The Best Wine Tasting Kit To Taste Wine Like A Pro
A wine tasting kit is an excellent instrument that can help you improve your wine tasting skills.
In this guide, we recommend our favorite wine tasting kits available in 2023.
What is a Wine Tasting Kit?
A wine tasting kit is a package of different essences designed to help wine enthusiasts improve their ability to identify and describe wine aromas.
The essences are usually made of various herbs, flowers, or plants infused in wine, to create a palette of scents and aromas that resemble as closely as possible those of the various types of wines.
This set of aromas will teach you how to distinguish the main scents of the wine by providing descriptions on each essence vial regarding the ingredients of the infusion.
In other words, you will know what aromas you smell by reading the labels provided with the vials.
To achieve an accurate scent, the essences are usually made using at least four of the most popular types of wines.
Most of the times, the wine tasting kits contain two scent palettes for white wines, one for dry and one for sweet varieties, and two palettes for the reds, one for dry and one for sweet varieties.
Types of Wine Tasting Kits
There are various types of wine tasting kits. Some of them are designed for wine enthusiasts to animate a wine and cheese party, others are designed for professional or educational use.
Let’s have an in-depth look at the different options.
Professional Wine Tasting Kits
The professional wine tasting kits are usually made of at least 24 essence vials that contain notes of the most common fruits, honey, truffles, but also less common aromas such as green pepper or hay.
On the other hand, the professional sets also contain a booklet or a wine aroma chart that offers the explanations of all the aromas present in the kit. In this way, you will be able to start training your nose and learn the basics of an olfactory wine examination.
Among the professional kits, some of them are standard and the users will only be able to use the vials provided by the manufacturer.
Other manufacturers propose an “on demand” solution, creating the desired wine aromas by combining different substances to match the aromas of the wines mostly consumed by the enthusiasts.
Amateur Wine Tasting Kits
On the market, there is also available a selection of wine tasting kits designed exclusively to animate a wine party. Although often unsuitable for professional use, these wine tasting kits can also be used during the wine tasting learning, to check the progress you’ve made.
These wine tasting kits usually contain some numbered wine bags, tasting tip sheets and tasting note sheets. The wine bottles should be hidden in the bags, then the guests or participants at the tasting should note down the aromas they can detect in the wine.
Wine tasting tip sheets are used to help participants determine the type of wine they were tasting. At the end of the tasting, the labels of the bottles of wine are revealed, allowing everyone to check if they guessed right.
Do it Yourself Wine Tasting Kits
Although it is easy to find excellent wine tasting kits on the market, if you are a DIY passionate, you can create either a professional or a party tasting kit by yourself.
How to Make a Wine Tasting Kit
You Will Need:
- 4 types of wine
- Dry spices, fruit, and herbs
- Essence vials or small pots
How To Make The Kit
- Identify the wines you want to use. It is recommended to use popular wines, such as Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, white Muscat, red Muscat, Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Syrah.
- Choose the right spices to build up your wine aroma kit. The white wines usually have flowery or fruity scents, while the reds have scents of spices. You will probably need citrus zest, salvia, apple, bay leaf, apricot, black raisins, plums, cardamom, nutmeg, pepper, anise, and coffee to begin with.
- Put a few spices or fruit into each vial or pot. Pour white wine or red wine onto the fruits or spices. Dry white wines should be poured over citrus zest and herbs, sweet white over apple and apricot. The dry reds must be poured over the spices and the sweet reds over the raisins and plums.
- Cap the vials with corks or other hermetic caps. Label each vial with the name of the spice or fruit and leave the infusion to rest for about one week.
- After this time, you can start using your own wine tasting kit by simply uncapping the vials and smelling the aromas characteristic to each wine.
After a little practice, you can pass to the next step and try to identify the different aromas you are already familiar with in a bottle of freshly uncapped wine.
How to Use a Wine Tasting Kit
Whether you bought or made your own wine tasting kit, once you have it, it’s time to use it. Let’s see how to do it.
- Open a vial of wine aromas and smell it. On a notebook, write down any wine that you have tasted in the past and that comes to mind when you feel that aroma. Also, write down the name of the scent, that is usually stated on the label. Continue for all the other vials.
- After smelling each aroma, mix up the vials and pick one, without reading the label. Smell it and try to identify the aroma without reading the label, then check and see if you identified it correctly.
- As soon as you are able to identify all the aromas without reading the labels, it’s time to try to identify the aromas in a wine.
- Open a bottle of wine of your choice, preferably a wine with a strong aroma, and pour yourself a glass. Swirl the wine in the glass and smell it, trying to identify each scent.
- Check the wine aromas chart or booklet to see if you identified the right aromas.
If you didn’t identify the right aromas from the first place, there is nothing to worry about.
Learning to recognize wine aromas is not always easy, and it requires patience and time.
Just start the process all over again until you’ll be able to attend a wine tasting like a pro.
If now you’re curious about trying a wine tasting kit but don’t want to make your own, maybe you will find the right one in our selection below.
Our Recommended Wine Tasting Kits
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1. Aromaster Aroma Kit
If you want to become a professional wine taster, or if you just want to attend the gatherings of your wine club without feeling awkward, a good way to start learning everything about the wines is with this kit of 24 aromas.
The kit is made by Aromaster and it is available in three different versions designed for white wines, red wines, and white faults.
What we like about this kit is exactly the precise distinction between the red and white wines. The kit is excellent for beginners as it will help you learn everything about your favorite type of wine and you will actually be able to use all the aroma vials from the start.
When you are ready to pass to the next stage, you will be able to simply purchase the kit for the other type of wine, or if you are a professional already, you can choose the white faults kit to identify the low-quality wines.
Things We Liked
- Includes all most common aromas: the wine kit includes all most common aromas identified in white or red wine and some of the rare aromas.
- Designed specifically for one type of wine: whether you love reds or whites, you will be able to start mastering the wine tasting with a kit designed for the type of wine you love.
- Beautiful design: the kit comes in a leather-bound book case that contains the 24 vials of aromas and other useful accessories.
- Accessories included: the kit comes with an aroma illustration card translated into 10 languages and with an aroma wheel that features 20 grape varieties.
Things We Didn't Like
- Some of the uncommon aromas are quite difficult to identify because their scent is quite different from what one would expect.
2. Master Wine Aroma Kit - 88 Aromas
If you want to learn all about red and white wine aromas, then maybe the Master Wine Aroma Tasting Kit is more suitable for you.
This wine tasting kit is also manufactured by Aromaster, but it comes with a complete palette of wine aromas ranging from white to dark reds.
The kit contains 88 aroma vials and other useful accessories, such as aroma illustration cards and an aroma wheel. Besides all these accessories, the kit also includes a board game.
The case is elegant and covered in brown faux leather, the whole kit being a wonderful gift for a wine lover or for yourself.
Things We Liked
- Designed by sommeliers: this wine tasting kit was designed by some of the masters of the wine tasting and includes a complete list of all the most common aromas found in wine.
- Elegant design: the kit is enclosed in a stylish faux leather suitcase that is beautiful to display and even more beautiful to offer as a gift.
- Wine Aroma board game: the kit includes a board game designed by artist Yves Lemay. This game will certainly entertain your guests at the future wine party.
- Wine taster manual: besides many useful inserts, the kit also contains a wine aroma manual that teaches you how to train your nose.
Things We Didn't Like
- Although elegant, the box has a funny smell that might sometimes jeopardize your wine aroma training sessions.
3. Wine Game Kit: All You Need Is Wine - A Blind Wine Tasting Party Game!
If you already know how to recognize the wine aromas and are just looking for a fun way to entertain your guests at the future party, then this blind wine tasting party game might be the wine kit you are looking for.
The kit contains 10 tasting bags and 10 wine tasting tip sheets designed to help your guests identify the aromas with more ease.
The game also includes 50 wine tasting note sheets that can be used by the guests to note the distinctive aromas they feel and identify the wine.
At the end of the game, the bottles are revealed and each guest will be able to check if the wine was guessed correctly or not.
Things We Liked
- Entertaining: this game is designed to entertain your guests, letting them test their skills in wine tasting.
- Educative: the game includes sheets with useful wine tasting tips that can be used not only to play the game but also to learn something more about the wine tasting.
- 10 bottle bags: the game is suitable for beginners or expert tasters. You will be able to hide up to 10 bottles of wine and increase the tasting difficulty.
- Suitable for both reds and whites: the tip sheets contain details for both red and white wines, therefore it will be easy to play the game using your favorite wine varieties.
Things We Didn't Like
- The kit is quite expensive for what is actually offered, and we feel that it could have included more information about the different varieties of wines.
4. Professional Model, Blind Wine Tasting Kit
Another blind wine tasting kit to consider if you are fancying the idea of playing this sort of game at your party is the Professional Model by Franmara.
This wine tasting kit is stylish and elegant. It contains fewer blind bags compared to the kit described above, yet it comes at a more affordable price.
The polyester bottle sacks are labeled with numbers from 1 to 8 for an easier identification of the wines, and it also contains a wine tasting scoring sheet with a sensory chart on the reverse side.
Although the scoring sheet can be easily photocopied, we believe that the manufacturer could have included at least a dozen sheets instead of only one.
Things We Liked
- Stylish: suitable for both informal gatherings and professional wine tastings, this blind wine tasting kit will give a touch of class to the event.
- Sensory chart: the kit includes a wine sensory chart designed to help participants guess the aromas present in the tasted wine.
- Velcro closures: the bottle sacks are provided with Velcro closures that adhere well to the bottle’s neck and keep them invisible.
- Storage pouch: to make sure you’ll not lose any components of the kit, the manufacturer sells them in a convenient storage pouch.
Things We Didn't Like
- Scoring sheet: this wine tasting kit comes with a single blind wine tasting scoring sheet.
5. Urban Trend Wine Tasting Party Kit
Lastly, if you and your friends are all beginners and feel that a blind wine tasting game for eight or more bottle is too challenging, you could consider this wine tasting party kit by Urban Trend.
The kit includes wine fact sheets and scoring cards, 12 invitations to invite your friends to the party, and 3 wine sacks made of dark red velveteen.
This blind wine tasting game is stylish and elegant, and the kit contains almost everything you need to host an unforgettable party.
The only thing we would improve is the list of accessories. In fact, a wine aroma identification booklet or wheel would have been a more than a useful addition.
Things We Liked
- Perfect for beginners: if you and your friends just approached the world of wine tasting, this kit is perfect to use to test your knowledge.
- Elegant design: even if it is designed for amateur use, this blind wine tasting kit is stylish and will certainly make your party glow.
- Accessories included: the kit comes with scoring sheets, pencils, quick facts sheet and 12 invitations.
- Easy to store: the kit comes in a simple yet attractive box that can be used for the convenient storage of the accessories.
Things We Didn't Like
- The bottle sacks will only fit on regular bottles of wine, so you might want to keep this in mind if your favorite wine comes in larger bottles.
Conclusion
In our opinion, the best wine tasting kit available on the market is the Master Wine Aroma Tasting Kit - 88 aromas.
The kit might be expensive, yet it contains all the necessary information to help you learn how to identify wine aromas like a pro. Furthermore, compared to the blind tasting wine kit games, this kit can be used both to entertain your guests and as an educative tool.
The kit might have small flaws, but overall, it is a complete wine tasting kit and one of the bests you could find on the market.
