(no subject)

[rivka]

I like drinking wine, but I'm certainly no expert. I don't, for example, know how to talk about wine using the kinds of terms you see in tasting notes (for example, "A medium ruby starting to show some brick at the edges. A clean but modest nose of dark stone fruits and violets. The tannins are smooth and melting away. Blackberries and plums; rose petals. Lovely but starting to fade." Huh?).

So I'm intrigued by these instructions for how to develop a sense of different aromas a wine can have. It explains how to make "standards" to illustrate specific scents - combining a neutral wine (like the kind that comes in a box) with bits of different flavorings. For example:

Asparagus (several drops of brine of canned asparagus)
Bell Pepper (tiny piece of bell pepper - don't leave in too long)
Vanilla (drop of vanilla extract)
Butter (drop of butter extract)
Clove (one clove, don't leave in too long)

He recommends that you get some broadly different wines to taste, and then use the "standards" as a reference to try and identify the different aromas present in the wines.

It seems like a lot of work to set up the standards, but I also think it could be fun. Might be a good idea for a party.

Comments

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

i adore wine, and that sounds like a really good way to develop the palatte :)

n.

[kightp.livejournal.com]

What a great idea! Heck, you could make a party *game* out of it - have everyone bring a (preferably non-toxic) flavoring ingredient, mix up a bunch, add hidden labels (on the bottom of the container or something and then play "guess the flavor" before moving on to try real wines.

Prizes (gift certificate to a wine merchant?) to those who correctly identify the most flavors, and perhaps to those who best use them to describe the wines being tasted.

Damn, I may have to steal this ...

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

I may have to steal this from you :).

[tammylc.livejournal.com]

That does sound like a fun idea for a party.

Also, Wine for Dummies is a great book for learning to evaluate wine. The biggest thing is tasting, tasting, tasting. I like tasting wine with other people, because they'll often be able to identify aromas and flavors that I don't have the words for. My best tasting notes come from times when I was discussing the wine with other people who were drinking it.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

I poisoned myself with red peppers doing this at a party several years ago -- it did not occur to me to state my sensitivity, we were playing with wine and guessing what was in it, nobody in their right minds would put peppers in wine.

Actually I knew as soon as it was in my mouth, but I was an idiot and didn't believe it and swallowed. Gah.

Moral of the story is, if you're doing this as a game, make sure everyone checks any allergies and sensitivities no matter how unlikely. There are probably people out there who put peanuts or berries in wine to develop a nose.

[tammylc.livejournal.com]

Yikes! I've always thought that the idea was to use them to just learn about the aromas, and not actually to taste them. But it seems not everyone else feels that way...

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Ack! People were drinking it? I was thinking of it as just a way to identify scents. I mean, who would want to drink cheap wine with canned asparagus brine in it?

But yes, warning well-taken.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I forgot to say: what a dreadful thing to have happen to you. I'm always so outraged when an allergen slips into someplace I never would've expected it to be.

For example: ground-up almonds in an organic candy bar. I expected to be able to see nuts, or at least to have the candy bar labeled "chocolate with almonds," or something. But noooo. Ever since then I've been much more paranoid about label-reading.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

Oh my goodness! That's horrible.

While it sounds like a fun idea for a party, the first thing I always do when having people come over is ask if they have any allergies and such (I have friends who are deathly allergic to mushrooms, frex, and a very close friend who's a celiac).

On the other hand, what I know about wine tends to be "This tastes good" and "I don't like this one." I do enjoy a nice glass of wine with dinner, but I'm more likely to geek about whisky.

[trinker.livejournal.com]

Oh, neat! I first saw this concept when I was watching "French Kiss", an otherwise fluffy movie...

[geminigirl]

I was going to say that does sound like a neat idea for a party. I would love to go one; I like wine, but like you, I don't have the vocaublary developed for the flavors. How cool is this?

[lizardling.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a cool idea!

I've had wine tasting parties, but they're just sipping from glasses while someone goes on about the flavor and smell. Not that helpful when you don't know how to sort it all out.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

(for example, "A medium ruby starting to show some brick at the edges. A clean but modest nose of dark stone fruits and violets. The tannins are smooth and melting away. Blackberries and plums; rose petals. Lovely but starting to fade." Huh?).

I'm more than half convinced that they make up these terms out of whole cloth.

wine translation

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

< oneo-geek >
a medium ruby -- this is the color of the wine.

show some brick at the edges -- at the edges of where the wine meets the glass. see, you hold the glass above a candle and look down into it. at the edges of the liquid there will be a slightly different color. sometimes it is more purple and other times more red or what have you. in this case, it is more brick colored.

a clean but modest nose of dark stone fruits and violets -- smells like peaches, and plums and violets and not overwhelming so.

tannins are smooth and melting away -- tannins are found in red wine, tea and coffee (somewhat). when you drink black tea that's been over steeped, you can often taste the tannins as this astringent flavor in it. here, the tannins are there, but not overwhelming and they fade quickly.

blackberries and pums, rose peatles: these are other flavors found in the wine, not on the "nose" (in other words the aroma) but in the main taste of the wine.

lovely but starting to fade -- it's really a nice wine, but drink it soon as in another year or two it won't be as good.

< / oneo-geek >

it took me a while to be able to understand how these things are structured. but once you get the hang of it, going into a wine shop becomes a lot more fun! :)

n.
hopefully helpfully :)

I understand enough of the terminology...

[bsquad.livejournal.com]

...that I was going to write a whole series of reviews of cheap beer using it. Unfortunately, my diagnosis for diabetes came after I'd written just one (http://www.epinions.com/fddk-review-1DEC-294A643F-3A03C20F-prod3).

Re: I understand enough of the terminology...

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Uh huh. You think that's an excuse? Professional wine tasters never swallow - they swish the wine around in their mouths and spit it out. You could certainly do the same thing with your Genesees and your Grain Belts and your Natty Boh.

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

This is a great idea for a party. At the wine tasting I was at the other night, I said to our table that what I really want is a wine tutorial where we taste some really typical examples of various varieties and learn more about how to identify them.