Wine tasting: tips, process, final evaluation
What you need to know?
Wine is a very complex and multifaceted drink. Wine is full of nuances, and its consumption includes an appreciation of everything that nature and the winemaker have put into the wine. Experienced wine tasters are able to distinguish the subtle nuances of smell and taste, and can tell you what feelings each wine will evoke.
Tips for wine tasting
Do not taste wine after eating food and drinks that affect the taste and leave a long aftertaste. For example, these include coffee, chocolate, cigarettes and tobacco smoke, menthol and liquor candies, etc. д. Only bread has almost no effect on the perception of wine.
During wine tasting, its organoleptic characteristics are evaluated: color, smell and taste.
The tasting room should be clean and free of strong odors, including the scent of flowers. The room should be illuminated with sufficiently bright but diffused light.
The common table is covered with a white tablecloth, but in no case with a multi-colored one. Samples are placed on the table for tasting.
Tasters dress neatly and discreetly, do not use strong-smelling perfumes and cosmetics. The air should not be dry, but slightly humid (75-85% humidity), which contributes to a better perception of odors.
The temperature of the wine being tasted is important. The average values for champagne are 7-9 degrees; for light dry wines (10-12)° C (for white) and (10-14)° C (for red); for strong wines (16-18)° C; for dessert and liqueur wines (18-20)° C.
The glassware used is a classic tulip-shaped glass wine glass with a long stem, in which the walls of the glass taper slightly at the neck. The glass should be made of plain glass, colorless and transparent (to appreciate the color of the wine), but in no case faceted, crystal or colored.
The process of wine tasting
Pour wine into the glass to 1/3 of the glass.
During the first acquaintance, the glass is raised to eye level and the transparency and color of the wine is evaluated.
Signs of wine disease include uneven color, streaks and cloudiness.
Some aged vintage wines may not have bright transparency (unlike young wines), but may be somewhat dull. The presence of small crystals of tartar is also allowed.
For red wines, transparency and color are assessed against a sheet of white paper. The glass can be tilted. If the tilted glass is twisted or a straight glass is twisted, traces of wine will remain on the walls in the form of streaks. The French call them "wine legs". It is believed that the longer the legs stay on the walls of the glass, the better the wine is (although this assessment is not indisputable). Wine legs also indicate the strength of the drink.
Final evaluation of the wine
After a visual inspection of the wine in the glass, the wine is evaluated by the sense of smell (wine evaluation by smell).
The correct temperature for drinking wine is important. If the wine is too cold, the bouquet is barely noticeable or not at all, if the wine is too overheated, the evaporation of aromas is too fast, they mix and it is difficult to distinguish them from each other.
The bouquet is called a bouquet because it is a whole set of constantly changing flavors that gradually appear one after another under the influence of temperature. To fully evaluate them, you should first evaluate a still wine, and then slightly manipulate the glass: tilt, twist.
Professional tasters even "put their nose" in the glass, evaluate the aroma, then slightly manipulate the glass, as if playing with it, then sniff the wine again, put their nose in the glass again.
The intensity and complexity of the bouquet indicates the quality of the wine.
Ordinary (young annual wines), as a rule, have a monosyllabic odor.
Aged expensive wines, especially collectible ones, have a very complex, multifaceted bouquet.
To describe the smells and bouquet of wine The analogy of smells is used, for example: floral, fruit, fruity, vegetable, spicy, sharp, etc. д. (The same applies to the taste of wine).
The disadvantages of wine include Unacceptable odors: moldy, musty, vinegar, acetone, etc.
The last test of wine is the taste test
A small portion of wine is taken into the mouth and held. Professional tasters seem to "chew" a portion of wine. You can try to draw in air and blow it through the wine. In the mouth, the wine heats up, which releases aromas that are picked up by the sense of smell (parts of the tongue can perceive only four tastes: sweet, salty, sour, bitter). Therefore, wine should not be tasted when you have a runny nose.
In the mouth, the final advantages of the wine are revealed. A good wine (not necessarily aged, it can be ordinary) should be harmonious, harmonious in taste. Also, the drink should be balanced in terms of acidity, sugar content and astringency; and harmonious in color, smell and taste. Good aged wines leave a long aftertaste, and the more complex and varied it is, the better the wine is. Elite wine masterpieces can be identified by this indicator.
The astringent, astringent taste of wine indicates an excess of tannins (tannins); aggressiveness of wine indicates an excess of acidity (the opposite is fresh wine); watery (not thick) wine gives off a small amount or absence of extractive substances (the opposite is velvety wine). Wine is rated according to its taste: fresh, full, harmonious, etc. д.
After the test, professionals spit out a portion of wine in their mouths, and rinse their mouths with plain water before evaluating a new portion of wine. For an amateur, it is better to just swallow a portion of wine.
Vzboltai believes that tasting is not an easy task. For your training, development and consolidation of tasting skills, you can be blindfolded, tasting white and red wines from different glasses, and try to determine whether it is white or red wine.
Update: 05.08.2021
Category: Wine and Vermouth