Wine Tasting - The Sense of Smell
There are a few very important things to note when we "nose" a wine. It is suggested to first smell the wine before swirling, noticing the delicate aromas. Next, swirl the wine and smell again after it is at rest. Depending on the bouquet, you may then notice a profound difference in the odors emerging. Aroma is a smell that originates from the actual grape, with very clear cut characteristics. Aroma is most prevalent in young wines. The bouquet of a wine refers to smells generated as a result of aging; smells found particularly in mature wines that were aged in a bottle. The bouquet generally has much softer and complex characteristics than aromas. Identifying what you smell is usually the most challenging part in wine tasting. Although there are many smell categories used to describe characteristics of wine, none have been exclusively agreed upon.
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!
Riesling (pronounced REES-ling)
Also known as johannisberg or white riesling, this classic, cool-climate German
variety is perhaps the most underrated of the world’s white wine grapes. Although it reaches it apogee in Germany’s great
Mosel and Rhine River valleys (the northermost major growing regions in Europe), where it produces an array of wines
ranging from bone dry to decadently sweet (a result of botrytis cinerea, the “noble rot”), riesling also
makes quality wine in Alsace, Austria, California, Washington State, New Zealand and Australia.
Riesling’s great attribute is that it combines high natural acidity with tremendous fruit concentration, in both aroma and flavor. Thus, it can produce low alcohol wines of great character, at every level of residual sweetness, wines with incredible aging ability. Riesling’s other hallmark is its beautifully expressive bouquet, which suggest flowers, green apples, and honeysuckle blossoms.
The difficulty with riesling, from the consumer’s standpoint, is that it is made in a bewildering array of styles and gradations of sweetness, at least in Germany, a problem compounded by the incomprehensibility of German wine labels, which are a hash of hard-to-pronounce appellation, producer, vineyard, and style names. As a result, the appreciation and patronage of Riesling by American consumers has been limited.
However, these obstacles should not prevent true wine lovers from experiencing one of the world’s truly noble wines, which is a wondrously versatile food wine that complements everything from light seafood entrees to rich pork and sausage dishes and spicy Asian cuisines.
