A MATTER OF TASTE

How do you drink your wine? Before you say 'I put it up to my lips and pour it down my throat', what I am really asking is how do you taste your wine? Some people seem to miss their taste buds altogether; throwing the precious liquid down their throats much as they might to quench a thirst rather than to savour the taste. Others make tasting a ritual that seems to be aimed at demonstrating how tasteless the act of tasting can be!What is in no doubt is the fact that the enjoyment of wine can be considerably enhanced by properly tasting it. You have to decide whether the time and place are suitable for anything more than a quick and private ceremony, but to get into the habit of proper tasting is the only way to get full value out of your wine.

Some clues about the wine can be gained from its looks, but the first real idea of its quality comes when taking a good sniff of the stuff. Swirl it around the glass a little to volatise the aroma and inhale the fumes. First impressions here are quite important and will trigger recognition, however fleetingly, of vaguely familiar smells. Chardonnay can smell like butter; Riesling like lemons; Sauvignon like gooseberries and Pinot Noir roasted coffee or cooked cabbage! The essence of a good wine is that words usually fail to adequately describe the smell and most people find it extremely difficult to come to terms with this.

Now for the first taste of the wine. If all goes well, the taste should at least confirm all the clues given by the smell. But now the taste buds are stimulated into action and different sensations are produced. Different parts of your mouth sense different flavours. Sweetness is sensed by the tip; bitterness by the back part; acidity and saltiness sensed along the sides. Alcohol acts as a balancing and diluting agent and up to a point, the higher the alcohol the smoother the flavour. The alcohol therefore, should provide a warm, 'winey' feeling and is usually lacking in German wines. Tannin arises in red wines and gives them the ability to age, and the interest when tasting is to judge the relative strengths of tannin and fruit. If the tannin is too strong in relation to the fruit then the wine stands little chance of achieving attractive maturity. In a white wine it is the reationship between acidity and fruit that is important. All these facets of the wine can be noted using a more or less agreed vocabulary, although it is true to say that describing the fruit seems to exercise the imagination the most. The really difficult part is to define the flavour of the wine.Maximum flavour is obtained when the wine reaches the palate and you start to swallow. Its vapours combine with tastes in combinations that are unique to each individual and provides the most important feeling of all - and that is pleasure.

Even after swallowing, there are things to notice about the wine. How long does the flavour linger or persist? Do the constituent parts make up a balanced whole, with no one of them shouting to be heard above the rest?If the wine is young, will it improve before it dies or will it stay much as it is? If the latter, it had better be good now otherwise it never will be! Did the wine stimulate you or were you glad you were eating a madras curry at the time? In summary, was it just a drink or a moment of pleasure? When next you take a glass of wine, take the time to taste it properly and see if it awakens a new interest in the fruit of the vine.

Learn more about this author, Alan Wright.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about How to taste wine?
We want to hear your view. Write now!