Tasting Wine

Novices stare in wonder as wine experts tilt, swirl, sniff, gurgle and swallow during the wine tasting process. Is all this really necessary? Yes, these five steps ensure that every nuance of a wine's color, body, aroma, flavor, and aftertaste is captured and can be described by the taster.

Let's discuss the 5 steps of wine tasting in more detail:

Color and Clarity

1. Tilt red wines (in your glass) away from you against a white background, such as a white tablecloth or white piece of paper or place mat. Look at the outer edge, or "lip", of the wine—if the color of the wine is dark black/red that goes all the way out to the edge, then that's the sign of a very young wine. In older red wines, the color fades to a brown/red and recedes towards the middle of the glass, leaving a wide clear lip. This is called "color separation". To a lesser extent, the same is true of rosé wines. As white wines age they oxidize or "maderize" and turn tawny brown like Madeira.

Experts also sometimes hold red wines up to the light to judge their color and clarity. Cloudy wines are an indication of possible contamination, unless it is sediment common in very old red wines. This sediment will have to be filtered through a strainer (or coffee filter) as the wine is decanted. Don't drink the sediment.

To judge the clarity of white wines, including Champagne and sparkling wines or dessert wines, place the wine glass on the table and look straight down into the wine—the greater the clarity, the more brilliant the wine, and it will sparkle like diamonds.

Body

2. Swirl the wine to judge its body or viscosity. First swirl vigorously, then stop and wait for the formation of "legs" (clear tears) that fall back into the wine. The thicker the legs, and the more slowly they fall, the more full-bodied the wine. Very light white wines, such as a German Mosel Riesling Kabinett, have virtually no legs and look almost like water. Sweet, luscious dessert wines invariably have the most viscosity and thickest legs. Some wine experts "chew" the wine in their mouth to judge its body (and tannin and flavor). But I prefer not to do this, especially with red wines, as chewing them will blacken your teeth.

Aroma

3. To judge the aroma, swirl the wine in your glass before sniffing deeply. Glasses should be no more than 1/3 full so that you can swirl without spilling. Swirling vaporizes the wine and releases the molecules of aroma that must travel through your nasal passages to reach the nerve receptors waiting to snatch them and tell your brain what they smell like—yeast or toast and apple or pear, for example in Champagne.

In general, red wines have more intense and varied aromas than white wines. When young, great reds exhibit lots of berry aromas with perhaps mint, spice, licorice or chocolate. As red wines age, they develop more raisin or dried plum (what used to be called prune) aromas, until they oxidize, become too old and smell of vinegar. White wines follow a similar progression, but end up smelling like bad sherry when they're over the hill or "mort", dead, as the French say.

Sweetness, Saltiness, Acidity and Tannin

4. Sip a small mouthful of wine, roll it around your tongue and do the wine "gurgle". To gurgle the wine, hold it in the middle of your tongue while you part your lips very slightly and carefully, and suck in some air. This wine gurgling vaporizes more molecules of the wine so that you can get an intense impression of its sweetness, saltiness, acidity and tannin or astringency and bitterness.

If the wine is very sweet, it creates a tingling at the tip of the tongue. (All this sounds so sexy, well wine is sexy!) If the wine is very high in acidity, you will feel a "needles and pins" sensation on the sides of your tongue. There is only one salty wine that I know of, Manzanilla Sherry. It is aged in barrels placed by the sea in southwest Spain so that the salty ocean air penetrates the wood and gives the wine a slightly salty taste, which makes Manzanilla the perfect Sherry for tapas and appetizers.

And if the wine has a lot of tannin (from black grape skins and oak barrels), then you will feel a dry sensation on the surface of your tongue and throughout your palate. This tannin is the same tannic acid in tea. Young red wines have a lot of tannin from the sources just mentioned, but this tannin acts as a natural preservative and antioxidant in red wines, which is why they live longer than most white wines.

The tannin explains the health benefits of drinking red wines, such as keeping arteries clear of plaque and lowering the incidence of heart disease. Tannin in red wines also helps us digest high fat foods such as cheese and red meat. That's why red wines are used to marinate meat, and why the protein in cheese actually pulls out some of the tannin in red wines, making them taste smoother.

Concentration and Aftertaste

5. The greatest red wines have deep fruit concentration in the "middle range" of the tasting process just before you swallow. Certain red grape varieties, such as Merlot, are known for tasting watery instead of concentrated—which is why winemakers call Merlot the grape with the "hole in the middle".

Swallow at least some of the wine to judge the aftertaste or finish. Some experts always spit instead of swallowing, but I believe you have to taste at least a little bit of the wine to get a more accurate assessment of its properties. Great wines have a long, lingering, pleasant finish. This is called the "memory" of the wine. When you consider the price of the best wines, it is well worth training your taste buds and wine memory because that—and bragging rights—will be all you have left.

by
Anita L. LaRaia

Anita LaRaia's Wine School, Atlanta
www.anitalaraia.com

Author of new book: Pick A Perfect Wine In No Time
www.quepublishing.com