Wine Tasting

Question 1

Steps to wine tasting

Answer 1

1. Assess the aroma
2. Guage the body weight
3. Feel the texture
4. Consider the taste
5. Focus on the finish
6. Confirm the color

Question 2

Assess aroma

Answer 2

• Some molecules may be smelled via the nose, while others may only be smelled retronasally, giving you an oblique sense that you just “Tasted” something
• Aroma is highly dependent on temperature
• Sniffing, the corollary to swirling, creates tiny air currents in the nose that carry aroma molecules up to the nerve receptors, and ultimately to the brain for interpretation
• By suggesting ideas to yourself, you’ll often have an easier time hitting upon the aroma you’re searching for

Question 3

Aroma

Answer 3

Smells associated with a young wine

Question 4

Body

Answer 4

• weight of a wine on the palate - light, medium, full
• Low-alcohol wines have a light body
• High-alcohol wines have a full body
• Alcohol comes from sugar, essentially the sun
• Very ripe grapes means that the grapes must have grown in a very warm place; therefore,t eh full-bodied wine probably came from some place that’s relatively warm

Question 5

Bouquet

Answer 5

Smell of a wine that has been aged for a considerable period of time; hard to describe; often read about “phenomenal bouquet” but no list of adjectives

Question 6

Minerally

Answer 6

• MetaphoricallY: wines that smell and/or taste of crushed minerals, stones, wet stones, or even ocean
• Wine with an absence of fruit aromas and flavors
• Wine that carries a distinct tactile sensation
• Picked up on the palate as salt is; minerally wines magnify other flavors and make them seem more lively

Question 7

Texture

Answer 7

• AKA mouthfeel
• Stimulaiton of the trigeminal nerve - largest of hte cranial nerves, responsible for sensations in the face and mouth
• To assess a wine’s texture, you must roll it around your mouth and feel it

Question 8

Taste characteristics

Answer 8

• Sweet
• Sour
• Salty
• Bitter
• Savoury (umami)
• Heartiness (kokumi)

Question 9

Mechanics of taste

Answer 9

• When we taste something, it’s because chemical stimuli from that food have dissolved in our saliva and then come into contact with the taste cells by slipping through the taste pores
• Taste buds, incidentally, can be found not only on the tongue, but on the soft palate, pharynx, larynx, and epiglottis as well
• Sweetness, saltiness, bitterness, and sourness can be tasted everywhere in the mouth, although they may be perceived at slightly different intensities at different sites
• it’s not that you taste sweetness at the tip of your tongue, but rather that you register that perception first; similarly, bitterness is not perceived at the back of your mouth,r rather, you taste it a few milliseconds after sweetness

Question 10

Umami

Answer 10

• Discovered in 1908

Japanese for deliciousness or savoriness

Question 11

Kokumi

Answer 11

• Reported in 2009
• Enahnces taste by triggering calcium receptors in teh tongue
• Longer cooking, aging makes food/wine taste better

Question 12

Banana Aromas

Answer 12

• By-product of malolactic fermentation

Question 13

Barnyard/horse blanket/manure aromas

Answer 13

• Sign of brettanomyces, sometimes called brett, a strain of yeast tha trobs wine of its fruity aromas and flavors
• Can be prevented by sanitization in winery during winemaking process

Question 14

Burning match aromas

Answer 14

• Sign of excessive sulfur dioxide
• Used in vineyard to protect vines from mildew and mold, in winery to protect grapes and grape juice from oxygen, unwanted yeasts, and bacteria that may cause them to spoil
• Aromas usually dissipate as the wine opens up in teh presence of oxygen

Question 15

Canned asparagus aromas

Answer 15

• Vines not carefully farmed and that the grapes were picked unripe

Question 16

Fake butter/oily aromas

Answer 16

• Excessive diacetyl, the buttery compound formed during malolactic fermentation, when the wine’s crisp-tasting malic acid is converted to softer-tasting lactic acid

Question 17

Moldy aromas

Answer 17

bacteria spoilage, moldy grapes, or unclean barrels

Question 18

Nail polish remover or paint thinner

Answer 18

• Formed when acetic acid bacteria (aka acetobacter) combines with ethanol
• bacteria that eventually turn wine into vinegar

Question 19

Oxidized aromas

Answer 19

• wine has been excessively exposed to oxygen

- Oxidized wines take on a brownish or burnt orange color, which is especially noticeable in white wines

Question 20

Rotten egg aromas

Answer 20

Hydrogen sulfide can be the result of an excessive amount of sulfur applied late to grapevines, usually to prevent mildew or rot

Question 21

Rotting onion aromas

Answer 21

• Created after fermentation, when hydrogen sulfide and other basic sulfur compounds combine to create larger compounds
• Mild skunky aromas may indicate the wine is temporarily “reduced” and needs oxygen (vigorous swirling in the glass will do), which will then dissipate the aroma

Question 22

Rubbing alcohol aromas

Answer 22

• Wine’s alcohol is out of balance wiht its fruit and acidity
• Wine too high in alcohol feels caustic in the mouth and is described as “hot”

Question 23

Vinegary aromas

Answer 23

• A sign of volatile acidity (VA) caused by acetic acid bacteria, which can begin to grow in wines in which the fermentation is not handled properly

Question 24

Wet cardboard aromas

Answer 24

Indicates that the cork and subsequently the wine have been contaminated by one of a series of compounds, the lead one which is trichloroanisole (TCA)

Question 25

Sediment

Answer 25

• Occurs only in older red wines; wines that are usually ten years old or more
• Color pigments int eh wine combine with tannin to form long chains of molecules too heavy to stay in solution

Question 26

Tartrates

Answer 26

• Actually potassium bitrate crystals; are also tasteless and harmelss
  whitish/celar snowflakelike crystals that are sometimes found floating in white wine or sticking ot the bottom of the cork
• Bits of natural tartaric acid that have precipitated out fo the wine, usually because of a quick and extreme drop in temperature

Question 27

Color

Answer 27

• Color of given wine comes from a group of pigments in grape skins called anthocyanins
• Color is also clue to age - white and red wines behave inversely -white wines get darker as they get older; red wines get lighter as they get older
• Beware the common mistake of thinking that intensity of a wine’s color is related to the intensity of it’s flavor
• Clarity of color - often called limpidity - is important

Question 28

Aging wine

Answer 28

• wine must have the right amount of sugar, acid, or tannin

Question 29

Serving temperature

Answer 29

• At cool temperatures, a white wine’s acidity is highlighted and the wine seems to taste lighter and fresher
• Red wines: 60-65 deg
• extremely fruity, low-tannin red wines - Beaujolais - should be cooled almost as much as white wines, so that their fruitiness is magnified

Question 30

Breathing wines

Answer 30

• The wines that should never be aerated include older pinot noirs and red Burgundies, along with older gran reserve Riojas (tempranillo) and older Chianti Classicos (sangiovese)
• General rule of thumb is to decant older, tannic wines - vintage port, cabernet sauvignon, Bordeaux, barolo, and Rhone wines less than an hour before serving