Do you ever wonder what makes a wine great or not so great? Well there are no rights or wrongs when it comes to the appreciation of wine. The most important aspect of any wine is that you enjoy it. However, there are certain concepts that you can apply to allow yourself to better appreciate what you are drinking while assuring an accurate assessment to the type and quality of the wine.
We tend to think of wine in terms of the way it smells and tastes when in fact the distinction of the two is very vague. The taste of the wine is actually an impression that we make by our sense of smell; we do this through our noses and our mouths. Without the sense of smell we are unable to appreciate what we are drinking. Taste is actually a misleading term that we think of as being connected with our mouths. In actuality we have four very basic senses directly associated with our palate; sweetness, sourness, saltiness, and bitterness. There is also another that is debated called "umami", a savory component of which sodium glutamate is an example.
Sweetness in wine, detected on the tip of the tongue, is the residual sugar that is left in the wine after fermentation has stopped. This can vary from bone dry to very sweet. Most inexpensive bottles- outside of dessert styles- have higher amounts of residual sugar left in the wine as this is a sure fix for hiding imbalances, making the wine easier to enjoy while masking poor quality.
While sweetness is the most obvious of the four tastes, acidity is the key to the balance of the wine. Acidity is referred to as sourness- like a sour lemon. Sourness is noticed on the sides of your tongue. It is extremely important in winemaking to have acidity to balance out sweetness. Too much acidity can make the wine tart while not enough will make the wine seem flabby or flat. This is also important in the vineyard as grapes lose acidity as they ripen, therefore winemakers try to harvest at peak time when grapes are perfectly ripe and before the acid starts to drop. These two components are very crucial to balance in a finished wine.
Other basic tastes such as saltiness is rarely found in wine, while bitterness registers on the back of the tongue. Bitterness is less important than sweet and sourness but can be found in red wines from extraction of bitterness from the stems and seeds of grapes or from a particular grape variety. This is most seen in Italian red wines.
There are two more relevant sensations; tannin and weight. Tannin is derived from the skins, stems, and seeds in grapes or can be extracted from wood barrels during aging of the wine. Tannin is most noticeable in tea and walnuts outside of wine producing a dry chaffing sensation in the mouth. Wines that contain copious amounts of tannin in their youth are meant to drink in the future with the tannin acting as a preservative. Tannin will eventually break down in a wine allowing flavor elements of the young wine to knit together, producing over time a softer, elegant, and mature wine.
Last is the weight of the wine; this can be light to full bodied. A wines weight is the measure of how much extract and alcohol it has. A full bodied wine has alcohol levels of 13.5% and higher while a light bodied wine can be 8% alcohol and lower. This sensation can be detected in the mouth - does the wine feel heavy like cream or light and watery? Full bodied wines can also leave a burning sensation when swallowed so this too can be an important factor in the balance of the finished wine.
Since we have covered the basics and you can now assess a wines balance of sugar, acid, tannin, and body, what about the quality of the wine. The first is cleanliness- wine is described as clean if it has no faults. This is best detected by the way the wine smells. There are many common faults in wine but the best advise is that if it doesn't smell right don't drink it!
The second is quality which can be determined by the length or finish of a wine. This is the lingering flavor that stays with you after you have swallowed the wine indicating a wine that has been well made. A great wine can linger for a very long time furthering your enjoyment.
By applying these simple concepts you can become an excellent taster while getting the most from your next glass of wine.
Wow. Who knew?
ReplyDelete