There’s a recommended order in which wines should be tasted – i.e. White through to Red; Dry to Sweet; and Young to Old. It’s not law, however! You won’t be ostracised from the wine loving community if you go off-piste at all. It’s a useful guide, but it’s not the eleventh commandment!
For example, when judging at the International Wine & Spirits Competition (IWSC) we are given red wines first! There’s a good reason for this. If tasting whites first, as recommended above, bearing in mind that there will be perhaps 30 to 40 to judge (and this is each day, by the way!) the natural acidity in them will slightly damage the palate for that day’s session, therefore making it more difficult to judge the wines that come afterwards, the rosés, and the reds. It’s therefore done in reverse order.
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