Wine Tasting 101
By: Peter Posert
The world of wine seems complicated but does not have to be. No casual or new enjoyer needs to be an encyclopedia of knowledge in the field, once the basics are understood everything feels a lot less daunting.
Diving in
A basic introduction boils down to labeling and grape variety, even amid all the noise brought on by trying to interpret harvest year, critic scoring and orchard origins. Discovering personal preferences is often easier when starting at the lighter end of the spectrum. From there, experimentation can take hold or more simple exploration of that same type from different vineyards and vintage years.
Popular White Varieties
Popular Red Varieties
Rose
Gamay (Beaujolais)
Lighter
Pinot Grigio
Chianti
Chenin Blanc
Pinot Noir
Medium
Riesling (drier)
Merlot
Sparkling Wine/Champagne
Rioja - Spanish reds
Sauvignon Blanc
Zinfandel
Heavy
Chardonnay
Cabernet Sauvignon
Oftentimes the first four white wines will have a little sweetness, if not a lot. For a lot of consumers, having a touch of sweetness is a good thing when they are getting started, and many folks never leave their childhood sweet tooth behind.
Pairing
With regards to food pairing, the general rule of thumb is: if you are serving a white meat, serve a white wine with it. Red wines go with red meats. If you are serving a strong flavored meal – maybe with a lot of herbs – choose a strong flavored wine, and vice versa – light meals should have a light wine. Once you know what you like, enjoyment gets easier compared to dealing with a randomly-selected wine that may be less than satisfying.
Wine 102
Tasting starts with a wine’s visual appeal. Critics who rank and score wine have traditionally counted clarity as a bonus, but nowadays unfiltered wines and especially the new ‘pet nat’ unfiltered and somewhat ‘raw’ sparkling wines are in vogue. Filtration can remove a small amount of the flavor, but makes a clean looking beverage for the average grocery store consumer.
Aroma
Smell is not to be overlooked when tasting wine. Smelling the aromas will enhance the overall flavor and enjoyment of wine. Swirling the wine in the glass coats the inside of the glass, exposing some of the wine to air, making the alcohol volatile and in turn releasing the aromas. Sipping afterward helps paint the full picture.
Taste
Every wine can be defined somewhere on the spectrum of sweet, bitter, sour or somewhere in between. A more veteran connoisseur may swish wine around their mouth to get a fuller sense of a wine’s profile before swallowing it. Taking an extra moment to consider why you like a given wine can go the extra mile when later ordering in a restaurant or the neighborhood shop even without having full knowledge of its aging or storage process.
Aging
Oak barrel aging is a complicating and sometimes dividing force. Asking a winery server about their oak barrel regimen can help you understand how that aging impacts flavor and taste. Oak barrel aging – once lightly used in Napa Valley – has since gained significant prominence on the heels of critic demands and devoted collectors following their lead, now resulting in a landscape where processes can vary from harvest to harvest depending on winery and popular preference.
Practice
As you get more practice, you will begin to know what to expect from the different varieties and know what to taste for in them. For instance, you will begin to know what a dry Riesling is like – clean, precise, basic, dry white wine flavor and one of the go-to wines for cooking all over the world – or Cabernet Sauvignon – huge mid-palate power and depth with some drying tannins, bitter tones, and a core of currant and plum-like flavors to pair with red meat dishes. The varieties each have their own flavor profile – that is what makes them unique.
Cabernet Franc
Aromatic - sometimes berry and cherry tones
Forward in the mouth, somewhat tart texture
Merlot
Not aromatic
Middle of the mouth, gobs of mild plum and currant tones, soft texture
Cabernet Sauvignon
Not aromatic
Huge middle of the mouth power, with currant, cassis, pomegranate and plum, often gobs of oak, too. Very heavy texture and usually tart and somewhat tannic
Petit Verdot
Not aromatic
Huge back of the mouth power, somewhat tannic, few fruit tones and sometimes noted as earthy, very tannic.
Progression
Preference will always boil down to personal inclination above all. You do not need to taste every tone to be an expert, though finding one or two can be helpful. Asking questions will always beget an answer to help shape your tastes further. Since the inception of winery tasting rooms and the flood of summer tourists in the valley, seasonal summer tasting room jobs were primarily filled by local school teachers on summer break who are more than welcoming of any tasting inquiries. Those teachers set the tone for what are now called ‘brand ambassadors,’ but really, the heart of the tasting room job is being a friendly and loving teacher even if it is one with a corkscrew instead of a dry-erase marker and whiteboard.