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What are you looking for in evaluating wine?
Appearance first, then smell, impression in the mouth, total flavor in the mouth, and
aftertaste.
Appearance consists of a wine's clarity and its color. As red wines age
they fade, going from deep purple to, eventually, a brick color, whereas white wines grow
darker. The best way to judge color is against a white background, a tablecloth or piece
of paper, with not a lot of wine in the glass. Also part of a wine's appearance is the
wine's viscosity or "legs," which run down the sides of the glass when it is
swirled. The more slow moving the legs, the denser the flavor. So if a red wine is pale to
brickish and has slow moving legs you can expect it to be mature.
Our centers for smell are located right next to our memory centers. One good whiff of a
wine that has been swirled in the glass a couple times should evoke distinct memories - of
honey, flowers, mushrooms, citrus, butter, for example - it will also remind you that
you've had this wine before, or alert you to the vinegary or moldy scent of a bad wine.
First impressions are crucial here and far more reliable than subsequent sniffs. Based on
appearance and smell, you now have enough information to determine a wine's overall
quality and age.
Tasting the wine fills in some blanks, mainly with regard to a wine's
"balance." Take a generous sip and swirl it in your mouth. The weight of the
wine in your mouth will tell you whether it's light-, medium- or full-bodied. It also
tells you how much sweetness, acidity, alcohol and tannin it contains. The object is for
these elements to harmonize pleasantly. If one element is dominant, a proficient taster
will know whether that imbalance is a flaw, or is acceptable in the wine being tasted. (A
young red wine might be overly tannic but with definite fruitiness, suggesting that in a
few years the tannin will have been moderated by the fruit; in this case too much tannin
is perfectly acceptable.) The ultimate moment in tasting is just before the wine is
swallowed, when the vapors hit the upper nasal cavities.
In France, the concept of aftertaste has been quantified in the form of a
"caudalie." If the flavor of the wine stays in your mouth after swallowing for
one second, that wine has achieved one caudalie. The more caudalies the better, especially
with the wines of Burgundy. Really good wines make the strongest impressions with their
smell and their aftertaste. |
