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It is a common misconception amongst non wine connoisseurs that wine tasting amounts to merely sipping, swishing, and swallowing wine; this could not be further from the truth for the avid connoisseur. There is a definite art to wine tasting that takes years of studied practice to master.

Wine tasting notes can be utilized to distinguish a variety of fine wines and picking them is reliably depends on developing a trained palate which can only be attained over many years of practice. Wine that is properly housed and aged can be, to the connoisseur, an exquisite experience.

Wine tasting is totally dependent upon our sense of smell with more than 3/4 of the impact on our senses tied to the smell prior to even beginning to taste it. Most wine lovers will retell the experiencing of a fine wine and speak more of the wonderful aroma and then the taste. After the smell, it becomes the personal preference of the wine taster.

Proper wine tasting is initiated with the swishing that is most familiar to novices. The purpose of this activity is to circulate the taste of the wine by moving it between the front and back areas of the mouth in order to reach the taste buds contained in the tongue.

Taste buds do not necessarily have a noted taste factor, but they are capable of properly identifying food and beverages that are sweet, salty, and bitter with no problems at all. Therefore, the process of swishing is more about giving the senses an opportunity to extract the aromatic flavors in the wine being tested.

When you attain a basic understanding of the swishing technique and its purpose with a true wine connoisseur, there are three more elementary techniques that need to be taken into consideration when judging the quality of a fine wine - observation, smell, and taste.

Wine should ideally be served in a crystal clear glass so that the delicate color and hue are not distorted by the color of the glass. This allows the first step, observation, to be fully realized. With the sample, a wine connoisseur can take a leisurely approach to examining the wine. This is part of the process, taking a deliberately slow look to see if any imperfections in color and hue can be seen. For instance, White wines actually are not white. They range in color from a golden, pale brown to a shade of light green. Red wine is, by contrast, darker with a pink hue and can run the gamut between a dark pinkish color to a darker brown color.

After observation, the next step involves the olfactory senses or smell. This is a two-step process with a purpose. The first step is to take a quick sniff to get the general aroma of the wine. This is followed by a deep, extended inhalation that allows the wine taster to experience the full aroma at length.

Experts will generally pause at this point to take in and process what they have learned so far about the wine. They will want to reflect on the total experience with the wine.

After letting it come fully into their consciousness, a wine taster will then take a sip, swish it around to activate all of the taste buds to ascertain the wine and savor it fully prior to swallowing. This method allows all senses to be engaged in the process of taking in the wine, figuring the quality of it. This allows wine growers to figure out if their grapes, distillation process, and procedures used to store it in a wine cellar or storage unit was sufficient to produce a fine quality wine.

Having completed the steps of observing, smelling, and finally tasting the wine, you will then be able to discern the quality of the wine from a connoisseur's standpoint. This is the most comprehensive way to determine the aging, storage, and overall fitness of the wine for consumption. In addition, as with any skill, the more practiced you become, the more adept you will be at evaluating the unique and exciting flavors of this special beverage.