Wine 101 - taste of wine

The flavors of a wine is actually revealed through various ways: the taste in our tongue, and the aroma perceived with the wine in our mouth. As you know from your biology lesson, our tongue can detect the taste of sweet, salty, sour and bitterness, but besides those the texture of the wine, like the smoothness, creaminess and viscosity, also contribute to the overall palate of the wine.

Since only the aroma molecules that escape from the wine can reach the olfactory centre along with the air we breathe in, it is a good way to slurp when tasting, to increase the amount of such molecules for better detection. So when you wonder why someone can detect more flavors than you when doing a tasting, remember whether you have done this to increase your exposure to the aromas!

When wine flows through our tongue, depending on the temperature, our taste buds will feel first sweetness, then closely followed by acidity, which are the two basic structure for a white wine. But important thing to note is that the sweetness impression is not just depending on the residual sugar, but also the alcohol. Also, what differentiate a good sweet and dry white wine is the sweet-sour structure and balance.

For red wine, the main difference is the presence of tannin. Tannin is derived from the grape skin, seeds, stems and also the wooden barrels used in the maturation process (though to a lesser degree). It gives a clue whether the grapes are ripe when harvested. An unpleasant bitter and grainy texture will point to a bad vintage, unripe grapes, or some defects in the vineyard or production process. A mature tannin, showing silkiness, smooth and transparent, is also a prerequisite for a great red.

The sensory impression of a wine can be very diverse. At the end, the key is the complexity and intensity of the flavors. Simple wines will give you a one-dimensional sensation, either fruity, vegetal, or woody. But a true great wine have a long-lasting, multi-layered bouquet with fruity as well as other characteristics that can help you to appreciate the terroir of the vineyard, the viticulture and vinification of the wine, and other things that make wine so enjoyable and interesting.

Finally on the finish, another critieria for a great wine is the length the wine can sustain in your mouth. If you can still feel the lingering after swallowing for a short while, then we have a long finish and typically give you the satisfaction of having tasted a good wine.

In WSET Level 4, the things that we need to note in tasting include the following:

• Sweetness
• Acidity
• Tannin (in level and nature)
• Alcohol level
• Body
• Flavour intensity
• Flavour characteristics
• Other observations
• Length

And base on the assessment of color, nose and palate, to form our conclusion for the wine including:

• Quality
• Reasons for quality
• Origins / variety / production method
• Price
• Age (in years)
• Readiness for drinking / potential for ageing

Not easy, right? So nothing can replace sufficient tasting experience, and now my friend, when do we drink together?