Wine Tasting Notes
This wine tasting template
is inspired by Jancis
Robinson’s BBC Maestro
wine course. Jancis is
widely known as ‘the
world’s most influential
wine critic’ and in her
online course you can learn
about everything from
food and wine pairing, to
choosing the perfect bottle
for any occasion.
BBC MAESTRO WINE TASTING NOTES
How to prepare:
Aim for an odour-neutral wine tasting space. That means avoid rooms where
you’ve been cooking, or spraying perfumes and aftershaves beforehand, and
remember not to brush your teeth.
Use a room that has plenty of natural light and a table with a white tablecloth.
Choose a simple, stemmed wine glass, ideally with a thin rim.
Have something to spit the wine into if you’re planning on tasting several
wines at the same time.
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Wine Tasting Notes
Appearance
Tasting actions
A small amount of each
wine to be judged is
poured. It helps if all the
pours are similar in size.
Tip the glass away from
you against a white
background so the wine
forms an oval in the glass.
Look down at the wine and
assess its appearance.
BBC MAESTRO WINE TASTING NOTES
Questions to ask Considerations Comments and observations
Is the wine clear and Wine should be free from cloudiness and not be hazy. A cloudy wine may have been made in a non-
bright? intervention style (natural wine) but it could also
be faulty. Reserve judgment until the aromas and
palate have been assessed.
Does it have any Red wine, especially older bottles, may throw a light This is harmless. When the wine is to be served,
sediment? sediment. the sediment should be removed by careful
decanting.
White wines may not have been cold-stabilised before Despite some people thinking these crystals are
bottling and can throw a harmless sediment that look like glass or sugar, they are just harmless tartrates.
tiny white flakes in the bottle. Decanting the wine before serving will remove
these crystals.
Is there a difference Youthful wines don’t show much of a difference between The wine should look as expected. If there is
between the centre of core and rim but older bottles may show a marked gradation any appearance of browning of a young wine, in
the wine (the core) and of colour, paler towards the rim. any colour of wine, it could indicate the wine is
the edge of the wine spoiled.
(the rim)?
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Wine Tasting Notes
Appearance
Tasting actions Questions to ask Considerations Comments and observations

White wines start life pale in colour (called lemon, or straw) and If it is a recent vintage white wine, it should have
become progressively darker as they age. An old mature white a pale colour. Is the colour as you’d expect it to be
wine may take on a golden colour. for the grape variety and age of the wine?
Red wines are very deeply coloured when young, with purple Same as above for reds. Is the colour one you’d
notes, but get progressively paler as the wine ages. As the blue/ expect?
purple colour is lost, the wine is increasingly orange, especially
at the rim.

Nose
Tasting actions Questions to ask Considerations Comments and observations

Put your nose in the glass Is there a

and take a big sniff. Swirl difference?
the wine carefully then take
another sniff.
What can you Young wine often smells of the grape variety. Sauvignon Blanc There are no ‘wrong’ descriptors. Many tasting
smell? could be green capsicum and grass. Chardonnay may have notes are written using fruits and flowers
aromas of peach or apricot. familiar to an English-speaking taster. But wine
drinkers from regions such as Africa and Asia
may use aromas specific to their own countries.
It is important to be able to convey a sense of
how the wine smells.
Can you detect Aromas of vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg or sweet spices can Usually the stronger the smell of oak, the newer
any oak? suggest the wine was aged in oak barrels. the barrels used.

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Wine Tasting Notes
Nose
Tasting actions Questions to ask Considerations Comments and observations

Are there any As well as primary fruit, is there any aroma that suggests this is Red wines can develop aromas of earth, forest
bottle-aged an older wine? floor, mushroom and leather, while white wines
smells? take on notes of dried hay, honey and smoke.
Do you smell Cork taint occurs when a faulty cork has been used. The wine Cork taint can blossom with air so if you
anything you think can smell of wet corks, mould and damp cardboard. Volatile suspect this fault, swirl the glass again and
is wrong? acidity (VA) can be appealing in very small amounts, in port for have another sniff. Each person has different
example, but too much can give aromas of vinegar. thresholds for faults. So one person may find a
little VA attractive whilst another finds the wine
undrinkable.
How complex is Does it smell of one or two different fruits or are there many Simple, youthful, inexpensive wine may have a
the aroma? different ones? fairly limited range of aromas.

A high-quality wine, particularly if it is mature,

may show a huge array of different aromas.

The complexity of aroma can give an indication

of the quality of the wine

BBC MAESTRO WINE TASTING NOTES PA G E 4

Wine Tasting Notes
Taste
Tasting actions
Take a small taste and
swirl the wine around your
mouth.
Questions to ask Considerations Comments and observations
How sweet is it? A wine that has some residual sugar will taste sweet. There is a huge range of sweetness levels from bone dry
(no sugar at all) to rich and almost luscious to taste.
How acidic is the Acidity makes your eyes sparkle and is often felt on Acidity is needed for a wine to have vitality and life. Does it
wine? the edges of the tongue. seem in balance with the other vital statistics?

The texture of the Tannins come from the grape skins and seeds and
tannins? are an integral part of red wine. They cannot be
smelt or tasted; instead, they cause a tactile drying
sensation on the inside of the cheeks.
Does the wine Is there plenty of concentration and intensity?
taste of fruit?
If the tannins are ripe and part of the wine they can be
described as smooth or ripe.
Tannins from unripe grapes or poor winemaking can be
said to be bitter or hard.

Spitting
Lean forward and spit into the bucket. It can be unsettling to see tasters spitting out but once you get used to it, it becomes second nature.

BBC MAESTRO WINE TASTING NOTES PA G E 5

Wine Tasting Notes
Wine Scoring
Questions to Ask
How long can you taste the wine after
you swallowed it or spat it out?
Is the wine balanced? This is the
primary concern for the tasters.
How does the wine score?
BBC MAESTRO WINE TASTING NOTES
Considerations Comments And Observations
Known as length or finish, the longer the flavour of the wine Is the finish concentrated and enjoyable or did one
stays in your mouth, the better the quality. sensation overwhelm the others?
Tannin If judging a high-quality, young red wine, it may have a lot
of tannin making the wine quite grainy in texture and dry to
taste. Providing there is plenty of fruit and the tannins don’t
swamp all the other characters, this wine is in balance.
Sweetness A wine can carry high levels of sweetness providing there
is enough acidity to provide freshness. A wine that is too
sweet and seems out of balance is said to be cloying.
Acidity Acidity is another integral part of a wine’s framework and
whatever style of wine is being judged, the acidity should
provide freshness and balance the fruit and sweetness.
Too much acidity and the wine is said to be tart or lean.
Choose a system so that you can rank wines you taste. Wines were traditionally scored out of 20 but in recent
years the 100-point scale has predominated. Or you can
use stars, or ticks and crosses. It doesn’t matter what
scoring system you use providing it works for you. A mark
out of ten, and use a number of stars for personal scoring -
so long as you are consistent.
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Wine Tasting Notes
The 100-point scale
96-100
An extraordinary wine of profound and complex character
displaying all the attributes expected of a classic wine of
its variety. Wines of this calibre are worth a special effort
to find, purchase and consume.
90-95
An outstanding wine of exceptional complexity and
character. In short, these are terrific wines.
80-89
A barely above average to very good wine, displaying
various degrees of finesse and flavour, as well as
character with no noticeable flaws.
BBC MAESTRO WINE TASTING NOTES
70-79
An average wine with little distinction except that it is a
soundly made. In essence, a straightforward, innocuous
wine.
60-69
A below average wine containing noticeable deficiencies,
such as excessive acidity and/or tannin, an absence of
flavour or possibly dirty aromas or flavours.
50-59
A wine deemed to be unacceptable.
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Wine Tasting Notes

Name of wine: Name of wine: Name of wine:

Score: Score: Score:

Notes: Notes: Notes:

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