The ability to recognize a wine by a blind taste is an extremely coveted practice and one of the most satisfying achievements of any oenophile.

Blind-Tasting is the elusive grail of the professional wine-tasting world, consisting of equal parts talent, training and luck for success.

This practice evolved from a professional need to identify fake wines as bottles did not come with a label in the old days. this type of tasting is considered to still be the best way to measure the true quality of a specific wine. The idea is that when a wine’s identity is unknown, a taster can reach an objective conclusion to the actual worth of the wine. The other type of blind-tasting is practiced by both professionals and amateurs, which is more of a social game rather than serious business.

Daniel Posner, owner of Grapes the Wine Company in White Plains, NY, says “One can follow specific steps to improve the odds of a correct guess,” in regards to blind taste-testing.

However, Sommeliers must be proficient in this skill. A variation of this theme is an important part of the exam that is administered by the Court of master Sommeliers, which is an accredited professional organization. Candidates of the Sommelier program just correctly identify at least four to six grape varieties to pass the rigorous test. The statistics of this test may be shocking, as something fewer than 10% of the candidates actually manage to pass the exam.

Raj Vaidya, head sommelier at Daniel restaurant in new York says, “You can expect certain things in a wine like Chablis—mineralogy, high acidity.” He says, if a wine seems oaky one might mistakingly think it is flawed.

Although sampling wines may seem like the best ways to become better at blind-tasting, one can follow a specific guideline f=of steps to improve the odds of a correct guess. The first step is a visual examination of the wine, something casual amateurs forget to do, as certain wines ar much lighter than others.

The second step involves tilting the glass to check the wines viscosity. A viscous wine means higher in alcohol and higher-alcohol content wines usually come from warmer climates.

Smelling and of course tasting are the third and fourth steps. The aromas will reveal almost everything you need to know to identify the wine.

Blind tasting prove that the professional version can definitely deliver an unbiased opinion as well as aid in the discovery of some very good deals. Casual blind tasting can help you remember and recognize wine sin the future, as well as potentially adding to your connoisseurship. Accurately indentifying wines in a blind tasting isn’t fully about knowledge, but a bit of beginner’s luck, too.