Wine Tasting - Guide & Info
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Wine tasting is an essential part of enhancing the experience of any wine. A wine tasters ritual of examining the content of the glass, swirling it around and sniffing it before taking a mouthful only to spit them out may seem ridiculous to some us, in fact it is a technical procedure with a sequence of perfectly logical steps than enhances the pleasure of a good wine. Once we understand how and why wine tasting is essential it will become second nature to anyone who loves wine.
The first rule for wine tasting is to never pour a full glass, this is so that you can have room for swirling, about a third full is a good measure if you are in a restaurant. Once you have the glass in your hand, take a good look at the wine by holding it up to a light source or sunlight if you can. Notice whether the liquid is clear or cloudy, does it contain sediment or other solid materials? For red wine, tilt the glass against a white surface and look at the color of the liquid at the far edge in the glass. Older fine wines will fade at the rim taking on a tawny or brownish hue.
Next swirl the liquid gently in the glass in a circular motion, this is to bring out the wine aroma so that you can fully appreciate the bouquet by bringing the glass towards your face at a 45 degree angle and put your nose slightly inside the glass. Inhale gently for a few seconds; remember that the scent will keep changing as it is exposed to air. Now comes the complicated part of tasting, the actual tasting itself. The reason why expert wine tasters roll the wine as thoroughly as they can is because they are trying to spread the wine around all the different taste receptors of the tongue. The tip of the tongue are receptors for sweetness followed by saltiness slightly in the middle followed by bitterness at the very back, acidity or sourness is tasted at the sides of the tongue. To get the best result in your tasting process, its best to take in a little air while the wine is still in your mouth by gently drawing in air with your lips pursed, then breathe downwards through the nose. This allows the taste of the wine to be transmitted through the nasal passage as well while intensifying the whole sensation. Finally once you have tasted the wine, you can choose to either swallow or spitting it out. If youre tasting the wine at a restaurant in view of the rest of your guest, we recommend to swallow the wine as a gesture of politeness, spitting out the wine by professional wine tasters at shows or public tasting is due to the fact that they will be tasting many types of wine throughout the day to avoid getting inebriated.
Here are the 5 main elements to concentrate on in the taste of a wine. Learning to concentrate on each element individually will allow you to set up your own set of analytical tools to evaluate the quality of any wine.
Dryness/Sweetness: The amount of natural sugar contained in a wine is the most easily identified attribute.
Acidity: Do not confuse dryness with acidity as they can often be confused. There are different kinds of acids wine, tartaric acid being the most important one which is present in grape juice. To identify acidity level is to gauge the sharpness of the wine at the edges of the tongue. Good level of acidity contributes the feeling of freshness to a young wine and helps it age to vintage standard.
Tannin: Tannin gives the mouth a furry, drying feeling that makes a young wine hard to drink, but it disappears as the wine matures.
Oak: Oak is what most wine barrels are made of and where most wines mature before bottling. White wine is best known to be stored in oak barrels. The presence of oak in wine, especially white wine is by noticing the aroma of vanilla, nutmeg or cinnamon. For red wine, the presence of oak is obvious from the feeling of creamy smoothness of the wine. If the barrel was heavily charred or toasted on the insides, the wines will have a sense of smokiness like burnt toast on a grill.
Fruit: Most often while tasting wine, youll find that the taste somehow reminds you of a combination of fruits such as melon and raspberries with a hint of peach. This is because wine can feature some elements of other fruit flavors from the type of grapes used.
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