If you are the kind of person who wants to know all about wine before he even takes the first sip, then it is important for you to become familiar with the general terms that wine connoisseurs use, especially as they apply to red wines.
The first thing to consider is the physical aspect of the wine - clarity, color and intensity.
Clarity or the brightness indicates its acidity and quality.
Wines that look cloudy or hazy may suggest poor storage conditions or even contamination.
If crystals appear at the bottom of the bottle, or glass, this usually indicates that the wine has been stored at a cold temperature at some stage.
The color of a red should either be purple, ruby, garnet, brick or tawny, and is derived from the length of time that a wine ferments with the skin of the grapes, a process called maceration.
The longer this time lasts, the darker the color.
Pouring a small amount - about a third of a stemmed glass, can test the intensity or depth of a wine.
Look down into the center of the glass at the stem.
The deepest color will be at the center and gets paler towards the rim.
Tilt the glass halfway against a white background using a white napkin or the tablecloth.
The more mature the wine is will mean it is very pale, sometimes almost colorless, towards the rim.
When wine tasting, the smell of the wine or its "nose" becomes paramount.
Wines with very intense aromas, we often refer to as having a "big nose.
" It is polite to take a sniff before making a sip.
Make sure when you are tasting that you have a proper red wine glass, one that is close to a third to three quarters full of wine.
Swirl the wine around the bottom of the glass vigorously, releasing the alcohol and bringing bubbles to the top.
Place your nose into the rim of the glass and deeply inhale the aroma of your wine.
Your red wine may smell of light red fruits - cherry, raspberry, strawberry or currants; of dark red fruit - blackberry, black currant, blueberry, plum or raisin; or spicy - liquorice, anise, black pepper, cloves or cinnamon.
You may also get a whiff of other common aromas like woodsy, Smokey, coffee, tobacco, chocolates, earthy or floral.
The next step in wine tasting is to actually sip the red wine and allow it to make contact with your palate and tongue where the taste buds are.
The texture of the wine refers to its body, astringents and alcohol content.
You can describe the body of the wine - is it watery, full or heavy on your tongue? These are important factors when pairing red wine with food.
The tannins in the red wine will effect how astringent it is; similar to what one feels inside the mouth when drinking strong tea.
Those wines with higher alcohol content tend to have a heavier body and may cause a burning sensation down the center of the tongue as you drink it.
The taste of red wine is often judged on its Balance.
Firstly, how the fruit, the sugar, the acid and the tannin come together in the wine.
Second the Finish, this is the taste left in your mouth after swallowing.
Then lastly its complexity, the number of flavors you can detect in the wine that you have just swallowed.
The more "complex" wine is, usually suggests a much better quality, having a higher flavor intensity and longer finish.
Now that having been introduced to the common terms used when wine tasting red wines, it may be useful to know the generic names of the more common red wines - Cabernet Sauvignon, Chianti, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, etc.
You can learn to wine taste with your friends in a private red wine tasting party where you can compare and highlight the contrasts of the look, color and taste of different types of red wines and eventually know all about wines.