Wine tasting?!
Wine tasting?
When you taste wine...and smell the 'nose'...are the flavours you smell (e.g. pear) actually mixed in with the grape, or are they just flavours that have a distinct aroma? Additional Details
17 hours ago
err Camilla, do you think I'm a boy?
17 hours ago
I actually am genuinely interested in this. I don't want stupid answers thanks.
Answers: 17 hours ago
err Camilla, do you think I'm a boy?17 hours ago
I actually am genuinely interested in this. I don't want stupid answers thanks. The different aromas that you smell when you smell a lovely glass of wine are definitely NOT mixed in with the grape. Many different factors explain why certain smells are associated with certain wines but one of the biggest factors is the actual grape that is used.
You will find that red grapes, for example produce wines that have more distinct berry flavors while white grapes produce wines with more tree fruit flavors such as apple, pear etc. To narrow it down once more the specific grape variety that is used influences these smells and flavors. A shiraz for example is typically recognized by a distinct "peppery" nose and flavor while many cabernet sauvignons have distinct mint flavors.
The next factor that influences the smells and flavors (which of course go hand in hand) of the wine you are drinking is the finishing process. Many wines are aged in oak barrels which obviously will lend different flavors and smells to the wine. There are many types of oak barrels whether they are charred oak, french oak... etc and that can give different flavors and smells like smoke, or butter to the wine.
This is such a vast subject because there are really so many little factors that can affect the outcome of the wine that you are drinking and that's what makes wine such a fun subject. Discovering the nuances that make the glass of wine you are enjoying distinct, original and special can fill up an entire evening. I know I'd be happy to ramble on for hours about my glass of wine and how it got to be so delicious or in some cases so disgusting. (A few years ago, for example a pinot noir got super popular on the market, it was marketed and owned by "Davy Crocket" and though many people enjoyed it, it had a distinct aroma of cigars. Personally I couldn't hack choking it down with such an overwhelming smoky flavor but many people truly enjoyed it) they are mixed in the grape i think but i just drink it i dont get time to smell sorry lol My sweet innocent boy, all that fancy pretentious shite is made up to keep wine tasters in jobs and money. Drink get drunk end of. Of course they do have different flavours, but it has been proved a load of old bollllocks. i think its something you just smell not by how its mixed and i drink alchol fre wine and i smell it then i taste apples and grapes but im 17 so how would i know As the wine matures in casks usually made of Oak they take on flavours from the cask but also develop flavours as it matures....The longer the wine is left the more complex the flavours until after many years the flavours mellow out..Nothing is added to wine unless the label specifies, I'm actually doing the wine tasting thing at the moment. Lots of tasting, not sipping just drinking Im with camilla on this bollox a wine's "aroma," referring to the natural smell it takes from the fruit, and its "bouquet," the complex overtones it may develop with age in the bottle.
Smell is important to the wine taster. Much of what we think is taste really comes through our noses. If you don't believe it, try to enjoy a wine - or a meal - the next time you have a bad head cold.
and the nose is good for testing good wine,
The First Nose : as soon as the wine is poured into the glass, stick your nose into the bowl of the glass and smell it (yes, your nose needs to be INSIDE the bowl of the glass, not just at the rim !). Usually, this step comes before the Look. Take several small sniffs rather than a large one – a large sniff gives your brain too much information, and you become quickly saturated. The first nose will give you the very first impressions of the aromas of the wine. These first aromas are the most volatile, those that escape easily from the wine. Trust your first reactions, don’t search too hard. Try to identify families of aromas rather than specific aromas: words like "fruity" or "floral" are sufficient at this stage.
The Second Nose : swirl the wine in your glass (an easy way to do this is to put the glass on the table, hold it by the foot and make circular motions with your hand). If the wine glass is the right shape (tapered toward the top), the wine will not come out of the glass as you swirl it ! Once again, put your nose into the bowl of the glass and take some small sniffs. If you become saturated and don’t smell anything after a time, take a whiff of the air in the room to cleanse your nasal receptors and then sniff the wine again. The swirling aerates the wine, releasing more of its aromas (those that are less volatile). In French, we say that at this stage, "le vin fait la queu de paon" - the wine opens the peacock tail", meaning that the beauty of the aromas are opened up to be enjoyed. Try now to identify more specific aromas. Wine usually smells like anything except grapes. Most often it smells like other fruits, or like flowers. It can also have grilled/toasted smells (often from oak aging), smells of gasoline or tar, vegetable smells, forest floor smells like mushroom or ferns, animal smells like leather or wet fur, or smells from other families of aromas. If you’re new to wine tasting and you can only identify the families of aromas (fruit, grilled/toasted, vegetation), that’s fine. Otherwise, see if you can let your imagination go and "free-associate" with your memories of smells you’ve come across in your lifetime. Note these impressions on your paper.
The Nose provides us with even more information about the wine. First of all, we look for off-odors that indicate a defect in the wine, like the corked smell, or smells of rotten apples, vinegar, or mustiness. We also look for sweet smells like port or madeira that could indicate that the wine has become oxidized. If we find these smells, the wine is defective and should be sent back. We also look for signs of quality from the Nose. A quality wine is usually aromatic. The more complex the aromas (the more families of aromas represented), the higher the quality of the wine. Certain aromas, like those of leather and other animal smells, can be a result of the advanced age of a wine, and can give you a hint as to the age of the wine. Aromas of vanilla, caramel, licorice or oak can tell you if the wine has been aged in oak barrels. Adding the aromas of the wine to the color gives you the beginning of a profile of this wine, which will help you identify it in the future, buy it again if you like it, and help you determine if it will go with the food you’re serving Here is an explanation from 'On Food and Cooking':
"A given wine contains several hundred different kings of volatile molecules, and those molecules have many different kinds of odors ... Some of the same molecules are also found in temperate and tropical fruits, flowers, leaves, wood, spices, and animal scents, cooked foods of all kinds, even fuel tanks and nail polish remover. That's why wine can be so evocative and yet so hard to describe: at its best, it offers a kind of sensory microcosm ... A few of the aromatic substances in wine are contributed directly by particular varieties of grape, mainly the flowery terpenes of some white grapes and unusual sulfur compounds in in the Cabernet Sauvignon family. But the primary creators of wine aroma are the yeasts, which apparently generate most of the volatile molecules as incidental by-products of their metabolism and growth."
I would add to that explanation that the same yeast added to different juice of grapes will produce different aromas. The aroma derives from the interaction of yeast and grape juice, not just the yeast itself nor just the grape juice itself. Different combinations will produce different aromas. Also, the tierra noir (land on which the grape is grown) will have some effect on the nature of the grape juice, thus on the nature of the aroma.
If you are looking for a good wine book to learn more about wine, I would find a copy of Karen MacNeil's 'The Wine Bible'. As you state you're serious about wine tasting, they're HEAPs of really good sites, good ones below The top wine experts have written some really good books which I'd recommend, and they're easier to cart around the wine shops than your computer.
Hugh Johnson every year publishes a review of good wines out there. Its pocket sized, try a few of the lower priced wines and see if you can see what he's getting at.
'Parker's Wine Guide' is seen as the definitive wine guide of the world. It gets bigger every year and to achieve the top accolade from Parker, the wine has to be something really something else.
Evening classes, great social event, make new friends.
Wine is fermented grape and nothing more. Thats why the other flavours that you can smell in the 'nose' and the underlying flavours in the taste are so fascinating. The pear is often a little suspicious. It can be an 'ester' which is by-product in poorer quality wines.
Beware! Once you've started to taste good quality wines, your wallet will never be the same!