Most wines are classified according to their primary impression on the palate, making your taste buds an integral part of any Shiraz, Merlot or Chenin experience. Made up of similar compounds of fruit and spices, each and every wine has a very specific taste and your senses can be trained to recognise each one. Once you know what to look for, you can be left with an impressive amount of wine knowledge with a minimal amount of effort.

IDENTIFYING A MERLOT OR SHIRAZ WINE

Each type of wine is made from a specific type of grape that each has its own particular taste or flavour. For example, Shiraz wines have a distinctive berry flavour that help to distinguish them from any other. Other flavours that can be found in wines usually come from the way in which that particular vintage was matured. Maturation in oak barrels usually results in a chocolate, coffee or vanilla edge to the flavour of the wine.

Unfortunately, it is usually not as simple as a trace of blackberries meaning a vintage is a Shiraz wine and detecting a slight apple taste does not automatically make a wine of the Chenin variety. A wine's aroma comes from the interaction between the grapes and the flavours produced during the winemaking, fermentation and ageing processes. But the situation is not hopeless, with a little knowledge and understanding, anyone can impress at a wine tasting, even if you can't quite identify the soil used in the vineyard.

STRENGTHEN YOUR SENSES

There are several quick and fun steps you can follow to improve your wine tasting abilities, no college courses required.

• Know what you are looking for - The experts at Hazendal Wine Estate have shared their wisdom and given you the best cheat guide to finding everything you need to know about Shiraz, Merlot, Chenin and every other type of wine. Peruse the wine dictionary so that you are not confused between "tannins" and "legs" and visit the wine characters page to know exactly which wines should smell and taste like what.
• Don't forget the five Ss: See, Swirl, Sniff, Sip, Savour - Wine is not only about taste, but also smell, colour and texture. The flavours of salt, sour, bitter, sweet and savoury are the only ones detected by your taste buds, the rest are all defined through smell. So do the "swirl and sniff", take a good look at the wine, breathe in its aroma and then taste it.
• Get the temperature right - Being served at room temperature increases the vaporisation of the aroma compounds within a wine. This essentially makes a wine more aromatic, or smell stronger, meaning you can easily identify its distinct aromas.
• Test yourself - You can strengthen your own senses by giving them a little training. Dilute some common flavours, such as lemon or bitters, in water and blindly sample each one to see how long it takes you to identify each one.

The best way to learn more about wine and your favourite Shiraz or Merlot? Simply head out to the wine farm itself. The friendly Hazendal staff are always on hand to explain anything to you and are quite happy to let you "practice" to your heart's content. Find out more about booking your own Hazendal wine tasting today.