One of the great things in life is that everybody is capable in a distinctive way to relate to qualities (like taste, color, odor, and feel) of a body (as a delicious meal or a great sea breeze) that arouse the sense organs. Sounds sexy!?! That’s because tasting wine is sexy. It’s not only sexy but it’s also for the mind as well. How great is that!
Wines vary in color, texture, strength, body, smell and taste. Everybody has tolerances and feelings to the various components that make up wine that are not the same. For example, one taster may be sensitive to acidity whereas a second taster may be sensitive to tannins while a third taster could be sensitive to smelling any sulfurous aromas.
A taster takes all of this into account…
All this goes a long way in explaining why you may like or not like a wine. It also goes a long way in explaining that someone may like sweet wines and other have revulsion to them. It also gives a clue to why some folks feel great while tasting the harshest tannins of a Bordeaux they can find, while that same wine would impair another’s appreciation or enjoyment of what is appealing.
What’s more challenging than appreciating or enjoying a wine is communicating the sensations.
Note this factoid…Other than bitter, sweet, sour and salty all the words describing taste are borrowed from other senses! So the best way to clarify what you are sensing is to try to describe it and don’t be afraid of what you think you smell.
Given that, it’s totally conceivable to find a wine that you loathe—yet it’s perfectly well-made, and is representative for the grape varietal and/or style of wine… A total classic!
Why is this? Here’s the catch…When it comes to wine we smell tastes instead of taste them…
Voila!(VOOWALA!)
You see smells stir up memories a lot quicker than other sensations and that’s because the receptors are found right next to the temporal lobe in our brain which where our memories are stored.
Experienced tasters often rely on their immediate reaction of their memory to the first sniff of a wine. The real pleasure comes from the cross references, the stirring of memories, the comparisons between similar and yet subtly different products or products from the same or neighboring grounds…or even how varietals from different years or countries compare…
Whatever!!! Here is a system to get you tasting with bravura!
The Five S’s of tasting:
1. See the wine – get a good look at the color
2. Swirl the wine- soak that glass and watch the viscosity and makes some esters
3. Smell the wine – get your nose in the bowl and get a sense of the aroma
4. Sip the wine – get a nice mouthful
5. Savor the wine – let’s see what occurs and arises while you react to what you are tasting
