Wine Tastings for Education-A Brief Explanation
Feeling Comfortable around wine
For the beginner and also serious wine taster, the wine tasting is the most interesting. A basic tasting can be as simple as begining with several comparisons of grape varietals( e.g. Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, PInot Noir). A comparison of wines form serveral regions also holds a wealth of information (e.g. wines from Italy, wines from California). As the wine participant becomes more educated a tasting of the same vineyard with different vintages (e.g. 2004,2005) presents even more information. The tasting can begin as an "open" tasting where all the partcipants know the identities of the wines. It is usually appropriate for someone to know the background information of the wines being tasted and to specify the certain characteristics or qualities that should be paid attention to. Under the direction of the leader the wines should be evaluated and scored. Keeping a collection of the scoresheets will help reference your personal wine tastes for future reference.
If you are very serious about wine you may want to do a component wine tasting (e.g. sugar content, acidity, or alcohol level). Tasters can then determine their own personal thresholds for detectng the presence of certain components.
Many people are afraid of wine,even intimidated. How can something so accessible put so much fear into everyday drinkers (myself included) It's simple. We feel we just don't know enough. Maybe we'll say something stupid in front of some wine expert and really look and sound like a "wine fool". But fear not, below is a quick little "how to" to make yourselves comfortable around people who like wine as much as you and I do.
Tasting for evaluation
If you are reading this site you may be like those people that like wine but don't know much about it. People want to be informed and feel comfortable. The evaluation of wine is simply the identification, description and rating of the charactereistcs of wines.To evaluate the wine you simply use 4/5 senses: sight,smell,taste and touch. Hearing you do by hearing other people's comments!
Rating or scoring is one process of quantifying a wine and comparing it to a standard. Conducting a tasting involves special attention. Some evaluations are done "blind" with the wine labels hidden. The simplest way to do this is to place the wine in a brown paper bag with only the bottle neck showing. Mark the bags with sequenced numbers in the orders that the wines will be tasted and don't forget to cut the neck foil so tasters can not use this to reconize the wines presented. Removing the corks and replacing them will also prevent tasters from identifying the wines.
Some of the most interesting evaluations conducted are to see if the group tasting agrees with recent contest reults. For example find recent ranking of judged competitions and select several medal winners and see if the group's palate agrees with those of the judges. The best judgings are probably best when they produce the most interesting results e.g. a tasting from unknown wineries with low prices in comparison with higher priced wines form well known vineyards. See if results agree. Keep a good record of your results.
A Classical Comparitive Evaluations of Wines-Sample Wine tastings:
If you want to have fun tasting wine, try these 2 classical approaches. These 2 approaches can be very insturctive
Horizontal Wine Tasting: Same region, variety and vintage from different wineries ie Wines from the Napa California region, Cabernet Sauvignon grape variety from vintage year 2005 from different wineries.
Vertical Wine Tasting : Same winery and grape varietal from different vintages ie Pine Ridge Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon from 2002,2003,2004,2005 vintages.
Very important: Try to have good glassware on hand i.e. Reidel and remember to fill wine glasses only to the widest part of the glass to give the wine enough room to breathe and to allow you to SWIRL your wine. Have evaluation sheets on hand and record the results.
The S's of wine tasting: SIGHT, SWIRL, SMELL, SIP, SPIT (only if you want). Sight-record the color of the wine ie deep garnet or golden yellow. Swirl-to release the aromas and bouquet, Smell-ie chocolate. Sip-coat your tongue and note the tastes and finish of the wine. Spit-only of you have to!
There you go. Easy!
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