By Sam Landis

I am sure all of you have heard about the five S's of Wine Tasting, See, Swirl, Sniff, Sip, Savor. They are designed to give both the novice wine taster the same ammunition to enjoy wine as the expert connoisseur. I am here to tell you that the five S's.......S-S-S-S-Stink! More often than not, anyone re-enacting these five S's are either a novice trying to fit in and not stick out, or a pretentious faux expert trying to impress, both of which take away from the purpose of a winery visit which is fun.

I have come up with my own five S's of wine tasting based on my personal experiences of visiting wineries. I like to go to other wineries for two reasons...time with friends/family and the wine...in that order. I believe the combination of the company you are with and the wines that you taste make or break any winery visit. We are not a library, so get out interact and have fun!

S - Solicit Be inquisitive, ask the tasting room people questions i.e. What are you known for? or What kind of wines do you like? get some history of the place and the people and if most wineries are like ours they will have plenty to tell you.
S - Select Think about the wines your going to select, if you like sweet wines or dry wines stick to what you know. Maybe work with the person you are visiting with to share tastings and expand your horizons. Sometimes maybe just try white wines at wineries one day and then just try red wines another time, but put some thought into what you want to taste.
S - Smell In my opinion this is the most important of the original five S's. You can tell a lot of good (and bad) things from aroma of wine more so than any other sense. Talk to the people you are visiting with and have them smell your wine, its fun to see if they pick up the same things that you might.
S - Swoosh I know we have all done shots before.. don't lie, and the reason we drink it like that is so we don't taste it, expose the whole part of your mouth and tongue for ideal exposure. The tongue detects four distinct flavors bitter, sour, salty and sweet...so get that wine in there and mix it like a cocktail in your mouth.
S - Share - Talk about what you liked or didn't like to both the people you are with and your tasting room server, sometimes friends and family know each others' tastes better than we do so if you find something that you think they will like steer them in that direction....this can also apply to purchasing cases of wine and sharing them over the holidays ....wink wink...

There you have it my revamped five S's...wine tasting should not be a chore so get out there and enjoy it.