Swirling Your Wine

You now know how to visually analyzing your wine, understanding base knowledge of what the different colors and shades of wine represent. Now, it's time to move on to the next phase of our tasting journey, where we will naturally force air into the wine.

Why Do I Need to Swirl

Swirling your wine is an important step when properly tasting the many wines you will encounter. Although introducing oxygen in the storage process of wine is bad, forcing oxygen throughout the wine in your glass is considered the exact opposite. This process is called aeration. By aerating the wine you are about to drink, you are forcing the oxygen into the wine causing a natural (and good) breakdown of the juice. This releases the notes that you will encounter when smelling your wine. This causes the wine to 'open up', or soften in both aroma and taste. I like to call it 'waking up', as the wine has been somewhat dormant from natural elements while in storage.

Techniques to swirl

There are many techniques to swirl your wine, and everyone has a unique method to completing this (sometimes) daunting task. Here, we will review the three most common. More importantly, we will help you avoid looking like a crazy person, a silly person, or an arrogant person.

  1. Planted Method: Leave your glass firmly planted on a level table, providing stability to the glass. Place your index and middle finger on one side of the base of the glass, and your ring finger and pinkie on the other side. The stem should be between your middle and ring finger. Begin to move your glass slowly in a circular motion, placing pressure on the base so that the glass is stable with your motions. Speed up your circular motion, completing a total of 3-5 seconds.

  2. Flicking Method: Grasp your glass by the stem with your thumb, index, and middle finger. The grip should be stable, but loose to provide flexibility in the motion of the bulb of the glass. Slowly begin to rock the glass forwards and backwards, creating a flicking motion. You can also create a circular motion in your flick. WARNING: Be careful, as this should be done with a glass that is not too full. One foul move, and you could be wearing your favorite wine.

  3. Lasso Method: First, I would like to take this time to suggest not to use this method. It looks obnoxious, arrogant, and somewhat disturbing. Grasp the wine glass similar to the 'Flicking Method' with a more firm grip. Quickly move your hand in a circular motion, almost as if you are completing one of those neat lasso tricks you've seen on TV. There, you've done it.

Practice Makes Perfect

I would highly suggest practicing any type of swirling before you are out with friends and/or colleagues. Practicing will provide efficiency, expertise, muscle memory, and (most importantly) a clean environment free of unnecessary spills. Take an everyday wine glass, and place the perfect amount of water in it to replicate your favorite wine. Swirl the wine for 10 seconds, with 10 second breaks, for a total of 2 minutes. Do this once a day for 1-2 weeks, and you will be a pro!

Now that you understand the importance and technique of swirling your wine, it's now time to smell your wine.