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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.
Pinot Noir (PEE-know Na-WAHR)
The great red wine of France’s Burgundy region is produced by one of the world’s
most challenging grape varieties - both to grow and vinify. For every great pinot noir, there are a dozen poor
or mediocre
versions, and this is true wherever pinot noir is made, whether in France, California, Oregon, Germany, or New Zealand.
Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate, with its fine, delicate aroma and flavor disappearing when grown in warmer climes. It is an ancient variety notorious for having dozens of inferior mutations (clones), which likely account for much of the insipid wine produced in its name around the world.
A thin-skinned, early ripener, pinot noir is prone to a host of viticultural maladies, from mildew and rot to viruses like fanleaf and leafroll. It is also difficult to vinify, with the vintner’s primary challenge to draw sufficient color and flavor from the grape skins without extracting too much astringent tannin.
Despite these difficulties, what motivates pinot noir producers to keep trying is that the grape can make marvelously aromatic, flavorful wines boasting a seductive perfume of strawberry, raspberry, black cherry, tea, mint, violets, and oriental spices, and silky, ethereal flavors The best pinot noirs benefit from judicious aging in high-quality French oak barrels and are profitably paired with subtly seasoned salmon, chicken, ham, and lamb dishes.
