How to taste wine: "Letting the genie out of the bottle"

I remember when I first read the words "How to taste wine" and I thought "How stupid, you just put it in your mouth and swallow!". Drinking is something I had done since birth and the thought of someone telling me how to drink was preposterous. But alas I learned shortly that "drinking and tasting" are two very different animals. When I learned the difference the way I experienced wine took a dramatic turn. You might say I finally "Got it". Up to that point I really could not see paying a lot for a wine as I couldn't discern the difference between a $5 wine or a $20 wine. (actually I could tell when the wine was a $300 German wine but that is a story for another time) Lets start with removing the cork. You may or may not have heard of a wine being "corked". What this refers to is when a faulty or moldy cork is used it can generate a chemical compound, 2,4,6-Trichloroanisole (TCA) which leads to an off smell in the wine. The smell is a musty, mildewy smell, something like the aroma of wet moldy cardboard or a musty basement. I will write more of this in another post as corked wines have become quite a problem due to a shortage of good quality cork. For tasting wine you want to use a wine glass preferably one which is tapered at the top as opposed to a glass with straight sides. Not only does this help to stop the liquid from escaping when you swirl, it also helps to expand and focus the aroma so that your nose can do a better job of discerning what is there. Yes you can spend $80 on a single glass and they are very nice, but I can usually find them for a few dollars per glass. Pier1 and Ross Stores are good sources. I have taken to using a snifter for wine as it has the proper tapered shape with the added benefit of having a much shorter stem therefore much harder to break! Now a word about swirling. I have read a lot about tasting wine and no where in those readings did anyone tell me that I would feel like and idiot trying to swirl wine in a glass. Nor did they alert me that the wine would work its way up the side of the glass and spray all over the place! Expect a learning curve with the swirling. It is a very necessary function of tasting so don't develop a complex and stop swirling (Not that this happened to me!) With practice you will improve. I recommend practicing with plain water at first so that the damage from the spray will minimal. Have you ever had someone pour you a glass of wine and fill it all the way to the rim? And you think, "All right, now THAT is the way to pour a glass of wine!" right? Wrong. This actually inhibits your ability to taste the wine. Even if your just relaxing and enjoying a glass of wine you want a some headroom at the top of the glass to let the aromas expand. This lets you experience more of what is there. Wine sits in a bottle for a period of time, sometimes many years and it just takes a little time and air for it to open up and show you what its got. Its unique in this way. For tasting and evaluating wine we want just a few ounces in the glass.