Tuesday, October 2, 2007
More than a few books have been written on the art of making the one great wine. Even more have been written and sold on recognizing it when you are tasting wines.
Defining a great wine requires a step back from the guides, terms and tasting technique proffered here and there. There is one reason and one reason only to drink a particular wine – you enjoy it! Okay, you might want to drink a wine the boss suggests, but you get my drift. Wine is meant to be enjoyed. A good wine versus a bad wine can be objectively identified, but most wines fall into a vaguer categorization.
I am not a fan of white wines. I am just not. No particular reason, but they just do not appeal to my palate. Does that mean white wines are inferior? Of course, not. If a wine master were to point out the ultimate bottle of white, I would probably still find it to be ho hum. In fact, I often drink red wines with…fish! Well, salmon, but this supposedly debunks the fish and wine guidelines. I really don’t care because I enjoy the meal.
It is important that you be true to yourself when drinking wine. Whether you have a refined taste or not is hardly the issue. It is what you like and don’t that should be at the forefront of your decision making. After all, what is the point of sitting around reading a book and sipping a wine you really don’t like? There isn’t one.
When tasting wines, the aroma, flavor, attack, tannin and so on will quickly become a point of conversation. It is important to understand that these terms are used as tools to describe a wine, not define it per se. If you prefer a wine with a soft attach, then a lack of an attack is a good thing. If you prefer a vintage that comes on like a train, then a strong attack is for you. You will note that neither position is wrong or right. It is just a matter of preference.
I always find it odd to learn that a person drinks a wine because of its reputation instead of their personal feelings on the matter. If you are throwing a party, then you may want to go with the name wine if you feel it is important. If you are lounging on the deck after a hard day at work, drink what you like. It is the perfect wine for you!
Xavier Moldini is with WineriesforYou.com - a directory of wineries.
Wine Jargon – Learning the Wine Language
If you start to take wine seriously, you will soon be immersed in a world with its own language. The question, of course, is what are the terms being used and what do they mean?
Wine is often viewed as a snobby hobby. This is often due to the nature of the terms used. When a person says the “aromatic balance” is serene, one can’t help but be a bit intimidated. Well, this is the language of wine whether you like it or not. To fit into the crowd and improve you knowledge of wine, it helps to understand some of the terms being used, so let’s jump right in.
Aerate – The process by which one introduces wine to oxygen upon opening it. One typically only aerates certain red wines, not white wines. There are exceptions to this rule, but one a few. Aerate is also referred to by the slang term “breathe.”
Attack – Many wonder how such a word could possible fit into the wine drinking lexicon, but it does. The attack of a wine refers to the first impression it makes when it enters your mouth. Generally, it is the first taste you get on the very tip of your tongue.
Crispness – The crispness of a wine refers to its sharpness. If a wine has a distinct, clean taste, it is crisp. The crispness of a wine is a factor of the acidity of the vintage.
Maturation – The maturation of a wine refers to how long the wine has been allowed to develop. The first stage of the maturation process is at the winery where the wine is stored in casks for a specified period of time. The second stage can be, but not necessarily, when you purchase the wine and store it in your collection. Not all wines improve with maturation. Some are intended to be consumed soon after leaving the winery.
Tannin – No, it does not refer to sitting on a beach in Hawaii. Tannin is substance in the secondary elements of a grape such as the seeds, skins and stems. With red wines, these secondary elements are fermented with the grapes and tannin becomes influential in the taste of the wine.
Obviously, there are more than five terms you should learn for your wine drinking exploits. That being said, these are as good a place to start as any.
Xavier Moldini is with WineriesforYou.com - a directory of wineries.
A Little Air for You Wine
You have seen it a million times. Wine is opened and allowed to aerate to bring out the fullness of the flavor. So, what is all of this about?
Certain wines tend to have a reaction to oxygen. They often oxidize a bit when exposed to air after having been stored. This is a good thing as it tends to bring out the aroma and even taste of the wine.
The process of introducing oxygen to wine is known as aerating. Many people call it breathing, as in let the wine “breathe.” The process seems simple enough, but many get it wrong. The removal of a cork from the bottle will not aerate the wine. The opening is simply too small and the surface of the wine interacting with the oxygen is also too small. The wine will not breathe! It will be more like suffocating!
To properly aerate a wine, you can take two steps. The first is to pour it into a decanter. A decanter is a glass device that often looks like a work of art. They come in a variety of shapes, but generally tend to be horizontal. This allows the wine to aerate as it is exposed to more air across its surface. Plus, it looks pretty snazzy!
A more common way to aerate a wine is to simply pour it into your wine glasses. So, how long do you need to leave it there? Well, a general guide is ten minutes before you drink. The downside of this approach, of course, is few people wait the full ten minutes. Taking a sip after a minute is not going to result in much difference in aroma or taste.
Importantly, not all wines should be allowed to breathe. White wines, for instance, generally do not need it. On the other hand, red wines generally do need it. There are exceptions to this rule, so make sure you understand the protocol for the wine you are drinking.
Xavier Moldini is with WineriesforYou.com - a directory of wineries.
