Chapter 1: Systematic Approach to Tasting Wine Flashcards
Describe the ideal tasting environment
- Good natural lighting
- Odour free
- Sufficient space to lay out glasses and make notes
- Spittoons should be available near the tasting setup
Describe how you should prepare yourself for a tasting
- Should have a clean palate (clear of strong flavours etc.)
- Be well hydrated (dehydration can dry out nasal receptors and cause them to lose sensitivity). It is easy to become dehydrated during tasting many wines, as saliva is lost every time you spit out a wine.
- Have somewhere to record notes e.g. notebook and pen, laptop, mobile phone with suitable software
- Suitable glassware which is odourless, colourless, free of residues e.g. detergent or dishwasher salts/dirt from unclean polishing cloths. Use ISO glass - rounded bowl to swirl wine and inward-sloping walls to capture aromas
- Consistently pour the same volume e.g. 5cL (enough to assess appearance, nose, palate while also being able to swirl sample in glass without spilling)
When would you describe a wine as ‘hazy’?
Where there is an unusually high amount of suspended particles in the wine. It may indicate a fault, but cannot identify the nature of the fault on this alone (need nose and palate assessment). Note some wines are deliberately hazy.
How do you assess intensity for red and white wines?
Hold the glass at a 45o angle, look through the liquid from above to see how far the colour extends from the core to the rim.
For red wines, can also assess intensity by looking straight down through an upright glass: assess how easily the stem where the glass is attached to the bowl can be seen through the liquid. If the wine is lightly pigmented from the rim to the core, then it is described as ‘pale’ and it should be easy to see the stem looking down through an upright glass. If wine is intensely pigmented all the way to the rim and the stem is impossible to see, it is ‘deep’.
For white wines, all appear colourless at the rim at a 45o angle (a broad watery rim is ‘pale’, while pigment that almost reaches the rim is ‘deep’)
How do you assess colour for red and white wines?
Colour is the balance of blue, red, yellow, green, brown in a wine. It is independent of the level of intensity.
White and roses: colour can be too pale to assess at the rim, so best to assess it where there is sufficient volume and intensity i.e. at the core.
Lemon= most common colour
Lemon-green = if there is noticeable greenness
Gold = hint of orange or brown
Amber = noticeable level of browning, generally wines that have been deliberately oxidised.
Brown = noticeable level of browning, generally wines that have been deliberately oxidised.
Red wines: colour can be too intense/opaque at the core, so usually best to assess it at the rim
At the rim, the colour composition is the same as the core, just different intensities, and white and rose wine can appear almost colourless at the rim. Therefore it can be easier to assess colour at a greater intensity (at the core).
Ruby = most common colour
Purple = noticeable blue or purple colour
Garnet = noticeable orange or brown, but still more red than brown
Tawny = more brown than red - typically very old wines, or wines that are deliberately oxidised
Brown = no redness in colour - typically very old wines, or wines that are deliberately oxidised
Rose wines:
Pink = very pure pink colour, maybe a hint of purple
Salmon = pink-coloured but shows a hint of orange
Orange = orange is dominant colour, very rare wine
What observations can be made about the legs of a wine?
More viscous; thicker and persistent legs = sugar or high alcohol content
Pigmentation in the legs - sometimes seen in intensely coloured reds
What observations can be made about the deposit in a wine?
Can indicate that a wine is unfined and/or unfiltered
What observations can be made about a slight carbon dioxide spritz or petillance in wine?
May be evidence of a fault e.g. refermentation or MLF in bottle, but some light-bodied unoaked white wines are bottled with some dissolved carbon dioxide as it can add desirable freshness and texture
What affects the appearance of bubbles in a glass of sparkling wine? Can bubbles give any indication of quality?
Any number of factors can affect the appearance of bubbles in a glass of sparkling wine, for example the cleanliness of the glass. Therefore, their appearance are not a reliable indicator of quality.
List the common wine faults identifiable on the nose (description comes in separate flash cards)
TCA (Trichloroanisole)
Oxidation
Reduction
Sulfur dioxide
Out of condition
Volatile Acidity (VA)
Brettanomyces ('Brett')Describe the origins of and how to recognise TCA
One of the main causes of TCA is cork taint, often referred to as being ‘corked’.
Gives wine aromas reminiscent of damp cardboard. Can be hard to identify at low levels.
Fruit flavours are muted, and wine appears less fresh.
Describe how to recognise reduction
Gives wines a ‘stinky’ character, like rotten eggs and/or boiled cabbage, boiled onions or blocked drains.
Note very low levels of reduction can be surprisingly pleasant and can add character and complexity to a wine. Sometimes the stinky aromas dissipate once the bottle is open.
Describe the origins of and how to recognise sulfur dioxide
SO2 is added to almost all wines as an antioxidant and antiseptic (note small amounts also produced naturally during fermentation), but levels are usually highest in sweet white wines.
At very high levels can give wine an acrid smell of recently extinguished matches.
At lower levels, can mask a wine’s fruitiness.
Insufficient SO2 levels can lead to oxidation.
Describe the origins of and how to recognise oxidation
The opposite of reduction: typically caused by closure failure, allowing unwanted oxygen in contact with the wine.
Wine appears more deeply coloured and more brown than it should be.
May have aromas of toffee, honey, caramel, coffee and lacks freshness and fruitiness. Note that some wines are made deliberately in an oxidative style (e.g. Oloroso Sherry), and in this case oxidation is not a fault.
Describe the origins of and how to recognise an out of condition wine
The wine is either too old or stored incorrectly (too hot, too bright, too variable conditions).
Wine has lost its vibrancy and freshness, tastes dull and stale. Can have elements of oxidation.
Describe how to recognise volatile acidity (VA)
All wines have some VA, and at low levels can make wine seem more fragrant and complex.
Higher levels of VA can give wine aromas often described as vinegar or nail polish remover.
Describe the origins of and how to recognise Brett
Brettanomyces is a yeast that can give plastic or animal aromas: like sticking plasters, hot vinyl, smoked meat, leather or sweaty horses. Note that some consumers enjoy these characters, and low levels of ‘Brett’ may not be considered to be a fault.
How do you assess intensity on the nose?
Pronounced = If the aromas are immediately apparent when you insert your nose into the glass Light = even after sniffing, the aromas are faint and hard to detect Other Medium(-), Medium, Medium(+)
Describe the origins of a primary aroma, and give examples of five primary aromas from five different clusters. What primary aroma characteristics might you expect from a simple wine as opposed to a more complex wine?
Aromas that exist after fermentation: some come directly from grapes, others from fermentation itself.
A simple wine may only show a very limited number of primary aromas, typically within the same aroma cluster. A complex wine may display many more primary aromas in a range of clusters.
Describe the origins of a secondary aroma, and give examples of five secondary aromas and from where they are derived in the winemaking process.
Created by post-fermentation winemaking, most obvious are those extracted from oak e.g. vanilla and toast. Can also be derived from MLF, or lees contact/autolysis
Describe the origins of a tertiary aroma, and give examples of five tertiary aromas and respective origins.
Ageing process: could be oxidative or due to long period in oak (caramel, toffee, coffee), or not oxidative i.e. a long period in bottle (mushroom, petrol, honey).
Note that in all cases the ageing process changes primary aromas, i.e. fruit aromas become less fresh and can take on dried or cooked character. Be careful not to mistake these characters with wines that are youthful but made using grapes that have been dried or grown in a hot climate.
How do you assess wine development? Give examples of wines at each stage.
Development is a measure of the balance between primary, secondary, and tertiary aromas. Note that a wine may no longer be youthful when released for sale, based on ageing requirements. E.g. Red Rioja Reservas will have been aged for an extended period before release (min. 36 months total), and typically have tertiary aromas. Age indicated Tawny Ports and all Sherries have undergone extended ageing before being sold, and tertiary aromas predominate.
Youthful = dominated by primary or secondary aromas. Note that it is common for secondary aromas to e.g. oak to stand apart from primary aromas, as at this stage it is not fully integrated.
Developing = some tertiary aromas can be detected
Fully developed = predominant aromas are tertiary, even if secondary and primary aromas are still present. Often secondary aromas are fully integrated and difficult to tell apart from tertiary aromas.
Note that the period of time a wine takes to reach full development varies greatly i.e. some quickly reach development, others take decades e.g. Vintage Port. Once a wine is fully developed, how long it stays at this stage varies too.
Tired/past its best = Although some wines stay ‘fully developed’ for an extended period, ultimately all wines will deteriorate when attractive aromas fade and unpleasant aromas start to develop.
NOT ALL WINES BENEFIT FROM AGEING. Typically almost all roses, most inexpensive whites and inexpensive reds move very quickly from youthful to tired/past its best.
Describe how to assess sweetness in a wine, give examples where relevant.
Dry = no perceptible sweetness
Off-dry = tiny amount of detectable sugar. Note that many ‘dry’ Alsace Gewurtzraminer and Brut Champagnes and inexpensive reds and whites are actually off-dry
Medium-dry, medium-sweet = distinct presence of sugar, but not sweet enough to partner most deserts (latter has more detectable sugar)
Sweet = presence of sugar is the dominant feature of the wine, i.e. most classic sweet wines such as Sauternes and Port
Luscious = very few sweet wines, i.e. wines are so sweet they feel viscous and sticky after swallowing or spitting. E.g. Rutherglen Muscats, PX Sherries, Tokaji Eszencia
Describe how to assess acidity in a wine, give examples where relevant
Main acids are tartaric and malic (from the grape juice) and lactic (converted from malic in many whites and all reds). Acid can also be added (in the form of tartaric) in the winery.
Typically most strongly on the sides of the tongue, creating a sharp tingling sensation, makes mouth water (more watering means more acid).
Low acidity = feels broad, round, soft
High acidity = typically found in wines made from grapes grown in cool conditions (e.g. Chardonnay from Chablis)
High levels of sweetness can mask high acidity in a wine - but note that the high acidity serves to balance with high sugar levels. It will appear less obvious here than in a dry high-acid wine.
