Wine Tasting - The Sense of Taste
After observing your wine using the sense of sight and smell, it is then time to use your palate to identify tastes. This is far more detailed than simply tasting as we would any other beverage. We must remember to note the characteristics of the wine on all sensory areas of the tongue. Sweetness is detected on the very tip of the tongue, while bitter tastes are sensed in the extreme rear. Saltiness is sensed on the front, upper sides of the tongue, and the acidity-sour taste is sensed mainly on the sides. Some suggest focusing your attention on one sensation at a time in order to be more efficient in your taste. Try taking a sip of wine and swallowing immediately. Then try another sip, this time letting the wine work well around the palate into these sensory areas before swallowing. You will recognize a noticeable difference in the intensity of flavors!
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Wine Tasting - The Sense of Sight
Wine tasting basics begin with knowing how to use your senses to understand, interpret, and enjoy the wine. The ability to recognize what you see, and furthermore describe it in clear terms, is a very important wine tasting skill.
Although some may say the appearance of the wine is the least important aspect with regard to the senses, it is still worth noting. When examining appearance, we are looking for clarity and color. We want the wine to be free of any sediment, leaving it clear and brilliant. Red wines tend to lose their color as they mature, while white wines tend to grow darker with age. A good quality wine generally will be intense in color. The "legs" seen running down the sides of a glass after being swirled, are an indication of flavor density. It is best to use a plain white background, and tilt the glass slightly as you observe clarity and color.
Basics of Grapegrowing
It is a commonplace saying among fine wine producers that “great wine is made in the vineyard.” Although it is possible to make poor wine from good grapes, it is virtually impossible to make excellent wine from sub-standard grapes. The orientation of many fine wine producers is to invest maximum resources and energy in growing superior grapes and then intervene as little as possible in the process of turning those grapes into great wine.
There are many factors that determine the quality of fruit produced by a particular vineyard. The most important are site, soil, climate, vine management, clone, crop level, and harvest procedure. The key aspect of each factor relevant to maximizing grape quality is summarized below:
Site
In general, the best wines come from environments whose temperate climates insure a long growing season and full
physiological maturity of the grapes. Grapes grown on well-drained, less fertile, hillside soils often possess
greater aromatic and flavor intensity than those cultivated in more fertile, valley-floor soils.
Soil
Well-drained soils are a prerequisite of grape quality, for they prevent the accumulation of water above the root
zone, which can lead to excessive vegetative growth and the shielding of grape clusters from adequate sunlight,
thus inhibiting the ripening process.
Climate
Grape varieties should be planted in micro-climates that maximize their potential – e.g., varieties such as
chardonnay, pinot noir, riesling and gewurztraminer grow best in cooler climates, while varieties like cabernet sauvignon,
merlot, and zinfandel prosper in warmer regions.
Vine Management
The primary objective of vine (canopy) management is to create a balance between the vine’s vegetative growth
and its fruit development. Toward this end, grape growers may remove shoots and leaves during the growing season
to insure adequate air flow through the vine and exposure of the grape clusters to both direct and indirect sunlight.
They may also thin clusters to insure a modest, yet economically viable, crop of fully ripened grapes.
Clone
Virtually all wine grape types have multiple clones – mutations that produce characteristics differing from
the original. Certain clones may produce distinctly different wine aromas and flavors or be more or less prone to
rot or disease. The best wines from a particular variety often come from smaller-berried clones that produce smaller
crops of more intensely flavored grapes.
Crop Size
Fine wines are almost always associated with low or modest crop yields. Excessive cropping inhibits the ripening
process, producing grapes with insufficient flavor concentration. As a general rule, the best wines are produced
from vineyards yielding five tons per acre or less, although, with the advent of closer vine spacing, which forces
vines to compete for water and nutrients, a more reliable measure is probably pounds of fruit per vine, with less
than 10 lbs/vine being a standard for fine wine production.
Harvest Procedures
To produce fine wine, it is important that the grapes arrive at the winery in pristine condition. Night or early
morning hand harvesting at cool temperatures helps guarantee the physiological integrity of the fruit.
