LESSON FOUR: White Varietals

As you dive into DOMSOM’s content regarding the 4 white wine varietals, we will be describing the varietals using a set of common terms.  To make learning about wine easier and help you better understand what you are tasting, smelling and experiencing when you drink wine, DOMSOM focuses on what we call “The 6 S’s of Wine”.  If you walk through each of the “S’s” when you drink wine, you will begin to learn how to better describe what you are drinking or help others better describe what they are experiencing, or what they enjoy and prefer in a wine.  This results in a much better wine experience for everyone!  

The 6 S’s of Wine

• Sight – what do you see when you look at wine in a glass?
• Swirl – what impact does the wine have on the glass when you swirl it?
• Smell – what do you smell when you stick your nose into a glass of wine?
• Sip – what initial flavors do you taste when you take a sip of wine?
• Swish – what additional flavors appear when let wine linger in your mouth?
• Savor – how long does the wine’s flavor and feel remain in your mouth?

Keep the 6 S’s in mind as you build your knowledge on the 4 white varietals we will cover in this DOMSOM course.  We will go into more detail on these for both white wine in this module and for red wine in Module 4.  This Module’s accompanying videos will give you an opportunity to taste a wine along with us and to decide for yourself what you are experiencing!  We highly encourage you to wait until after you have finished this module and videos, then go back and taste along with the videos on the 6 steps as all the pieces of the puzzle should come together for you!

So, let’s get started!