Description:

How A Wine Tasting Works

Our four basic tastes, (sweet, sour, bitter, and salty) don't really tell us about the nuances of wine. It's our sense of smell that identifies most flavor characteristics. Wine is consumed through our mouth, therefore we use the term "taste." But, it is the marriage of our nose and tongue which sends a signal to the brain that says, "Oh yeah, vanilla is what I'm enjoying in this glass of Chardonnay."

Encourage guests to smell a primer ingredient, and then sniff the wine's bouquet.

They should immediately be able to detect if the ingredient's scent is present in the wine's aroma.

They may move on to another ingredient or take a sip, after which they'll read the tasting notes and discuss their findings.

Oenophiles  (wine afficianados) will want to delve into the complexity of the wine's color and texture. Such discourse is educational and entertaining, but the main idea is to experience the wine through one's senses no matter how much they know about tasting, with little attention paid to its technicalities.

On with the tasting!

1. Pour a little wine in the glass.
2. Smell a primer ingredient for that wine.
3. Swirl the wine in the glass.
4. Look for "legs" the bits of grape adhering to glass.
5. Inhale the aroma of the wine.
6. Sip the wine.
7. Say something in French.
8. Read the tasting notes on the card and discuss.
9. Express yourself, talk about tasting "cherries" or "chocolate" any taste.

More tasting notes:

After you've had a chance to taste the wine, sit back for a few moments and savor it. Sometimes it's easy to get too caught up in the clinical aspects of wine tasting and forget that this is supposed to be above all fun! Equally as important is what you take away from your tasting. In order to learn the most from your experience, it is necessary to interpret your impressions of the wine. A good place to start is to ask yourself some important questions. This will help to focus your impressions. Like anything else, ambiguity in wine tasting can be frustrating.

Here are some questions you should ask:

• Does the wine have a light, medium, or full body?
• Is the wine's acidity noticeable? How about the tannin?
• Is the wine balanced and well integrated or is it too strong or astringent?
• Is the finish long and lingering, or does it fade abruptly?
• Most importantly, did you like the wine and would you drink it again?

This last question is really the most important point. The first thing you should consider after you've tasted a wine is whether or not you like it. Is it your style? The style of wine you like will evolve and become more personal with every wine you taste. You will probably know right away whether or not you like a particular wine. And remember, the most important definition of a good wine is one that you like - not your friends or a particular wine critic.

Lastly:

The "nose" is a word used to describe the bouquet and aroma of the wine. To evaluate the nose, let's first talk about the difference between aroma and bouquet.

Aroma: This refers to the pleasant or desirable odors characteristic of the unfermented grape. Generally, varietal aromas are basic to sensory examination. Quite often they smell like other fruits that we are familiar with. Distinct aromas reveal sufficient characteristics to differentiate this wine from other wines, but they are not intense enough to produce varietal identification. By the way, "vinous" is a term used to describe a wine that does not appear to have any distinct or discernible aromas.

Bouquet: This refers to odors produced by the interaction of aroma substances with the container, with small amounts of oxygen, and with one another. These odors that develop in wine after fermentation are called tank aging bouquet and bottle bouquet. Tank aging bouquet encompasses most of the odors that come from oak, if it is used, and the compounds formed by aroma substances interacting with air entering through the walls of the cask. When a wine is bottled it contains an abundance of compounds in high states of oxidation. The gradual reduction of these reactions gives rise to new substances whose odor is designated as bottle bouquet.

A good example of the differences between aroma and bouquet are those descriptors found in the "fruity" category versus those found in the "woody" category. Another is that aromas are more often simple scents found in nature, such as mint or pine, while bouquet is often the result of the processing of the wine, such as oak or butter.

Another interesting point is that you're more likely to recognize some of the defects of a wine through your sense of smell. Below is a list of some of the negative smells in wine:

Vinegar: Too much acetic acid in the wine
Sherry, nutty: Too much oxidation
Musty, corky: Defective cork
Burnt: Too much sulfur dioxide

Sulfur dioxide is used in many ways for winemaking. It kills bacteria in wine, prevents unwanted fermentation and acts as a preservative. However, a good wine should never retain the smell of sulfur dioxide. This smell creates a burning and itching sensation in your nose, not smells we would generally like to associate with a glass of wine; especially if it happens to be one we are drinking.