Tasting vs Drinking By James Allyn
The difference between wine tasting as opposed to wine drinking is that the former involves concentration, contemplation and consideration. Both are enjoyable, however they serve two completely different objectives, and are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
Explaining The Human Senses:
Sensation refers to an organism’s immediate neurological response to a stimulus in the environment, while perception involves the brain’s interpretation of the information gathered by the senses.
An individual’s detection threshold is the smallest amount of stimulus needed to trigger an unidentifiable sensation; recognition threshold refers to the smallest amount of stimulus required to trigger an identifiable sensation.
Whereas the detection threshold is genetically determined, an individual’s recognition threshold can be lowered through practice and focus while tasting.
Sight:
The sense of sight is the most familiar and most frequently used sense. For this reason, beginning wine tasters often spend a lot of time contemplating a wine’s appearance trying to get more information from its visual aspects than the wine can provide. In actuality, the sense of sight gives us the least accurate information about wine; although, an experienced taster will manage to ascertain a few clues from color and hue.
Pale yellow-greens: can indicate a cool growing region or unripe grapes
Deep golden yellows: can indicate a warm growing region or barrel age
Amber gold's: indicate an oxidized or maderized white wine
Inky purples: denote a young red
Brick reds: denote an older, mature red
Rusts: indicate an oxidized red wine
Intensity of color (or lack thereof) can intimate a wine’s weight and body, whereas opaqueness in hue or a touch of cloudiness can indicate a non-filtered product or the presence of bacterial spoilage.
Smell:
The sense of smell is a taster’s most important evaluation tool with regard to wine. It is used when actively inhaling wine odors through the nasal passages and then again when wine is put into the mouth to taste. Here, body heat and the tumbling action associated with active tasting (i.e. “slurping”) release more aromatics that are inhaled through the retro-nasal passage at the back of the palate. These in-mouth smells are often called flavors.
The sensory organ for the sense of smell is a small patch of tissue called the olfactory epithelium. Humans have two of these, each containing millions of nerve cells that protrude directly into the nasal cavity to react with odorant's on one end while directly connecting to the olfactory bulb in the brain with the other.
Airborne odorant's land on the moist surface of the olfactory epithelium and are dissolved into its mucous coating. This connection of molecule and cell surface triggers an impulse that is transmitted to the olfactory bulb and then relayed to the hippocampus and the limbic system, the portions of the brain responsible for memory and emotion/gut response respectively.
Human Sensitivity:
* Humans can detect an estimated 10,000 different odors.
* A person can be trained to identify 1,000 of these.
* Wines are estimated to contain around 200 odorous compounds.Current research is trying to determine whether there is a specific receptor site for each aroma or whether odorant's connect with the olfactory epithelium in certain patterns to generate the odors we perceive. It has also been hypothesized that a single odorant in different concentrations could be responsible for different aromas.
Humans have an enormously sensitive sense of smell. Hydrogen sulfide is detectable in concentrations as low as 3 parts per billion; pyrazine is detectable in concentrations of 1-5 parts per trillion!
The greater the surface area or the higher the temperature of the wine, the more the volatile components will evaporate.
* If a wine is excessively chilled, wine tasters will not be able to detect many aromatics. In order to warm the wine and release more odorant's, tasters can hold the bowl of the wineglass in their hand vs. holding it by the stem.
* Swirling the wine will increase the wine’s surface area and release more odorant'sIn normal breathing, only an estimated five to ten percent of the air inhaled contacts the epithelium. Therefore, it is necessary to sniff deeply when evaluating a wine.
Taste:
The sense of taste, i.e. what we perceive with our taste buds, can only supply information about five sensory properties: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and savory. Humans are most sensitive to bitterness and least sensitive to sweetness. This means that most people can identify bitterness at lower concentrations, but require higher concentrations of sweetness in order to recognize that taste. Sensitivities to sourness and saltiness are intermediate.
Savory is a relative newcomer to the “tongue map”. Discovered in 1907 and named “umami” by Professor Kikunae Ikeda of Tokyo Imperial University, this taste is a function of the amino acid glutamate. It is common to meats, cheeses, tomatoes and other “savory” foods.
Most people use “taste” to describe all of the sensations—taste, odor, and thermal/tactile sensation—that come from an object in the mouth. Wine tasters must distinguish between each of these sensory experiences.
Touch:
There are sensors in the mouth and in the nose that allow people to respond to the tactile stimuli in wine:
* Viscosity
* Dissolved Gas
* Texture
* Temperature
* Astringency
* Heat (from alcohol)
* Sulfur Dioxide
Tasting:
Now that we’ve discussed the physiology of the senses and how it impacts our appreciation of wine, we need to look at how professional tasting's are conducted to maximize the sensory experience.
Ironically, one of the most simple and manageable aspects of hosting a wine tasting is the set up, and yet, it is the step most often bungled. There are a few cardinal rules that should be followed for professional gatherings.
1. Attendees should not be wearing perfume or aftershave which will interfere with everyone’s ability to smell the wine.
2. The room should be well-lit and have no extraneous odors like paint fumes or smoke.
3. White place mats are ideal for accurate color assessment.
4. Tulip-shaped glasses should be used in order to trap wine aromas in the glass.
5. Glasses should be clear and un faceted.
6. Glasses should not be washed in scented detergent or rinsed in water that tastes and smells strongly of chlorine.
7. Glasses should be stored in an area where they will not pick up odors.
Wine Type Temperature in Fahrenheit Temperature in Centigrade
Sparkling & Sweet Wines 45-50° F 7-10° C
Dry Whites and Roses 50-60° F 10-15° C
Light-Bodied Reds 55-65° F 13-18° C
Full-Bodied Reds 62-68° F 17-20° CHigh quality dry white and dry red table wines should be served at the upper ends of their temperature ranges.
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In order for all wines to show to their best advantage, they should be poured in an order that mirrors the way in which multiple wines would be served with a multi-course meal.
1. Dry before sweet
2. Light-bodied before full-bodied
3. Modest before fineWhites are generally poured before reds, but in some areas of the world, the reverse is standard practice. In Beaujolais, for example, a white Burgundy is traditionally poured after the light reds of the region when at table…and when dining, sometimes the order of the courses alone will dictate that a light red be followed by a full-bodied white.
While many adhere to pouring young reds before old, sometimes the delicate nature of the older wines mandate that they be served first so as not to “disappear” behind the tannin and impact of younger, brasher bottling's.
In a tasting scenario, wines should be tasted in related groups and they should always be tasted blind, i.e., identified by code only.
When evaluating a flight of wines, evaluate the color and appearance of all the wines first; then quickly smell them to get a fresh impression. Next, smell in detail, and taste each one.
You will be judging a wine on its:
* Appearance/Clarity
* Color
* Odor
* Taste/Mouth feel/Flavor**************
Regarding Temperature....
Most white wines are served far too cold. “Chilled” and ice cold are not the same. In order to appreciate a wine’s flavor, no wine should be drunk at temperatures colder than 45° F.
Additionally, studies have shown that the first drink is consumed within fifteen minutes. As there are five glasses of wine in a bottle, a party of four will usually finish a bottle of wine long before it warms significantly enough to require an ice bucket.
With regard to red wines, many are served at “room temperature” in keeping with an Old World caveat, but this maxim was written in the days before the advent of central heating. Cool cellar temperature is more appropriate today, otherwise, the wine will taste of its alcohol.
Regarding Breathing...
Most fine red wines respond well to a little aeration, although just how long is one of the most hotly debated issues in all of wine lore. Aromas and flavors develop with short term (hours vs. days) exposure to oxygen.
Simply pulling the cork and allowing the wine to stand open has very little effect on a wine as only a small portion of the wine, what is in the neck of the bottle, is exposed to oxygen. Pouring several glasses out of the bottle at the beginning of the meal (when white wine is being served) and allowing the glasses and now partially empty bottle to stand on the table for one or two courses will provide an opportunity for the wine to “open up”.
Pouring the wine into a decanter or carafe aerates the wine even more thoroughly and allows for maximum exposure to oxygen. Vigorously splashing the wine as it is poured further aerates the wine and allows it to open up quicker yet.
Regarding Decanting:
1. Young robust red wines: Decanting softens and mellows tannic, young reds and allows fruit flavors to emerge more fully.
2. Complex wines with moderate ageing: Nebbiolo-based and Cabernet-based reds are dense, compact and complex. If serving one that is only a few years old, decanting will allow for their tannins to soften and their aromas to open and expand.
3. Fully aged and mature wines: Older wines may be too fragile for too much splashing. Excessive aeration may dry out the subtle bouquet. In these cases, it is best to decant gently and consume immediately.
4. Wines with sediment: Certain older wines have sediment. Simply pouring the wine out of the bottle will stir up the sediment and make the wine cloudy and bitter. In this case, decant slowly into a decanter keeping an eye on the sediment as it approaches the neck of the bottle. Stop the pour before the sediment exits.Wine Tasting...
Undesirable aromas foreign to the smell of a sound wine are called off-odors. They are many and varied. Some are microbiological, oxidized, pungent, and chemical while others are earthy and moldy or decidedly organic. Being able to recognize the most common off-odors is important to becoming a good taster of wine.
Luckily, winery hygiene and wine making techniques have improved dramatically over the last several decades and less and less faulty wine is finding its way into consumer hands. With the exception of cork taint, it is truly an anomaly these days to find a commercial wine with serious flaws.
About Corks...
Wine corks are cut from the bark of oak trees growing wild in the western Mediterranean. Molds that grow on cork interact with bleaching compounds used in cork production and with insecticides, fungicides and wood preservatives to which the cork and/or bark is exposed to create a musty, moldy, dank odor. A wine with such an off-odor is described as being “corked”.
It is estimated that 3-5 percent of all wine bottled today is affected by cork taint.
Trichloroanisole or TCA, the molecule responsible for most “corked” wines has an extremely low recognition threshold of 1-4 parts per trillion. Trace amounts of the compound can cause significant off-aromas in wine. For this reason, increasing numbers of wine producers now bottle their wine with synthetic corks or with screw-cap closures.
Lastly...
Drink and Enjoy!
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