For the average person to taste wine, there are a few concepts that we need to understand first. These concepts are not clear. You could say that they are confusing for wine tasting. We’ve compiled and edited the most important elements of a wine introduction. These are the 13 tips you must know to drink wine, and we hope they’ll be helpful to beginners.
Where does the color of wine come from?
The color of wine comes from the grape skins. The flesh of grapes is colorless. Therefore, if the wine needs to be darker, either the maceration time is longer, the skins themselves are thicker, or some special technique is used, such as stomping on them with your foot. Wines made from thin-skinned grapes are usually lighter in color.
What are tannins?
Tannins are strong antioxidants that have astringent properties in the mouth. Everyone who has eaten raw persimmons knows what tannins are.
What is the acidity of a wine?
Any grape has acidity. The acidity of wine includes malic acid, citric acid, tartaric acid, lactic acid, acetic acid, etc. In order to keep wine healthy and drinkable, it needs a significant amount of fruit acids. When the acetic acid content increases, even if all of it becomes acetic acid, this wine is not drinkable. Therefore, do not mind the acidity of wine when drinking it. The acidity promotes salivation and stimulates appetite. It should be noted that we should prevent the wine from becoming acetic acid.
What is the body of a wine?
The body of a wine is the weight of the wine in your mouth. It is like a glass of water and a glass of milk. In the mouth, it is the milk that looks heavier. Because wine contains alcohol, the higher the alcohol content, the heavier the wine. A good wine must have a balance between body and acidity.
What is the aftertaste
The length of time a wine’s aromas remain in the mouth is called the aftertaste. A good wine can have an aftertaste of several tens of seconds, while a normal wine usually takes a few seconds. The aftertaste is not as long as we think. The best wines have a 30-second aftertaste. If the aftertaste of a wine remains for a few minutes, it is probably not an aftertaste, but an essence.
What are grape varieties?
Wine is made from different grape varieties. Each grape variety has its own typical characteristics, sometimes blind, and you can guess the grape variety by these characteristics. Wines can be made from a single grape variety or from a blend of grapes. Famous blends include Bordeaux, France.
What is the vintage of a wine?
The year in which the grapes are picked is the year of wine. It is a good year when all the conditions are very good for the grapes to grow and for the wine to be made.
How to open a wine
Wine opening tools are used to open wine. Generally speaking, we choose a wine knife (the waiter’s friend). The first step is to cut the mouth of the bottle. It does not matter if there is mold on the exposed cork. Wipe it with a napkin, then turn it vertically with the screw and pull the lever upwards. To avoid a broken cork, pay attention to the depth of the drill bit and do not drill through the cork. When pulling upward, reach the correct position and gently pinch out the cork. Look at the bottom of the cork. If there is no mold, the wine will not be contaminated by the cork. The wine is fine.
Once you understand these concepts, wine tasting becomes easy to understand. Generally speaking, the steps of wine tasting are looking, smelling and tasting. Professional tasters usually spit out the wine after tasting it. Professionals need to keep their heads above water.
Look at the appearance.
Pour the wine into a glass and observe its appearance. The wine should be clear and free of impurities. It is necessary to find out what it is. For example, wines that have not been stabilized will have tartaric acid crystals, and it is normal for older wines to have precipitation. The color of red wine New Year’s wine is usually purplish red, while old wine may have the color of pu-erh tea. As we mentioned earlier, the color of wine comes from the skins of the grapes, so the color will fade as the wine ages.
Therefore, in many cases, the color of the wine is the basis for determining the age of the wine. The same is true for white wines, except that new white wines are usually green with seedlings or yellow with lemon juice. As white grapes age, the color of the wine becomes darker and darker. Therefore, with more wine tasting experience, it is not difficult to accurately determine the vintage of a wine.
Smell the aromas.
Wines can be shaken in a glass to encourage oxidation and release aromas. But not all wines need to be shaken well. It’s okay for young people to shake a few times, but if you shake older people, they will have problems. Therefore, wine has a life cycle, and older wines should not be shaken. Smell the wine first to see if there is an odor. An off-flavor is a taste that is not consistent with normal wine.
After all, a wine that smells like soy sauce, vinegar, rubber, cooked fruit, wet cardboard, mold, etc. is a problem wine. If a wine doesn’t have an odor, find out what kind of aroma it has. There are several types of wine aromas: one is the aroma of the fruit itself, one is the aroma of the aging process, and the other is the aroma of the oak barrels. The variation of wine aromas is one of the attractions of wine.
Tasting.
Take a sip of wine, let the wine sit in your mouth, then inhale a little air and let the air mix with the wine in your mouth, this will have an oxidizing effect and release the taste of the wine in your mouth. First feel the sweetness of the wine, then feel the tannins, body, acidity and aftertaste of the wine.
Criteria for a good wine
Of course, there are standards for good wine. The criteria for a good wine is a good balance, variation and long lasting aftertaste. Achieving these three things is a good wine. If you drink a better wine, you should have a pleasant feeling after drinking it. A wine without a pleasant sensation will certainly not be appreciated. In addition, a good wine needs a long storage capacity. If you buy a bottle of wine and can’t drink it for a few days, it’s definitely not a good wine. Finally, a good price/performance ratio is also an important criterion for good wine. Although Romanée-Conti is rare, I don’t think it’s a good wine because I can’t afford it. Although I can’t feel it, I don’t feel it.
Wine and Food Pairing
The sweetness of wine can balance the spicy flavors of food. Of course, it can also balance the sweetness of the food. The sweetness can also be removed from the saltiness. Remember, when we add a little more salt to our cooking, we add a little sugar to remove the saltiness. Therefore, sweet wines can be used with desserts or savory foods. Wines with high tannin content are rarely used with sweet flavors.
Bitter wines are often paired with grilled and burnt foods. Often, we need to use food to suppress the tannins in young wines. A tannic wine needs to be paired with rich, heavy foods. Cooking methods also affect wine pairing, such as boiling, steaming, frying, stewing, sautéing, sautéing, stewing, grilling, baking, etc., are all topics worthy of study. We can choose the right wine based on these principles. Of course, dining is not so dogmatic, and many places?
