Wine 101-Discover The Complexities Of Flavors While Wine Tasting
January 1, 2009 by admin
Filed under Wine Tasting Tips, wine 101
If you are a wine lover, you know that when it comes to tasting it, it can be difficult. . If you need to describe a wine, then you should break it down in categories as to how it tastes to you. Many of us have been out to dinner with others and may have totally disagreed with what they thought about the taste of the wine.
When you taste wine a good idea is to put in context with other flavors, such as sweet apples, or sour grapes. This will help you define it better to others. You also make want to give it a grade of one to ten, and use that as a descriptor. For example, if the wine has a strong flavor, give it a ten. If it has a weaker flavor, give it a one.
You may want to consider if the wine is dry or sweet. This can be a great way to help you describe a wine to others after tasting it.
When you think of the body of the wine, consider this analogy, the different varieties of milk. For example, you may have whole milk, two percent, and one percent milk. All three of these have different variations and textures. So, when you taste your wine is it light, medium or heavy in texture. This is a good component to add to your tasting description.
You may also wan to consider the oak component of the wine. Does the wine have any oak or wood in the taste? Generally, you do not want a wine that is at either major extreme because it will have a strong affect on the taste of the wine.
Tannins are the lifelines of the wine and come from the skins and stems of the grapes. They can have a strong affect and on taste, can often have a drying feeling. A lot of tannins can often mean that the wine is “shut down” or “too young” and is hard to get a sense of what is really there, as it is overpowered by the tannins. This is very important that you have just the right balance to have the best taste.
Complexity is the last component of the taste mix. How many flavors do you get when you drink the wine? If you only get one or two, it’s not complex at all. If you get five or six, then it’s certainly leaning towards being a much more complex wine.
When you utilize all these components in your wine tasting, you should be able to give a thorough description of the wine to anyone who is interested.
