TASTING WITH FRIENDS BEST PLAN?

Good morning to everybody! In today’s post we are going to learn how to taste, for the next time we invite our friends we can show off all our oenological knowledge.

It is quite common to think that everything the wine tasters tell us is complex verbiage and trick poetry, but what if they are right? What if we stop to taste it with some guidelines and discover that they are not as crazy as we think?

Next we will see what are the steps that we have to follow in order to do a good tasting.

Firstly, it is important to know what is the ideal serving temperature depending on the variety of wine that we are going to taste.

Neither very cold nor hot. Why? The colder we taste the wine, the more neutral its flavor will be. And the same if the wine is warm because on many occasions it is not a good ally for tasting.

The next thing we must assess is the place to do the tasting, for this we need: a white surface (to be able to correctly assess the color of the wine), no odors (to be able to appreciate all those aromas that the wines give off) and finally, to treat Whenever possible, let the light be natural.

Once we have the place and the tempered wine we will begin the tasting itself, going through the 3 essential phases: VIEW, NOSE AND MOUTH.

View: here we will appreciate the color and intensity of the wine, if it is bright, clean … For this reason it is important that it be done on a white background and to appreciate to what extent we could see through the wine.

For this we must look at the glass from above and then tilt the glass. The definition of the color of the wine will be made based on the color of the border of the same. In the following image we can see how to appreciate the trim and the different colors and layers of a wine.

Zone 1 is the one that will define the color of the wine, strawberry pink, cardinal, purple red, etc. Zone 2 will be the transition zone that tends to go unnoticed in most wines.

As for zone 3, it is what is properly defined as “layer”. It is the degree of opacity of it. This will tell us if the color is light (if we can easily see through the wine) or if, on the contrary, it is a rather opaque color, being then called a covered or deep layer.

Normally in red wines, with the deepest layer it is assumed that they are wines with more body in the mouth.

The coloring matter of the wines comes from the skin of the wines, from the grape, it is normally said skin and skins that contribute the tannins and body to the wine. It will also influence the color, the type of grape, the climate, maturation and type of winemaking.

On the other hand, in this phase we will be able to see if there are the so-called “tears” which are the drops that slide down the walls of the glass. They are usually indicative of a wine with a greater body, a higher alcohol content and a greater structure.

Having said all this, in the visual phase we can already know several things about the wine to be tasted, such as age (aging), alcoholic strength as well as residual sugar content.

Nose: we will have to do it first with the glass stopped to appreciate the first aromas. Subsequently we must move the wine into the glass so that it is oxygenated and can release the rest of the aromas hidden in the wine. This gesture is more common than we think, because when we go to buy a perfume, it always smells after having moved and oxygenated said product.

Mouth: there are 3 key moments to look at when tasting a wine and these are, the entrance, the center and the end. How is this? We are talking about the impact in the mouth that wine causes us, if it is fresh, if it has length, if it has volume…. A good wine is usually identified by being round in the mouth, that is, there is balance when we drink it, all the aromas are well intertwined and allow us to taste the wine.

In the center, depending on the wine to be tasted, we can appreciate the presence, volume and fat of the wine.

The end is usually related to the sensations that the wine leaves us, the memory of it.

And so far today’s post, where we hope you know a little more about the different tasting phases to be able to demonstrate to your friends all your winemaking intelligence ?

As Leopardi said: “the pleasure of wine is a bodily and spiritual mixture”