The 5 S's ~ Session 1 ~ Group 2

Session 1 with our second group was all about How to Taste Wine...

You may be thinking, "Hey, I have a brain. I know how to taste wine. I take a sip and swallow, noticing whatever flavors pop out." The art of actually "tasting" wine is not that simple. In this session, we went over the *Complicated* rules of wine tasting.

Members of our first group demonstrating good tasting technique!

You drink beverages everyday…tasting them as they pass through your mouth. In the case of wine though, drinking and tasting are two different things. Wine is much more complex than other beverages and has a ton more going on in your mouth. You experience multiple sensations such as softness or sharpness, as well as various flavors, some being more subtle than others.

When you actually TASTE wine you will discover the nuances of wine. The more slowly and attentively you sip wine, the more interesting it will taste.

Remember 2 things as we go through the process of tasting wine 

* Slow Down

* Pay Attention

HOW TO TASTE: 5 S's~ See, Swirl, Sniff, Sip, SAVOR!

~See:

Look at your wine before doing anything else. Just by looking at it it can give you a sense of what it will taste like and even how good it will be before you even sip it. You might begin to notice things such as alcohol content, age of the wine, grape variety and even storage conditions. To get a good look at the wine in your glass only fill your glass half way. Tilt your glass away from you and look at the color of the wine against a white background. Look at how dark or pale the wine is. At the beginning you will mostly just be observing, but as your experience with this technique continues you will begin to notice differences between them and learn to distinguish them.

Also, look for

• Color (to possibly identify age and varietal)

                   *White wines darken with age

                   *Red wines lighten with age.

• See if there are flaws: cloudy, too dark, too light, etc.
• How does it compare to wines you've experienced in the past. This helps you form a baseline.

~Swirl: This is a quick and easy step, yet very important to do before you sniff your wine. It opens up the wine and releases the aromas, which in return prepare you to smell them better. Observe the way the wine runs back down the side of the glass. Some wine will form legs or tears that flow slow down the glass. It USED to be said that legs in wine were a sure sign of rich, high quality wine, but that's not actually the case. The topic of legs is actually very complicated. In general, when you are looking at the legs, you are talking about viscosity.

• Viscosity helps determine alcohol content & presence of residual sugar        
• *Lighter viscosity= faster, thinner legs. Means it's from a cooler climate and has less alcohol. (No residual sugar)
• *Richer viscosity= slower, thicker legs. Means higher alcohol content & grapes are grown in warmer climate. (May be some residual sugar) 

Place your wine glass on a flat surface and rotate it so that the wine swirls around your glass and the air mixes with the wine. Swirling opens up the wine and intensifies the aromas.

Always swirl your glass right before you do the next step…sniffing!

~Sniff: At this point you can let your nose and imagination run wild. Be confident in what you're sniffing and don’t be afraid to share what you notice. No one can contradict you…there's no way to prove you're NOT smelling what you're smelling!

~As you sniff the wine, your MAIN GOALS are to:

• Determine components in the wine:
• Fruits
• Non-fruits such as floral qualities, herbs or spices
• Mineral/Earth such as dirt, rocks, or leaves
• Oak
• Are there any flaws?
• Corked? This occurs when a wine has a bad cork and can contaminate the wine. It will have an odor that resembles a moldy newspaper or damp basement.
• Oxidized? This occurs when a wine has been significantly exposed to air (oxygen), so the aromas and flavors will change. They tend to have a spoiled or flat flavor. An oxidized white wine may actually begin to turn brown.
• Enjoy the smell and sense of discovery

PROCESS: Make sure you swirl your glass as we discussed a minute ago, then bring it quickly to your nose.  Hold the glass at a 30-45 degree angle to your face. Put your nose right in or near the glass.

1. Make sure you're present- focus
2. Sniff- Ask yourself "What's there?"  Smell first for fruits. They are usually most dominant.
3. Make a mental picture of the fruit you're smelling. Hold it there in your mind. Then go back to the wine.
4. Sniff again- Ask yourself again, "What's there?" Make sure to smell BEYOND the things you've already picked out. Make a picture of any new items and "hold" them there. By smelling beyond the past element you are able to discover new elements.
5. Repeat and try to identify all four components. Remember, this will come easier with more experience.

~Everyone finds different ways in which they smell the wine the best,  Some options to try are:

            ~Try smelling the wine with your mouth open a little and then breathing in                            and out gently using both the nose and mouth.

            ~Try  taking two or three quick sniffs

            ~Try taking one deep, sharp inhalation.

            ~Try closing one nostril, sniff, then close the other and sniff again.

            ~Try closing your eyes as you sniff.

            ~Sometimes noses need to be revitalized- try water or bread

**Play with these techniques and see you works best for YOU and how YOU can get the most smell from the win.

            FACT: Wine tasters don't usually use the word smell, rather they use "nose" or 'aroma" or "bouquet". Smell usually has a negative tone, such as an odor.

~Taste: You want to notice what's in the wine

We hope that by the end of series, you'll be able to assess for the following:

• Confirm each element you smelled
• Assess the structure by evaluating:
• Acid
• Alcohol
• Tannin
• Finish
• Check for balance- how the components interact & change in your mouth
• Check for harmony- how all the components work together
• Assess complexity and quality 

PROCESS:

• Take a medium sized sip of wine.
• Hold it in your mouth and coat your mouth as completely as you can
• Purse your lips and draw in some air across your tongue (if you can)
• Swish the wine around your mouth as if you were chewing it
• Swallow it
• After swallowing (or spitting) suck in a little air to get a last impression
• This process should take several seconds.

It's recommended you taste the wine at least THREE times

1. First taste: Compare what you tasted to what you smelled. Did you taste any of the components you smelled? If you want, you can add or remove any items fro your visual collage.

2.  Retaste and look for structural elements: acid, alcohol, tannin and finish (These areas are discussed in depth next session)

3. Retaste again and look for balance and harmony. Too strong? Too delicate? Are they working together?

Use what you saw, sniffed and tasted to help asses the quality and complexity of the wine.

TIP: LOOK up to your left to "lock" things into your memory= try it!

The last S we felt should be added is...SAVOR! Arguably the most important step in tasting your wine is to enjoy it. So pour yourself a glass and go through the 5 S's...you won't regret it!

Happy Sipping!

Sweetness, Acidity, & Tannins ~ Session 2 ~ Group 2

Session 2 with our new group addressed some important components when tasting wine. We decided to look at how to tell when a wine is sweet vs. dry, how acidity plays on your palate and what effect tannins have in both the wine and your wine tasting experience.

We started out discussing sweetness and where it hits on your palate. We had the tasters take a bit of sugar and roll it around on their tongue to see where they taste sweetness. While many in our group did not experience it, we have learned that the tip of our tongue is where we usually taste sweetness. Check out the tongue diagram here. 

What is sweetness in wine?

·         When grapes are pressed, the juice is naturally very sweet and has a very high sugar content.

·         During the fermentations process, yeast cells consume the sugar. If no sugar remains in a wine after fermentation, the wine is considered dry. Any sugar remaining is called residual sugar.

·         Most table wines are considered dry, but there is a range that goes from just the tiniest bit of sweetness all the way to syrupy sweet.(Think honey)

Testing for sweetness 

Is it sweet or fruity?

·         Fruity wines have distinct aromas and flavors of fruit. You smell the fruitiness with your nose, but you can’t taste it. Even in your mouth, you are smelling the fruit as you taste the wine. (Recall the retronasal passage lesson from session one)

·         Sweetness in wine is perceived on the tip of your tongue. Try this to taste the difference: As you taste a wine you think is sweet rather than fruity, plug your nose while you taste. If the wine is indeed sweet, you’ll be able to actually taste the sweetness on your tongue without confusing it with what you smell.

Smelling vinegar...

What about Acidity and Tannin?


Sweetness, acidity and tannin all play a big roll in the overall balance in wine. To show our group how you might experience acidity in a wine we asked them to smell vinegar and to taste a lemon. Many noticed that the edges of their tongues curled up in anticipation of sourness when they smelled the vinegar. They also noticed that their mouths started salivating when they tasted the lemon. Both of these experiences are typical when we anticipate or taste acidic foods or beverages. Check out the tongue diagram here to see where you taste acid on your tongue.


To experience the sensation we get from tannins, we asked to group members to eat a walnut. The thin skins on walnuts and tea both have tannins in them, and will give you a very similar sensation to the one you get when drinking tannic red wine. 


For a more in-depth discussion on acidity and tannins in wine, and their importance in wine balance, please click here!


Wines used in this session:

St. Francis 2009 Russian River Valley Viognier
Viognier is a French varietal that often produces a fruity, somewhat dry wine. This was by far the group's favorite wine of the evening.














Kathryn Kennedy 2010 Sauvignon Blanc
Sauvignon Blanc is a varietal that tends to be on the acidic side. The acidity in this particular wine is bright, crisp and refreshing.










Rock Wall 2009 Zinfandel Contra Costa Co. Jesse's Vineyard
We chose this wine to be an example of a slightly sweet red wine. This wine ended up being a little more tannic than we expected. It did have the sweet taste we were looking for and ended up pairing well with some chocolate covered almonds at the end of the evening...Yum!

Terredora Dipaolo 2005 Taurasi 
It is made with the Aglianico varietal and comes from Italy. This wine was chosen as a good example of a tannic red wine. Boy did it deliver! When it was first opened and poured it had intense tannins and really showed our group what tannins in a wine is like on our palate. This wine did open up over the evening once it was put in a decanter and although not all of the group appreciated it, some of us really enjoyed it!

Although some of these wines were a turn off to some in the group, we encouraged everyone to continue trying new things. As group leaders, we have been able to expand our palates and broaden our enjoyment of all kinds of wine!

Happy Sipping!

A New Meaning to Blind Tasting...Take Two!

Welcome to our new group of wonderful wine tasters!

Our wine study group has peaked the interest of many, so we started a new group with another fabulous set of oenophiles!

Oops, we did it again! We decided to engage our friends in a little blind tasting. Before you think you know all about blind wine tasting, think again...we blindfolded the tasters, not the wine!

In this first activity, we wanted to test our new group's ability to tell the difference between a red and white wine. In order to make the test a bit challenging, we chose two wines that would be very similar to each other in structure and as close as possible in taste. We served them at room temperature, and did not allow the tasters to see the bottles before the blindfold activity. This was trickier than you might think! 

Here are the wines we chose to use:

Red: 2009 Georges Duboeuf Boujolais-Villages Nouveau - This is a Beaujolais wine from an area near the Burgundy Region in France that is light in structure and taste.

White: 2009 Louis Jadot Pouilly Fusse - Also from France, this white wine is a 100% Chardonnay. The structure on this wine was firm enough to stand up to a light red.

You may be wondering why we would torture our friends this way, but there is a method to our madness. In addition to being a fun activity to break the ice during our first gathering, we also wanted to begin showing the connection between all of our senses when we go about the process of tasting. By blindfolding ourselves, we take away one of the senses that gives us a clue about what we are going to taste. In a way, our brain likes to give us clues about what we are about to eat or drink in various ways. Not being able to see the wine, takes away one of the preconceived notions we might already have about a “white” or a “red” wine. This leaves us with only the sense of taste, and smell.

Why is this important? We do not taste with our taste buds alone...

The importance of the Nose:

• Smell is the most acute sense (1,000 times more sensitive than taste)

• Flavor is determined by about 75% smell and 25% taste

• “Taste” is actually something that is determined by what we sense with our noses and mouths combined

• We actually taste and smell at the same time when we are chewing. Vapor will travel up to our olfactory receptors, sending our brain messages about what we are eating.

• Volatile substances (like wine) shoot flavor elements (vapor) off into the atmosphere all the time, making them an interesting and rewarding experience.

• By actively smelling everything you drink, and eat, you can at least double the pleasure it gives.

Point To Ponder...Try this the next time you go to sip your wine... As you bring the glass up to your lips, breathe in through your mouth at the same time that you're smelling the wine. What do you notice?