1.Make sure you have the Tasting Checklist you downloaded and printed out from theIntroduction to this class. If you don’t have the checklist, please use the navigation bar atthe top of this page to return to the Intro, where the download link is located.
2.Fill in the top portion of the Tasting Checklist with information you can find on the winelabel. This will help you remember the wine’s:
Producer: the name of the winery or chateau
Growing Area: The region where the grapes are grown; probably Italy and California for these two wines
Vintage: the year the grapes were harvested
Alcohol: the alcohol content is given as a percentage
Price: the cost of the bottle or glass in a store or restaurant
3. Pull the corks from your two bottles of wine, a Pinot Grigio from Italy and a Chardonnayfrom Australia. Pour each wine into a separate glass, filling each glass about 1/3 full.
4. To remember which glass is which, you might want to place the two glasses side-by-side,keeping the Pinot Grigio on the left and the Chardonnay on the right. In each section of thetasting, we’ll evaluate the Pinot Grigio first and the Chardonnay second.
You already use your senses of sight, smell and touch to judge the ripeness and appeal of fruitsand vegetables at the market. For example, you look at the color of a banana, smell a melon’sperfume and feel the firmness of an avocado.
Wine professionals use these same senses to evaluate wine in a four-step process commonly called the 4S’s:
1. SEE: look at the wine’s color
2. SNIFF: smell the aromas
3. SIP: evaluate taste, mouthfeel and flavor
4. SUMMARIZE: synthesize your observations
In this first tasting, you will work through the 4S tasting process as you compare two white wines:a Pinto Grigio from Italy and a Chardonnay from Australia.
SEE involves evaluating Clarity, Color, Intensity and Legs.
• Most wines should be clear
• A pronounced haze may indicate a wine is spoiled
SEE: CLARITY, Color, Intensity, Legs
1. Set your glassed on the table before you and, looking through the wines, examine them for clarity.
2. Is each wine clear, or do you see a haziness in either?
3. On your tasting checklist, circle the clarity that most closely matches each wine.
SEE: Clarity, COLOR, Intensity, Legs
• A wine’s color is largely determined by the grape variety: white wines can be green,straw, gold or amber (lightest to darkest).
• Color can also tell you things about the age of and the health of the wine. A youngwhite wine’s color should be lighter rather than darker, and may frequently have agreenish tinge to it.
• Over time, the color of a white wine will evolve toward amber. A young white wine thatis amber-colored is probably spoiled.
EXAMINING COLOR
Pinot Grigio
1. Pick up your glass of Pinot Grigio and tilt it away from you at a 45-degree angle.
2. Look at the core—not the edge—of the wine. Make sure the backdrop is white: a napkin, tablecloth or sheet of paper all work. • What color is the wine?
• Do you detect a greenish tint, indicating that it’s a young wine?
• Circle the color on your tasting checklist that most closely describes your wine.
1. Now pick up your glass of Chardonnay and tilt it away at a 45-degree angle.
2. Look at its core.• What color is it?
• Does it have a green tint?
• Circle its color on your tasting checklist.
COMPARISON
1. Are they the same color? Are they different colors?
2. In general, wine made from Pinot Grigio will be toward the green or yellow end of thespectrum; wine made from Chardonnay is more frequently straw or gold in color.
3. Since both these wines are young, differences in color are due mainly to the differentgrape varieties and not to the effects of age.
Imagine a pitcher of Concord grape juice. Now, add a cup of water to it and see what happens:The juice is still purple, but it’s a paler shade of purple now—not as dark as before. Add anothercup of water, and the juice becomes even paler.
• Intensity refers, not to color itself, but to the concentration of color: The more concentrated a wine’s color, the higher the intensity.
• A wine with high intensity of color is referred to as “dark”; low intensity, “pale”, inbetween, “medium”.
• Intensity is important to us because it offers a visual clue to a wine’s makeup;Generally, the more intense a wine’s color, the more flavorful and full-bodied it is.
EXAMINING INTENSITY
Pinot Grigio
1. Look at your glass of Pinot Grigio.
2. On your tasting checklist, circle the level of intensity that best describes it.
Chardonnay
1. Now take your glass of Chardonnay and examine it.
2. Circle its intensity on the tasting checklist.
COMPARISON
1. Which wine has the more intense color?
2. Based on intensity, which wine would you expect to be more flavorful and full-bodied?(The more intensely colored wine will usually be more flavorful and full-bodied.)
When you read or hear someone talk about “legs” or “tears,” they are referring to the rivulets ofwine that form and then flow down the inside of a wine glass after the wine has been swirled.
Like intensity, legs tell us something about a wine: The more pronounced the legs and the longerthey last, the higher the alcohol content and the more full-bodied a wine is.
How to Swirl1. Resting your glass on the table, lightly hold the stem at the base with your fingertips and
slowly begin “drawing” circles with it.
2. Now increase the speed of these circles until the wine is swirling around and around.
3. Stop and let the wine come to rest; the inside of your glass will be coated with a thin film of wine.
4. Look at the upper edge of this film. In a few moments, drops of liquid will begin to appearand then flow down the sides of the glass; these are the legs.
EXAMINING LEGS
Pinot Grigio
1. Swirl your glass of Pinot Grigio for a moment and then stop.
2. Observe the legs as they form.
3. Are the legs short-lived? Pronounced and long lasting?
4. Make a note on your tasting checklist.
Chardonnay
1. Now take you glass of Chardonnay, swirl it and watch its legs form.
2. Are they faint and short-lived? Pronounced and long lasting?
3. Mark your tasting checklist
COMPARISON
1. Which wine has the longer lasting, more pronounced legs?
2. Which wine would you expect to have a higher alcohol content and be more full-bodied?
3. Look at each bottle’s label and find the alcohol content.
4. Does the label confirm what you’ve observed? (Even if you’re correct, it may not: And error of 1.5 degrees of alcohol is allowed on wine labels, as long as the total content is less than 14%.)
SNIFF involves using your sense of smell to identify a wine’s aromas and to judge its intensity.
Aroma • The aromas of wine come from fragrant chemical compounds called esters.
• If you detect the aroma of lemon in your glass of Chardonnay, it is because the same—ornearly the same—combination of esters that gives a lemon its distinctive aroma is presentin the wine.
• Wine is capable of great aromatic complexity, and it is possible for a single wine to havemany aromas. For example, apple, lemon, lime, melon, pineapple, pear, spice, hazelnut,vanilla and butterscotch can all be descriptors for Chardonnay.
Off Aromas
A smell that reminds you of a damp basement or musty newspaper indicates that the winemay be “corked.” Chemicals used in the process of manufacturing corks as well as woodpreservatives used in winery construction sometimes react with the cork, causing the cork toimpart nasty moldy and musty odors to wine. These odors are clear indicators for returning abottle of wine to your wine merchant or waiter.
Releasing the Aromas• With your wineglasses still on the table, choose one and swirl it.
• Swirling the wine aerates it and increases its surface area, accelerating evaporationand increasing the amount of aromas that are released into the air.
• Pick up the glass, and placing your nose just inside the rim, where the aromas will bemost concentrated, take a quick sniff or two and put the glass down.
• Don’t inhale the wine’s aromas for more than a few seconds at a time or your nose will become desensitized.
• When we smell a wine’s aromas, we begin by first judging their intensity.
• Intensity is the answer to the question, “How powerful or faint are the aromas?”
• Try to do the following process in a single sniff per wine; form an impression and go onto the next step. Remember that, like any skill, you will improve with practice.
JUDGING INTENSITY
Pinot Grigio
1. Swirl and sniff the Pinot Grigio.
2. Are the aromas powerful? Do they seem to pour out of the glass and immediately fill your nose?
3. Or are they faint, maybe even hard to detect?
4. On your tasting checklist, circle the intensity that most closely describes the Pinot Grigio’s aromas.
Chardonnay
1. Swirl and sniff the Chardonnay.
2. Are the aromas powerful, faint or somewhere inbetween?
3. Note the intensity of the Chardonnay’s aromas on your tasting checklist.
Identification involves swirling and sniffing the wine and giving a name to each aroma. Of all thesteps in tasting wine, identification is the most involved, and takes a bit of practice to master. Thefollowing guidelines will help you through the process as you develop your skill at identification:
• Use your tasting checklist—it lists many possible aromas that are characteristic of Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay, and breaks them into general categories (“Citrus”, “Tree Fruit”, etc.) and specific aromas (“Lemon”, “Apple”, etc.).
• Keep in mind that the order of presentation doesn’t mean that you’ll smell a wine’s aromas in this order, nor does it mean that you’ll smell the aromas from every category; ifyou detect and aroma that isn’t on the checklist, that’s fine; go ahead and write it in.
• You can identify an aroma by its general category or by its specific name. It’s okay if youcan only identify the general category—with some wines, that’s as close as you’ll get.
• Limit yourself to three or four sniffs per wine. This is enough to identify the major aromas without suffering “nasal fatigue”.
IDENTIFYING AROMAS
Pinot Grigio
1. Swirl and sniff your Pinot Grigio.
2. What is the first or most prominent aroma that comes to you? Try to name it.
3. Look at your checklist. Do any of the possible aromas jump off the page at you?• Try using free association. Memories involving sense of smell can be strong.
Does an aroma recall some past event?
• A walk in the country, fresh mown hay?
• Hot apple pie, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove?
• Baking bread, yeast, dough?
• A movie, buttered popcorn?
When you identify an aroma, circle it on the tasting checklist.
SIP involves using your senses of taste, touch and smell to evaluate a wine’s Taste, Body and Flavors.
Some additional information about tastes in wines may be helpful as you begin to evaluate wines:
When tasting wines, we usually perceive the three tastes associated with wines in a predictableorder; sweet is followed by tart and finally bitter.
EACH TASTE HAS DISTINCT ORIGINS:
Sweet (sugar):• Wine may contain some sweetness, called residual sugar, if all the grapes’ sugar was
not converted to alcohol during fermentation. This remaining sweetness may or maynot be perceptible to you, depending on the concentration and your sensitivity to it.
• Alcohol can give the perception of sweetness to a wine that isn’t actually sweet.
• Flavors of ripe fruit can impart the perception of sweetness.
Tart (acidity):•Wines contain a number of acids commonly found in food, such as acetic acid (vinegar),
• Acidity tends to make a wine’s fruit flavors fresher and brighter.
Bitter (tannins):• Grape seeds, stems, and skins contain bitter-tasting chemicals called tannins.
• Tannins are important in red wines, but are virtually absent in whites.
How to Sip
1. Put your glass to your lips and sip 1/4 to 1/3 ounce, just enough to wet the insides of your mouth.
2. Vigorously swish the wine around your mouth three or four times, then stop.
3. With the wine resting just behind your lower front teeth, purse your lips as if to blow out acandle and gently draw air into your mouth through the wine. You will hear a gurgling noise as you do.
2. Check your mouth for the sensations of acidity. Do you detect any of the following?• Puckering (acidity is high)?
• Sharpness (acidity is high)?
• Mouthwatering (acids cause salivation; acidity is medium)?
• A clean, refreshing feeling (acidity is medium)?
3. Are these sensations barely perceptible? Pronounced?
4. It is possible for a white wine to lack sufficient acidity. A wine with low acidity feels flatand lifeless on the palate, much like sparkling water that has lost its fizz, and is oftendescribed as “flabby.”
5. Circle the level of acidity on your tasting checklist.
Chardonnay
1. Now sip, swish and spit the Chardonnay.
2. Check your mouth for the sensations of acidity. Are there any puckering, sharp, mouthwatering, or clean and refreshing sensations? Or is the wine flat and flabby?
3. Note its level of acidity on your tasting checklist.
Comparision
1. Which wine is tarter and makes your mouth pucker more?
• Body is the sensation within the mouth of weight and thickness.
• Body is easily understood by relating it to milk: If you think of skim milk as “light-bodied,”then by comparison, whole milk is “medium-bodied” and cream is “full-bodied.”
TASTING FOR BODY
Pinot Grigio
1. Sip and swish the Pinot Grigio, feeling its weight and thickness as you move the winearound in your mouth.
2. Keeping the milk analogy in mind, how would you describe its body?
3. Is it light? Medium? Full?
4. Spit the wine and note the body on your checklist.
Chardonnay
1. Sip, swish and spit the Chardonnay, noting its weight and thickness.
2. Is it light-bodied? Medium? Full?
3. Spit the wine and mark your checklist.
COMPARISON
• Which of the two wines has the fuller body? (Pinot Grigio is normally lighter in bodythan Australian Chardonnay.)
• Do you prefer the weight and thickness of the fuller-bodied wine or the lighter-bodied one?
SUMMARIZE involves examining a wine’s Finish, Balance and Complexity , and coming to afinal evaluation of quality and appeal.
SUMMARIZE: FINISH , Balance, Complexity
• Finish refers to the length of time a wine’s flavors linger in the mouth after swallowingor spitting and, like aftertaste, is an important indicator of quality.
• In general, the longer the finish, the better the wine.
EVALUATING FINISH
Pinot Grigio
1. Swirl, sniff, sip and spit the wine.
2. What are the flavors that linger in your mouth?
3. Do the flavors slowly diminish on your palate or do they crescendo before they fade?
4. Sip, swish and spit again, this time paying attention to the length of time the flavors linger.
Ask yourself:
• Is it a “short” finish? Do the flavors disappear abruptly, within about 10 seconds?
• Is it a “long” finish? Do the flavors linger for 45 seconds or more?
5. Record your impressions of aftertaste and finish on your tasting checklist.
Chardonnay
1. Swirl, sniff, sip and spit.
2. What flavors linger in your mouth?
3. Do they slowly diminish on your palate, or crescendo before starting to fade?
4. Sip, swish and spit again, and paying attention to the length of time the flavors linger, ask:• Is it a “short” finish? Do the flavors disappear abruptly, within about 10 seconds?
• Is it a “long” finish? Do the flavors linger for 45 seconds or more?
5. Record your impressions on your tasting checklist.
• Please note that while a “short” wine would be considered inferior in quality to a “long”wine, a short wine may nonetheless be very enjoyable to drink.
• In white wine, the key elements are acidity, alcohol and sweetness, and they stand in thefollowing relationship:
• A wine is balanced, or harmonious, when no single structural element—acidity, alcohol,sweetness or tannins—stands out.
• If one or more of these elements is dominant, the wine is said to be “awkward” or “disjointed.”
• Acidity is balanced by alcohol and sweetness.
• A white wine that is in balance will feel refreshing and lively on the palate-not too tart,nor cloyingly sweet, nor too “hot” from alcohol.
• An overly acidic white wine will feel tart and sharp on the palate, even sour.
• A white wine with too much alcohol will feel hot in the mouth and back of the throat inmuch the same way a distilled spirit such as brandy or Cognac fills the mouth with heat.
• An overly sweet white wine will feel cloying and heavy on your palate.
• Like a long finish and a complex aftertaste, balance in a wine is a sign of quality.
EXAMINING BALANCE
Pinot Grigio
1. Sip, swish and spit your Pinot Grigio.
2. Judging by mouthfeel, ask yourself if any element seems too prominent:• Is the wine puckery from too much acidity?
• Burning from too much alcohol?
• Cloying from too much sweetness?
3. If your answer to all the above is no, the wine is balanced.
4. Spit and record your impression of its balance on the tasting checklist.
3. Spit and record your impression on the tasting checklist.
COMPARISON
• On the whole, Pinot Grigio tends to be the more acidic (“crisp”) wine, while Chardonnaytends to be higher in alcohol (“soft”) than Pinot Grigio. Do you find this to be so?
• Some people prefer crisp wines to soft, just as some people prefer sour pickles tothe sweet variety—what’s your preference? Do you like the Pinot Grigio or theChardonnay more?
• The weather and time of year may influence your preference: The acidity of the PinotGrigio may not be appealing during the winter months. In the heat of summer, it maybe just the wine to drink. Similarly, the Chardonnay may seem too full and heavy forhot weather. In winter, those qualities may make it a perfect match for hearty food.
Take a last sip of the Pinot Grigio, swish and spit.
• A wine that has many different aromas and flavors is called “complex.”
• In particular, a wine is complex if, each time you take a sip, you discover another layeror nuance offlavor or the flavors evolve overthe length of time the wine is in the mouth.
• By definition, all “great” wines are highly complex. In contrast, a wine with few aromasand flavors is called “simple.”
• Wine doesn’t have to be complex to be enjoyable—many simple wines are very pleasurable to drink.
• A complex wine, however, will always be considered higher in quality.
EXAMINING COMPLEXITY
Pinot Grigio
1. Sip, swish and swallow the Pinot Grigio.• Do you notice more and more layers of aroma and flavor, or is it a simple, one-note wine?
2. Circle the Pinot Grigio’s complexity on your tasting checklist.
Chardonnay
1. Sip, swish and swallow the Chardonnay.• Is it complex with many aromas and flavors, or simple?
1. Make sure you have the Tasting Checklist you downloaded and printed out from theIntroduction to this class. If you don’t have the checklist, please use the navigation bar atthe top of this page to return to the Intro, where the download link is located.
2. Fill in the top portion of the Tasting Checklist. This information helps you remember thewines and also provides clues to how the wine will taste:
• Producer: the name of the winery or chateau
• Growing Area: the region where the grapes were grown; probably Beaujolais and California for these two wines
• Vintage: the year the grapes were harvested
• Alcohol: the alcohol content is given as a percentage
• Price: the cost of the bottle or glass in a store or restaurant
3. Pull the corks from your two bottles of wine, a Beaujolais-Villages from France and aCabernet Sauvignon from California. Pour each wine into a separate glass, filling each glass about 1/3 full.
4. To remember which glass is which, you might want to place the two glasses side-by-side,keeping the Beaujolais-Villages on the left and the Cabernet Sauvignon on the right. In each section of the tasting, we’ll evaluate the Beaujolais-Villages first and the CabernetSauvignon second.
This second tasting uses the 4S approach to evaluate two wines, a Beaujolais-Villages fromFrance and a Cabernet Sauvignon from California. The focus of the tasting is tannins. The tworeds are at opposite ends of the tannin spectrum; one wine has light tannins and the other hasheavier tannins.SEE: CLARITY , Color, Intensity, Legs
Because sediment takes time to form, most young red wines won’t have sediment. In older reds,sediment is normal.
EXAMINING CLARITY
1. Set your glasses on the table before you, and looking through the wines, examine them for clarity.
2. Is each wine clear, or do you see sediment in either?
3. On your tasting checklist, circle the clarity that most closely matches each wine.
SEE: Clarity, COLOR, Intensity, Legs
A wine’s color is largely determined by the grape variety (in addition to its age). Red wines rangefrom (darkest to lightest): purple » ruby red » garnet/brick » tawny/amber.
Color can also tell you things about the age and the health of a wine: A young red wine’s colorshould be darker, rather than lighter, and may have a purplish tinge to it.
Over time, the color of a red wine will evolve towards amber.
EXAMINING COLOR
Beaujolais
1. Pick up your glass of Beaujolais and tilt it away from you at a 45-degree angle.
2. Look at the core -not the edge- of the wine. Make sure the backdrop is white: a napkin,tablecloth or sheet of paper all work.• What color is the wine?
• Do you detect a purplish tinge, indicating that it's a very young wine?
3. Circle the color on your tasting checklist that most closely describes your wine.
1. Now pick up your glass of Cabernet and tilt it away from you at a 45-degree angle.
2. Look at its core. • What color is it?
• Is there any purple in its color or is the color ruby? Are your two wines from the same vintage?
3. Circle its color on your tasting checklist.
COMPARISON
• Are your two wines the same color?
• In general, Beaujolais tends toward purple while Cabernet Sauvignon tends towardruby. The differences in color are due, in large part, to the different grape varieties andthe age difference between the two wines.
Intensity refers not to color itself, but to the concentration of color: A wine with high intensity ofcolor will be “dark”; low intensity, and it will be “pale”; in-between, “medium”.
The intensity of a wine’s color indicates how much extract (the grape solids that remain after theliquid is removed) the wine has: The higher the intensity of color, the more extract, and the moreextract, the more flavorful and full-bodied the wine is.
Given two wines made from the same grape variety, the darker, more intensely colored wine is likelyto have more concentrated flavors and fuller body than the paler, less intensely colored wine.
EXAMINING INTENSITY
Beaujolais
1. Look at your glass of Beaujolais.
2. On your tasting checklist, circle the level of intensity that best describes it.
Cabernet Sauvignon
1. Now take your glass of Cabernet and examine it.
2. Circle its intensity on the tasting checklist.
COMPARISON
• Which wine has the more intense color?
• Based on intensity, which wine would you expect to be more flavorful and full-bodied? (The more intensely colored wine will usually be more flavorful and full-bodied.)
Legs are the rivulets of wine that form and flow down the inside of a wine glass after the wine has been swirled.
The more pronounced the legs and the longer they last, the higher the alcohol content and themore full-bodied the wine is.
EXAMINING LEGS
Beaujolais
1. Swirl your glass of Beaujolais for a moment and then stop.
2. Observe the legs as they form.
3. Are the legs faint and short-lived, or pronounced and long-lasting?
4. Make a note on your tasting checklist.
Cabernet Sauvignon
1. Now take your glass of Cabernet, swirl it and watch its legs form.
2. Are they faint and short-lived? Pronounced and long-lasting?
3. Note your tasting checklist.
COMPARISON
• Which wine has the longer lasting, more pronounced legs?
• Which wine would you expect to have a higher alcohol content and be more full-bodied?
• Look at each bottle’s label and find the alcohol content—it will be stated in percent by volume.
• Does the label confirm what you’ve observed? (It may not, even if you’re right; a slightmargin of error in the alcohol level is allowed on wine labels.)
SNIFF involves using your sense of smell to Identify and gauge their Intensity.
If you put your glass of Beaujolais to your nose and smell strawberry, it is because the same-ornearly the same-combination of esters that make a strawberry smell like a strawberry are alsothere in the wine.
Wine is capable of great aromatic complexity, and it is possible for a single wine to smell of manythings—for example, currant, plum, herbs, smoke and earth.
• When we smell a wine’s aromas, we begin by first judging their Intensity.
• Intensity is the answer to the question “How powerful—or faint—are the aromas?”
• Try to do the following process in a single sniff per wine; form an impression and go onto the next step. Remember that, like any skill, you will improve at this with experience.
SNIFF: AROMA INTENSITY, Identification
JUDGING INTENSITY
Beaujolais
1. Swirl and sniff the Beaujolais.
2. Are the aromas powerful? Do they pour out the glass and immediately fill your nose?
3. Are they faint, or hard to detect?
4. Circle the intensity on your tasting checklist that best describes the intensity of theBeaujolais’ aromas.
Cabernet Sauvignon
1. Swirl and sniff the Cabernet.
2. Are the aromas powerful, faint, or somewhere in between?
3. Note their intensity on your tasting checklist.
• Identification involves swirling and sniffing the wine and giving a name to each aroma.
• Of all the steps in tasting wine, identification is the most involved, and takes a bit of practice to master.
• The following guidelines will help you through the process as develop your skill at identification:
1. Use your tasting checklist - it lists many possible aromas that are characteristic ofBeaujolais and Cabernet Sauvignon, and breaks them into general categories (“Berry,”“Tree Fruit,” etc.) and specific aromas (“Strawberry”, “Cherry,” etc.).
2. Keep in mind that the order of presentation doesn’t mean that you’ll smell a wine’s aromasin this order, nor does it mean that you’ll smell aromas from every category. If you detectan aroma that isn’t on the checklist, that’s fine; go ahead and write it in.
3. You can identify an aroma by its general category or by its specific name. It’s OK if youcan only identify the general category—with some wines, that’s as close as you’ll get.
4. Limit yourself to three or four sniffs per wine. That is enough to identify the major aromaswithout suffering “nasal fatigue.”
Beaujolais
1. Swirl and sniff your Beaujolais.
2. What is the first— or the most prominent— aroma that comes to you? Try to name it.
3. Look at your checklist. Do any of the possible aromas jump off the page at you?
4. Try using free association. Memories involving sense of smell can be very strong. Does anaroma recall some past event?
• Sunday brunch » strawberry jam on toast?
• A walk in the woods after a rainstorm » moist earth?
When you can identify an aroma, jot it down on the form.
2. What is the first—or the most prominent—aroma that comes to you? Try to name it.
3. Look at your checklist. Do any of the possible aromas jump off the page at you?
4. If you are having trouble, try using free association. Memories in which your sense ofsmell was involved can be very strong. Does an aroma recall some past event?
• Horseback riding » leather, animal smells?
• Burning leaves in autumn » smoke?
When you identify an aroma, circle it on the form. Remember: limit yourself to three or four sniffs.
COMPARISON
• Look at your checklist. Do the two wines have any aromas in common?
• What are their unique aromas?
• The aromas most commonly associated with Beaujolais are red berries such as strawberry, tree fruit such as cherry and even a pleasant earthy smell.
• Aromas frequently found in Cabernet Sauvignon include black currant, black cherry,mint, tobacco and bell pepper.
Body is the sensation within the mouth of weight and thickness. The components in wine thatcontribute to body include alcohol, extract, sugar and tannin.
TASTING FOR BODY
Beaujolais
1. Take a sip and feel its weight and thickness as you swish it around your mouth, but don’tswallow or spit.
2. Would you describe the wine’s body as light? Medium? Full?
3. Swallow your sip and pay attention to the sensations in the back of your throat. Do youfeel any “heat” from alcohol?
4. Note the Beaujolais’s body on your checklist.
Cabernet Sauvignon
1. Swirl the Cabernet. What do its legs indicate about body and alcohol level?
2. Sip and swish the wine, feeling its weight and thickness as you do; don’t swallow or spit.
3. Is it light-bodied? Medium? Full-bodied?
4. Swallow your sip: Is there any “heat” from alcohol?
5. Note your tasting checklist.
COMPARISON
• Which wine is more full-bodied?
• Which kind of body, light or full, do you find more appealing?
The flavors of a wine should echo its aromas, and may also elaborate on them. When you identifya flavor in this process, underline rather than circle it on your tasting checklist.
TASTING FOR FLAVOR
Beaujolais
1. Sip the Beaujolais.
2. Do the flavors you detect match the aromas you sensed when you sniffed the wine?
3. Spit the wine and underline the flavors on the tasting checklist.
4. Repeat as necessary.
5. Do you detect flavors that you didn’t find as aromas?
6. How intense are the flavors? Note your checklist.
Cabernet Sauvignon
1. Sip the Cabernet.
2. Spit and underline the flavors on the tasting checklist.
3. Repeat as necessary.
4. Do the flavors match the aromas?
5. Do you detect flavors that you didn’t find as aromas?
6. How intense are the flavors? Note your checklist.
COMPARISON
• Look at your checklist. Do the two wines have any flavors in common?
• What are their unique flavors?
• Do you prefer one wine’s flavors to the other’s?
SUMMARIZE involves examining a wine’s Finish, Balance and Complexity, and coming to a finalevaluation of quality and appeal.
• Finish refers to the length of time a wine’s flavors linger in the mouth after swallowingor spitting and, like aftertaste, is an important indicator of quality.
• In general, the longer the finish, the better the wine.
EVALUATING FINISH
Beaujolais
1. Sip and swallow the wine, paying attention to the length of time the flavors linger. • Is it a “short” finish? Do the flavors disappear abruptly, within about 10 seconds?
• Is it a “long” finish? Do the flavors linger for 45 seconds or more?
Circle your impressions of aftertaste and finish on your tasting checklist.
Cabernet Sauvignon
1. Sip and swallow the wine, paying attention to the length of time the flavors linger. • Is it a “short” finish? Do the flavors disappear abruptly, within about 10 seconds?
• Is it a “long” finish? Do the flavors linger for 45 seconds or more?
Circle your impressions on your tasting checklist.
COMPARISON
• Which wine has the longer finish?
• Do you prefer one wine to the other?
Please note that while a “short” wine would be considered inferior in quality to a “long” wine, ashort wine may nonetheless be very enjoyable to drink.
BALANCESimilar to a long finish, balance is a sign of quality. A wine is balanced when acidity, tannin, alcohol and sweetness are in harmony; none of the components overpower the others.
Hard Components
Tannin and acidity are “hard” components. They make the wine firmer and provide structureto wine, much like the steel girders in a building or the skeleton in a human body.
Soft Components
Alcohol and sweetness are the “soft” components. They make the wine softer, rounder, and prettier, much like flesh on a human body.
WINES OUT OF BALANCEWhen wines are out of balance, their faults are readily apparent:
1. Overly tannic reds feel rough and astringent and taste bitter.
2. Overly acidic wines feel sharp and taste very tart.
3. Overly alcoholic wines feel “hot” in the mouth and can leave a burning sensation in theback of the throat.
EXAMINING BALANCE
Beaujolais
1. Sip, swish and swallow your Beaujolais.
2. Judging by mouthfeel, ask yourself if any element seems to be too prominent:
3. Does the wine feel rough or excessively drying from too much tannin? • Puckery from too much acidity?
• Burning from too much alcohol?
• If your answer to all the above is no, the wine is balanced.
4. Record your impression of its balance on the tasting checklist.
2. Is the wine: • Rough or excessively drying from too much tannin?
• Puckery from too much acidity?
• Burning from too much alcohol?
3. Record your impression on the tasting checklist.
COMPARISONOn the whole, Beaujolais tends to be less tannic and more acidic than Cabernet. Do you find thisto be so?
Some people prefer smoother wines, while others like a bit of tannin. What’s your preference? Doyou like the Beaujolais or the Cabernet more?
Your preference may be influenced by a food match: The Cabernet, with its fuller body, will tastebetter with heavier foods such as beef. The lighter, more delicate Beaujolais will be overwhelmedby heavy foods, but will pair beautifully with chicken, veal or salmon.
A wine is considered complex if each time you take a sip, you discover another layer or nuance of flavor.
By definition, all “great” wines are highly complex. In contrast, a wine with few aromas and flavorsis called “simple.”
Wine needn’t be complex to be enjoyable - many simple wines are quite pleasurable to drink. Acomplex wine, however, will always be considered higher in quality.
EXAMINING COMPLEXITY
Beaujolais
1. Take a last sip of the Beaujolais, swish and swallow.
2. Do you notice more and more layers of aroma and flavor, or is the wine simple?
3. Circle the Beaujolais’s complexity on your tasting checklist.
Cabernet Sauvignon
1. One last time, sip, swish and swallow the Cabernet.
2. Is it complex or simple?
3. Note your tasting checklist.
COMPARISON
• Which of the two wines seems more complex to you?
1. Make sure you have the Tasting Checklist. If you don’t have the checklist, please use thenavigation bar at the top of this page to go to the class Introduction, where the downloadlink is located.
2. Fill in the top portion of the Tasting Checklist. This information helps you remember thewines and also provides clues to how the wine will taste:
• Producer: the name of the winery or chateau
• Growing Area: the region where the grapes were grown; probably Washington andOregon for these two wines
• Vintage: the year the grapes were harvested
• Alcohol: the alcohol content is given as a percentage
• Price: the cost of the bottle or glass in a store or restaurant
3. Pull the corks from your two bottles, a Pinot Noir from Oregon or California and a Merlotfrom Washington or California. Pour each wine into a separate glass, filling each glassabout 1/3 full.
4. To remember which glass is which, you might want to place the two glasses side-by-side,keeping the Pinot Noir on the left and the Merlot on the right. In each section of the tasting,we’ll evaluate the Pinot Noir first and the Merlot second.
In this third tasting, you will continue to develop and refine your tasting abilities using the 4Sapproach. The contrast between these two wines is not as great as between the Beaujolais and theCabernet Sauvignon of the previous tasting, so be prepared to look for more subtle differences.
Fill in all the sections of your Tasting Checklist, even if the section isn’t covered in the tasting—since you are now familiar with the 4S approach, you can complete the tasting with fewerprompts. The remaining prompts will help you focus on the distinctions between the Pinot Noirand the Merlot.
• What would you say is the clarity of each wine—brilliant; clear; any sediment in either?
• On your tasting checklist, circle the clarity that most closely matches your wines.
COLOR
• The color of Pinot Noir is typically ruby red to garnet; Merlot is usually ruby in color.
• Examine the color of your wines and note your checklist.
INTENSITY
• If a wine has a lot of color, we describe it’s intensity as “dark.” If it does not have much color,we call it “pale”; if the wine is somewhere in between, we say its intensity is “medium”.
• Keep in mind that intensity of color is related to extract (grape solids): The darker thewine, the more extract in it.
Examining Intensity
Pinot Noir
1. Holding your glass at a 45° angle, examine its intensity. Is the Pinot pale, medium or dark?
2. Circle the best descriptor on your Tasting Checklist.
Merlot
1. Holding your glass at a 45° angle, examine its intensity. Is the Merlot pale, medium or dark?
2. Circle the best descriptor on your Tasting Checklist.
Comparison
• Which of the two wines has the more intense color?
• Red wines get their color from the grape skins, and because Pinot Noir grapes are lighterin color than Merlot, the Merlot should be darker than the Pinot Noir.
• Do you find this to be so?
LEGS
1. Swirl each wine, examine its legs and mark your checklist. • There is a “normal” or “middle” range that the legs of most wines fall within - as your
experience increases, you’ll find that you only need to take note of the legs when theyare either exceptionally pronounced or unusually faint.
1. Swirl your Pinot Noir, this time to release its aromas, and sniff.
2. Note on your checklist whether the aromas are faint, medium or powerful.
3. Repeat with the Merlot.
Identifying Aromas
Pinot Noir
1. Swirl, sniff and begin identifying the Pinor Noir’s aromas.
2. Look for strawberry, raspberry, red cherry, earth and mushroom—the aromas most commonly associated with Pinot Noir (but use your tasting checklist as a guide to manymore possible aromas).
3. When you identify an aroma, circle it on the checklist.
4. If you can’t specifically name an aroma, it’s fine to identify it by its general family (i.e., “Tree fruit” rather than “cherry”).
5. Limit yourself to three or four sniffs.
Merlot
1. Swirl, sniff and begin identifying the Merlot’s aromas.
2. Merlot has a set of aromas including blackberry, cherry, plum, olive/sage, earth/mush-room, chocolate, which are characteristic of this variety. Again, refer to your checklist formore possible aromas.
3. Limit yourself to three or four sniffs.
Comparison
• In general, the predominant aromas of Pinot Noir are of red berries, such as strawberryand raspberry, whereas the aromas of Merlot lean more towards darker berries, suchas blackberry, and fleshier tree fruits, such as black cherry and plum.
• Do you find this to be true of your wines? Look at your tasting checklist and take a lastsniff of each if you’d like.
• Both Pinot Noir and Merlot have earth as a characteristic aroma. Can you detect a hint of it in one or both of your wines?
1. Taste is comprised of sweet, sour and bitter (and their related mouthfeels)—we generallyperceive them in this same order when we taste wine.
2. Since both of these wines are “dry”—that is, fermented until all sugar has been convertedto alcohol—you will be tasting them for acidity and tannin.
3. Pinot Noir’s acidity can range from medium to high; its tannins are usually light, and sometimes “silky.”
4. Merlot’s acidity ranges from low to medium, and its tannins are smooth, sometimes “velvety.”
Tasting For Acidity And Tannin
Pinot Noir
1. Sip, swish and spit the Pinot Noir.
2. Check your mouth for the sensations of acidity. Do you detect any:
• Mouthwatering or clean, refreshing sensations (medium acidity)?
• Puckering or sharp sensations (high acidity)?
3. Take a note your tasting checklist. (Remember that Pinot Noir can have medium to high acidity.)
4. Sip, swish and spit again and check for the sensations of tannin. Do you detect any:
• Dryness along the sides and back of the tongue?
• Astringency?
• “Furry” sensations?
5. Now evaluate the Pinot’s tannins. Are they:
• High, leaving a strong astringent, furry sensation in your mouth?
• Light, leaving little impression in your mouth so the wine feels very smooth and silky?
2. Check your mouth for the sensations of acidity. Do you detect any:
• Mouthwatering or clean, refreshing sensations?
• Puckering or sharp sensations?
3. Note your tasting checklist. (Remember that Merlot’s acidity ranges from low to medium.At the low end, the acidity may not be very noticeable, especially if the level of tannin ishigh.)
4. Sip, swish and spit the Merlot again and check for the sensations of tannin. Do youdetect any dry, astringent or “furry” sensations in your mouth?
5. Evaluate the Merlot’s tannins. Are they rough, smooth or light?
6. Mark your checklist.
Comparison
• Which of the two wines has the more prominent tannins?
• Merlot’s tannins are often described as “velvety” because, like velvet, they have a cer-tain weight and texture to them.
• Pinot Noir’s tannins have an almost weightless, gossamer quality to them, and for thisreason are often described as “silky”.
• How do the two wines compare in terms of acidity?
• Despite its lighter tannins, the Pinot Noir may seem firmer than the Merlot because ofits higher acidity.
BODY
• A wine’s body is directly related to extract, including sugar, acid and tannin.
• The more extracted and darker the wine, the more full-bodied you would expect it tobe; similarly, the higher the alcohol content, the more full-bodied the wine will be.
• Because both wines are dry, sugar won’t be a factor in your assessment of body;instead, pay attention to how each wine’s alcohol and tannins contribute to its body.
1. Sip and swish your Pinot Noir, but don’t swallow or spit.
2. With the wine in your mouth, assess its weight and thickness.
3. Swallow the sip and check the back of your throat for “heat” from alcohol.
4. Note your tasting checklist.
Merlot
1. Now, sip and swish your Merlot-don’t swallow or spit-and feel its weight and thickness.
2. Swallow and check for any “heat” from alcohol.
3. Mark your checklist.
Comparison
• Which wine is more full-bodied? (Pinot Noir tends to be lighter-bodied than Merlot.)
• Is either wine “hot” from too much alcohol? Excess heat in a wine is considered a fault.(New World wines often have higher levels of alcohol than their Old World counter-parts. If well made, however, their alcohol levels should still be in balance.)
• Do your evaluations of body agree with your observations about color intensity—inother words, is the more intensely colored wine also the more full-bodied?
FLAVOR
• The flavors in your mouth should echo - and may also elaborate on - the aromas youdetected when you sniffed the wine.
Tasting For Flavor
Pinot Noir
1. Sip, swish and aerate your Pinot Noir.
2. Spit the wine and record the flavors you detect on your tasting checklist. Repeat as necessary.
3. Do the flavors match the aromas?
4. How intense are the flavors? Mark your checklist.
2. Spit and record the flavors on your tasting checklist, repeating this step as necessary.
3. Do the flavors match the aromas?
4. How intense are the flavors? Mark your checklist.
COMPARISON
• Do the two wines have any flavors in common?
• Did you find, as we suggested earlier, that the Pinot Noir’s flavors tend to be brighter and more berry-like, while the Merlot’s are darker and more full, and more like tree fruit—black cherry and plum—than berries?
• Finally, did you detect that hint of earth in either or both wines?
FINISHFinish refers to the length of time the flavors linger in the mouth after swallowing or spitting. Thelonger the finish, the better the wine.
1. Swirl, sniff and swallow the Pinot Noir, paying attention to how long the flavors linger inyour mouth.
2. Note your tasting checklist and repeat the process with your Merlot.
BALANCEA red wine that is in balance feels smooth and pleasing to the palate - not too “hard” from tanninand acidity, not too “soft” from sweetness and not too “hot” from alcohol.
1. Sip, swish and swallow your Pinot Noir, checking for excessive roughness, puckering orburning from too much tannin, acidity or alcohol.
2. Note the Pinot’s balance on your checklist and repeat the process with your Merlot.
COMPLEXITYA wine is complex if it has many layers or nuances of flavor. The more complex a wine, the higherits quality. By contrast, a wine with few aromas and flavors is called “simple.”
Pinot Noir, in spite of its lighter body, can be more complex than Merlot, and is among the world’smost complex varieties. That said, the quality of the grapes and the skill of the winemaker informthe wine’s complexity and quality—so either wine could be more complex.
Examining Complexity
Pinot Noir
1. Take a last sip of the Pinot Noir, swish and swallow.
2. Do you notice many layers of aroma and flavor, or is the wine simple? Note your tasting checklist.
• Which wine do you find to be more complex—the Pinot Noir or the Merlot?
Pinot Noir is a more delicately flavored variety than Merlot, and for this reason, is only rarelyblended with other varieties. Merlot is often blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and/or CabernetFranc for the purpose of increasing its complexity.
FINAL EVALUATION
• Based on aftertaste, finish, balance and complexity, which would you say is the “higher quality” wine?
• If you had to choose between the two wines, which wine would you prefer?
• How would you describe each wine to a waiter or wine merchant?
Congratulations on completing the Class 3 Tasting!
1. Make sure you have the Tasting Checklist. If you don’t have the checklist, please use thenavigation bar at the top of this page to go to the class Introduction, where the downloadlink is located.
2. Fill in the top portion of the Tasting Checklist. This information helps you remember thewines and also provides clues to how the wine will taste:
• Producer: the name of the winery or chateau
• Growing Area: the region where the grapes were grown.
• Vintage: the year the grapes were harvested
• Alcohol: the alcohol content is given as a percentage
• Price: the cost of the bottle or glass in a store or restaurant
4. Pull the corks from your two bottles of wine. Pour each wine into a separate glass, fillingeach glass about 1/3 full.
5. To remember which glass is which, you might want to place the two glasses side-by-side,keeping the Viognier on the left and the Gewürztraminer on the right. In each section ofthe tasting, we’ll evaluate the Viognier first and the Gewürztraminer second.
Fill in all the sections of your Tasting Checklist, even if the section isn’t covered in the tasting—since you are now familiar with the 4S approach, you can complete the tasting with fewerprompts. The remaining prompts will help you focus on the distinctions between the Viognier andthe Gewürztraminer.
In this fifth tasting, you will continue to develop and refine your tasting abilities using the 4Sapproach. The contrast between these two wines is not enormous, so be prepared to look formore subtle differences.
Although Viognier and Gewürztraminer are different varietals, each with its own characteristic aromas and flavors, there are numerous similarities between the two wines:
• Both are relatively full-bodied, mouth-filling wines.
• Both are soft, with lower levels of acidity and higher levels of alcohol.
• The most obvious similarity is that they are both intensely aromatic—their aromasseem to pour out of the glass. Some restaurant wine lists have a heading for “aromatic whites,” where they list fragrant white varietals such as Viognier,Gewürztraminer, Riesling and Muscat.
• In young wines, we check clarity mainly for the warning signs of a spoiled wine-pronounced cloudiness, haziness. Most young wines are “clear.” Unless a wine is cloudy or exceptionally bright, mark it as “clear” on your tasting checklist.
• If a wine appears “brilliant” or crystal clear, it may have been filtered before bottling.High volume, mass-produced wines are commonly passed through a filter prior to bot-tling to remove any remaining grape solids or yeast particles large enough to reducetheir clarity.
• Some winemakers believe that filtration reduces a wine’s flavors, and for this reason,do not filter their wines - check the label for the word “unfiltered” - or else use a verycoarse filter to remove only the largest particles.
COLOR
• The color of Viognier typically ranges from straw to gold; Gewürztraminer is usuallygold or golden yellow.
• Examine the color of these wines and mark your checklist.
INTENSITY
• Viognier’s intensity is normally medium; Gewürztraminer is often darker than many other whites.
• Examine the intensity of your wines and mark your checklist.
LEGS
• Swirl each wine, examine its legs and mark your checklist.
In all the previous tastings, judging the intensity of the wine’s aromas and identifying them havebeen done as separate steps. Beginning with this tasting, and continuing to the end of thiscourse, you will combine these two steps into a single process.
With your first sniff of the wine, evaluate its intensity, then see how many aromas you can identify.In your second and third sniffs, complete the identification process.
Viognier
1. Swirl and sniff your Viognier. • How intense are the aromas?
• Do you detect the floral, peach, pear and spice aromas commonly associated with Viognier?
2. Note the aromas and their intensity on your checklist.
Gewürztraminer
1. Now swirl and sniff your Gewürztraminer. • How intense are its aromas?
• Do you find any citrus, litchi (the sliced white fruit traditionally served after Chinesefood), apricot, spice or honey aromas?
2. Note aromas and intensity on your checklist.
COMPARISON
• Both Viognier and Gewürztraminer are intensely aromatic varieties.
• Do you find this to be so? (Compare them with your memory of the Pinot Grigio andChardonnay from Class One.)
1. Sip, swish and spit your Viognier. • Notice that it is dry - no perceptible sweetness - and not as refreshing or mouth
watering as the Pinot Grigio you tasted in Class One. This is because Viognier’s acidityis considerably lower than Pinot Grigio’s.
2. Note its acidity on your checklist.
3. Now sip, swish and spit your Gewürztraminer. • Notice that like the Viognier, the Gewürztraminer is also softer and less acidic
than Pinot Grigio.
4. Circle the Gewürztraminer’s acidity on your checklist.
• Gewürztraminer, like Viognier, is usually fermented dry.
• California vintners sometimes make Gewürztraminer in an off-dry style. This slight hintof sweetness contributes to the wine’s softness and helps fills out its body.
BODY
1. Sip, swish and swallow the Viognier and evaluate its body.
2. Note your tasting checklist. • Usually, Viognier is medium- to full-bodied.
3. Now sip, swish and swallow your Gewürztraminer, noting its body.
4. Mark your checklist. • Usually medium- to full-bodied, Gewürztraminer frequently has a “plump” sensation in
mouth, and sometimes even a slightly oily mouthfeel.
FLAVOR
1. Sip, swish and spit the Viognier and identify its flavors; mark your checklist.
2. Repeat the process with the Gewürztraminer. • As with every other wine you have tasted so far, the flavors of these two varietals
should echo their aromas.
• Is your attention particularly called to the spicy qualities of these two varietals?
1. Make sure you have the Tasting Checklist. If you don’t have the checklist, please use thenavigation bar at the top of this page to go to the class Introduction, where the downloadlink is located.
2. Fill in the top portion of the Tasting Checklist. This information helps you remember thewines and also provides clues to how the wine will taste:
• Producer: the name of the winery or chateau
• Growing Area: the region where the grapes were grown
• Vintage: the year the grapes were harvested
• Alcohol: the alcohol content is given as a percentage
• Price: the cost of the bottle or glass in a store or restaurant
3. Pull the corks from your two bottles of wine. Pour each wine into a separate glass, fillingeach glass about 1/3 full.
4. To remember which glass is which, you might want to place the two glasses side-by-side,keeping the Bordeaux on the left and the Côtes du Rhône on the right. In each section ofthe tasting, we’ll evaluate the Bordeaux first and the Côtes du Rhône second.
In this fifth tasting, you will continue to develop and refine your tasting abilities using the 4Sapproach. The contrast between these two wines is not as great as previous tastings, so be prepared to look for more subtle differences.
Fill in all the sections of your Tasting Checklist, even if the section isn’t covered in the tasting—since you are now familiar with the 4S approach, you can complete the tasting with fewerprompts. The remaining prompts will help you focus on the distinctions between the two wines.
Up to this point, the wines we have tasted have all been varietal wines, wines made predominantly from a single grape variety.
In this tasting, the wines are blends of a number of different varieties, and it is theblend that gives the wine its flavors.
• Bordeaux may contain Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot andsometimes Malbec.
• Côtes-du-Rhône is a Grenache-based blend that may include Syrah and up to 11 other varieties.
These two wines share a number of similarities: • Both are made from grapes grown within very large geographic areas, and the grapes
can come from anywhere within their respective regions’ legal boundaries. As a result,the wines reflect a broad, “regional” character more than a specific, “local” characterthat might be imparted from the soils and climate of a single village or château.
• Both are intended to be affordable, “everyday” wines, designed to be drinkable in theiryouth and meant to be consumed within a few years of release.
• Although they are far from identical, the Bordeaux and Côtes du Rhône are more alikethan many of the pairs tasted recently. In contrast, recall how distinct the dark, tannicCabernet Sauvignon of Class Two was from the light, fruity Gamay. Because of this,attention to nuance is necessary to discern the finer shades of difference when tastingthese two wines.
Finally, to the degree that these wines are different, the differences are primarily in the grapes themselves:
• The Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot blend of Bordeaux yields tannic wines with dark fruit flavors.
• The Grenache-based blend of the Côtes du Rhône yields a less tannic wine withbrighter, more tart fruit flavors.
• Examine the wines for clarity and mark your tasting checklist.
COLOR
• Examine their color and note your checklist.
• Both wines are typically purple to ruby red in color.
INTENSITY
• Examine the intensity of the wines and mark your checklist.
• Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are relatively dark grapes, and as a result, aBordeaux’s intensity is usually medium to dark; Grenache is not as dark as Cabernetand Merlot, so the intensity of a Côtes du Rhône is usually medium.
LEGS
• Swirl each wine, examine its legs and mark your checklist.
1. Sip and swish your Bordeaux and try to assess both taste and body in a single step.
2. Swallow or spit, and mark your checklist.
3. Repeat with the Côtes du Rhône .
4. How do you find the wines? • Generic Bordeaux, reflecting the properties of its dominant component varieties
(Cabernet and Merlot), is commonly tannic and possibly quite rough, and medium to full in body.
• The Côtes du Rhône , similarly reflecting the qualities of its dominant Grenache-Syrahblend, is more acidic and less tannic than the Bordeaux, but is normally similar in body.
FLAVOR
1. Sip, swish and swallow or spit the Bordeaux and identify its flavors; mark your checklist.
• Because both of these are everyday, value wines, you should not expect them to behighly complex or to have a long finish.
• In this concluding process, evaluate aftertaste, finish and complexity if you wish, butpay particular attention to the wine’s balance. Specifically, ask yourself whether the tan-nins and acidity overwhelm the fruit or achieve an acceptable balance with it.
• Finally, ask yourself if the wines are enjoyable.
FINISH
• Which wine has the longer finish?
BALANCE
1. Sip, swish and swallow the Bordeaux. • Does the fruit stand up to the tannins, or is the fruit overpowered by rough and
drying sensations?
• Do you find this to be an enjoyable wine to drink? Would you buy a second bottle?
2. Now sip, swish and swallow your Côtes du Rhône. • Does the fruit stand up to the tannins?
• Would you buy a second bottle?
COMPLEXITY
• Which wine seems more complex?
FINAL EVALUATION
• Review your tasting checklist and compare your notes for the two wines.
• Do you prefer one wine over the other?
• If so, why?
Congratulations on completing the Class 5 Tasting!
1. Make sure you have the Tasting Checklist. If you don’t have the checklist, please use thenavigation bar at the top of this page to go to the class Introduction, where the downloadlink is located.
2. Fill in the top portion of the Tasting Checklist.
3. Pull the corks from your two bottles of wine. Pour each wine into a separate glass, fillingeach glass about 1/3 full.
4. To remember which glass is which, you might want to place the two glasses side-by-side,keeping the Rioja on the left and the Chianti on the right. In each section of the tasting,we’ll evaluate the Rioja first and the Chianti second.
In this sixth tasting, you will continue to develop and refine your tasting abilities using the 4S approach. The contrast between the two wines is subtle, so be prepared to look for slight differences.
Fill in all the sections of your Tasting Checklist, even if the section isn’t covered in the tasting—since you are now familiar with the 4S approach, you can complete the tasting with fewerprompts. The remaining prompts will help you focus on the distinctions between the RiojaReserva and the Chianti Classico.
As in the previous tasting which focused on Bordeaux and the Côtes-du-Rhône, the wines of thistasting are blends of two or more grape varieties. The wines are greater than the sum of theirparts since each variety contributes flavor and character to the blend to create a more complexwine than any of the varieties could produce on their own.
The first wine is named after its growing region in northwestern Spain, Rioja. Rioja is predomi-nantly made from the Tempranillo grape, which can produce dark wines that are relatively low inacidity and capable of long-aging. Tempranillo is less intensely aromatic than some other vari-eties, however, so Grenache - called Garnacha in Spain - and a few other red grape varietiesmay be blended in to increase aromas and body.
The second wine is from central Italy and is also named after its growing region, Chianti Classico.The predominant grape in Chianti Classico is Sangiovese, which produces aromatic, fruity, acidicwines with firm tannins. The Chianti blend may include a number of other varieties, whose pur-pose is to soften Sangiovese’s harder qualities.
Winemaking techniques such as aging the wines in oak for a period of time before they are bot-tled sometimes also contributes to the complexity of these wines.
• Rioja is traditionally aged in oak barrels, and winemaking laws in Spain dictate that aReserva spend at least a year aging in wood and two more in bottle before beingreleased for sale. This aging makes the tannins smoother and silkier, lightens the colorand adds vanilla aromas and flavors to the wine.
• Chianti Classico may be aged in wood—sometimes to help soften a too-firm vintage—but barrel aging is not a predominant feature of this wine. In favorable yearswhen the grapes have ripened fully, the bright fruit flavors match the firmness of the acidity and tannins.
• Examine the wines for clarity and note your tasting checklist.
COLOR
• Rioja is typically ruby red to garnet/brick; Chianti is normally ruby red.• Examine the wines for color and note your checklist.
INTENSITY
• Examine the intensity of the wines and mark your checklist. • Both the Rioja Reserva’s and the Chianti Classico’s intensity are normally medium.• If your Rioja is older than your Chianti, it may be paler.
LEGS
• Swirl each wine, examine its legs and mark your checklist.
1. Sip and swish your Rioja Reserva, assessing both taste and body in a single step.
2. Swallow or spit, and mark your checklist.
3. Repeat with the Chianti Classico.
4. How do the wines compare? • The Rioja Reserva is frequently lower in acidity than the Chianti, with smoother tannins,
a medium body and a mouthfeel that may be “gentler” than the Chianti’s. • The Chianti Classico probably has more acidity and rougher tannins than the Rioja, but
may be similar in body or weight. Its mouthfeel may be more “lively” than the Rioja’s.
FLAVOR
1. Sip, swish and spit the Rioja Reserva and identify its flavors; note your checklist.
The Bordeaux and Côtes-du-Rhône you tasted in the last class were intended to be everydaywines—affordable and enjoyable, but otherwise at the most basic level of quality. The wines ofthis tasting are in a different class, one we’ll call “weekend” wines. A weekend wine is generallyhigher in quality than an everyday wine and offers more complexity, better balance and moreenjoyment than its (usually) less-expensive counterpart.
Both your Rioja Reserva and Chianti Classico should have qualities that distinguish them fromeveryday wines grown in their respective regions. For the Rioja, Reservas receive extended agingin oak and bottle, producing a wine with more harmonious flavors and refined mouthfeel. For theChianti, it is the very favorable soil and climatic conditions of the Classico region of Chianti thatproduce a bigger, weightier, more concentrated wine.
In this concluding process, compare your observations with your notes from the Class Five,and determine whether and to what extent these two wines deserve “weekend” rather than“everyday” status.
FINISH
1. Swirl, sniff and swallow the Rioja Reserva, noting how long the flavors linger.
2. Repeat with the Chianti Classico and compare the two wines.
3. How does the finish compare to that of the wines of the previous tasting?
BALANCE
1. Sip, swish and swallow the Rioja Reserva. • Is your immediate impression one of balance (even if the fruit is subdued)?
2. Sip, swish and swallow the Chianti Classico. • Do the tannins, acidity and fruit balance well in this wine?
3. How do these two wines compare to each other? To the wines of the previous tasting?
COMPLEXITY
1. Take a last sip of the Rioja Reserva: How complex is it?
2. Now the Chianti Classico.
3. Compare the wines to each other and to the Bordeaux and Côtes-du-Rhône.
TASTING: Old World vs. New World: Sancerre (Loire) and Sauvignon Blanc (CA)
Before you start the tasting:
1. Make sure you have the Tasting Checklist. If you don’t have the checklist, please use thenavigation bar at the top of this page to go to the class Introduction, where the downloadlink is located.
2. Fill in the top portion of the Tasting Checklist.
3. Pull the corks from your two bottles of wine. Pour each wine into a separate glass, fillingeach glass about 1/3 full.
4. To remember which glass is which, you might want to place the two glasses side-by-side, keeping the Sancerre on the left and the Sauvignon Blanc from Californiaon the right. In each section of the tasting, we’ll evaluate the Sancerre first and theSauvignon Blanc second.
5. Fill in all the sections of your Tasting Checklist as you work through the tasting.
In this tasting, you will compare two wines made from Sauvignon Blanc, but one wine is from theOld World and the other is from the New World. The Old World wine is from Sancerre, in France’sLoire Valley. The New World wine is from California. Throughout the tasting, we’ll refer to theFrench wine as Sancerre and to the American wine as Sauvignon Blanc.
Because they are made from the same grape variety, you can expect the wines to be similar—both will probably have the grassy, herbal aromas and refreshing acidity characteristic of Sauvignon Blanc. A number of factors, however, combine to make these wines different:
WINE LAW
• In accordance with French appellation law, Sancerre must be made from 100 percentSauvignon Blanc.
• In California, Sauvignon Blanc may be blended with other varieties to round out its flavors. (California law requires that a varietally labeled wine contain at least 75 percentof the named variety, but the law doesn’t specify what other varieties may or may notbe used in the blend, nor does it require them to be listed on the label.)
AGING IN STEEL OR OAK
• Traditionally, Sancerre is not aged in oak, although some vintners have been experimenting with it.
• California Sauvignon Blanc may well have seen oak during the winemaking process,especially if the label says “Fumé Blanc.”
TEMPERATUREThe Sancerre is likely to be higher in acidity and lighter in body than California Sauvignon Blanc.This stems from the fact that grapes, like all fruits, accumulate sugar and lose acidity as they ripen.
• In cooler regions, the grapes do not get as sweet by harvest as they do in warmerareas. Sancerre is colder and its growing season is shorter than most areas ofCalifornia, so grapes from Sancerre are usually lower in sugar and the wines lower inalcohol.
• What’s more, lower temperatures slow the loss of acidity that occurs as grapes ripen,so the grapes and wines from Sancerre are usually higher in acidity.
TERROIRThe vineyard’s climate and geography interact with the grape variety to convey a sense of place.
• Sancerre produces delicate, elegant, mineral-flavored wines that are often lighter andleaner than their New World counterparts.
• On the other hand, vintners in California—where the climate is generally warmer andthe soils are quite different—grow riper, sweeter, less acidic grapes, from which theyproduce more fruit-forward wines.
GRAPEGROWINGFinally, a risk shared by both the Old and New Worlds; with poor vineyard management,Sauvignon Blanc’s pleasant herbal qualities can become aggressively herbaceous.
SEE: CLARITY, COLOR, INTENSITY, LEGS
Complete the tasting checklist as you work through this section. The most important points forthese specific wines are highlighted below.
CLARITY
• Complete your tasting checklist as you work through this section. The most importantpoints for these specific wines are highlighted below.
COLOR AND INTENSITY
• Sancerre has tinges of green in its color and is typically paler than New WorldSauvignon Blanc.
• Made with riper grapes that have developed more color, California Sauvignon Blanc ismore straw or yellow in color, and usually darker than Sancerre.
LEGS
• The California Sauvignon Blanc is likely to have more persistent legs and a higher alcohol content
This tasting, unlike the previous tastings in this course, focuses on a single variety and spotlightsthe differences that climate, soil and style make in a wine.
• Old World vintners have determined the optimal combinations of vines and terroir—aprocess of trial “and” error experimentation that dates back centuries—and have madewine that uniquely expresses both.
• In the New World, the process of matching soil and grapes is still in its youth.Furthermore, terroir can be overshadowed by the bigger, fruitier, more ebullient characteristics of wines made in warmer climates such as California.
• As you proceed with the summary, keep these fundamental differences in mind.
FINISH
• Does one wine have a longer finish than the other?
BALANCE
• Do you find the Sancerre acidic?
• Does its acidity overwhelm the fruit, or is it in balance?
• Do you find the California Sauvignon Blanc balanced?
• Is there enough acidity for the fruit?
COMPLEXITY
• Does one wine reveal more layers of flavor than the other?
FINAL EVALUATION
• Which wine do you think is technically the better wine?
• Do you like each wine?
• Which one do you prefer?
Congratulations on completing the Class 7 Tasting!
1. Make sure you have the Tasting Checklist. If you don’t have the checklist, please use thenavigation bar at the top of this page to go to the class Introduction, where the downloadlink is located.
2. Fill in the top portion of the Tasting Checklist.
3. Pull the corks from your two bottles of wine. Pour each wine into a separate glass, fillingeach glass about 1/3 full.
4. To remember which glass is which, you might want to place the two glasses side-by-side, keeping the Northern Rhône on the left and the Australian Shiraz on theright. In each section of the tasting, we’ll evaluate the Northern Rhône first and theAustralian Shiraz second.
5. Fill in all the sections of your Tasting Checklist as you work through the tasting.
As in the last class, the wines of this tasting are based on a single grape—Syrah, or Shiraz as itis known in Australia.
HISTORYAn ancient variety whose origins are lost in prehistory, Syrah has been cultivated along the RhôneRiver since Roman times—there are producers whose winemaking roots date back to the MiddleAges still growing and vinifying Syrah along the Rhône today.
In Australia, where it was introduced in the 19th century, Shiraz flourished and quickly became themost widely planted grape variety.
NOBLE VARIETYSyrah is considered, along with Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir, to be one of the “noble”black grape varieties, and if nobility is conferred by the ability to produce deep, serious red winescapable of aging for decades, Syrah is indeed worthy of the title. But neither the refinement orelegance for which Cabernet is known, nor the delicacy for which Pinot Noir is famous, is to befound in Syrah - instead, the grape is known for the powerful, distinctly spicy, meaty, wines produced from it.
OLD WORLD / NEW WORLDAs with the Sancerre and California Sauvignon Blanc, the differences between a Northern RhôneSyrah and an Australian Shiraz have everything to do with Old World/New World terroir and winemaking. The Northern Rhône vineyards, influenced by France’s continental climate (cold winters, hot summers), produce grapes that are higher in acidity and have firmer tannins thantheir counterparts in the Southern Hemisphere.
Australia, with its much warmer, less extreme maritime climate, produces Shiraz grapes that arefruitier, sweeter, less acidic, and have smoother tannins than their French cousins.
THE WINESAs you taste these two wines, you can expect to find the Australian Shiraz riper, more plush and fullerin body than the French Syrah - in other words, a prototypical, fruit-centered New World wine.
In the Old World, the focus is terroir and transmitting a sense of place. Since a heavy extractionof fruit tends to obscure or overwhelm the sometime subtle sense of place, expect an Old Worldwine to be somewhat leaner and less ebulliently fruity than its New World counterpart.
Finally, in both wines, look for the characteristic aromas and flavors of Syrah: raspberry, blackberry, black pepper, violet, olive and bacon.
• This tasting takes a single grape variety and compares Old and New World versions,highlighting the differences that climate and soil, as well as the winemaker’s intentions,make in wine.
• As you finish the tasting, keep asking yourself if you can relate the differences you perceive in the wines to their Old World/New World origins.
FINISH
• Does one wine have a longer finish than the other or are they about the same?
BALANCE
1. Do you find the Northern Rhône firmer than the Shiraz, with more evident tannin and acidity?
2. Is the Shiraz softer, with more evident alcohol than the Northern Rhône?
COMPLEXITY
• Is one wine more complex than the other or are they about the same?
FINAL EVALUATION
• Which, do you think, is the higher quality wine?
• Which wine, if any, would you prefer to drink again?
Congratulations on completing the Class 8 Tasting!
1. Make sure you have the Tasting Checklist. If you don’t have the checklist, please use thenavigation bar at the top of this page to go to the class Introduction, where the downloadlink is located.
2. Fill in the top portion of the Tasting Checklist.
3. Pull the corks from your two bottles of wine. Pour each wine into a separate glass, fillingeach glass about 1/3 full.
4. To remember which glass is which, you might want to place the two glasses side-by-side,keeping the unoaked Chardonnay on the left and the oaked Chardonnay on the right. In each section of the tasting, we’ll evaluate the unoaked wine first and the oaked wine second.
5. Fill in all the sections of your Tasting Checklist as you work through the tasting.
This tasting compares two Chardonnays: One with minimal or no influence from oak (“unoaked”),and a second with considerable oak influence (“oaked”).
SAME GRAPE VARIETYBecause both wines are made with the same grape variety, they share the basic range ofChardonnay aromas and flavors—citrus, tree fruit, tropical, mineral—but in almost every otherrespect, these are very different wines.
DIFFERENT STYLESThe winemaker’s intent for each wine is different:
The unoaked Chardonnay is intended to feature the aromas and flavors of the grape and nothingelse. This style can be described as a “pure expression of the variety.”
The oaked Chardonnay is meant to be a highly complex wine featuring aromas and flavors fromboth the grape and the winemaking process—a style we’ll call “winemaker influenced.”
OLD WORLD MODELSIf we relate these two wines to their Old World models, we find that the unoaked Chardonnay ismade in the style of a Chablis; the oaked Chardonnay, in the style of a white Burgundy from theCôte d’Or.
WINEMAKING DECISIONSOnce the winemaker has decided upon style, all decisions about which grapes to use and how tovinify them follow one of two paths.
For an unoaked, “pure expression” Chardonnay: • The winemaker may select grapes from a vineyard (or vineyards) in a cooler areas,
knowing that these grapes will have more delicate flavors and a leaner structure thanwarm-weather grapes.
• Because the delicate flavors may be overwhelmed by oak flavors from barrel fermentation, fermentation takes place in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks topreserve the grapes’ flavor and freshness.
• Once fermented, the wine is fined, filtered, bottled and shipped to market. (For this reason, the currently available vintage of unoaked Chardonnay is generally slightlyyounger than barrel-aged Chardonnay.)
For an oaked, “winemaker influenced” Chardonnay: • The winemaker, needing bigger, riper flavors that can blend well with oak, may
choose grapes grown under warmer conditions, fermenting them in oak barrels at cellar temperature.
• Unlike stainless steel, which is neutral and imparts no flavors of its own to the wine, theoak barrels profoundly affect the wine, giving it a rich, creamy mouthfeel (especiallywith sur lie aging) and adding flavors such as vanilla, spice (clove, nutmeg), nut (hazel-nut), toast, coffee, smoke and wood.
• After fermentation, the wine is left to age in the barrels for several months or morebefore being fined, filtered and bottled, and may be given additional aging in the bottlebefore being released.
COMPARE AND CONTRASTComparing the wines that result from these two approaches:
The unoaked Chardonnay will have a paler color, perhaps tinged with green. A leaner body with a balance that leans toward acidity. An elegant, lively finish. And fresh fruit aromas and flavors.
The oaked Chardonnay will have a darker color - from the barrel’s charred insides and from exposure to air while in the barrel - a thicker, fuller body, perhaps more alcohol. A finish that isricher and more powerful than it is elegant. And a range of aromas and flavors from the barrel fermentation/aging process not found in the unoaked version.
QUALITY VS. STYLEFinally, neither style is inherently better than the other—they are simply different. To make asuccessful wine in either style requires high-quality grapes, good judgement and deft winemaking skills:
The challenge of the unoaked style is to capture all the fruit flavors and to retain them throughoutthe winemaking process; the inherent danger the winemaker faces is that the transparency of thisstyle all-too-readily reveals his or her mistakes.
The challenge of the oaked style is to balance the fruit with the oak so that the oak acts as aframe to the fruit, complementing and enhancing it; the inherent risk is that the frame will command more attention than the picture.
• Is the unoaked wine paler, less intense than the oaked wine? Any tinges of green? Isthe oaked wine darker, more intense?
• The color of both wines typically ranges from straw to gold. Unoaked Chardonnay is usually medium in intensity; oaked, medium to dark.
LEGS
• Does one wine have more prominent legs, or are they about the same?
SNIFF: AROMA INTENSITY, IDENTIFICATION
INTENSITY AND IDENTIFICATION
1. Swirl and sniff your unoaked Chardonnay. Do you find any apple, pineapple, lemon andmineral aromas?
2. Swirl, sniff the oaked Chard: Do you find the same apple, pineapple, lemon and mineralaromas? Do you also find any vanilla, spice, nut, toast, coffee, smoke or wood aromas?
3. How do these wines compare in intensity of aromas?
SIP: TASTE, BODY, FLAVOR
TASTE AND BODY
1. Sip, swish and spit each wine.
2. Is the unoaked Chardonnay firmer, more acidic than the oaked? Livelier on the palate?
3. Does the oaked Chardonnay have a softer, fuller body than the unoaked? More alcohol?Any creamy sensations in the mouth?
FLAVOR
• Do the flavors of each wine echo their respective aromas?
SUMMARIZE: FINISH, BALANCE, COMPLEXITY, FINAL EVALUATION
This tasting compares two wines made from the same variety and looks at how the winemakinginfluences the wines’ styles: The winemaker’s goal for the unoaked wine is to produce a wine thatis essentially pure Chardonnay. For the oaked wine, it is to create a big and powerful wine, usingevery means available.
Neither approach is necessarily better: A well-made wine in either style gives enjoyment andpleasure, just as a poorly made wine in any style does not.
As you finish the tasting, keep noting the differences between these two wines. Ask yourself ifthere is one style you clearly prefer over the other, and if so, why. (For instance, you may find theoaked Chardonnay more forceful, yet find the unoaked Chardonnay more charming.)
FINISH
• Which wine has more flavors?
• Which is more elegant and lively on finish?
• Which wine’s finish is richer and more powerful?
BALANCE
• Are the elements of acidity, alcohol, sweetness or fruit harmonious and balanced in each wine?
• In the oaked wine, is the oak in balance with the fruit? Does it enhance the fruit or doesit overwhelm the fruit?
COMPLEXITY
• Which of these two wines would you say is the more complex?
FINAL EVALUATION
• Which wine do you prefer?
• Do you like the flavors added by oak?
• Which wine do you feel is higher in quality?
Congratulations on completing the Class 9 Tasting!
Make sure you have the Tasting Checklist and the Food Pairing Worksheet. If you don’t have thechecklist, please use the navigation bar at the top of this page to go to the class Introduction,where the download link is located.
THE WINE TASTINGThe time has come to evaluate wines on your own. Recall the questions posed in the previoustastings as you fill in all the sections of your Tasting Checklist.
Following the tasting order rule of thumb, lightest to heaviest, evaluate the Riesling before the Zinfandel.
THE FOOD PAIRINGWhen comparing wines, you already know that the balance of components—acidity, fruit, alcoholand tannins—plays a key role:
• Wine with higher acidity seems more tart and lean.
• Wine with lower acidity seems fruitier and thicker.
• Wine with more alcohol seems sweeter and richer.
• Wine with more tannin seems more full-bodied and leaves a dry, furry sensation in your mouth.
This food pairing experiment demonstrates how foods alter the perception of acidity and tannin in wine.
You’ll need the following wines and foods: • A dry Riesling from the Rheingau or Pfalz
• A California Zinfandel
• A few saltine crackers, representing salty foods
• A couple slices of tart Granny Smith apple, representing acidic foods and sauces,which include vinaigrette, lemon sauces and pickled vegetables
• Gouda cheese (unsmoked) representing butter or cream sauces often used in cooking
• Apricot, apple or currant jelly on a plain cracker, representing sweet fruit desserts and sauces
• A piece of dark chocolate, representing sweet desserts
1. Take a sip of the Riesling, then spit or swallow, remembering how it tastes.
2. Now take a bite of the saltine.
3. Immediately after swallowing it, take another sip of Riesling.
How does the Riesling taste now? Does the wine taste any different?
Probably not, since the saltine is fairly neutral and doesn’t have any components that interactwith white wine.
Riesling and Granny Smith Apple
1. Take a sip of the Riesling, then spit or swallow.
2. Now take a bite of the apple.
3. Immediately after swallowing, take another sip of Riesling.
How does the Riesling taste now? Does it taste tarter and thinner?• Acidity in food increases the perception of acidity in wine, making the wine seem tarter
or thinner. For this reason, highly acidic foods should not be eaten with wine.
• An alternative is to cut the acidity of the food with a little fat by adding some butter to alemon sauce or some olive oil to the vinegar in a vinaigrette.
Riesling and Gouda
1. Sip your Riesling.
2. Now take a bite of the Gouda.
3. Immediately after swallowing it, take another sip of Riesling.
How does the Riesling taste now? Does the wine taste fruitier and thicker?• Cream and butter decrease the perception of acidity, making the wine seem
fruitier and thicker.
• The effect works with other food and drink as well. The apple will seem less tart andacidic when you eat it along with the cheese.
3. Immediately after swallowing it, take another sip of Riesling.
How does the Riesling taste now? Does the wine taste more acidic, even slightly sour? Whenpairing wines with desserts, remember to choose a wine that is as sweet as, or slightlysweeter than, the dessert.
ZINFANDEL
Zinfandel and Saltine
1. Try your Zin.
2. Now take a bite of the saltine.
3. Immediately after swallowing it, take another sip of Zinfandel.
How does the Zinfandel taste now?
Although lightly salty foods can soften perceived tannin, very high levels of salt will increasethe perceived tannin in red wine, making the wine seem more harsh, bitter and astringent.
Zinfandel and Granny Smith Apple
1. After tasting your Zin, take a bite of the Granny Smith apple.
2. Immediately after swallowing it, take another sip of Zinfandel.
3. How does the Zinfandel taste now?• Sometimes acidity in food overwhelms wine, especially red wine, making it seem
thinner and sharper.
• Keep this in mind when pairing wines with vinaigrettes or acidic fresh tomatoes.
3. Immediately after swallowing the cheese, take another sip of Zinfandel.
How does the Zinfandel taste now? • Tannin can tame rich dishes.
• Rich, fatty foods, especially proteins, go well with tannic reds; the wine’s tannin cutsthrough the fat in a well-marbled steak or lamb chop, and the fat in the food reducesthe perceived tannins in the wine.
Zinfandel and Chocolate
1. Sip the Zin.
2. Now take a bite of the chocolate.
3. Immediately after swallowing it, take another sip of Zinfandel.
How does the Zinfandel taste now?
Unless it’s a big, alcoholic powerhouse of a Zin, with high alcohol and jammy fruit, the likelihood is that the sweet chocolate has diminished the fruit flavors and body of the wine,making it seem thin and distinctly more astringent, or drying.
One hotly debated pairing is chocolate with a big Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon or even a powerhouse Zin.
• Some wine lovers believe that it’s a pairing made in heaven, with the chocolate echoingthe chocolate flavors in the wine.
• Others feel just as strongly that the match doesn’t work at all, that the sweetness of thechocolate overwhelms the wine’s fruit.
Since each of us has distinctly different sensory thresholds and preferences for many wine andfood components, what you taste and what you like are personal and subjective. It all comesdown to the maxim “train your taste and trust your taste.”
Having completed Understanding Wine, you now know more about wine than most wine lovers.That, coupled with your ability to describe wine and a keen awareness of your taste preferences,has increased the likelihood that you will end up drinking wines you like.
Even though taste is highly personal, the enjoyment of wine remains a social activity. Your knowledge of wine, along with its history, geography and production as well as the passions ofthe men and women who make it, can expand and deepen the conversations you have withfriends and acquaintances over each glass. And isn’t sharing a good conversation and the resulting connection an important part of life well-lived?
Congratulations on completing Understanding Wine.
Be sure to join us back on-line to take your Final Exam…
