1. Systematic Approach of Tasting Wine Flashcards
What does SAT stand for?
Systematic Approach to Tasting Wine
Purpose of SAT?
- ability to describe wine accurately
2. make reasonable conclusions based on descriptions
Structure of SAT?
Part 1 - Description: Appearance, nose, palate
Part 2 - Conclusions: Quality level, level of readiness for drinking/potential for ageing
SAT hyphened terms
Only use one for description even if two terms may be correct
SAT e.g. terms and separated by comma
You may use several of the terms for description (but only those terms)
Danger with five-point scale? And how to prevent?
potential overuse of “medium”, possible to prevent by initial use of three-point scale. Be confident to use end of scale not only for extremes
Prepare for tasting - hydration?
You should be well hydrated as nasal receptors may become dry and lose sensitivity (plus losing saliva when spitting)
Tasting glass features (2) and volume
- rounded walls for swirling to release aromas
- inward sloping walls to capture aromas
volume: always same, e.g. 5 cl
Appearance (4)
clarity, intensity, colour, other observations
Clarity (2)
- Clear
- Hazy: although some wines are deliberately hazy they will not be used during exam
Intensity - defintion? (3)
- How much colour the wine has (different at rim in tilted glass)
- pale, medium, deep
Colour - definition, white vs red (5, 3, 5)
- Balance of red, blue, yellow, green, brown (not different at rim in tilted glass)
- white and rosé wines best judged with sufficient depth of liquid
- red best judged near rim
- White: lemon-green (some green), yellow, gold (some orange), amber and brown (mostly very odl or deliberately oxidized)
- Red: purple (some blue/purple), ruby (most), garnet (some orange), tawny (more brown than red), brown (no red)
- Rosé: pink (very pure, may have hint of purple), salmon (some orange), orange (dominant, very rare)
Appearance - other observations
- Legs (or tears): high sugar and/or alcohol makes more viscous
- Deposit (filtered?)
- CO2: fault (refermentation or malolactic ferm in bottle), but not always (light, unoaked whites), sparkling wines
Nose (4)
Condition, intensity, aromas, development
Nose - condition (2, 7)
- clean, unclean (faulty?)
- Trichloroanisole (TCA): damp cardboard (“cork”)
- Reduction: “stinky”, rotten eggs
- Sulfur dioxide: all wines but especially sweets, if too much like acrid smell of recently extinguished matches
- Oxidation: opposite of reduction, deeper coloured and more brown, toffee, caramel, honey, coffee, lack of freshness (sometimes on purpose)
- out of condition: lost freshness, mostly due to poor storage (too long, hot, bright, variable)
- volatile acidity (VA): vinegar, nail polish remover
- Brettanomyces (“Brett”): yeast giving smell of plastic or animal
Nose - intensity (5)
light, medium -, medium, medium +, pronounced
Nose - aromas (3)
- primary, secondary, tertiary
- not every wine has primary, secondary or tertiary aromas
Nose - primary aromas - definition? examples of primary clusters?
- Def: after fermentation, i.e. from grapes or created during fermentation process
- Mostly fruity aromas (e.g citrus, black), but also herbaceous, floral, etc
Nose - secondary aromas - definition? examples?
- Def: post-fermentation
- Ex: from oak (vanilla, toast), malolactic fermentation (MLF, creamy, buttery), yeasty (lees contact), biscuity (autolysis)
Nose - tertiary aromas - definition? examples? careful?
- Def: created during ageing processes
- Ex: oxidative (oxygen exposure during long period in oak) –> coffee, toffee, caramel, or non-oxidative (protected from oxygen due to ageing in bottle) –> petrol, honey, mushroom
- can influence primary aromas, e.g. fruit less fresh and get a dried/cooked character, i.e. such aromas can also come from primary in young wines due to dried grapes or grapes grown in hot climate
Nose - development - definitions? 2 examples of no longer youthful when sold? all benefit from ageing?
- youthful: dominated by primary and secondary aromas
- developing: some tertiary can be detected
- fully developed: tertiary predominant - secondary fully integrated
- tired, past its best: when attractive aromas fade and unpleasant start to develop
- ex 1: Rioja Reserva - due to ageing before release it will have some tertiary aromas - “developing”
- ex 2: Tawny Ports and all Sherrys - undergo extended ageing and tertiary aromas dominate - “fully developed”
- No, for some wines youthful aromas do not change in positive way and no attractive tertiary aromas will develop, e.g. almost all rosés, most inexpensive whites and many inexpensive reds
Palate - 9
sweetness, acidity, tannin, alcohol, body, mousse, flavour intensity, flavour characteristics, finish
Palate - sweetness - levels (6), examples
- dry, off-dry, medium-dry, medium-sweet, sweet, luscious
- dry: no detectable sugar levels (very rare)
- off-dry: most “dry” wines (e.g. Alsace Gewürztraminer, Brut Champagne, inexpensive reds and whites
- medium-dry/medium-sweet: distinct presence of sugar but not enough to partner with deserts
- sweet: prominent feature (e.g. Sauternes, Port)
- luscious: very few sweet wines, notably more viscous, leaving sticky sweet (e.g. Rutherglen Muscats, PX Sherries)
Palate - acidity - 3 types, detection, levels (5), examples, 2 points to remember
- mostly malic and tartaric (form grape juice), or lactic (from malic in all reds and many whites)
- side of tongue, makes mouth water
- low, medium-, medium, medium+, high
- low: feels broad, round and soft
- high: from grapes grown in cool conditions
- point 1: high level of sweetness and acidity can mask each other, e.g. sweet wine (acidity hard to detect) vs Chablis (easy to detect) - BUT mouthwatering effect stays same
- point 2: alcohol can create similar burning sensation as acidity
Palate - tannin - definition, sensation, levels (5), unripe vs ripe + example + how to know distinguish
- mostly from grape skins during fermentation
- cause mouth to dry up and feel rough due to tannins binding to saliva, contributing to textural richness felt above gums, sometimes also bitter at back of mouth
- low, medium-, medium, medium+, high
- unripe: more aggressively astringent
- ripe: more textural richness
- ex: barely ripe pinot noir with medium level tannins –> very astringent vs high-quality Shiraz from hot region with high levels of velvety-smooth ripe tannins showing little astringency
- how: A) tannins are astringent - thin body? then low tannins, B) low astringency but very full-bodied? then high tannins
Palate - alcohol - contribution (2), property, perception, how to distinguish from acidity, levels (3)
- contributes to texture and body
- property: more viscous, so at high levels wine seems heavier, at low levels seems more watery
- perception: high levels –> hot, burning sensation
- vs acidity: if mouthwatering –> high acidity, if thick and vicous –> high in alcohol
- levels: low (<11%), medium (11-13.9%), high (>=14%)
- levels fortified: low (15-16.4%), medium (16.5-18.4%), high (>18.5%)
Palate - body - definition, factors, levels, hard
- Def: textural impression created by wine
- main factor: alcohol
- sugar adds to body, high acidity makes lighter, high tannin makes wine fuller bodied, although low levels of astringent tannin can make it harsher, thiner and lighter
- levels: low, medium-, medium, medium+, full
- hard: sweet, high acidity, low alcohol… what’s main factor?
Palate - mousse - levels (3)
- only sparkling wine
- levels: delicate (ageing, very soft and fine), creamy (lively sparkle without frothy or aggressive), aggressive (some young - extremely lively explode but lose all bubbles at once)
Palate - flavour intensity - differences with nose?
- in general flavours detected on palate should be same as aromas detected in the nose.
- Through warming of wine in mouth earthy, spicy and toasty characteristics can be more prominent on palate.
- Fruity and floral characteristics can be less prominent on palate.
Palate - finish - levels (5), definition
- short, medium-, medium, medium+, long
- Def: collection of sensations after having swallowed or spat.
- Important indicator of quality (i.e. the longer the better). BUT: only persistence of desirable sensations (e.g. not a long and bitter aftertaste…)
- can vary from taster to taster
- short: most basic quality wines (seconds)
- long: very fine wine (a minute or more)
Conclusions (6 + 4)
- Quality level: faulty, poor, acceptable, good, very good, outstanding
- Level of readiness for drinking/potential for ageing: too young, can drink now but potential for ageing, drink now but not suitable for ageing, too old
Conclusions - quality (4), defs
- Balance, intensity, length, complexity
- Balance: sugar/fruit vs acidity/tannin - integration?
Conclusions - quality - balance - 3 questions
- 1st: how is overall balance achieved?
- 2nd: overall how well balanced?
- 3rd: how well integrated are the components?
Conclusions - quality - intensity - 2
- weak and dilute flavours seldom high quality
- but more intensity not necessarily high quality
Conclusions - quality - complexity - origin, general / simplicity, examples , levels
- can come from primary aromas&flavours only or combination with secondary/tertiary
- complexity is desirable, but simplicity not always negative, i.e. not all premium wines are complex.
- sometimes purity and clarity of expression can be what makes wine great, and presence of oak or tertiary characters might detract from quality
- ex. Icewines often fall into this category
- outstanding: 4/4 criteria positive
- very good: 3/4
- good: 2/4
- acceptable: 1/4
- poor: 0/4
Conclusions - readiness - basic question?
- is wine made in a style that can benefit from ageing?
- if mainly primary aromas/flavours with light acid or tannin then likely not benefit from ageing
- therefore: drink now: not suitable for ageing
- if wine seems like it should have been fruity with light tannin or acid structure but has lost its freshness: too old
Conclusions - readiness - how does wine have to be ready for ageing? how will different characteristics develop over time?
- firm acid and tannin structure
- aromas&flavours develop away from primary to tertiary
- tannins soften
- alcohol, sugar and acidity don’t change over time
- although sweet wines very slowly taste drier as age
- drink now but has potential: drinking pleasurably now but will improve positively
- too young: will be so much better in a few years and waste to drink now
