Tasting [Compatibility Mode]

8/11/2019 Tasting [Compatibility Mode]

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BASICS OF TASTING


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INTRODUCTION

Tasting can be the most intimidating aspect of wine.

When tasting in a crowd it is easy for one to feel

nervous when trying to identify the various flavorsin a wine, much less knowing the wines identity.

Dont panic! You already have a well-developed

innate sense of smell and taste in terms of strong

preferences in the food and beverages you like

and those you strongly dislike. In other words, youre

already halfway there. We just need to bring yournose and palate up to speed with the language, the

aromas, and the taste sensations of wine. Onward.


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MODULE OBJECTIVES

In this module you will learn:

An introduction to the DeductiveTasting Method

How to examine a white wine and a red

wine using the Deductive Tasting Method

Using the Deductive Tasting Method to

expand your wine vocabulary


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TASTING PREAMBLE

Before we get started, a few words of vinous wisdom:

Everyone is gifted with a unique sense of smell and

taste. In wine we call this ones organoleptic set-up.

Organoleptics is the combined senses of smell and taste.

Everyone also has different tolerances and sensitivities to

the various components that make up wine. Thus one personmay be sensitive to tannin in red wines while another taster

may be sensitive to wines with high acidity.

It is no mystery that ones tolerances and sensitivities have alot to do with the specific kinds of wines one likes

and dislikes.


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CATCH AND RELEASE:

EXPECTORATE

You mean I have to spit? Yes, you do!

Spitting, when tasting, is mandatory for tworeasons:

Youll stay more focused and sober

The brain does much better analyzing a wine

when you are not drinking it. That is because

there are strong associations to drinking and

quenching ones thirst as in survival.


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THE DEDUCTIVE

TASTING METHOD

Why use a tasting method?

Although it is perfectly acceptable to blithely sip aglass of wine, you will get a lot more out of wine if you

learn to taste using a consistent method. Here is why:

You will improve your palate and ability to taste You will increase your focus when tasting

You will form valuable future taste references

You will increase your overall wine knowledge

You will increase your overall love of and

appreciation for wine and food


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THE DEDUCTIVE

TASTING METHOD

Deductive Tasting is just such a method and

breaks down into four criteria:

Sight Palate

Nose Conclusion

The Conclusion is used in blind tastings (no

prior knowledge of the wine) to determine the

wine variety and age. Since we are not blindtasting we will not cover the conlusion aspect

of the method.


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DEDUCTIVE TASTING: SIGHT

The appearance of a wine can provide valuable

information about its age and/or storage conditions.

Key: To assess the appearance of a wine, take the

glass in hand and tilt it away from you against a

white background.

You are looking for:

Clarity

Color and secondary colors

Particles/sediment

Legs/tears


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SIGHT: COLOR

The next thing to look at in a glass of wine is the color,

or the hue as it is sometimes called. Color is the

most important criteria in assessing the appearanceof a wine.

A wines color can provide clues to its age and/or

storage conditions. That is because there is a definiterelationship between the age of a wine and its color.

The general rules for color and wine are:

White and blush wines get darker as they age

Red wines get lighter as they age


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COLOR SCALES

Color scales are a range of colors that correspond to the

age or style of a given white, blush, or red wine.

A young white wine such as Sauvignon Blanc is very pale

in color and usually has a trace of green to it (well get to

that in a moment).

An older white wine will be much deeper in color and will

usually have lost the green highlights.

The opposite is true for red wines: a young red wine may

display a deep, saturated red-purple color while an oldervintage of the same wine might be reddish-brown in color.

Again, red wines not only get lighter in color as they age,

they actually change color as well.


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COLOR SCALES

Here are the color scales for white, blush, and red wines:

White WinesWatery Straw Yellow Gold Brown

Ros and Blush WinesPink Salmon Brown

Red WinesPurple Ruby red Garnet (reddish brown) Brown

Note that all three scales end with the color brown that iscommonly found in a wine with a great deal of age a sure

sign that the wine has oxidized and may be undrinkable.Important Note: We can also describe the color of a winemore accurately by qualifying it as pale, medium, or deep as in pale straw, deep ruby etc.


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SECONDARY COLORS

Is there more to color in wine, you ask? Indeed there is!

Every wine will also display secondary colors.

Young white wines will display a touch of green. This is

chlorophyll the unripe portions of the grape.

Older red wines lose their youthful ruby red color and

will display some shade of orange or brown (or both)

a sign of age.

Some wines have distinct colors because of the

specific grape variety or the technique used tomake the wine.


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COLOR & AGE: CHARDONNAY

Two examples of colors in white wine:

Here are two glasses

of Chardonnay; one

from France, the other

from Napa Valley.

Note how the glass ofthe younger Meursault

is very pale in color

when compared to the

older Napa ValleyChardonnay.

France: Meursault Napa Valley: Chardonnay


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COLOR & AGE: RED WINE

Two examples of color in red wine:

Chateauneuf-du-Pape

3 years

Barolo 8 years

Note how the

Chateauneuf-du-Pape,

a Grenache blend from

Frances Rhone Valley,

is opaque in color,

while the Barolo, madefrom the Nebbiolo

grape in the Piedmont

region of Italy, is much

lighter in color with a

considerable gradation

of color in the glass.


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ASSESSING COLOR & CLARITY

To assess the clarity and color of a wine, tilt your glass away

from you at a 45 degree angle against a white background.

Is the wine clear? Dull? Hazy? You make the call.

Next, assess the wine for color. Using the color scales provided

in the previous page, assign the wine a color. Remember to

qualify if using the terms, pale, medium or deep.

A glass of Sauvignon Blanc might be described as pale-to-

medium straw in color, while a older cabernet might be

described as deep garnet ruby.

Secondary colors: Your glass of wine may also display

secondary colors. Chances are it does. Look for a touch of

green in the color in a young white wine while an older red

might have browning at the edge of the glass.


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SIGHT: PARTICLES

Particles in wine usually take the form of

sediment in older red wines; or tartrates

in white and red wines that have not been

overly processed.


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TARTRATES

Tartrates: are excess tartaric acid that existsnaturally in all wines. Tartrates are usuallyremoved by either filtering the wine or putting

it through a process called cold stabilization,where the wine is quick chilled to removedthe tartrates before bottling.

The glass on the right, an older dessert wine

from Riesling, was not filtered or put throughcold stabilization and the tartaric acid crystalscan easily be seen.

Some winemakers choose not to filter or put

the wine through cold stabilization and thewine can display tartrates if quickly chilled.Not a problem as the tartrate crystals dissolveback into the wine as it gets a bit warmer.

Rheingau Riesling

Trockenbeerenauslese

10 years


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SIGHT: SEDIMENT

Sediment in red wine comes

from the pigment and tannins

that precipitate out of the wineas it ages.

Sediment can also be found

in young unfiltered red wines.Here is a photo of an older

Zinfandel with sediment in

the bottom of the glass

Decanting older wines off the

sediment is usually necessary

Sonoma Old Vines

Zinfandel 15 years


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SIGHT CHECK

Check your wine for tartrates or sediment in

the glass.

If there are no signs of either, the wine was

probably filtered and/or cold stabilized.


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SIGHT: VISCOSITY

Viscosity is a clue to the amount of alcohol or

presence of residual sugar in a wine. One can

assess the viscosity of a wine by looking at thelegs or tears in the glass.

To look at the legs/tears in your glass, swirl the glass

carefully by placing it on a hard surface and slowlydrawing small circles.

After swirling your glass, watch the wine as it drips

down the side of the glass. You are looking to seehow quickly or slowly the wine drips down the sides

of the glass; and how thick or thin the tears/legs are.


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DEDUCTIVE TASTING: NOSE

Now we move on to the nose of the wine. Many

believe smelling the wine is the most critical aspect

of tasting.

Why? Because smell accounts for some 85% of

the sense of taste. Want proof? Just think back to

the last head cold you had and how you could nottaste anything.

Experts say that while we can only taste five different

things (sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and umami), we cansmell over 10,000 different things.


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NOSE: SWIRLING THE WINE

Why do we swirl the glass before smelling

the wine?

Because all the flavor elements (called esters)

are attached to the alcohol molecules in the wine.

Swirling the wine helps to release the esters and

makes them easier for us to identify.


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HOW TO SMELL

So if smelling wine is so important, what is the best

way to smell, or nose, a glass of wine?

There are two basic techniques for smelling wine.

One long sniff

Several short sniffsTry both techniques to see what works best for you.


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NOSE: THE CHECKLIST

Now the fun begins. Here is a checklist of things

to look for when smelling a glass of wine:

Fault factor

Fruit

Earth

Wood


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NOSE: FAULT FACTOR

Fault factor: here we are checking the wine for flaws to see if anything

is wrong. Here is a short list of the most common wine flaws:

TCA (trichloranisole) or corkiness: from tainted corks smells likewet moldy cardboard and mustiness

Oxidation: from age or poor storage conditions smells and tastes

like dull fruit, with earthy, leathery notes and a dull, flat finish

Volatile Acidity or VA: smells like vinegar aromas orvarnish/fingernail polish

Excess sulfur dioxide SO2: sulfur dioxide is a valuable

preservative added during the winemaking process. However, a little

goes a long way and too much SO2 smells like a matchstickor wet wool

Hydrogen sulfide H2S: smells like rotten eggs or sewer gas. Yum!


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CHECK FOR FLAWS

Smell your glass of wine

and check for flaws.

Hopefully the wine smellsclean, fresh and fruity. If

not, use the previous page

to identify the problem.


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ASSESING THE NOSE

FOR FRUITCheck your glass of wine for fruit aromas. Swirl the

glass and smell focusing on fruit aromas.

Be patient! Let the aromas of the wine have time to

find their way to you. Spend at least 1015 seconds,

if not longer smelling the wine.

What fruit aromas did you smell? You might check

the wine again to get a better impression of the fruit.


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NOSE: EARTHINESS

Earthiness, you ask? Yes, it is true. Wines fromEuropean countries, or the old world, have a definitive

stamp of the vineyard in which the grapes were grown. In fact, European wines tend to have more earthy

characteristics than fruit often making them easy toidentify. New world wines, or wines from countries such

as the U.S., Australia, New Zealand or South Africa,tend to have less of a sense of earthiness/mineralityand much more fruit.

Earthiness in wine takes the form of minerality inwhite wines and aromas of damp earth or mushroomin red wines.

Earthiness in wines is often called terroir (tare-woir).


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ASSESSING THE NOSE

FOR EARTHINESS

Check your glass of wine for earthiness. Swirl itand spend some time smelling it to see if there is

any sense of minerality or earthiness.

If you have trouble finding a sense of earthiness,it may not be there.


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NOSE: WOOD

Wood is the last item on the checklist for the aromas ofthe wine. You have probably seen many photographsof oak barrels neatly stacked in a winery.

Fine wine is often aged in small, 5560 gallon oak barrels.These barrels are often toasted, or carmelized, on theinside which add a unique set of flavors to the finished

wine. Oak-aging also adds structure to the wine in theform of tannins (or tannic acid) and added complexity.

New barrels impart the most influence on wine. As thebarrels are reused with each new vintage they impart lessand less influence and flavor.

Generally, a winery will use barrels for 4-6 years and thensell them off.


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COMMON OAK AROMAS

Common aromas of oak in wine are:

Vanilla: from the vanillin in the wood

Baking spices: such as clove cinamon and

allspice from toasting and carmelizing the barrels

Wood: the aromas of a freshly sawed plank areoften a sign that a wine has spent too much time

in wood


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ASSESSING THE WINE FOR OAK

Check your glass of wine for oak. Swirl it and spend some

time smelling it to see if there is any sense of oak.

If you smell vanilla, sweet baking spices, the wine has

probably spent some time aging in oak. If not, it may have

been in older oak that is neutral or the winemaker may

chose not to age the wine in oak.Important Note: Certain grape varieties such as Riesling

are rarely aged in oak. Others, such as Chardonnay or

Cabernet Sauvignon are almost always aged in oak. More

often than not, oak aging is a stylistic and winemaking

decision.


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DEDUCTIVE TASTING: PALATE

Finally, after looking at and smelling the wine, the next step

is to taste the wine. If you have thoroughly smelled the wine,

tasting it will bring few, if any, surprises. In fact, tasting thewine will only confirm what you have already smelled.

Here are some tips on tasting:

Take a SIP of the wine no hoovering!After sipping, move the wine around in the inside your mouth.

You can gargle or swish or whatever and you may have to

experiment a bit to find out what works best for you.

Expectorate! Remember that you do have to spit whentasting. Its part of learning to be a wine professional and youll

have a much better idea of what the wine is all about.


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PALATE CHECKLIST

Here is a checklist of what to look for when tasting

the wine:

Sweetness/dryness

Body

Confirming the fruit, earth, and wood Alcohol

Acidity

Tannin Complexity

Finish


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PALATE: SWEETNESS/DRYNESS

Sip of the wine then spit it out into a spit cup.

Notice how dry or sweet the wine is not only inyour first impression but in the after taste, called

the finish, as well.

A wines sense of sweetness or dryness isdetermined by how much, or little, residual sugar

the winemaker left in the wine after fermentation.


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SWEETNESS/DRYNESS SCALE

Scale:

Now that you have tasted the wine, where does it fit

in with the scale above. Is your wine dry? Slightly

sweet? Or a very sweet dessert wine? You make

the call.

Bone

dryDry Off-dry

Slightly

sweet

Medium

sweetDessert


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PALATE: BODY

The body of a wine can be described as weight orrichness. It is determined by the amount of alcohol,

glycerin, and grape solids in the wine.Think of dairy products as a comparison. A light-bodied wine is like non-fat milk; a medium-bodied

wine is like half-and-half; and a full-bodied wine islike heavy cream.

Taste your wine again and try to fit it into one of

the categories above. Here is a scale for body: Light-bodied; medium-bodied; full-bodied. Where does your wine fit on this scale?

PALATE CONFIRM THE FRUIT


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PALATE: CONFIRM THE FRUIT,

EARTH & WOODTake another sip and try to confirm all the aromas of

fruit, earth, and wood that you detected when smelling

the wine.

Fruit: do you taste the same fruit flavors? Anything new?

Earthiness: do you taste a sense of minerality orearthiness in the wine? Anything new? Some tasters say

that minerality or earth on the palate is more of a

sensation versus an actual flavor.

Wood: do you taste the same vanilla/spice/wood flavors?

Anything new?


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ALCOHOL

Alcohol in wine is sensed as a feeling of heat in the

nose, or the throat and chest. A light-bodied wine

with lower alcohol will leave little, if any, impressionof heat in , while a richer wine with a higher alcohol

content, such as a port or sherry, will leave a

warming sensation.

The scale for alcohol:

Low Medium High

Taste your wine again and see where it fits onthis scale.


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PALATE: ACIDITY

Acidity is one of the vital components of wine. Every wine

must possess enough acidity to be balanced and to have

any potential to age. Tartaric acid is the most important ofthe four major acids found in every wine.

Acidity on the palate is perceived as tartness in flavors

and by the salivary glands producing saliva.

Take another sip of the wine and note any tart flavors and

also see how your salivary glands react to the wine.

Here is a scale for acidity:Low Medium High

Where does the wine fit on this scale?


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PALATE: TANNIN

Tannins in wine are derived from two sources: red grapes(white wines are made without any skin contact) and thebarrels wine is often aged in.

Tannins taste bitter and feel gritty or aggressive on the backof your tongue. The best way to think of tannins is to imaginea cup of overly-brewed tea. That bitter taste is tannin.

White wines without oak usually have little, if any, tannins.Red wines generally have much more tannin.

Now take a sip of your wine. Do you taste or sense anybitterness or grittiness from tannins?

Here is a scale for tannin:

Low Medium High

Where does your wine fit on this scale?


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PALATE: COMPLEXITY

Complexity is a term you hear wine geeks toss around a lot.

But complexity is very important in terms of a wines quality.

In short, complexity means the amount of aromas and flavorsin a wine and how they interact. An inexpensive jug wine will

have very few flavors and little complexity. A fine, aged bottle

will have far more flavors and thus much more complexity.

Taste your wine again and think about how many aromas and

flavors it hasand how complex it is.

Here is a scale for complexity:

Low Medium High

How complex is your wine?


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CONGRATULATIONS!

You have made it through the Deductive Tasting

Technique. Now it is time to sum up. Think about

everything you see, smell, and taste in your glassof wine.

Now you should be able to describe it thoroughly

and hopefully you will never taste a glass of wine thesame way again.

Use the following checklist on the next page when

describing a glass of wine.


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DESCRIPTIVE CHECKLIST

Sight:

My glass of wine was clear/not clear and ______ in color,

with _____ viscosity.Nose:

The wine smelled like ________ for fruit and had _____

minerals/earthiness and ____ oak.

Palate:

The wine tasted like ______, with ____ alcohol, _____

acidity, _____ tannins, and a ______ finish.

The wine has _____ complexity.

There you have it! A very complete description of your wine.


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REVIEW

You should now have a good understanding of:

The basics of the Deductive Tasting Method

How to examine a white wine and a red wine using

the Deductive Tasting Method Using the Deductive Tasting Method to expand

your wine vocabulary

Tasting [Compatibility Mode]

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