

Winemaking can also increase body, including oak, malolactic fermentation, skin contact, and late harvest.

Pinot Grigio often lands light to medium-minus in body.

If it has oak, skin contact, lees, or a richer style (like some Pinot Gris), it can feel more medium.

Now phenolic bitterness.

White wines don’t typically have tannin as a major structural marker, but they do have phenolics in the skins.

Sometimes those phenolics show up as a bitter, slightly drying grip on the tongue.

It can be a useful clue.

It shows up more in semi-aromatic to aromatic whites, and in some varieties with noticeable phenolic content.

I often notice it in Pinot Grigio, Albariño, and other semi-aromatic styles.

It can also be prominent in Gewürztraminer and Viognier.

To gauge it, ask: does the wine feel bitter, grippy, or slightly drying?

Pinot Grigio often shows a phenolic grip, and that’s a clue I personally use.

As you taste, try to identify the single structural element that stands out most for the variety.

Then taste the variety repeatedly and see if it keeps showing up.

That consistent standout is often your strongest blind tasting shortcut.

So with Pinot Grigio, here’s how I get there using the process.

It’s clear and pale, and it feels stainless-steel driven.

It has slight floral notes and a wet-stone minerality.

It leans orchard fruit with a bit of citrus and a small hint of peach.

Structurally it sits around medium acidity, medium-minus body, and medium alcohol for me.

And phenolic bitterness is my key structural takeaway.

Those are the markers I store, so I can pull them quickly in a blind tasting.

Now we’ll run this same framework with another white wine.

You can follow along and guess with me.

Starting with sight, this next wine is medium gold.

Immediately, I’m thinking: grape DNA, oak, bottle age, or late harvest.

That color puts several possibilities on the table.

Next, aromatic intensity is pronounced.

The aromas are highly perfumed and floral, jumping out of the glass.

That narrows my options quickly.

The three aromatic whites I reach for first are Gewürztraminer, Viognier, and Torrontés.

Now the aroma profile.

I’m getting lots of stone fruit and tropical fruit, with an exotic feel.

That suggests warmer climate or strong sun exposure.

Non-fruit notes are intensely floral, like elderflower and rose.

That points to high terpene expression.

I’m also getting some spice.

It could be skin contact or oak-derived spice, and I’ll confirm on the palate.

I’m not getting much oak richness, no malolactic, and no obvious lees character.

So I’m leaning away from richer neutral varieties that often show those winemaking notes.

I’m also not getting strong aged character, though there’s a honey-like note I want to confirm.

On the palate, I get similar flavors: ripe fruit and floral notes.

The wine is dry.

That makes late harvest or residual sugar less likely.

Acidity stands out as low, because my mouth isn’t watering.

That lets me rule out Torrontés, which is typically higher in acidity.

So now I’m between Viognier and Gewürztraminer.

The body is around medium to medium-plus, and alcohol feels medium.

That helps me rule out Viognier, which often shows elevated alcohol.

That leaves Gewürztraminer!

That’s an example of a personal profile built over time, and how it helps you narrow a wine in blind tasting.

In the next video, we’ll do the same process with red wines.

We’ll add in the extra red-wine-specific clues, including tannin.

I’ll use one red wine as an example, and then we’ll do another full blind run-through together with a mystery wine.