A tasting does not need a white tablecloth, scoring sheets or solemn silence. It can be an afternoon with friends, several bottles opened in order and a conversation that, almost without meaning to, ends up revolving around what is in the glasses.
Preparing a wine tasting at home has less to do with technique than with taking care of a few details. Choosing the wines well, deciding in what order to serve them and giving them the right conditions is enough for each one to express itself and for everyone to enjoy the journey from start to finish.
A tasting at home is a simple way of trying several wines one after another, with the intention of noticing what connects them and what sets them apart. That intention is what distinguishes it from opening a few bottles over dinner.
It is not about naming the right descriptors or recognising grape varieties. It is about tasting attentively, discovering what each wine conveys and sharing what each person perceives. We will not all find the same thing in a glass, and that is precisely where much of the conversation begins.
For a group of four to eight people, three to five wines is a reasonable number. With fewer, there is little room to compare; with more, the palate tires and the conversation drifts. One bottle is usually enough for a group of this size if small amounts are poured, meant for tasting and returning to each wine.
What gives the selection meaning is a common thread. You can bring together wines from the same area to see how they change with the grape variety or the winemaking, wines from the same variety but from different regions, or several wines from a single winery.
This last option can be particularly interesting to start with. The underlying style remains the same and, precisely because of that, it becomes easier to understand why two wines from the same winery can be so different when the plot, the age of the vines or the length of ageing changes.
The range of Celler Mas Doix illustrates the idea well. It brings together eight wines, from Les Crestes, fresh and fruity, to 1902 Tossal d’en Bou, its Gran Cru, and includes two whites, Murmuri and Salix. With three or four wines you can already build a sequence that reveals different expressions of the Priorat and of the Mas Doix vineyards.
The tasting order has a great influence on how each wine is perceived. The general rule is to go from less to more: young wines before aged ones, lighter wines before more structured ones.
A wine with marked tannic structure can leave an imprint in the mouth that affects the next one. Starting with the freshest and most delicate wines allows each glass to find its own space.
If you are including a sweet wine, leave it until the end. And if you are unsure between two reds, start with the one with less alcohol or less oak; the back label usually shows both, so you can decide the order before opening the bottles.
A possible sequence with wines from the same house would be this: Les Crestes, a fruity wine, followed by Poboleda and, to finish, 1903 Coma de Cases, a Cru that shares its name with one of the winery’s five plots. From glass to glass, the origin of the grapes changes and, with it, their expression. The sequence shows how a single territory can speak in different ways through each wine.
Temperature changes the perception of a wine more than people tend to think. As a guide, whites show well between 8 and 12 °C and reds between 14 and 18 °C. A red that is too warm can feel heavier and more alcoholic; one that is too cold, harder than it really is.
At home, the solution is practical. Take the whites out of the fridge a little while before serving them and, if the room is warm, put the reds in the fridge for about fifteen minutes. Fuller-bodied reds benefit from being opened a little earlier; for hillside wines from old vines, there are some guidelines on how to serve a Priorat wine so it shows at its best.
The glasses do not need to be especially sophisticated, but they should be suitable. Ideally they should be made of fine, clear glass, with a bowl that is wide enough and slightly narrower at the top to help the aromas express themselves. One glass per person is enough if it is rinsed with a little of the next wine; with two, you can compare side by side.
It is a good idea to have water to hand, plain bread to cleanse the palate between wines and a discreet container for anyone who prefers not to finish every glass. Pouring small amounts, about four or five centimetres, allows you to return to the wine as the tasting goes on and see how it evolves in the glass.
If someone suggests bringing out cheese or charcuterie, it may be better to leave it for later. During the tasting, the aim is to let the wine express itself without other flavours getting in the way. After all, the same wine can change depending on the food, and here we want to find out what the glass has to say on its own.
Before you begin, you can number the glasses or discreetly mark the stems so the wines do not get mixed up. If you want to turn the tasting into a small game, you can also cover the bottles and reveal them at the end. Without the label in front of you, attention focuses solely on what is in the glass.
Each wine can be explored in three moments. First, sight: tilt the glass against a white background and observe the colour and its intensity. Then the nose, smelling the wine at rest and again after swirling the glass, to notice how the aromas open up.
Finally, a small sip that moves across the whole mouth, paying attention to what remains after swallowing. That is where three things that are easy to compare between wines can be appreciated: acidity, which makes the mouth water; tannin, which slightly dries the gums in reds; and persistence, the time the flavour lingers after drinking.
Then comes the conversation. Simple questions work better than technical vocabulary: which wine surprised you most? Which one would you open with a meal? Which one has changed since it was poured? There are other questions that help you understand a wine better during a tasting, and they also encourage those who do not dare to give an opinion to speak up.
It is also worth going back to the first wines after a while. A wine that has just been poured can show itself differently an hour later. Observing that evolution is also part of the experience.
There is no need to take exhaustive notes. Writing down two or three words for each wine —one impression on the nose, another on the palate and whether you would drink it again— can be enough to remember what each glass conveyed when the time comes to open it again.
In the Mas Doix wine shop you can bring together a white, a red with a fresh expression and another with more structure, and build with them a tasting with a clear path from the first glass to the last.
A small selection of wines lets you notice differences, compare sensations and enjoy the conversation without turning the tasting into an exam. Choose the wines of Mas Doix for your tasting at home.