In writing this column I have been avoiding using terms you're likely to hear on daytime TV. There seems to be a glut of people on television having 'whooshing up the nose' experiences with wine, but sometimes the use of this kind of terminology can scare people away. Certain terms do exist to help people discuss wine and let others know what to expect from it however; this week I'm going to deal with the technique of wine tasting and some of the terms that are generally used in the business.
The first thing you will need to do is pour yourself a glass of wine. Fill it roughly a third of the way; this gives you room to swirl it around and let the wine mix with the air, releasing the flavour. A tulip shaped glass with a large round base narrowing towards the rim is best for concentrating the aroma and avoiding spills.
Wine tasting occurs in a series of steps broken down by the senses. It starts with looking at the wine. Examine the wine for clarity, colour and sediment, all factors in determining if the wine is young or old, tannin-full or not and how the wine was made. Younger white wines are pale yellow in colour and deepen to a brownish yellow with age. Young red wines begin deep red and mellow to softer brown reds over time. The easiest way to see this is to hold the glass in front of a white surface angling away from you. Where the wine is shallowest near the rim is a good place to compare colours.
All wines, regardless of age should be clear. If a wine is cloudy it's a sign of bacterial contamination and the wine will probably taste very poor indeed. If you are served a bottle of cloudy wine in a restaurant, send it back immediately. Sediment in a wine should be easily distinguishable from cloudiness because the particles floating the glass will be individually visible. Red wines which have been bottle aged for a long time tend to build up a sediment which is harmless to the flavour and is best avoided by decanting the wine before drinking it.
Next you should swirl the wine around in the glass. If you are trying to impress a dinner guest I recommend you try this on your own first so you don't embarrass yourself; flinging wine around the room should be a solitary pursuit. Having mastered the subtle art of wine swirling lean forward and poke your nose well inside the glass. Take a series of shallow sniffs, as if you were smelling a flower. Concentrate on the sensations as you inhale the aroma. Is it sweet or acidic? Does it catch in your throat or slide down smoothly?
At this point we need to address the issue of describing scents and flavours in wine. Many people look askance at wine tasters when they describe wine as 'earthy', 'peppery' or even 'petroly'. What is generally meant is that the flavour of the wine reminds the taster of a particular flavour or the feeling associated with a flavour. Some books and wine labels tend to drop the 'y' and suddenly the wine is described as being filled with earth and petrol - not the most appetising combination. While certain flavours, such as wood or burnt oak can be detected by everyone, just about all the other descriptions are subjective and really only a guide to how it might taste to you.
After you've peered, swirled and sniffed it's time to actually taste the wine. Take a good sip and try to inhale a little air with it, as if you were slurping soup. This brings out the flavour of the wine just where it's needed, in your mouth. Essentially there are five characteristics to look out for in any wine.
Sweet/Dry: The amount of natural sugar present in the wine. Not to be confused with acidity. Very dry wines have little sugar but aren't necessarily mouth-twistingly bitter.
Acidity: The amount of acid present in a wine (mostly tartaric acid which occurs in grapes) greatly influences the flavour and a certain amount of acid is required even in the sweetest wines to counter-balance the sugar and to give it strength of character and bite.
Tannin: Tannin is present in grape stems, pips and skin. All the colour in red wines is derived from the skin so a certain amount of tannin will be present in all red wines. Tannin leaves a dry, almost furry feeling in the mouth which softens as the wine ages.
Oak: There is a big difference between wines aged in oak barrels and those aged in metal containers. If the inside of the barrel has been burnt or 'toasted' a taste of wood may be evident. Otherwise oak matured wines tend to be smooth and with a creamy aftertaste.
Fruit: Obviously fruit will be a big part of all wine flavours - however the flavour may remind you of raspberries, plums or cherries more than grapes.
At the end of the day all these terms simply allow you to communicate your wine experiences to others. As long as you take the time to savour a glass of wine rather than chugging it down you'll find wine drinking to be an intricate and long lasting past time.
Bottle of the Week: Beaujolais Cru Morgon - Marc Dudet, Gamey 1996
Approx. £11.99. A fine, light wine with plenty to savour. Its tannins are just starting to mellow and the fruit flavours are coming into their own. Buy it and drink it straight away.
Clever thing to say: Morgon Beaujolais is made exclusively from very dark Gamay grapes which are then diluted with uncoloured Gamay grape juice to make wine of a clear ruby colour. Gamay is recorded as growing in the Burgundy region since 957AD.
March Rogers
