Wine Science

Question 1

Bottle sizes and acronym thereof, plus volumes

Answer 1

Michael Jackson Really Makes Small Boys Nervous

Magnum - 2 bottles
Jeroboam - 4
Rehobaum - 6
Methuselah - 8
Salamanzar - 12
Balthazar - 16
Nebuchadnezzar - 20

Question 2

Five attributes of wine

Answer 2

Acid
Tannins
Sugar
Body
Alcohol

Question 3

Calories in a glass of wine (5oz)

Answer 3

Depends on the ABV

12% wine has 135 cal
+/- 15 cal for every percent of alcohol +/-

Question 4

What’s the deal with sulfites?

• what are they used for?
• how much is in wine?
• are they harmful?

Answer 4

Added as a preservative
In the U.S., wine cannot have more than 350ppm (100ppm if “organic”)
Coca Cola has 350ppm. Dried fruit 3500ppm
About 1% of population has issues with them

Question 5

Corked wines:

- what is the basic biologic process?

Answer 5

Certain airborne fungi have evolved to methylate phenols found in wood (corks) to anisoles, which taste and smell bad. How the phenols get into the cork is unclear. It’s not due to a chlorination process in the prep of the cork. Very rarely it’s due to chlorine contamination of barrels - in this case the entire batch of wine rather than sporadic bottles will be corked.

Question 6

Food pairings

- what’s a great pure versatility play?

Answer 6

Versatility - rosé

Question 7

Corked wines:

- what’s the chemicals that causes it?

Answer 7

TCA - 2,4,6 trichloroanisole

also to a lesser extent TBA 2,4,6 tribromoanisole

Question 8

Corked wines:

- how common is it?

Answer 8

Data suggest that 2-7% of bottles have noticeable levels of TCA. So in each case, there’s about a 50% chance that one of them is corked. Incidence is declining though with improvements in cork processing and sanitation.

Question 9

Corked wines:

- how to describe?

Answer 9

Dank and musty flavor. Though your nose does acclimate to it, unlike other wine flaws. So first impressions matter

Question 10

Food pairings

- acidic foods?

Answer 10

Acidic foods - acidic wines! - barbera, Sangiovese, beaujolais, riesling, chenin blanc

Question 11

Food pairings

- fried foods?

Answer 11

Fried foods - sparkling wine goes great - cuts through fattiness and saltiness

Question 12

Food pairings

- rich fatty dark protein?

Answer 12

Fatty dark protein - a tannic wine

Question 13

Food pairings

- really intense and complex foods with big flavors?

Answer 13

Intense flavors - a white with big flavors usually goes well - Riesling, gewurtztraminer, sauvignon blanc

Question 14

Food pairings

- spicy foods?

Answer 14

Spicy - slightly sweeter wines - vouvray, riesling.

Question 15

Food pairings

- dessert?

Answer 15

Dessert - should be sweeter than the dessert itself - otherwise will taste acidic. Fruit driven wine will be perceived as sweet too