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Tasting wine, the basics for beginners.
Your tongue is covered with over 10,000 individual taste buds.
These receptors enable us to detect the presence of certain
compounds in our food and drink. Yet for all the adjectives we
have to describe flavors, there are only 4 basic flavors the
tongue can detect, with a fifth having been described in Asian
cultures and only recently being accepted in the west. The four
we commonly think of are sweet, sour, salt, and bitter. The
fifth flavor perception has been named by the Japanese as umami,
or the savory sensation, associated with protein or meats.
So if the tongue has such a limited role to play in how we
perceive wine, then where does all that wonderful experience
come from when we sip and enjoy a glass? The answer is in front
of your nose; or rather it is your nose. The sense of smell is
more important to taste than the tongue itself. So what better
place to start tasting wine than with the aroma? Well, actually
before you ever taste or smell the wine your eyes will see it,
so let us start with a look at the wine.
Color and Clarity
The first thing you should do is hold your g
lass at half an arms length, and against a while or light
colored background. Look at how the light comes through the
wine. A good quality wine should be bright, with no cloudy haze
or particles floating around. If it is a sparkling wine the
bubbles should be fine and leave a delicate mist bursting at the
surface. If the wine appears brownish, like is has been tinted,
it may very well be oxidized. The color of white wine is often
very telling of the flavors they contain. Lighter, pale straw
colored wines are likely to taste lighter and crisp with very
fresh citrus or herbal notes, whereas darker whites will have
more bold oak or vanilla components. The color of red wines will
be very indicative of the grapes used, ranging from pale
burgundy to a purple crimson.
Aroma
Gently swirl the wine in the glass for a moment, and before you
even get the glass to your nose you will start to smell it. The
first aromas to get to your nose will be the highly volatile
esters responsible for the fruity smells, as well as alcohol.
Now bring the glass up to your nose, but don't put your nose in
the
glass, after all you are going to drink from it in a moment.
Give a nice gentle but lingering sniff. This will be the most
complex part of the wine as there are literally hundreds of
components contributing to the wines aroma. If there is any sign
of spoilage, stop now before you ruin your nose and taste buds
for the night. There are many words used to describe wine aroma,
from fresh fruit, dried fruit, herbal, grassy, oaky, vanilla,
citrus, floral, to less desirable like chemical, sulphur, or
madeirised (oxidized). Wines that have been aging for a while
may even develop some aromas that are earthy and almost like
truffles. Don't be too concerned with the exact description,
just use other flavors you are already familiar with and can
remember for future comparisons.
Tasting
Finally take a sip of wine into your mouth but do not swallow.
Don't worry, we wont' ask you to spit it out, after all the
vintner made the wine to be consumed. But do hold the wine in
your mouth a moment. Now you will quickly perceive acidity
(sour), on the sides of your tongue, and sweet on the tip. And
soon after if there are any tannins on the wine they will make
themselves known as the sensation of drying, or almost
"sticking" to your tongue. Breathe out into your nose a little
and you unleash the full potential of the wine. By now the wine
has change dramatically as you progress from the fore palate
through the mid to the end palate. Finally swallow and any
bitterness will be perceived on the back of your tongue, and you
can really enjoy the lingering affects.
As you proceed through these steps you may be amazed at how
different the perception of the wine is. Many wines excel at a
single point or two along this tasting path, but only those
wines that are exceptional improve with each phase of tasting
and culminate with a lingering end palate that leaves you
begging for another sip. While these are just the basics, it can
many years and literally hundreds of wine samples to become
expertly tuned into tasting wine.
About the author:
Michael Briggs is a wine fanatic and a frequent contributor to
Winery-Mall
where you can learn all about wine
enjoyment.
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