Principles of Wine Tasting and Evaluation

Question 1

What two areas do you assess when evaluating Appearance?

Answer 1

Intensity and Colour

Question 2

Appearance: Intensity scale

Answer 2

Pale - Medium - Deep

Question 3

Appearance: what colours are there?

Answer 3

Red, Rosé, White

Question 4

Appearance: White - subcategories?

Answer 4

Lemon, Gold, Amber

Question 5

Appearance: Red - subcategories?

Answer 5

Purple, Ruby, Garnet, Tawny

Question 6

Appearance: Rosé - subcategories?

Answer 6

Pink, Pink-Orange, Orange

Question 7

What two areas do you assess when evaluating Nose?

Answer 7

Intensity and Aroma Characteristics

Question 8

Nose: Intensity scale

Answer 8

Light, Medium, Pronounced

Question 9

Nose: how do you structure an evaluation of Aroma Characteristics?

Answer 9

Primary, Secondary, Tertiary

Question 10

What eight areas do you assess when evaluating Palate?

Answer 10

Sweetness, Acidity, Tannin, Alcohol, Body, Flavour intensity, Flavour characteristics, Finish

Question 11

Palate: sweetness - subcategories?

Answer 11

dry, off-dry, medium, sweet

Question 12

Palate: acidity - subcategories?

Answer 12

low, medium, high

Question 13

Palate: tannin - subcategories?

Answer 13

low, medium, high

Question 14

Palate: alcohol - subcategories?

Answer 14

low, medium, high

Question 15

Palate: body - subcategories?

Answer 15

low, medium, full

Question 16

Palate: flavour intensity - subcategories?

Answer 16

low, medium, pronounced

Question 17

Palate: flavour characteristics - subcategories?

Answer 17

Primary, Secondary, Tertiary

Question 18

Palate: finish - subcategories?

Answer 18

short, medium, long

Question 19

Quality: subcategories

Answer 19

poor, acceptable, good, very good, outstanding

Question 20

What are the 12 primary aromas and flavours?

Answer 20

floral, green fruit, citrus fruit, stone fruit, tropical fruit, red fruit, black fruit, herbaceous, herbal, spice, fruit ripeness, other (eg wet stones, candy)

Question 21

What are the 3 secondary aromas and flavours?

Answer 21

Yeast (biscuit, bread, cheese, yoghurt), Malolactic conversion (butter, cream, cheese), Oak (vanilla, cloves, coconut, chocolate, coffee, charred wood, smoke)

Question 22

What are the 3 tertiary aromas and flavours?

Answer 22

Red wine (dried fruit, leather, earth, mushroom, meat, tobacco, wet leaves, forest floor, caramel), White wine (dried fruit, orange marmalade, petrol, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, almond, hazelnut, honey, caramel), Deliberately oxidised wines (almond, hazelnut, walnut, chocolate, coffee, caramel)

Question 23

Quality: what are the 4 factors which are assessed?

Answer 23

Balance, Length/finish, Identifiable characteristics/flavours, Complexity

Question 24

When assessing quality, how do you ascertain if a wine is outstanding/very good/good/acceptable/poor?

Answer 24

The factors are Balance, Length/finish, Identifiable characteristics/flavours, Complexity. An outstanding wine will show positively against all four. A very good wine will show positively against 3 but fall short on one. A good wine will score well on two and fall short on two. An acceptable wine will score well on one. A poor wine will score well on none.