Red Wine Tasting Chart and Guide

Red wine grapes produce some of the most complex and flavorful wines in the world. Many people love red wine, but with so much variety, it can be tough to pick the right bottle.

Maybe you’re planning a dinner with friends, a date night, or a celebration. You want a red wine that’s crowd-pleasing, but not boring.

Most likely, you don’t have a full catalogue of wine labels memorized to pick one from your mind. That’s okay. Simply by learning the factors that influence the structure and taste of red wine (tannins, body, acidity, age, color, etc.) you can make a great pick for any occasion.

The best way to do that is to taste some red wine (the right way). Let’s walk through the key traits of red wine, based on the 5 S’s of wine tasting and a few helpful charts. That way, you can learn how to identify and pair them with the right dishes and palates.

Napa Valley Wine Academy’s Red Wine Tasting Chart helps you explore wine by dryness, body, acidity, and the tasting notes sommeliers always talk about.

How Red Wine Looks: Color and Swirling

Color is the first clue to a red wine’s taste. Before you take a sip, just looking at the wine in your glass can tell you something about its age, body, and even intensity of flavor.

Here’s a quick look at the range of red wine colors — and what each often suggests:

• Light/Pale Red: This typically indicates a lighter bodied red wine with bright fruit and low tannins.

• Brick Red: A muted, rusty hue with an orange-brown rim signals an aged, medium-bodied red with softer tannins. This color often appears in mature Bordeaux, Pinot Noir, or Nebbiolo.

• Cherry Red: Common in younger, fresh red wines like Pinot Noir. This color usually indicates bright acidity and juicy red fruit notes like cherry or cranberry.

• Deep Ruby/Burgundy: Typically a sign of moderate body and structure. Wines like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot often show this color and are soft, smooth, and well-balanced.

• Deep Purple: Bold wines like Syrah or Malbec often have this intense hue. It usually means high tannins, fuller body, and rich dark fruit flavors like blackberry or plum.

Swirl

Swirling the wine can reveal a bit more about its structure. First, take a look at how the wine clings to the glass — these streaks are called “legs” or “tears.”

While legs don’t directly tell you the quality of a wine, thicker, slower-moving legs often mean higher alcohol or sugar content. This can also give you a sense of the wine’s viscosity (how thick or watery it looks). If it looks thick, it will probably feel fuller and richer in your mouth. Light, fast legs usually go with wines that are more delicate and refreshing.

Gently moving the wine around your glass also lets oxygen in, which helps release aromas.

Tasting Compass from Napa Valley Wine Academy. While this tasting compass is used for both red and white wine, the notes described here can help you name the sensations you pick up as you smell and taste different reds.

Smelling Red Wine: 3 Categories of Aromas

Smelling is one of the most important steps in understanding red wine. Your nose can detect hundreds of notes that your tongue simply can’t. The aroma of red wine gives you clues about its grape variety, how it was made, and even how long it’s been aged.

Red wine aromas fall into three main categories:

• Primary aromas come straight from the grape itself. These are usually fruity or floral and are strongest in young wines.

• Secondary aromas develop during winemaking, especially from maturation processes. Oak barrels or malolactic fermentation can add new layers of smell.

• Tertiary aromas come with age. As a wine matures, those fresh fruit scents can turn more savory or earthy, adding depth and complexity.

You may not smell everything at once, and that’s okay. Swirl the wine, take a few short sniffs, and see if any of these notes stand out. Over time, you’ll start to notice aroma patterns. For example, Cabernet Sauvignon often smells like blackberry, green pepper, and cedar. Aged Pinot Noir might remind you of mushrooms or dried roses.

Body: The Weight of Red Wine

After you swirl and sniff, it’s time to taste. When you take a sip, the first thing you may note is how heavy the wine feels in your mouth. This is the body of a red wine, which describes its perceived weight or thickness.

Think of the difference between skim milk, 2%, and whole milk. It's not just about flavor — it’s about texture and how the wine feels in your mouth. Is it light and crisp? Rich and velvety?

Body is mainly affected by alcohol, sugar, and tannin.

• Higher alcohol often makes a wine feel fuller.

• Residual sugar (even if it doesn’t taste very sweet) adds weight.

• Tannins (those drying compounds from grape skins and seeds) can make a wine feel denser and more structured.

Again, swirling can help determine this to some degree (by looking at the legs and viscosity), but you won’t get a true sense for a red wine’s body until you taste it. Here’s how red wine body typically breaks down:

Light-Bodied

Light-bodied reds feel airy and easy to drink. Think of it like skim milk compared to whole milk. They tend to be lower in alcohol (around 12% ABV) and are often fresh, fruity, and low in tannins.

Gamay and Pinot Noir are great examples of light-bodied reds. These wines are made from thin-skinned grapes and often grown in cooler climates, which keeps alcohol low. Over time, tannins soften (a process called polymerization), which can make the wine feel even lighter and smoother.

Medium-Bodied

Think of 2% milk, which is not too heavy but not too light. It’s balanced and smooth. These wines strike a middle ground between freshness and richness. Merlot, Chianti, and Sangiovese are great examples of medium-bodied reds. These wines often have moderate tannin and acidity, plus a bit more structure. They’re versatile with food and can show both fruit and savory notes.

Full-Bodied

Full-bodied reds feel rich and dense, like whole milk. They often have higher alcohol (14.5% ABV or more) and strong tannins. Consider wines like Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah/Shiraz, or Malbec. These wines can come from thicker-skinned grapes grown in warmer climates.

The higher alcohol and tannin create that bold, mouth-coating feel. Over time, evaporation through the cork can concentrate alcohol and glycerol, keeping the wine lush and balanced as it ages.

Red Wine Texture

Texture is how a wine feels on your tongue and is one of the most important parts of tasting red wine. While the body tells you about the weight, texture is about the grip, smoothness, and energy in the glass.

Tannins: The Grit and Grip

Tannins give that dry, puckery feeling around your gums and cheeks. Think of sipping strong black tea or biting into a grape skin — that mouth-drying sensation is tannin at work.

Some reds, like Pinot Noir, have soft, silky tannins that glide across your mouth. Others, like Cabernet Sauvignon or Nebbiolo, have firm, grippy tannins that stick around and give structure to the wine.

You won’t taste tannin the way you do sugar or acid — instead, you’ll feel it. Tannins come from grape skins, seeds, and stems, as well as oak barrels. Since red wines are fermented with their skins, they naturally pick up more tannin than whites. The more skin contact and oak aging, the more texture the wine will have.

Alcohol Warmth

Wines with higher alcohol can create a warming feeling in the back of your throat or chest. If the wine is balanced, that warmth will feel soft and pleasant. But if it overwhelms the other elements, the wine may feel “hot” or harsh.

That warmth also adds to the wine’s sense of fullness, making it feel richer on the palate.

Acidity: The Lift

Acidity brings life and freshness to red wine. You’ll know it’s there if the wine makes your mouth water or feels zippy and bright.

Cool-climate reds (like Cabernet Franc from the Loire Valley) tend to have higher acidity, which makes them feel lighter even when tannins are present.

Several types of acid commonly show up in red wine:

• Tartaric acid stays stable during fermentation and can form tartrate crystals (“wine diamonds”) when chilled.

• Malic acid adds a sharp, green-apple edge but is often softened into lactic acid through malolactic fermentation.

• Lactic acid feels smoother and rounder, like in yogurt.

When balanced well, acidity makes red-fruit flavors pop and gives floral notes a lift. It can also make tannins feel tighter. Low acid, combined with high alcohol, tends to make a wine feel plush and round instead.

Taken together, tannin, alcohol, and acid shape how a wine moves across your palate. It may be firm and angular or soft and velvety.

Flavor: Red Wine Tasting Notes

Most of what you taste will reflect what you’ve already smelled. However, your tongue may pick up surprises your nose didn’t catch.

Maybe that floral aroma now tastes like green tea. Maybe the juicy black cherry you smelled now hints at dark chocolate or espresso. Pay attention to oak flavors (vanilla, toast, or warm spice) and to earthy tones like mushroom or leather. These often come through stronger when you taste the wine, especially as it gets more oxygen.

Red Wine Notes Chart

The chart below shows how different flavor notes connect to the wine’s stage (primary, secondary, tertiary), typical grape varieties, and aging style.

Sweetness vs. Dryness

Sweetness in red wine is often a point of confusion. Perhaps you or someone you know only likes “sweet reds.” But this may not be as true as you think.

Technically speaking, sweetness has to do with residual sugar in a wine. Wines with a lot of residual sugar will indeed taste sweet, however many dry wines can burst with juicy fruit flavors and have no residual sugar at all. In fact, many bold, red, high-tannin wines (like Cabernet Sauvignon or Syrah) are considered dry but feel rich because of their fruit and tannin structure.

NOTE: Red wine is considered “dry” when it has little to no residual sugar — not because it makes your mouth feel dry. That drying sensation usually comes from tannins, not sugar content. 

Food Pairings: Putting It All Together

Now that you know how to taste red wine, you’re in a much better position to choose the right bottle for your next dinner or event. Whether you're serving roast chicken or barbecue ribs, understanding a wine’s body, acidity, tannin, and sweetness will help you make food pairings that feel natural.

Here’s a quick chart to guide you through some classic red wine styles and the types of dishes they work best with:

Pairing red wine with food doesn’t have to be complicated. Just think about balance. Acidity cuts fat, tannin grips protein, sweetness softens spice, and bold wines love bold dishes. When in doubt, start with the body of the wine, and match it to the richness of the food.

Learn To Taste Red Wine Like a Pro

Tasting red wine isn’t just about how sweet it is or whether it’s “fancy.” It’s about paying attention. The more you understand what shapes a wine’s character (like body, tannin, acidity, and aroma) the better you’ll choose wines that truly fit your taste and your table.

Paying attention to the right traits can help you understand: 

• Why some red wines feel sleek and lean, while others feel bold

• Why some taste “sweet” but are considered “dry”

• Why some pair well with steak and others with chicken

• Why bottle vintage and location matter so much to wine connoisseurs

Then, when you’re shopping around to try new bottles, you’ll be able to read the label and tell a lot about the character of the wine before you pop the cork. Start by exploring wines with tasting traits you already enjoy. Then, when you feel ready, branch out. You might be surprised to discover that a dry red you once avoided actually has traits you’ve grown to love.

Want to learn more about red (and white) wine? Sign up for a WSET course and take the next step in your wine education.

You can also download our Red Wine Tasting Chart to keep with you at tastings, restaurants, or your next wine tour.