You can tell a lot about a wine just by being a spectator. This refers to simply looking at the wine first. As a wine spectator, you can determine many things about the wine. The wine should be poured into a clear glass and placed in front of a light, preferably with a white background so that you can carefully check out the color of the wine. Colors of wines vary a great deal, even among the same variety of wine. A red wine isn't always just plain old red and a white can contain different color notes that may not be immediately discernable.