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3. Focus on the color intensity and the transparency of
the liquid.
a) the color of the wine, and more specifically its
nuances, are best observed on a white background.
b) the wine’s intensity is best judged by holding the
glass without slanting it and looking at the liquid from above;
4. Next comes the swirling of the glass. This can also
seem too pretentious or even dangerous if you have a full glass or a white
top. But this movement is important since it prepares you for the next step
in wine tasting – the Taste. The easiest way to swirl the glass is to place
it on a table or other even surface, and to swirl your hand while holding
the glass by the stem. Swirl hard and have the wine almost touch the rim of
the glass. Then stop. The wine leaves tiny traces with irregular shapes on
the inside of the glass. Some “experts” then read them with as much zeal as
coffee-tellers. The truth is however, that they are just an indicator for
the quality of the wine – the more alcohol a wine has, the more wine traces
it forms.
What does the color of the wine tell us? The wine’s color
tells us many things about its character.
First, the color shows the grape variety. Let’s take two
popular varieties as examples – cabernet sauvignon and pinot noir.
Cabernet’s grapes are smaller, with a thicker and darker skin than those of
pinot noir. As a result, the color of wines made from cabernet sauvignon is
usually described as violet to dark while the color of wines made from pinot
noir is associated with ruby.
Second, the color is influenced by the climatic
conditions. A hot summer and dry fall result in ripe grapes, with a dark,
intense color. A cold summer and rainy fall will produce undeveloped grapes
with a lighter color.
Third, wine-making practices also have an influence on
the color of wine. For red wine, the grapes are fermented with the skin.
Since the coloring agents are in the grape skin, and not in the juice, the
longer the process of maceration, i.e. the longer the skin stays with the
juice, the darker the wine color will be.
Fourth, the process of wine aging also has an influence
on the color of wine. The young red wines are rich in coloring agents and
that makes their color denser and fuller. In the course of time chemical
reactions take place in the bottle and a sediment is formed at the bottom.
The wine’s color gets lighter and is often described as brick or amber.
Let’s go through an example: you pour yourself a glass of
red wine and after carefully observing it, you notice a full granite color,
good density, and not so good transparency. What conclusions can you draw?
Well, you can safely say that the wine is:
- from cabernet sauvignon grapes;
- from a Southern region;
- relatively young;
- from a good yield;
- that the wine-maker has gone for a good long
maceration.
If you know the wine, compare what you know with what you
see: maybe the wine has a very full color and the yield has been bad – this
speaks of a good wine-making technique; or maybe the wine is too pale for
its age – this speaks for undeveloped grape or poor wine-making technique.
Wine Tasting Component II: Smell
The second wine tasting component is smelling and
inhaling the wine’s aroma.
Concentrate as much as you can and smell the wine, swirl
the glass, and smell once again.
The stronger the aromas, the stronger the impression.
Most of the wines, especially the more delicate and the older ones develop
their aromas only after “being walked around” the glass.
There is no consensus as to the exact technique of
whiffing. Some say do two or three quick whiffs, others prefer one single
deep whiff.
The goal of whiffing is to inhale the aroma as deeply as
possible so that it gets into contact with our sensory nerve and hence, with
the part of the brain that is responsible for registering, storing, and
deciphering sensations. The spot where that takes place is extremely
sensitive: a cold or an allergy might completely block even the most intense
aromas. With enough practice and concentration, you’ll learn how to extract
the maximum from different aromas and how to interpret them.
The vivid connoisseurs love to concoct different aromas.
“Dark chocolate!” says one. “No, that’s more like pepper,” claims another.
“Tea leaves, tobacco, and mushrooms,” adds third. Are they joking?? Probably
we don’t quite realize it but nowadays we are exposed to so many different
smells that we find it difficult to find words to describe all the complex
aromas that a glass of wine can offer.
Like color, a wine’s aroma can tell us a lot about its
character, origin, and its history. Since our sense of taste is limited to
only 4 categories (sweet, sour, bitter, and salt), the wine’s aroma is the
most informative part of our sensory experience. So take your time, sit back
and contemplate the aroma! Like the perfume of a loved one or the smell of
freshly baked bread, a wine’s aroma can evoke memories of times and places
that we cherish.
Wine Tasting Component III: Taste
This is the best part of wine-tasting. You might be
enchanted by wine’s sparkling color or mesmerized by its aroma but it’s
actually drinking the wine that the whole thing is about.
Maybe you are thinking that drinking is the easiest part
– after all we start drinking from a glass from a very young age and we keep
practicing for a lifetime. However, there’s a real difference between just
swallowing liquid and conscious tasting. Here, just like in all good things
in life, the difference is in the right technique. The appropriate technique
can make sure we get the best out of the whole experience.
1. Still under the influence of the aromas you’ve inhaled
in step II, take a sip of the wine. Don’t make it too big or too small. You
need just enough to walk the wine in your mouth and not have to swallow it
just yet. Let wine uncover its secrets. For reference, you may keep good
wine in your mouth for 10 – 15 seconds, sometimes even more.
2. Walk the wine very well in your mouth, ensuring it
touches each part of it. This is important because our tongue, palate, the
inside of the mouth and our throat each detect different aspects of the
wine.
For many years, it was believed that the tongue has
different areas each of which is sensitive to a particular taste – sweet for
the tip of the tongue, sour for the sides, bitter for the back and salty for
the whole tongue. Today we know that all the tastes can be felt with the
whole tongue, only there’s a “blind” spot in the middle of it which is not
sensitive to any taste.
Another important step in wine tasting is being able to
tell one’s impressions of the wine. “Astringent”, “elegant”, “fruity”,
“flat”, “young” are only a few words of the wine vocabulary you’ll need to
amass.
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