Margi Cintrano
Washing Up
Buonasera,
The science of wine tasting is a personal skill involving all the senses. Wine should be seen as a living being that expresses itself in a language full of nuances and varying values.
To discover the secrets of a wine and reveal its soul. It should be treated with affection. As you might treat an old friend. First note its appearance. Then inhale the bouquet ( aromas ) and finally taste it. Each step begets a multitude of minute impressions.
When finally poured into the glass, after months or even years or decades of a slow ageing process, it reveals everything, both its virtues and its imperfections. Before it reaches the mouth, the senses of sight and smell can discover thousands of revealing traits. When tasted, these sensations multiply. Landscapes, moments, colours, and memories come to mind with each sip.
THE WINE´s APPEARANCE ...
Wine tasting is similar to the test carried out on a car by a skilled driver. In both cases, it is a matter of extracting by analysis detailed information on the qualities of a consumer product before it becomes available for the user.
In wine, the colour, the density and luminosity all make up a visual message. This can be compared to the bodywork of a car. Then, the application of the sense of smell can be compared to listening to the sound of an engine and finally, the crunch comes in the driving, that is when we actually taste the wine.
The sense of sight does not become tired as do the senses of smell and taste. However, it only gives us provisional messages on the quality or state of the wine, information on maturity, age, alcohol content, acidity, etcetra. These are graphic notes that we have to take into account during the smelling and tasting phases of the tasting session.
From a wine´s appearance alone, judgements should never be made about a wine. Take for example, the typical bubbling of sparkling wines which though spectacular, has little to do with the taste ...
Moreover, there is no perfect colour for wine. Certain tones or shades may be preferred by winemakers however, this is part of the creativity and should not be taken as a measure of quality, unless of course there are signs of oxidisation or there is a lack of clarity, transparence, brilliance or vivacity.
In the language of professional tasting, we call the surface of the wine within the glass the DISK AND THE CIRCUMFERENCE IS CALLED A RIM and the traces of glycerine left on the walls of the glass when wine is rotated are called TEARS.
Ageing lightens the color of red wines and darkens that of white wines. Young red wines can be recognised by their ripe ruby, pomegranate, cherry or dark red color with a violet or pomegrante, ruby or rasberry rim.
With age, red wines enter a range of colors between ruby and cherry sometimes with orangey or slightly golden rims. Then, as the ageing process lengthens, they take on a ruby to burnt sienna or brick red color and Gran Reservas, a brownish tone.
Rosé wines start to lose their natural freshness when the strawberry or watermelon pink with bluish tomes changes to salmon or copper and onion skin hues.
White wines range from straw blonde wheat, to green straw to lemon yellow to golden, pale golden, amber and old gold, and the darkest, Mahogany.
The colors are generally vivid and bright for example in Galician and Portuguese Albariñlo grape wines and more classic straw blonde wheat color in tone in the Catalan White Wines ...
To be continued: THE SENSE OF SMELL AND AROMAS - PART 2
Have a lovely summer,
Ciao, Margaux Cintrano.
The science of wine tasting is a personal skill involving all the senses. Wine should be seen as a living being that expresses itself in a language full of nuances and varying values.
To discover the secrets of a wine and reveal its soul. It should be treated with affection. As you might treat an old friend. First note its appearance. Then inhale the bouquet ( aromas ) and finally taste it. Each step begets a multitude of minute impressions.
When finally poured into the glass, after months or even years or decades of a slow ageing process, it reveals everything, both its virtues and its imperfections. Before it reaches the mouth, the senses of sight and smell can discover thousands of revealing traits. When tasted, these sensations multiply. Landscapes, moments, colours, and memories come to mind with each sip.
THE WINE´s APPEARANCE ...
Wine tasting is similar to the test carried out on a car by a skilled driver. In both cases, it is a matter of extracting by analysis detailed information on the qualities of a consumer product before it becomes available for the user.
In wine, the colour, the density and luminosity all make up a visual message. This can be compared to the bodywork of a car. Then, the application of the sense of smell can be compared to listening to the sound of an engine and finally, the crunch comes in the driving, that is when we actually taste the wine.
The sense of sight does not become tired as do the senses of smell and taste. However, it only gives us provisional messages on the quality or state of the wine, information on maturity, age, alcohol content, acidity, etcetra. These are graphic notes that we have to take into account during the smelling and tasting phases of the tasting session.
From a wine´s appearance alone, judgements should never be made about a wine. Take for example, the typical bubbling of sparkling wines which though spectacular, has little to do with the taste ...
Moreover, there is no perfect colour for wine. Certain tones or shades may be preferred by winemakers however, this is part of the creativity and should not be taken as a measure of quality, unless of course there are signs of oxidisation or there is a lack of clarity, transparence, brilliance or vivacity.
In the language of professional tasting, we call the surface of the wine within the glass the DISK AND THE CIRCUMFERENCE IS CALLED A RIM and the traces of glycerine left on the walls of the glass when wine is rotated are called TEARS.
Ageing lightens the color of red wines and darkens that of white wines. Young red wines can be recognised by their ripe ruby, pomegranate, cherry or dark red color with a violet or pomegrante, ruby or rasberry rim.
With age, red wines enter a range of colors between ruby and cherry sometimes with orangey or slightly golden rims. Then, as the ageing process lengthens, they take on a ruby to burnt sienna or brick red color and Gran Reservas, a brownish tone.
Rosé wines start to lose their natural freshness when the strawberry or watermelon pink with bluish tomes changes to salmon or copper and onion skin hues.
White wines range from straw blonde wheat, to green straw to lemon yellow to golden, pale golden, amber and old gold, and the darkest, Mahogany.
The colors are generally vivid and bright for example in Galician and Portuguese Albariñlo grape wines and more classic straw blonde wheat color in tone in the Catalan White Wines ...
To be continued: THE SENSE OF SMELL AND AROMAS - PART 2
Have a lovely summer,
Ciao, Margaux Cintrano.
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