Mar 22, 2015 | WINE EXERCISES, WINE TASTING TECHNIQUE |
This video is about how to describe a wine by its physical characteristics while you have it in your mouth. The objective is describing the wine by its body, basic tastes, thermal sensation, balance and evolution. It also contains a fun practice to calibrate your mouth by tasting different shots of sweet, salty, sour and bitter tastes. Try it on your own and let me know if it helps. The wines I chose were 3 red wines: Tiki Estate, Pinot Noir (New Zealand) Santa Digna Reserva, Merlot (Chile) Los Vascos, Cabernet Sauvignon...
Mar 12, 2015 | WINE TASTING TECHNIQUE |
At last, the opportunity to taste and savor the wine in your mouth. The point of this post is defining which aspects of the wine become the kind of adjectives experts use for describing the physical character of the wine in the tasting note. The wine can be described through its body, basic tastes, thermal sensation, balance and evolution. This post talks about the basics of that description, but is still a good first step to grow and make more elaborate notes each time. I hope this post helps you to learn and understand the vocabulary the experts use. Even if the vocabulary sounds strange at first, it should help you improve your self-confidence in describing wine. We will see if, in the next exercise, it is as easy as it looks...
Mar 6, 2015 | WINE EXERCISES, WINE TASTING TECHNIQUE |
This is the first exercise in the scary world of aromas. It compliments the video Smelling Violets…Really?. The challenge is that there are up to 200 different aromas that may change during the time that the wine is exposed to the air while in the glass. But don’t allow that intimidate you ….just look for the information you have about the wine you are trying, then smell it, and smell again. Do this when you are a bit hungry so that your senses will be more aware. Try it at different moments of the day…and repeat. I think that is the key. [/one_half_last] The objective of this exercise is to identify the aromas using your nose and mouth, and then to compliment it by stating whether it has characteristics of intensity and complexity. No joke about it, it can be difficult. It takes some concentration! The wines I chose were 3 white wines: Barzen Riesling Trocken (Germany) Les Rochettes. Pouilly-Fumé, Sauvignon Blanc (France) Domaine Matrot Bourgogne, Chardonnay...
Feb 28, 2015 | WINE TASTING TECHNIQUE |
I am very proud of this post. It is a perfect compliment to the I Will Never Be Able to Smell post because you must first convince yourself that you can smell as well as the experts can, and then learn to use the general categories for the aromatic series, which I introduce here. So, in this post you will discover what the aromatic series is, and how, at first glance, the aromas may seem like they would be easy to identify. The real test though, is putting the learning into the practice phase. I hope that by viewing this post, the smelling exercises are simplified. Remember that you can also try to discover these aromas while tasting the wine in your mouth. In order to make the exercises easier, here is a chart of the aromatic series, which I use in this post. It shows the general categories of the aromas, and the more specific aromas that are within each general categories. DOWNLOAD IT...
Feb 15, 2015 | WINE EXERCISES, WINE TASTING TECHNIQUE |
In this first exercise I will apply the theory about the visual aspect of wine. In this post I describe the wine, paying attention to its color, hue, concentration and tears. An important consideration of this exercise is to use wines from different regions or climates. Although I believed that I had selected wines from different climate regions for this exercise, I realized the next day that I had not actually done so. I came to realize this during a wine tasting with Meritxell Falgueras, (www.winesandthecity.com), in which she said that the wine I selected from the specific Russian River Valley (California) and from Colchagua region (Chile), can not be considered as coming from warm climate areas due to the Pacific stream and Andes mountains climate effects. As I am still learning myself, I will strive to learn from my mistakes (hope). Even given this rookie mistake, the point about the tears, is still valid. The tears are related to the sugar and alcohol content of the wine. I chose these four wines, but you may perform your exercise with any varieties you choose. The point is making your own first description of the wine. I recommend using two wines at the same time, so you can compare them easily. Also perform the exercise with a wine with just one grape variety, avoiding blends during your first exercise, and select your wines from different climate regions. The wines I chose were: WHITE WINES Spanish White Guerrilla, Albariño (Spain) Marimar Estate Acero, Chardonnay (USA) RED WINES Los Vascos, Cabernet Sauvignon (Chile) Cuveé Latour, Pinot Noir (France)...
Feb 7, 2015 | WINE TASTING TECHNIQUE |
This is the first post in a series of posts that I discuss the topic of wine tasting. Every wine tasting consists of three parts: SEEING, SMELLING and TASTING. This particular post is dedicated to seeing the wine. Here I discuss the very basics of visual aspect of wine tasting: COLOR, CONCENTRATION and TEARS or LEGS. These posts are intended to be small bits of information to begin your learning. I have decided to divide them into separate posts: theory and exercises. So, follow me and enjoy the learning and the...
