Tasting A Little Wine... The Guidelines & What To Look For.

So tonight I will discuss a couple things wines and the vintages, and tasting. When I talk about vintages, I mean estimating the age of the wine by studying it in the glass.

So, how do we indentify the estimated age of a wine.. It's actually quite simple. But I will take it one step at a time. With a white wine during the aging process the wine will begin to go from a very light, hay color to a more golden color. This happens as the oxygen comes in contact with the wine over time. It is a reductionist reaction that is pretty natural. In fact, if a wine is made "perfect" meaning no air comes in contact with the wine at all during the production process it will actually turn brown temporarily because of the small amount of oxygen it does come in contact with during the bottling phase. But when analyzing a wine there are two things to look for. One and this holds true for whites and reds. When you tilt the wine glass and look toward the rim of the glass at the wine, you will see a slight separation between the color and a simple transparent rim around the wine. The larger this transparent rim, the older the wine is. And as the wines get older the more golden it will become.

On the red side, when the wine is young, you see the deep dark color of the wine. As that wine ages, you will see it get lighter and working it's way toward a rust color. Now by the time it gets to be full out rust or orange in color, it will be bad and oxidized, or have just turned. But as the red wine ages, it will form this color. Many wines from Bordeaux, Italy and Cabernets, Syrahs, and Zins from Cali take a LONG time to do this. These are just some things to look for if the bottle isn't handy to show vintage.

As we move on to tasting, there are some very important steps to remember. These are the guidelines that I go through and it has become routine for me with EVERY new bottle of wine I open.

1. If the wine label shows that the wine was "UNFILTERED," you want to decant the wine to get rid of all the sediment that may be floating at the bottom of the glass. That's the worst thing to get when you are drinking wines. Little floaties of sediment that wasn't decanted.

2. Before you drink the wine, always, and I mean always smell the wine, look for certain aromas. Sometimes you will find rose petals, or cow poop (as I mentioned in my first post) I will refer to this as barnyard now. But that dirty, wet dirt on the forest floor. That is common of many Italian wines. But when you smell the wine, really get your nose in there! Every wine has it's own characteristics, look for them in the aromas. And if you are having trouble getting an aroma out of the wine, put your hand over the top of the glass, swirl the glass, pull your hand away and give it a deep sniff! Look for fruits, or veggies or barnyard, or whatever it is you smell!!! You may smell eraser from a #2 pencil, and that is okay. It's your sense of smell! Take those aromas in before you taste the wine.

3. Finally taste the wine, and suck oxygen in through your mouth. Don't worry it will take some practice. You WILL have your accidents, I assure you of that! But swish it around in your mouth for a few seconds like you would mouthwash. Let the wine touch every inch of your mouth. Use your thoughts of the aromas and all the sensory parts of your mouth to make a conclusion of the wine. Many times and mostly always you will back up your original thoughts of the aromas while the wine is in your mouth because your sniffer is the most important part of wine tasting.

Pay attention to the mouthfeel, do you taste the wine from the tip or your tongue to the back of your tongue and into your throat? What does that mean? Well what it does mean, is that if there is a taste that spreads the width and length of your tongue from start to finish, that the wine is fairly well balanced. Now there are many other things that determine if a wine is perfectly balanced or not, but we will get into those details as we start talking about specific varietals. If there is an immediate sense or taste at the beginning it is usually a touch sweet in it's own way, then there will be a taste on the middle of your tongue going from the middle crease to both sides of your tongue. (FYI the sides of your tongue sense saltiness, and there isn't salt in wine so it shouldn't ever taste salty). Then to the back of your tongue. If the taste lasts for a long time, it means it has a finish. That generally indicates a well made wine.

So, okay, we talked about tasting in a quick lesson, it wasn't the most informational, but you have to admit, we did get a little "wine-nerdy" tonight. We will have more of these little lessons in the future. But not always. I am not that serious of a person. So, with that being said, I will talk with you all tomorrow! Any questions, please feel free to ask, I'd love to hear from ya!

And, as I end every blog, I say....
Enjoy your friends, enjoy your family, enjoy life and the wines your drink from day to day. But enjoy the wines responsibly!
Cheers!