|
  |
|
|
How To Evaluate Wine Like an Expert by jGibney
How To Evaluate Wine Like an Expert by jGibney If you want to be able to evaluate wine like an expert, the first step is to start tasting wine. Any wine,good, bad or indifferent. Taste bottle wine. Taste jug wine. Taste box wine. Taste wine from France. Taste wine from the Americas. Taste wine from Africa. Taste wine even from China. Taste every wine that you can. Michael Broadbent states in his book "Michael Broadbent's Vintage Wine" that he had tasted over 33,000 wines before he even started writing his book on vintage wine. This is an excellent book to learn about the really great wine. In Michael's book he states that the 1920 Château Lafite is the perfect wine. I must agree. I have had a taste of this great wine. Thirty minutes after closing the restaurant and driving home, I am still smacking my lips from the aroma of this wine. Still to this day 40 plus years, I have a memory of this wine. That's how a great wine can leave an impression on you. Of course, I remember some so not great wines like the 1926 Beychevelle. When it was opened it had the ture Beychevelle character. Within 3 minutes it went from a great wine to a dead wine. It tasted like dirty water with mud overtones. What a terrible lose. Anyway, taste every wine you can. Now there is an art to tasting wine. Wine tasting and evaluation can be described by the five "S's," sight, swirl, smell, sip, and savor. Sight or color Pour a small bit of wine in a standard wine glass. Take a good look. What do you see? Hold it up to a light or candle and roll the wine slowly in the glass. Now what do you see. In an ordinary wine you might see 3 or 4 different color levels. In well aged great wines this could be 5 to 8 color levels. These levels help you determine that quality of the wine and the age of the wine. There are whole books written just on the color of wine. Try describing the colors that you see. As you tip the glass forward toward the light source, you should see some of the following shades of color: a white outer level, a light inter level and at the deepest part of the wine a darker level. You will see these whether the wine is white or red. Learning to distinguish the color ranges will help you become an expert. In white wine look for pale yellow-green, staw yellow, yellow-gold, gold, old gold, yellow-brown, amber or maderiazed and brown. The younger the white wine the more yellow-green and the older the wine the browner the wine. For red wine look for black-purple, purple, ruby, red, brick red, red-brown and brown. Again from the younger wine to the older wine. As wine ages wine's color moves toward the browns. Different grapes will refelect different colors. In the white wines often a Chardonnay is yellow-gold to golden tones, a Riesling pale yellow-gold, and a Sauvignon Blanc a straw yellow. Another indication of the quality of the wine will be whether is is bright, sparkle or cloudy, dead. Oxidation destroys the fruit quality, the acidity, the tannins, and the body of the wine. The wine loses its character and can become undrinkable. Swirl Swirling the wine in the glass will release the wine's aroma and bouquet. This "aerating" helps what the experts call "breathing" the wine. Allowing the wine to breath speeds up the release of of the grape varietal character. Smell Smell is the most important process in tasting the wine. You can smell over 1,000 plus different scents, but can only taste sweet, sour, bitter, and salt. Now you get up close and personal with the wine. Stick your nose near the mouth of the glass into which you pour the wine to be judged. What do you smell? Any off orders, sulfur or dead leaves. No. Now get really personal and stick your nose deep into the glass. Do you smell the wine? Write these first impression down on your tasting sheet. What you didn't pick up a tasting sheet. Oh well you will have to remember what you smelled. Actually, you want to train your smell memory. Writing down what you have experienced is good but remembering is better. Sometimes you just can't find the words for what you smelled but you can remember it and can say, "I've smelled this before." The aroma you smell is the scents that the fruit of the varietal has. The bouquet are the scents that are developed since the harvest of the grapes like oak, aging and and fermentation. Swirl, smell. Swirl, smell. Linger with the aroma and bouquet. Remember. Taste Gently, taste the wine. Fill your mouth about half full. Now the experts at this time will chew on the wine, sloshing the wine around in their mouth and sucking air in over the teeth making a gurgling noise. This is ok. Suggestion try this at home with water before doing in public. The wine alcohol may surprise you making you spew the wine from your mouth. If you are into voodoo this is ok. What do you taste. There is no discernible salt in wine so your job just got easier. Only three things to taste. Bitterness in wine is created by high alcohol and/or grape skin/seed tannins. Sweetness occurs when the wine has residual sugar left over from the fermentation or wines with very high alcohol may seem sweet in the mouth. The taste of sour or tartness indicates the acidity of the wine. You are also, look for the wines body, weight on the palate; the aftertaste or finish, pleasing, lingering; and balance, the overall sense of the wine, does it work. Savor You have tasted the wine now savor the wine. Savoring is a mental process. Think about the wine. Discuss the wine with your new wine experts. How do you feel about the wine. How do they feel. Remember tasting and savoring is subjective. Did you like the wine? What would you serve with the wine. Is the wine worth the price. Can you get $200.00 of value out of a glass of wine. To become an expert of wines taste, read, research, discuss and think. Most of all taste, taste, taste. By the way next time get a tasting sheet. If you only drink one wine you will remember it. The first time I tried Australian wines at an open tasting, I tasted 56 different wines. I found only one wine that I thought was worth the price. Comparing my notes on the same wines ten years later the qualities had improved to the level that all were worth every penny being asked. Think I love wine? |
|
 |
|
No reactions yet.
Please login or sign up to rate this intel.
The copyright for this content entitled "How To Evaluate Wine Like an Expert by jGibney" has been specified by the contributor as:
All Rights Reserved
This content may not be copied, distributed or adapted by anyone under any circumstances.
|
|
|
This intel was contributed by The MUSEUM
The MUSEUM
|
May, 2012
2008
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2009
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2010
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2011
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2012
January, February, March, April, May
|
|
Not a member yet?
Qondio is a powerful network for making it online. If you have a website to
promote, we can help.
Sign up and get in on the action.
|
|
Welcome to Qondio! Discover the awesome power this network can deliver by going to our About page. Or you could skip straight to the Sign Up form.
|
|
