Bartles & Jaymes introduced me to the world of wine. So when I told Master Sommelier George Miliotes that his carefully selected wine smelled like a tire store, you would think I had no business being at his tasting and they would usher me out the door.
Instead, his response, and the event as a whole, showed me how closely wine attaches to memory. It highlighted that wine is a fun and delicious portal into a region, its culture, and its people.
Now, to be clear, I haven’t had Bartles & Jaymes for decades. However, I understand that wine can seem mystifying, even unapproachable, to the uninitiated. The swirling, swishing, sniffing, and gurgling can be confusing. Not to mention the language of the wine world.
But with the proper guidance, I’m convinced anyone can develop their palate and deepen their appreciation for what’s in the glass.
I recently attended an extraordinary tasting event in Orlando, Florida, where Master Sommelier George Miliotes offered illuminating insights into the art and science of wine evaluation. The experience enhanced my understanding of different wine varietals and revealed the rigorous path these wine experts must travel to become masters. I also learned that my tire store description wasn’t that far off.
The Art of Wine Tasting: A Master’s Approach
To become a master sommelier, there are four levels of tests: Introductory, Certified, Advanced, and Master.
To become a Master, you must then take three exams covering knowledge of alcohol, restaurant service, and tasting.
Miliotes set up our wine-tasting experience precisely as it would appear during the Master Sommelier examination, with six wines (three whites and three reds) awaiting evaluation.
A Master’s applicant is given just 25 minutes to evaluate the wines in a blind tasting, roughly four and half minutes per glass. Thankfully, we were given much longer.
Each wine was considered as good as they get for the varietal and style. Even though I was not familiar with some of them, discovering something new is part of the fun.
Miliotes has extensive hospitality experience including fourteen years overseeing all aspects of wine culture for Darden, the restaurant group with a portfolio of recognizable names like Ruth’s Chris Steak House, The Capital Grille, and Eddie V’s, and being one of the founders of Seasons 52, a nationwide seasonally fresh restaurant concept that highlights wine. His annual trips to wine regions ensures he stays ahead of what’s happening in the wine world. He and his wife own Wine Bar George in Disney Springs, which has earned many awards for the best wine list in America and the World.
We were in good hands as he explained his professional approach to wine assessment, providing a framework anyone can use to enhance their wine experience.
Proper Wine Tasting Technique: From Glass to Palate
Holding the Wine Glass
How you hold your glass matters. Miliotes demonstrated the correct technique: hold the glass by the base or stem, never the bowl. This prevents your hand’s heat from warming the wine and keeps any scents from your hands (like food aromas) from interfering with the wine’s bouquet.
Visual Assessment
The first step in evaluating wine is to look at it. For white wines, observe the color against a white background, like a tablecloth or plate. A hint of gold or brass in a white wine can indicate age or oak influence. For red wines, lighter colors with pink and purple highlights suggest youth, while brick-red hues with yellow or brown edges typically indicate age.
The First Swirl
Next comes the first swirl in the glass, which is gentle because you want to observe the wine’s viscosity: Does the wine move like water, olive oil, or somewhere in between? This provides clues about alcohol content because alcohol is thicker than water.
The Nose Knows
The second swirl is a little harder because you are trying to “volatilize” the aromatics. Then, set the glass on the table for about 15 to 20 seconds to allow the aromatics at the bottom of the glass to move their way to the top.
Pick up the glass, and you’ll find that the first sniff over the top of the glass is very productive. The number of aromas you detect will depend on the wine.
Next, swirl again, but don’t put it down. Instead, place your nose further into the glass for a deeper aromatic evaluation.
Tasting Technique
To get the most out of your first sip, swirl a medium-sized amount throughout your mouth to reach all taste receptors. Then, draw in a small amount of air (making that characteristic wine tasting “gurgle”) to further release flavors and aromas.
It’s possible that when you do this the first time, you may dribble a little bit (so I’m told *wink), so have your napkin handy.
This technique can significantly enhance your ability to detect the wine’s full profile. After that first sip, you can repeat the process to discover if any other flavors come forward.
The Eucalyptus Tire Store
One thing I found helpful throughout the wine-tasting experience was learning to apply the language of wine to the experience and aromas of each.
What I mean by that is that some aromas and tastes were easily identified, such as vanilla, oak, black pepper, or a familiar fruit, while others were more difficult. I could identify that there was “a” scent or taste, but putting a name to it sometimes proved difficult.
For example, remember how I said the scent of one of the wines brought up the memory of a tire store? Thankfully, Miliotes didn’t laugh (well, maybe a little, but he allowed me to stay).
In fact, he said that often the aroma of a wine brings up a memory, and for this wine, the scent of rubber is closely associated with eucalyptus. I would have never guessed that on my own.
A few days later, I was at a handmade soap shop that carried eucalyptus-scented soaps. One sniff confirmed my evaluation of the wine as eucalyptus-smelling.
A Journey Through Six Classic Wines
During the wine-tasting experience, the name of each wine was not revealed until after it had been thoroughly evaluated. Here’s what I discovered during the tasting, including some of the language used during each evaluation.
White Wines
Wine #1: Russiz Superiore Pinot Grigio, Collio, Italy, 2023
This wine demonstrates what happens when a winemaker gives star treatment to a “supporting actor” variety.
Miliotes describes it as not particularly “flamboyant” on the palate, noting that it was “pretty crisp” at the back. The second sip brings forth more taste information, including a bit of hazelnut, lemon, lime, and crisp but barely ripe apple.
With that list of aromas and tastes in mind, the next step is identifying the varietal. We are told there are a set of classic varietals that present with these characteristics, and from this list, we start to go through a process of elimination:
- Chardonnay
- Pinot Grigio
- Chenin Blanc
- Albariño
- Riesling
It turns out that this bottle comes from legendary winemaker Marco Felluga, one of the greatest winemakers in Northern Italy. It’s what a really good iteration of Pinot Grigio tastes like.
For those wondering why this Pinot Grigio is subtle in taste, the reason is simple. If you go to Italy at lunch, people are not drinking bottled water; they are drinking something like this. It’s the kind of wine you can serve with cream sauce, pasta, or seafood. In Italy, the food is the center of the meal, and the crispness that some would describe as acidity, apple, or lemon-lime sparks your palate no matter what you’re having.
So, you don’t serve this to show off the wine. Instead, you serve this wine to show off the food.
Wine #2: Zuccardi Serie A Torrontés, Salta, Argentina, 2024
The second wine is more aromatic and flowery—more “flamboyant.” Rose petals and orange blossoms are prominent, with a bit of honey. Then, Miliotes asks us to clear our minds and think of something familiar, found in many homes but we would never imagine eating. The group responds with “PineSol” and “Lemon Pledge.”
After a first taste, we are told there are four or five aromatic white varietals, with just one with that “Lemon Pledge thing going on.” And because this wine doesn’t have any scent of oak, that eliminates some other possibilities immediately. The white varietals from which we begin our process of elimination are:
- Sauvignon Blanc
- Torrontés
- Gewürztraminer
- Grüner Veltliner
The characteristic “perfume” of the wine in our tasting is the signature of Torrontés, making it unmistakable among aromatic white varieties. The wine undergoes stainless steel fermentation and goes directly to the bottle after completion.
When most people think of Argentina, they think of beef and Malbec, which is red. But Argentinians are as passionate about their seafood as they are about their beef, creating a natural demand for versatile wines.
Torrontés pairs well with Argentina’s abundant seafood. Its aromatic profile and refreshing acidity make it an ideal companion for salmon, tuna, and Chilean sea bass dishes. The wine’s distinctive aromas enhance rather than overwhelm the fish, and its crisp character complements the delicate flavors.
Wine #3: Labouré-Roi Chardonnay, Meursault, France, 2022
The third white wine is noticeably darker than the first two. This could indicate that it was aged in oak, or it could be due to oxygenation from using an open-top fermenter rather than a steel container.
Oak Aging Indicators
The first aroma that comes through is vanilla, followed by hints of allspice or nutmeg and, upon closer examination, a rich and creamy butter.
Those aromas hint that the winemaker aged the wine in a barrel. This eliminates Pinot Grigio because its lower price point doesn’t support oak aging. The four remaining varietals from which we start our process of elimination are:
- Chardonnay
- Viognier
- Sauvignon Blanc
- Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc
The Gift of Oak Barrels
The sommelier explains that a wine like our third choice, with its hint of oak, is a “gift from God.” Only a few grapes or growing areas produce white wines that sell for enough money to justify aging them in oak barrels.
Miliotes explains that a winemaker can spend as much as $2,500 on a French oak barrel, and when planning their vintage, they must consider the cost of those barrels. They might purchase as many as 100 barrels annually, so the potential list price of the final product must justify the expense.
The “gift” is the flavor coaxed from the barrels. Each barrel is made from staves of wood about as thick as a baseball bat. The wood is wet down so it can be shaped, and then the interior is lightly toasted, not charred like a whiskey barrel.
Toasting allows the wood’s natural flavors of cinnamon, vanilla, and allspice or nutmeg to come to the surface. All of these flavors and scents elicit memories of something good and sweet to most people.
Tasting Complexity and Length
When the grape juice is poured into the barrel for fermentation, or a finished wine is allowed to rest in the barrel, it soaks up all those delicious flavors from the interior of the barrel.
After this explanation, we took another sip and picked out flavors of vanilla, definitely, and a bit of caramel apple. Miliotes describes it as a good wine.
What he defines as a “good” wine is something that he can swallow, and up to 20 seconds later, the flavor of the wine is still on the palate and will linger for another minute. This is referred to as a wine with “great length,” and this wine has it.
We also learn that the wine has “complexity,” with layers of flavor. This refers to how it plays on your palate. For example, red or yellow apple on the front, a caramel-oakiness in the middle, and lemon meringue or key lime pie in the back.
Through the process of elimination, Voignier is excluded because it almost always has an intense, flowery essence, which our wine does not. Sauvignon Blanc is also eliminated because it almost always manifests with pink grapefruit and green pepper, which our wine does not. He notes that Bordeaux and Napa Valley whites can have oak, but our wine had more than what you might get from the others.
A Classic Chardonnay Wine Tasting Experience
Our third wine is made the way that classic Chardonnay is: mostly fermented in barrels, with a little bit of stainless steel fermentation. Then, it’s put into 20 percent new barrels, 50 percent second barrels (referring to barrels used a second time), and 30 percent third barrels. That gives the subtle oak flavor as opposed to the too-much-oak flavor found in other products that use oak extract or oak chips as part of the wine-making process rather than the more expensive French oak barrel process.
Chardonnay is a function of where it’s grown and the quality the producer wants to express. Miliotes believes Labouré-Roi to be one of the great makers of Chardonnay, and anything from Meursault, France, a small growing appellation with many motivated producers, is a good choice. This was our third wine.
Red Wines
Moving to the reds, we consider the colors presented by the trio as a whole before digging into them individually.
Crushed grapes produce white juice, and all the color in red wine comes from contact with the skins. Viewing the three red wines for our tasting, we notice they are different shades of red. Wine #4 is the lightest color, likely from a thin-skin varietal. Those up for consideration are:
- Pinot Noir
- Gamay
- Sangiovese
- Nebbiolo
- Grenache
Wine #6 was much darker, hinting at a thick-skinned varietal. There are five thick-skinned grapes to consider:
- Cabernet Sauvignon
- Cabernet Franc
- Merlot
- Malbec
- Syrah
After narrowing our options, we considered the age of each because age will also affect the color. Miliotes points to the colors where the wine meets the glass. One glass shows pink, purple, and fuschia tones, indicating a young vintage. Another shows hints of brown, yellow, and brick, suggesting an older vintage.
Next, we move to an evaluation of each wine.
Wine #4: Nicole Chanrion Gamay, Côte de Brouilly, France, 2022
A wine’s aroma can stir up a memory, like the tire store I referenced earlier. For Miliotes, our fourth wine reminds him of his childhood, when he and his mom would make Kool-aid and that first whiff of dust that would come up after you tear open the package and pour it into the jug. For another guest, memories of cherry Lifesavers came to mind.
So, after the initial swirl and sniff, hints of cherry and black pepper come forward. The taste is pleasant without being overpowering like a Cabernet might be. The key to this wine is that it’s lighter in color, with tannins that he describes as “silky” and moderately light. That gives us some hints about where the grapes might come from.
Because the tannins lack weight and grittiness, we considered our thin-skinned varietals mentioned earlier. We removed Sangiovese and Nebbiolo because they are from Italy, which generally have what Miliotes calls “big” and “rough” tannins.
That leaves us with the “holy trinity” of red wines: Pinot, Gamay, and Grenache. Polling the attendants about what they thought the wine might be resulted in mixed responses. As it turned out, this Gamay is one of Miliotes’ favorites for pouring in a blind tasting.
The “Boss of the Côte”
This wine comes from a region with granite soil, which Gamay loves. A woman named Nicole Chanrion, who grew up in the 1970s, made it. At that time, if a girl expressed interest in learning to make wine, she was told that they didn’t teach girls how to make wine. Rather than accept that, she went to her father to learn.
Today, Chanrion is in her 70s and runs the marketing association for the Côte de Brouilly. She is known as the “Boss of the Côte” because, in the opinion of our Master Sommelier, she is the most “badass winemaker” in the region.
This bottle costs about $70 on a restaurant list. Still, it tastes as good as a $700 bottle (I’m told), which demonstrates why the Beaujolais region, where Côte de Brouilly is one of the four smallest crus, deserves serious respect despite its sometimes humble reputation.
Wine #5: Cirillo Estate 1850 Ancestor Vine Grenache, Barossa, Australia, 2016
Our fifth wine came from a remarkable heritage. It was made from what experts consider the oldest commercial red grape vines in the world, planted no later than 1850. And yes, it smelled like a tire store.
Visually, you can see through the wine, which Miliotes refers to as “medium weight.” The color is achieved when the grape’s skin is in contact with the juice during fermentation for varying amounts of time. A thick-skinned varietal may spend a lot of time with the skin, while a thin-skinned varietal may spend less.
The aroma is what he calls “herby” and “spicy,” with scents of sage and eucalyptus. The eucalyptus scent also provides a clue about the grape’s region.
The taste profile is subtle. He describes it as starting with red raspberry, like jam, that changes a bit to cherry. There are more tannins than our “silky” fourth wine had; he describes these as “velvety.” We return to our thin-skinned red grape varietals and begin the process of elimination.
Because they lacked rough tannins, our Italian varietals were once again eliminated. That left Pinot Noir and the grape that it turns out to be: Grenache.
This particular bottle fetches about $200 on a wine list, and when you consider the year of the vines, it is a great value. As a product of Australia, it’s a New World wine made in the style of the Old World. New vines might produce eight tons of fruit per acre, while ancient vines may put out just one and a half tons.
The result is a red wine with velvety tannins and extraordinary depth, giving the wine drinker unparalleled concentration and complexity. Delicious.
Wine #6: Domaine Du Colombier Syrah, Crozes-Hermitage, France, 2019
Our final wine is what Miliotes refers to as “fruit forward,” with a hint of black pepper and a beautiful deep red color. The tannins are heavier, which leads him to the list of thick-skinned varietals with high tannins. Those include Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec, and Syrah.
Going through the process of elimination, we learn that Malbec, or a young Cabernet, might present with an edge of color on the glass like purple or neon, which we don’t get with this sample. This leaves us with a choice between Merlot or Syrah.
Many in the audience guess the varietal to be Syrah, and one correctly guesses the region of Hermitage, one of the smallest growing areas in France. Miliotes notes that our final wine was a 100 percent Syrah that is hard to get and expensive, retailing in the $200 to $225 range.
Developing Your Palate
The Master Sommelier’s approach to wine tasting offers valuable guidance, but George Miliotes emphasized that developing your own palate is ultimately a personal journey.
By practicing mindful tasting techniques, anyone can deepen their appreciation for wine’s nuances. The goal isn’t to accurately identify every flavor note but to engage more fully with what’s in your glass. Perhaps, along the way, you’ll discover new favorites that speak to you.
Whether you’re just beginning your wine journey or have been enjoying fine bottles for years, approaching each glass with curiosity and attention transforms wine from a mere beverage to an exploration of place, tradition, and craftsmanship. A wine-tasting experience such as this one helps you do that.
Wine Tasting Experience with Master Sommelier George Miliotes
- Our tasting was held at Judson’s Live at Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando, Florida. You can see a schedule of upcoming events here.
- Miliotes holds tastings and events at his restaurant, Wine Bar George, at Disney Springs in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
Dawn Damico writes about culinary, wellness, and adventure travel at VitabellaMagazine.com.
You might also enjoy:
- Ojai Wine Country: A California Wine Destination Waiting to Be Discovered
- How Two Wineries Are Redefining Wine Tourism in the Okanagan
