Wine tasting

From EncycloWine

Wine tasting is the sensory evaluation of wine, encompassing more than taste, but also mouthfeel, aroma, and color. The main aims of wine tasting are to:

  • assess the wine's quality
  • determine the wine's maturity and suitability for aging or immediate drinking
  • detect the aromas and flavors of the wine
  • discover the many facets of wine, so as to better appreciate it

To assess a wine's quality, one must gauge its complexity of aroma and flavor, determine the intensity of the aroma and flavor, check that the flavors and structural elements - such as acid, tannin and alcoholic strength - are well balanced, and finally see how long the wine persists in the mouth after tasting.

Practiced wine tasters will gauge the wine's quality in other ways too. These include, whether the wine is of high quality with respect to other wines of its price, region or vintage; if it is typical of the region it is made in or diverges in style; if it uses certain winemaking techniques, such as barrel fermentation or malolactic fermentation; or if it has any wine faults. Many professional wine tasters, such as sommeliers or buyers for retailers, look for characteristics which are desirable amongst wine drinkers and which are likely to sell or mature well.

Contents

Blind tasting

Main article: Blind wine tasting

To ensure impartial judgement of a wine, it should generally be served blind - that is, without the taster(s) having seen the label. This is done because knowing the identity of a wine easily prejudices tasters for or against it because of its geographic origin, price, reputation, or other considerations.

Serving temperature

Main article: Wine serving temperature

For a tasting, still wines should be served at between 60 and 64°F (16 and 18°C), even if the wines would usually be served chilled. At this temperature, the aromas and flavors of the wine are believed to be most easily detectable. It also ensures that the wines can be judged in a standardized way.

The exception to this convention is sparkling wine which is usually tasted chilled. The thinking behind this is that many sparkling wines can be unpleasant in the mouth when they are warm.

Glassware

Main article: Wine glass

The shape of a wine glass can have a subtle impact on the perception of wine, especially its bouquet. Typically, the ideal shape is considered to be wider toward the bottom, with a narrower aperture at the top ('egg', or perhaps, 'beaker' shaped). 'Tulip'-shaped glasses, which are widest at the top are considered the least ideal. Many wine tastings use International Organization for Standardization (ISO) XL5 glasses, which are 'egg'-shaped. Interestingly, the effect of glass shape does not appear to be related to whether the glass is pleasing to look at.

Order of tasting

Tasting order is very important, as heavy or sweet wines can dominate lighter wines and skew the taster's assessment of those wines. As such, wines should be tasted in the following order: sparkling wines; light whites, then heavy whites; rosés; light reds; heavy reds; sweet wines.

Without having tasted the wines, however, one does not know if, for example, a white is heavy or light. Before tasting, try and determine the order the wines should be assessed in, by appearance and nose alone. Heavy wines will be deeper in color and generally more intense on the nose. Sweeter wines, being denser, will leave thick streaks (called legs) down the sides of the inside of glass when swirled.

Evaluation

The best way to improve wine tasting ability is to practice on a regular basis. When tasting, the following qualities are evaluated:

Color

A wine's color is better judged by putting it against a white background. The wine glass is put at an angle in order to see the colors. Colors can tell you the grape variety, whether the wine was aged in wood, and the wine's age or maturity.

Young white wines are often pale in color while older white wines take on a color of straw or can even be golden. Young red wines can be dark and opaque purple while older red wines can take on a red brick or even amber hue, particularly at the rim of the glass.

Nose

The bouquet is the total smell of the wine. The flavor of foods is first experienced by the nose. The aroma of the wine, which is the smell of the grapes, reveals a lot about its flavor before actually tasting it. The wine's "nose", a term used to describe the bouquet and aroma, are further released by constantly swirling the wine in the glass which exposes the wine to more oxygen, making it release more aromatics. Smells also helps to determine whether the wine is faulty.

Any wine can have many different aromas and the best will often have a complex collection. As knowledge of different wine grape varieties increases, so will ability to identify different aromas and which belong to each grape.

Wine's not to be sniffed at: smelling should not be rushed. The aroma of the wine, which in most wines corresponds to its flavor, is one of the most important aspects of tasting a wine. It tells the taster about most aspects of the wine's quality, thus inhale deep and long to learn the wine's secrets.

Palate

The next step is the mouthfeel of the wine. Although the surface area of the mouth has little sensitivity to flavors, it does react to acid and sugar together. The tip of the tongue tells how sweet a wine is and the upper edges tell its acidity. Wine's aromatics are further released when exposed to the temperatures inside the mouth and the scent is recieved by the interior pathway which also delivers data to the olfactory epithelium. Since there are taste buds all over the mouth, wine tasters leave the wine in their mouths for a few seconds in order to better taste the wine.

To assess the palate of a wine is to look at its structure: sugar, tannin, acid, alcohol and intensity of flavors. Ideally, these structural attributes should balance each other, except in wines designed to be out of balance (such as Barolo, which is very tannic and acid, and Rutherglen Muscat, which is very sweet with low acid).

Common aromas and flavors for various grape varietals

Red grapes

White grapes

Spitting out wine during tasting

As an alcoholic drink, wine can affect the consumer's judgement. As such, at formal tastings, where dozens of wines may be assessed, wine tasters generally spit out the wine while they are assessing its quality.

The correct method for the spitting out of wine is:

  • only a small amount of wine is taken into the mouth - less than 20 millilitres (approx. one oz)
  • the lips are pursed so that they pout
  • the head is directed toward the spittoon - as close as possible when learning
  • the wine is pushed through the pursed lips with the assistance of the tongue while looking into the spittoon. This will ensure that the aim is consistent.

It is best to practice with water at home to hone this technique.

Caution: Spittoons fill up quickly. It is customary to place sawdust in the spittoon to absorb the liquid as it is spat out. This prevents splash back.

Visiting wineries

Travelling to wine regions for tours is another way of increasing skill in tasting. Many wine producers in wine regions all over the world offer tastings of their wine. Depending on the country or region, tasting at the winery may incur a small charge to allow the producer to cover costs.

It is not considered rude to spit out wine at a winery, even in the presence of the winemaker or owner. Generally, a spittoon will be provided. In some regions of the world, tasters simply spit on the floor or onto gravel surrounding barrels. It is polite to inquire about where to spit before beginning tasting.

Attending wine schools

A growing number of wine schools can be found, offering wine tasting classes to the public. These facilities offer wine tasting classes to the public. These programs often help wine tasters hone and develop their abilites in a controlled setting. Some, such as The Wine School of Philadelphia also offer professional training for sommeliers and winemakers in the art of wine tasting.

See also

Sources

  • Huttenbrink, K., Schmidt, C., Delwiche, J., & Hummel, T. (2001). The aroma of red wine is modified by the form of the wine glass. Laryno-Rhino-Otologie, 80(2), 96-100.
  • Delwiche, J., & Pelchat, M. (2002). Influence of glass shape on wine aroma. Journal of Sensory Studies, 17(1), 19-28.
  • Hummel, T., Delwiche, J., Schmidt, C., & Huttenbrink, K. (2003). Effects of the form of glasses on the perception of wine flavors: a study in untrained subjects. Appetite, 41(2), 197-202.
  • Michael Broadbent, Michael Broadbent's Winetasting, London: Mitchell Beazley, 2002.
  • Jancis Robinson, Tasting Pleasure, Penguin, New York, 1999.
  • Peynaud Émile, The Taste of Wine: The Art and Science of Wine Appreciation, London: Macdonald Orbis, 1996. ISBN 0-471-11376-X
  • Stuart Walton, Cook's Encyclopedia of Wine, China: Anness Publishing Limited, 2005. ISBN 0-7607-4220-0
  • Zraly, Kevin. Windows on the World: Complete Wine Course; Sterling Publishing, 2005.
  • Karen MacNeil. The Wine Bible; Workman Publishing, New York (2001).
  • Gluckstern, Willie. The Wine Avenger, Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1998.
  • George M. Taber, Judgment of Paris: California vs. France and the Historic 1976 Paris Tasting that Revolutionized Wine. NY: Scribner, 2005.

External links

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