Wine

The Best Guide to Wine Tasting, Wine Pairing

and Wine Selecting, Find Your Personal Palate and
Tips on Choosing the Perfect Wine for Every
Occasion.

The Best guide to Wine Tasting

Wine drinking is an art that is enjoyed only when you understand it, otherwise, it is like
drinking colored water with a fragrance added to it. No wonder, it is not surprising that
taste of wine and activation of our brain cells have connectivity. The taste, color and
aroma of wine are dictated by the type of grapes used. Crisp and light green grapes are
used to produce white wine and a strong red body of red wine is produced from red
grapes.

Learn to Taste Wine

The effort put in to learn the art of tasting wine is rewarded by the joy and pleasure you
receive from knowing that you are sipping a good wine. The qualities of a good wine are
hidden in your ability to detect the nuances and details that excellent wines exuberantly
speak. To understand the language of wines your palate has to be trained to understand the
expressions of great wines.
To keep your mouth faculty (palate) crisp in picking up wine flavors it is best to
continuously try different wines at one setting. There is no substitute for experience and
swallowing large sips and small sips will help in picking up flavors by isolating them.

Learning Wine by Flavor

Taste is the key to classify in to two categories the numerous region, thousands of different
varietals and many types of wine. First is the fruit flavor in the wine and second is the
style of wine. Wine sommeliers concentrate on primary fruit flavors to identify the quality
of wine. Fruit flavors and style of wines are the two techniques to do groupings.
Mouth develops a feeling of dryness when sipping wine with high tannin. Smooth or
round wines have balanced acidity on the finish and have less tannin. Wines with higher
alcohol or higher acidity tend to give a spicy feeling in the mouth.

Palate Training
Even before you take a sip of wine it is important to be mentally focused and methodical.
A glass of wine or a bottle in hand should automatically mean shutters down to all
outward distractions like conversation. Focus and concentrate on the beauty in your hand,
check the appearance of the wine, the scents and flavors. It is a minute or less time for this
exercise but a must to mentally gear yourself and the palate to taste the wine. It is an
established fact that the best way in discovering a wine is by tasting it.
The objective of tasting wine is to decode the complicated aromas and sniffing of wine is
essential for the palate. The nose plays a crucial role in assisting the palate to taste wine
because if you swallow wine with a blocked nose the palate will not be able to identify
most of the flavors. Taste and sniff are intertwined to isolate flavors, to identify flavors
and to notice interaction of flavors.
Once the ability is acquired to understand and evaluate wine then tasting of wine goes
beyond the concept of a good wine is the one that you like. Good wines and bad wines
are differentiated, main flavors and scent components are identified and most importantly
you become a professional in knowing the basic characteristics of varietal grapes. You
shall be able to point out the blended wines from the worlds top wine producing regions.

Ability to find Wine Flaws

One significant quality or ability that develops with the sharpness of the palate is to
instantly point out wine flaws. Granted there are bad wines but some wines develop flaws
due to bad corks or non-standard or poor storage. Even an expensive wine can be flawed
so a good nose can sniff the basic flaws like a damp smell from a tainted cork.
Smelling a wine for longer period is not a recommended norm, on the contrary, a sound
technique is to vary the sniffs between slow long sniffs and brief sniffs.
Swirling a wine instigates the releasing of aroma compounds in the air and make it easier
for sniffing different aromas.

Ability to know Good Wine

There are four basic steps to follow to sharpen the skills in recognizing a good tasting
wine.

Step 1
Take a few seconds to have a good look at the opacity, viscosity and color of wine. The
opacity and color of wine have a story to tell about the possible grape varieties, the
amount of acidity, alcohol, sugar, approximate age and the region of the particular wine; if
the wine was from a warm region or cool region.
Grape Varieties are revealed by observing the color and rim variation, for example, a
magenta pink rim spells the wine is a Malbec, Merlot with a red blend will have an orange
tinge rim, translucent brick color means the wine is from Nebbiolo and Syrah will have a
bluish tinge rim and is from a region with cooler climate.
Acidity is one of the vital actors in the taste of wine. Wines having a lighter body tend to
be higher on acidity and level of acidity can tell the region, age and the longevity of the
wine.
Alcohol and Sugar-Wine Legs are an assumption that indicates the quality of wine.
Wine legs in France are called tears and are the streaks of wine that cling to the walls of
a glass when wine is swirled. Wing legs or tears are observed to find the high or low levels
of alcohol and sugar.
The rate of formation of wine legs is directly related to the temperature and humidity in
the room. Evaporation of alcohol holds the answer to the appearance of wine legs/tears
because no wine legs are seen if an unopened wine bottle is shaken. So the fluid surface
tension in the shape of droplets of wine appears on the inside of a wine glass by the
evaporation of alcohol.
Tilt the glass to let the wine slide on one side of the glass, hold the wine at an angle and
then level the glass and observe the wine flow and notice the density of the legs.
Appearance of lots of legs or droplets means higher alcohol or sugar levels. If the legs are
few in number then the alcohol or sugar level are low.
With high alcohol or sugar levels the wine will create a warming sensation in the back of
the throat.
Approximate age of wines is determined by the change in color which changes with age
towards brown colors and yellow. Raising the glass of wine towards light and observing
the transmission of light also tells the age of wine. A general impression is that red wines
become more translucent with age.

Step 2
Remember nose is a key player in sniffing the flavors in a wine. Aromas in wines are the
squealers of almost all the information like the grape variety, age, region of wine, oak and
aging. Wines have three types of aromas and to detect the three flavors spend a few
moments sniffing the wine. The aromas are sniffed by our noses from the evaporating
alcohol. The basic three fruit aromas captured by the nose are
1. Tertiary Bouquets aromas are produced from oxidation, aging in bottle and aging in
oak, for instance, nutty aromas (champagne), vanilla and baking spices.
2. Primary Aromas are generated from yeast and fermentation. Primary aromas reveal
the region of grapes (climatic conditions-warm or cool) and the type of grapes used
in the making of the wine.
3. Secondary Aromas come from the process of fermentation and give the wine a sour
smell.

Step 3
Taste is the leading player in identifying a good wine and structure and flavor are the two
elements that are involved in creating the taste. Regular testing helps build a blind taste
that easily identifies the style and region. A blind taste means testing your talent and
training in recognizing wines without reading the labels or knowing their identities.
In the old days the wine bottles were devoid of labels so the practice of blind taste was
common to differentiate the real good wine from the bad fraudulent wine. Now the
expertise of blind taste is employed to assay the fine quality of a wine.

Coconut flavors are popular in white Burgundy. The palate tastes more acidity with white
wines. Raspberry is the characteristics of red wines like Rhone reds. Red wines have more
tannin in them. Lemon or citrus flavors are common in white wines like French Sauvignon
Blanc and Australian Riesling. These are the common fruit flavors and level of sweetness,
tannin, acidity, alcohol and body make up for the structure of the wine.

Sweetness
The front of the tongue carries the buds to recognize the sweetness in the wine. Low
acidity in wines means more sweetness and wines with higher acidity are less sweet. The
pH (Potential of Hydrogen) factor defines the tartness of the taste of wine. An ideal wine
is 2.6pH is ideal and 4.9 pH means the wine is flat. Average wines range between 3 and
4.9pH.

Tannin
Tannin is used in wines as an aroma ingredient and specifically for red wines. It is a strong
characteristic of red wine and reveals the nature of grapes along with the time the wine
will age and if the aging was in oak. Tannin from skins and seeds of grapes has a green
taste to it and tannin from oak aging is smooth.

Alcohol
The intensity of wine and ripeness of grapes can be learned from the alcohol levels.
Alcohol levels provide body and texture to wine. Cooler regions produce less sweet grapes
and warmer regions produce sweeter grapes; wines fermented with less sweet grapes tend
to have lower alcohol wines characteristics and wines produced with sweeter grapes have
higher alcohol characteristics.

Body
All the profiles, characteristics and properties of a wine are summed in the body of wine.
Body is the start and finish of wine and all the mysteries of wine are hidden in it. It tells
you whether the wine is full-bodied or light upfront and whether it is subtle or intense in
the end.

Step 4
Finally, it is you to decide the taste of the wine if it was balanced or not? Was the wine
expressive? Was the wine up to your taste and enjoyed?

Knowledge of Wine Regions

Almost every country makes wine but United States, France, Italy and Spain are the four
leading countries on this planet that are the main growers of quality grapes and producers
of world class wines. The wine producing countries are divided in to two classifications,
the Old World and the New World. Europe and the Mediterranean regions are
categorized as Old World because of their centuries-old traditions of producing wine. U.
S. and Australia are newcomers in the field of wine production so belong to the New
World of wine producers.
The traditional method focuses on the characteristics of soil and climate that entitles them
to a proud heritage and gives their wine a sense of place. On the other hand the new
countries in the field of wine production use grapes and not regions to market the product.
It is paramount to be familiar with the wine producing regions/countries, their climate and
type of grapes grown in those areas. Below is a list of major countries and the type of
grapes grown in those regions.

Old World
France: Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Viognier, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir.
Italy: Pinot Grigio, Nebbiolo, Sangiovese, Barbera, Moscato.
Germany: Reisling, Sylvaner, Gewurztraminer.
Spain: Tempanillo, Albarino, Garnacha, Palomino.

New World
United States: Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Merrlot, Zinfandel.
Chile: Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc.
Argentina: Malbec, Bonarda.
Australia: Shiraz, Chardonnay.
New Zealand: Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc.
South Africa: Pinotage, Chenin Blanc.

Peeling a Wine Label

It is an easy step to peel off the label of all wine bottles. Simply heat up the bottle in an
oven and start peeling off the label at its corner. The label will be removed with no fuss.

What a Wine Label Reads?

Labels on the wine bottles from countries of the old World reflect the pride of having a
sense of place but labels on the wines produced by the New World countries has made
it easy to understand them. The grapes are written directly on the label so you do not have
to spend your skills on figuring out the type of grapes used in fermentation of wine.
Countries of the Old World like France, expect a wine user to be knowledgeable enough
to know the region and decipher the label that Red Burgundy is Pinot Noir, Saint-Emilion
is Merlot. Now, to stay in the race to capture a share of the world market of consumers
they are changing to easy-to-read labels.
A typical label from the Old World reads Chateau Moulin de Grenet 2009 Lussac St.
Emilion.
Labels on wines produced by the New World list both the grape variety and region. The
label would read Cakebread 2009 Merlot, Napa Valley.
Some countries carry more detailed labels on their wine bottles and might include Varietal
Region, Producer, Vintage, Alcohol Percentage, Vineyard and Estate.

Wine Handling Tips

You have successfully observed the bottle of wine, smelled and tasted it. Another
important aspect in establishing yourself as a professional connoisseur is the handling of a
wine bottle. The handling of the wine bottle includes
Opening of a bottle
Pouring of wine without letting it to drip
Safe opening of champagne

How to Choose the Right Wine?

Tasting and spitting is the proper way of professional connoisseurs to feel the many
flavors of wine. The objective of spitting the wine after tasting is to save the taste buds
from being overloaded or overpowered and continue tasting different wines to choose the
right for the occasion. When buying an inexpensive wine it is recommended to choose a
wine produced in a warmer climate because wines from such climates have more appeal
and flavor to them.
Do not rely on the color of a wine to decide to serve a light or heavy wine, both red wine
and white wine have equal amounts of alcohol.
Both red wine and white wine can be served if the occasion is a dinner party. Red wines
are strong-bodied and are made from purple grapes and white wines are fermented with
light green grapes. A white wine is smooth and has an easing affect on drinking it.
Usually, it is not necessary to chill a white wine and it tastes better when served warmer.

Wine Serving Tips

In order for the wine to smell good and taste good serve the wine in half filled glasses so
that it allows the guests to swirl the wine. The swirling causes the wine to aerate and open
up to identify the different fruit flavors.
The real connoisseur will focus on the basic three tenets to impress the guests and make
the occasion a success story. The three basic tenets of serving wine are glassware,
temperature and preservation.

Glassware
It is critical to serve red wine and white wine in the right glassware. All wines have
individualist characteristics that hit the senses. Generally speaking, most wine glasses are
designed and shaped scientifically to bring out the defining characteristics of the wine.
The sip from a particularly shaped glass will help direct the wine to the important parts of
the tongue and nose to taste and smell it.
Red and white wines have glassware tailored accordingly, small narrow glasses are used to
serve white wine and wider glasses are used to enjoy red wine. Wider glasses allow a lot
of air to hug the surface of red wine to warm it and develop the flavor in the wine.

Temperature
Regardless of the color of wines all are kept at the same temperature. However, the red
wines are consumed when warm and white wines are consumed when cold. A too cold
white wine will have a weak flavor and a too warm red wine will tend to be more
alcoholic. Red wine should be given time before consuming for the temperature to rise and
white wine is best when chilled before consumption.
Hence, it is paramount to store the wines correctly to preserve the flavors. Fluctuating
temperatures can vary the taste of wine. Temperatures between 50 and 55 degrees are
perfect to allow the wine flavor to mature. Wine cellars are the ideal storage place to
maintain the quality of wine, a cool basement or a kitchen refrigerator can also serve the
purpose.

Preservation
The question arises on how to preserve the unused wine in a bottle? Air ruins
the flavor and spoils the wine to stop or slow the spoiling process a vacuum
pump can remove the excess air in the wine bottle.

Styles of Wines
Officially there are nearly 1300 recognized wine varieties globally and every variety has
different grape variety and different wine making style. But the game has been made easy
and reduced to 9 styles of wine and each style identified through the taste profile. The 9
styles of wine are
Full Red Wines
Medium Red Wines
Light Red Wines
Ros Wines
Rich White Wines
Zesty White Wines
Sweet White Wines
Dessert Wines
Sparkling Wines

Food Pairing
Food pairing is science to study the effects of taste on the palate. The objective of food
pairing is to bring out salient characteristics of a wine. For example, a red wine with high
tannin when paired with the right dish will taste as sweet cherries. The study focuses on
the interaction between astringency and oiliness.

It takes a deeper look at the stubbornness of greasy foods leaving a bad taste on the palate
and not disappearing with rinsing of the mouth with water. But when the mouth is rinsed
with liquids like tea containing light tannins and light acidity the bad greasy taste is gone.
The study reveals that the mouth gets lubricated with proteins produced by the saliva
glands inside the mouth.

The rule of thumb is to ensure a great wine pairing the wine should be sweeter than the
food. In case the food is sweeter, then the wine will taste tart and bitter like Port wine is an
ideal pairing with dessert.

The pairing of salmon an oily fish like with red wine on paper looks good but it is on the
contrary because fat and tannin are counter-productive to each other. The fattiness in the
fish and tannin in the wine annul each others characteristics and the person is left with a
residual flavor of fish. The pairing promotes the dominance of negative characteristics in
the mouth. Wines with cleansing effect pair well with fish.

Pairing of bitter foods and high tannin wine is not a welcome pairing because the taste
buds are extremely sensitive to bitterness. For example, pairing of green beans with
Cabernet Sauvignon increases the bitter tastes.

Pairing foods with the 9 styles of wine are given below:

Full-bodied and rich wines pair well with barbecue, Mexican foods, smoked meats,
red meats, steaks, black pepper and mushroom dishes.
Medium-bodied (between light and bold) and textured red wines pair good with
lasagna, hamburgers, vegetable soups, red sauce, spicy roasted meats and vegetables.
Pairing works fine with strong flavored spices like fennel, anise, cumin, cinnamon,
rosemary and chili pepper.
Light-bodied red wines bring a great taste when paired with mushroom risotto, coq
au vin, cream pasta with poultry.
Rose wines are nicely paired with fried chicken, roast pork, Mexican, Turkish, Greek
and Lebanese cuisines.
Rich red wines pair well with seafood, sushi, fried foods, green salads and pesto.

Sweet white wines ideally pair with Indian cuisine, Thai food, citrus based dishes,
cheeses, cream, sauce, cake and ice cream.
Fortified wines pair nicely with blue cheese, caramel, cakes, chocolate and fruit pies.
Sparkling wines and champagne have an excellent food pairing with French fries,
oysters, salads, chili, fish tacos and salty foods.

Conclusion
The sniffing and tasting of wine are the keys that unlock the variety of flavors, quality of
wine and the region. The taste of a good wine is deep, complex and hangs in for a long
time. Swirl sniff and sip (the three Ss) are the ideal start in establishing the quality of
wine in retrospect to your taste buds.

Appearances and the front labels can be deceptive, enticing and misleading so go for the
back label on the bottle. It can disclose the information about the fruits in the wine,
flavors, the aging process and regions.

After swirling, sniffing and sipping let the wine encircle the tongue. Concentrate to figure
out different flavors, weather conditions and climates to see if a fine job was done in
harvesting of a good wine.

Taste is personal and subjective; hence, the perfect wine is the one that clicks to your taste
buds. Find your style of wine by checking new varietals from regions around the globe. A
fine wine is a beauty. Enjoy it. A wine of beauty is a joy forever.