07 · Taste Beginner

A tasting note in five lines

A tasting note does not need to be flowery or long. Five observations — one per structural component — give you an accurate picture of any wine in under a minute.

The five lines

1 Line 1: Sweetness Does it taste of sugar?

You feel sweetness on the tip of the tongue in the first second of tasting. A bone-dry wine has none; an off-dry wine has a hint; a sweet wine has obvious sweetness. Most table wine is dry.

Example: "Dry — no residual sweetness detectable."

2 Line 2: Acidity Does it make your mouth water?

Acidity produces salivation. High-acid wines (Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, young Burgundy) make your mouth water strongly. Low-acid wines feel flatter and rounder. Tilt your head slightly — saliva pooling is the physical sign of acidity.

Example: "High acidity — mouth-watering, refreshing finish."

3 Line 3: Tannin Does it dry out your gums?

Tannin (in red wine only) creates a drying, gripping sensation on the gums and inner cheeks — similar to over-brewed black tea. Light reds (Pinot Noir) have soft tannin; full reds (Barolo, young Cabernet) have firm or grippy tannin.

Example: "Medium tannin — present but soft, not grippy." (or "N/A — white wine.")

4 Line 4: Alcohol Does it feel warm or burning?

Alcohol creates warmth, particularly on the finish and in the throat. Very high-alcohol wine (above 14.5%) can feel hot or burning. Check the label for ABV as confirmation — your palate sense and the label figure should roughly align.

Example: "Medium+ alcohol — slight warmth on the finish, label confirms 13.5%."

5 Line 5: Body Does it feel light, medium or full in the mouth?

Body is the overall weight and texture — light like water, medium like skimmed milk, full like whole milk. It is the sum of alcohol, extract, glycerol and tannin. The best description is the simplest: light, medium or full.

Example: "Medium-bodied — some weight but not heavy."

Putting it together

Five lines: "Dry. High acidity — mouth-watering. No tannin (white wine). Medium alcohol — no burn. Light-bodied." That is a complete structural note. Add one sentence of flavour: "Citrus and green apple fruit, mineral finish." That is a complete beginner tasting note. It takes 60 seconds and is far more useful than a list of invented metaphors.

For the full tasting method — look, smell, taste — that generates these observations, see the How to taste wine guide. For deeper understanding of what acidity, tannin and body mean in context, see the glossary entries for acidity, tannin and body.

Sources: WSET (systematic approach to tasting); Court of Master Sommeliers (tasting deductive method); Jancis Robinson MW (tasting note vocabulary and methodology). Last updated: 2026-10-15. Corrections via the contact form.

Questions

About tasting notes.

Why these five and not others?

Sweetness, acidity, tannin, alcohol and body are the five structural components assessed in formal wine education (WSET, Court of Master Sommeliers). Together they describe the architecture of a wine — its balance and feel — rather than just its flavour. Flavour descriptors (blackcurrant, toast, mineral) are less reliable across tasters and more subjective. Structure is more consistent and more useful for matching wine to food or predicting how it will age.

Should I describe flavour in my tasting note?

Yes — but separately from structure, not instead of it. After noting the five structural components, add a sentence on the main flavour impressions: fruit, earth, oak, secondary (fermentation-derived) or tertiary (age-derived) characters. The How to taste wine guide shows how to build a full tasting note that includes both structure and flavour.

How long should my tasting note be?

For personal notes: as long as is useful to you. A single word per component is enough if you just need a reminder. For communicating to others (recommending a wine, writing for a list), two to four sentences — five lines of structure plus one line of flavour and a conclusion — is the practical standard. The WSET Level 2 model note is approximately 80–120 words.

Can I do this in a restaurant?

Yes. You do not need to write anything or use technical terms. Running through the five questions silently — sweet? acidic? tannic? alcoholic? body? — takes ten seconds and gives you a structural picture of the wine. This is useful if you want to remember whether to reorder a wine, or to compare it to another glass at the table.