The WSET Systematic Approach to Tasting (SAT) gives you a structured framework for evaluating any wine consistently. It covers three stages: Appearance, Nose and Palate, ending with a quality conclusion. Working through each element in order trains your palate to be objective, whether you are tasting a house wine or a grand cru.

Appearance

Hold the glass over a white surface; a napkin or sheet of paper works perfectly. Assess three things: clarity (clear or hazy?), intensity (pale, medium or deep?) and colour. For reds: purple, ruby, garnet or tawny. For whites: lemon, gold or amber. The rim tells you the most: browning at the edge signals age or oxidation; bright purple signals youth.

Nose

Smell the wine before swirling to catch the most delicate aromas, then swirl once and smell again. Assess condition (clean or faulty: does it smell of wet cardboard or vinegar?), intensity (light, medium or pronounced) and aroma characteristics. Primary aromas come from the grape itself: fruit, floral or herbal. Secondary come from fermentation: bread, yeast or cheese. Tertiary develop with age in bottle or oak: vanilla, leather, dried fruit or earth. Finally, note development: is this youthful (fresh primary fruit) or developed (complex tertiary character)?

Palate

The palate adds sensations you can only detect in the mouth. Assess sweetness (dry, off-dry, medium or sweet), Acidity (the mouth-watering sensation after swallowing), Tannin (the drying sensation on your gums, reds only), alcohol (warmth in the throat) and body (the overall weight and texture). Then assess flavour intensity, flavour characteristics and finally finish: how long identifiable flavours linger after swallowing. Under 10 seconds is short; 10 to 20 is medium; above 20 seconds is long. Long finish is a positive quality indicator.

Conclusions

Bring everything together: balance (do all elements support each other?), length, intensity and complexity. Then form an overall quality rating: faulty, poor, acceptable, good, very good or outstanding. The SAT is not about memorising numbers. It is about training your palate to notice the same things every time, so any wine can be fairly compared to any other.