Friday, December 9, 2011

How to Taste Wine Like the Pros by Doug Rosen

Okay, there’s no way around it; it takes years of training and experience to taste wine like a pro. However, there are a few things you can learn to be better equipped to analyze and enjoy the wine in your glass.

The first thing is to start out with a clean glass. That would seem obvious but it isn’t. By clean I mean NEVER use a glass straight from your cabinet without first rinsing it with water. All cabinets impart aromas to glasses in a matter of minutes. These aromas taint the wine instantly. Not to mention that many soaps and dishwasher detergents leave noticeable aromatic residues. This is the single most prevalent mistake made.

There are some out there in the wine world who think that rinsing a glass with wine is enough to season a glass but they are wrong. Detergents and their residues are formulated to dissolve in water, not wine, and wine doesn’t get rid of cabinet smells either. Tap water is fine to rinse a glass; if you can then use a little wine in the rinsed glass to remove the water residue and season the glass, even better.

Now how to taste. Start off by selecting a glass that’s generous (at least 8 oz); this gives you enough surface area to swirl the wine and expose it to oxygen without spilling it all over yourself.

Color:

Pour about 1 to 2 ounces in the glass. Use a sheet of white paper, holding it behind the glass to try to get a real sense of the wines’ clarity and color.

Is the wine clear or cloudy? Wine in the glass should always be clear and translucent.

Tilt the glass and observe the color to the rim. Is it consistent or does the color or hue taper off. Young wines have less color variation. Oak aging also fixes color in both reds and whites. The more new wood the deeper the color. Older red wines can take on a brickish tone, while whites become golden.

Not all wines are deeply colored. Malbec, cabernet and merlot-based wines are blue to purple, while pinot noirs, gamays, nebbiolo and sangiovese-based wines have less color naturally and are more red in appearance.

The Nose:

To get started, swirl the wine in the glass to release the aromas. Tilt the glass and really get your nose in there. This is perhaps the most complicated part of the process. The nose tells you many things.

The aroma of the wine should be identifiable as coming from a particular grape variety, for example plums for merlot or lime for sauvignon blanc. The nose also tells you if a wine has been aged in oak and if so what kind of oak was used: spice/vanilla aromas from French oak or coconut aromas from American oak. Keep in mind that the aromatics contributed from the oak aging should never dominate the aromatic profile.

The nose is also the first place to pick up defects in a wine such as:
  • Cork taint, which imparts an earthy, cardboard-like smell, akin to a wet basement
  • Volatile acidity, or a vinegar smell
  • Excess sulphur, like a burned match
  • Oxidation, or a sherry-like aroma
  • Mercaptan, smells like skunk
  • Brettanomyces, which has many unpleasant variations such as barnyard, leather, mouse or band-aid like smells.
Remember, a wine is fermented from grapes and should always smell “fruity.” If it doesn’t, that’s not good! And now for the fun part…

Tasting the wine:

Take a sip large enough to cover your palate and hold it in your mouth, yet open your lips and inhale slightly to oxygenate the wine. Is the wine dry or sweet? Smooth or coarse? Notice the weight of the wine, what we call the body. Is the wine thin/watery or thick/oily? Are the acids in balance? Is the wine refreshing to drink or fatiguing? Are the flavors complex or simple? After spitting the wine out (yes, you have to spit if you’re tasting), do the flavors of the wine stay with you or do they evaporate immediately? Are all the flavors in balance or as I like to say, is the wine a circle with nothing protruding? What flavors come to mind? Get creative!

Throw a party:

The best way to learn about wine is to taste several wines at a time. The most educational approach is to (for example) try several chardonnays from Burgundy; better yet from one a village like Chasssagne Montrachet but from different vineyards in the village. Or chardonnays from around the world: one from California, France, Australia and South Africa etc. That’s fun and educational. Invite some friends and pull some corks!

Friday, December 2, 2011

Your Wine Guy: Understanding Terroir by Doug Rosen

Why drink wine? If liquor is quicker and beer cheaper, what makes us go to such lengths to understand, collect and treasure wine?

The answer is simple: no other beverage — alcoholic or not — has the ability to convey the unique flavors of its birthplace. Wine and wine alone, when deftly made, speaks of the flavors of a unique plot, climate, and growing season.

Have you ever wondered why an Oregon pinot noir doesn’t taste like a Burgundy?  Or why a Bordeaux doesn’t taste like a California cabernet or a Cahors like an Argentine Malbec? Terroir is the first place to look. It’s the expression of a unique signature, of an address that can’t be duplicated; the elusive specificity, driven by the confluence of grapes, soil, and sun. It’s the notion that only fermented grape juice has the ability to sign its own birth certificate.

Even identical grapes planted yards apart can yield different flavors.  The undulating hills of Burgundy’s Côte d’Or (golden slope) are the world’s most famous example. Wine enthusiasts can spend lifetimes trying to understand and master the subtleties and nuances of each of the hundreds of parcels. Each of these parcels can have a slightly different soil structure due to its location on the slope, sun exposure and drainage, creates thousands of unique microclimates that affect everything from taste, to aromas, to longevity.

How to explore the notion of terroir? Taste, taste and taste some more, but don’t just taste one bottle at a time. Taste with a purpose. Select at least four different wines of the same varietal (e.g. cabernet, pinot noir or chardonnay) and taste them at one time (a great party theme), noting the differences in color, aromas, texture, flavors and finish. All four can be from the same viticulture area (e.g. Napa Valley, Willamette Valley or Burgundy) or you can choose to tour the world, and select one from each area (e.g. pinot noir from California, Oregon, Burgundy and New Zealand).  For an even more challenging tasting, select four from the same village and note the differences that can be found within an area of only a few square miles (e.g. Chambolle Musigny in Burgundy).

Have fun, but pay attention to your preferences. Was it the aromas, mouth-feel or flavors that you especially liked? Try to dissect exactly what about those components drew you in. Armed with that information, your local fine wine merchant can serve you better on your next visit.

Shopping List

Sauvignon Blanc From Around the World
 
2009 Wild Rock Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand $13.99
2010 Domaine Joel Delaunay Sauvignon Blanc, Touraine, France $14.99
2010 Yorkville Cellars Sauvignon Blanc, Mendocino, California $17.99
2010 Colutta, Colli Orientali Del Friuli, Italy $19.99

Pinot Noir From Around the World

2010 Over The Edge, Pinot Noir, Martinborough, New Zealand $15.99
2010 Grochau Cellars Commuter Cuvee, Willamette Valley, Oregon $19.99
2009 Jean Michel et Laurent Pillot Bourgogne – $21.99 $21.99
2009 Banshee Pinot Noir, Sonoma County, California $25.99

Wines Within One Area – 2009 Boyer-Martenot Meursault

2009 Boyer-Martenot Meursault “Les Tillets” $49.99
2009 Boyer-Martenot Meursault-Charmes 1er Cru $75.99
2009 Boyer-Martenot Meursault-Genevrières 1er Cru $79.99
2009 Boyer-Martenot Meursault Perrières 1er Cru  $82.99