Wine Blog
More Tasting...
Posted by: Trudy and Rob
Tuesday, March 11, 2008 3:42 PM
Well, I'm contemplating a return to work after vacation so of course my avoidance reaction is to think about good food and wine instead, something I don't find too often when I'm at work. In fact if you happen to be around airports and hotels as much as I am, it's seems that most of the time the offerings are kind of like the anti-matter of Epicurean enjoyment, a bland mixture of fast food and ultra-mediocrity. But wait, perhaps I'm being too harsh (no). Perhaps I am digressing from the wine thread (yes, a bit). OK, but I guess I was just thinking about the topic of taste. As you've probably picked up from us if you've been following the blog, Trudy and I enjoy both wining and dining. The best food is quite frequently found in the kitchens of our friends and in our house (at least in our humble opinion) but alas, none of us make wine. We do drink it though. So what is it that we like about the taste of wine, and what might help an interested blog follower pick up a few things that could boost the enjoyment of vino? Trudy has just talked a bit about tasting rooms, always one of my favorite places, but what specifically do we look for when we taste? Glad you asked...
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My brother, a denizen of the Windy City, likes any wine as long as it's an expensive California cabernet (only a slight exaggeration). We have a good Australian friend who is way partial to Aussie cabs and shiraz. Again what do they (and we) look for? There are many elements of wine that come together to create the impression you get from a glass of wine, be that impression good or bad. Also, as we've said before, that impression is kind of a moving target, dependent on what kind of wine an individual might like and a bunch of other factors. It can be affected by the mood you happen to be in, who you're sharing the wine with, how you happen to feel that day, and a lot of other factors. There are some days that Bacchus' (the mythical God of wine) own best just doesn't taste that great, and others when the average Chateau cash flow tastes just fine. As I said, a moving target indeed! There are however, at least for us, a few characteristics that increase the chance of finding good juice. Tasting for yourself, of course, rather than relying on Aunt Jane's, Uncle Jed's, or anyone else's opinion is the best way to find the stuff that you're going to enjoy.
When we try new wine, be it in a tasting room, at a restaurant, or at home, there are elements we always consider. (Sometimes I cringe at the thought of how we might look when sampling, kind of like the snooty food critic in the movie Ratatouille if you happened to see the movie, a very good movie by the way. Really, honestly, we're just folks who like to enjoy good food and wine at home and with our friends!) The first thing we do when a wine is poured for us is sniff the darn stuff. The sense of smell is a huge component of taste. How does the aroma hit us? Is it good or bad? Does it actually smell like wine, and one that we might enjoy? I like a good impression of fruit to waft up to my nostrils. I want it to practically beg me to take a sip. The better wines can actually do this. Check and see if there are any off putting odors. The wine may have been mistreated in the journey from it's creation at the winery to it's current destination, namely your glass. Heat can kill a wine, any wine, giving it cooked and unenjoyable odors. The wine in front of you may have sat in the back of a hot delivery truck for several days or may have had some other similar catastrophe befall it. If it smells bad, the odds aren't real high that it's going to taste good. Bad corks can be a problem as well (which is why many wineries have gone to screw caps or other closures ... more on that in another blog). There is a chemical called TCA that can all too frequently taint the cork and thus the wine. People vary noticeably in sensitivity to TCA. Corked wine can vary from leaving the vague impression that something's just not right with the wine to making you think that the wine is basically composed of the essence of a wet dog rolling in moldy cardboard. Cork taint also varies by the bottle meaning that just because one cork is tainted, it doesn't follow that the next one will be as well. I've poured out expensive treasures into the sink, choking back my emotions, only to find out that the next bottle of the same stuff is just fine. By the way, if you remember where you got the wine, most reputable shops will give you your money back or offer an exchange on a flawed bottle. All of the good local places will do this. Just make sure to contact them as soon as you can after your discovery, before the wine oxidizes or turns to vinegar from exposure to air.
After sniffing the wine I take a brief look at the color. Younger red wines should generally appear a deep red for the heavier varieties (cabernet syrah, etc.) or have a good lighter color for lighter varieties such as pinot noir. Older red wines very often show signs of "bricking" where the deep red fades to a less intense brick colored red. Young whites generally have a lighter hue than the darkening older whites. I like the color that I see to generally match the age of the wine. Then I taste the wine, the goal of the whole exercise. Does it actually taste good to me? I look for balance in the wines' various components such as fruit, acid, and tannins (the stuff that is naturally found in wine seeds, skins, and stems and can make your mouth pucker, particularly in young reds. Tannins also help preserve a wine as it ages). It also makes an impression on me if the alcohol seems high, making the wine appear a bit hot (this can make it tough to pair with food). To me, it's all about balance, tasting to see if the components make this particular wine one that I'd like to have on hand. One of the trickier parts of tasting is trying to project ahead, imaging how a wine will taste some years down the line. Most wine is produced for nearer term enjoyment, within the first few years after it is produced. Many (mostly reds) will hold longer than that if stored properly (more on that in the future) but relatively few improve much with age. Of those that are ageable, many don't taste as good now as they will later (too tannic). Of course later, they won't be available or will be so expensive you'll have to abandon your child's education to purchase them. The more you taste around, the easier it is to pick out future gems. Sometimes it takes years for some of these guys to come around and be balanced...sometimes they never do and you find that all the fruit (and enjoyment) has faded along with the tannins. It's part of the fun of tasting to sample the whole range of wine, remembering that your tastes may change as well (I used to kind of like some of the sweet wines of my younger years ... now they'd probably just induce insulin shock). One's taste for the complexity of a wine or the amount of oak can change as Father Time marches on. It's nice to have different styles on hand to accommodate differing or changing tastes, your own as well as your guest's.
Well, time for us to go out and try some of our own tasting (over poker no less, maybe not a good idea). Let us know what tastes good to you.
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