Assessing wine Flashcards
An Ideal tasting environment will be..
- Free of strong odours
- Sufficient space for wine glass, notes and spittoons or spit cups.
- No strong perfumes or freshly brushed teeth to interfere with the wines aromas.
- Suitable Glassware, odourless, colourless, and free from any residues.
- Glasses rounded to swirl wine with inward slopping walls.
Assessing Wine - Colour intensity
- How much the colour extends from the core to the rim.
White wines are always watery around the edge (at 45degree angle) but a broad rim is considered pale and nearly to the rim deep.
Red wines - if can be read through pale and if unable to see the steam from above/read through its considered deep.
Assessing Wine - Colour White wines
Lemon - gold - amber
The most common colour is lemon.
It has to be a very noticeable amount of browning to be considered amber, also a sign of ageing
Assessing wine colour - Red
Purple - Ruby - Garnet - Tawny
The most common colour for red wine is Ruby.
Wines with a noticeable blue or purple colour can be described as purple.
If there is a noticeable orange or brown colour but the wine is still more brown then red then the colour can be described as tawny. (Browning is also a sign of ageing)
Assessing Wine Colour - Rose
Pink - Pink/orange - Orange
Orange is very rare in rose wines.
Aroma Intensity
Pronounce - immediate aromas when you insert you’re nose into the glass
Light - even after swirling you find the aromas to be faint and hard to detect.
Otherwise it falls into the “medium” category
Aroma Characteristics primary
Primary - come from the grape or the fermentation process. A simple wine will have limited primary aromas often from one cluster “e.g red fruit” More complex wines will have primary aromas from multiple clusters.
Aroma Charecteristics secondary
Secondary - created by post fermentation winemaking. E.g oak which causes aromas such as vanilla and smoke or malolactic conversation.
Aroma Characteristics Tertiary
Tertiary - caused by the ageing process. Could be oxidative such as a long period in oak causing coffee of caramel. Or saved from oxygen by long periods in bottle causing, petrol, honey and mushroom.
In both instances ageing changes the primary aromas, fruit aromas become less fresh and can take on a dried fruit character.
Sweetness in wine
Dry - has no sugar levels or so low they cannot be detected by the tongue
Off dry - tiny amount of detectable sugar
Medium - distinct presence of sugar but not sweet enough to partner with most deserts
Sweet wine - sugar is the prominent feature of the wine, covers classic sweet wines, Sauternes and port also.
Acidity in wine
All wines contain acid we are just judging the amount.
Acid is detected on the the tongue where it causes a tingling sensation and makes you’re mouth water.
High levels of acid and sugar can mask eachother.
Alcohol can cause a similar effect to acid, dont be fooled.
Tannin
Important structural component in red wines.
Mostly extracted from the skins during fermentation.
Tannins bind to you’re saliva causing you’re mouth to dry up and feel rough.
Tannins can also have a bitter taste that lingers at the back of you’re mouth.
Alcohol
Contributes to the “body” of the wine.
High levels can make the wine feel heavy in the mouth, lower levels can feel watery.
High levels can trigger pain receptors giving a hot/burning sensation.
Low - below 11abv
Medium 11-13.9abv
High 14abv +
Fortified wine alcohol levels
Low 15-16.4
Medium 16.5- 18.4
High 18.5 abv+
Body of wine
Overall impression how the wine feels in the mouth, non singular component made up of (sugar, acidity, tannin, and alcohol)
General rules..
Higher alcohol - more body Higher acid - lighter body Sugar - adds to body High ripe tannin - adds to body Low unripe tannin - lower body
