Gaijinass

Why Wine?
So you want to ask me….”Eric, Why Wine?”. This is harder to explain than one might think, even for a sort of professionally part-time writing enthusiast, master of the English language, both written and spoken formats, guy such as myself. I have suspected for years, often with no small amount of dread, that I would at some point become a wine jerk at some time or another in my development. It seemed somehow pre-destined, so why fight it? Some other reasons might have to do with my obsessive nature and the over complexity of wine and that industry appealing to that part of me. It might be my interest in History and the over 6,000 years of it that Wine has. I am not certain…however, I am certain that although I am a rank novice in the world of wine and its appreciation, I am at least, making an attempt. This series, WINE 101, is being put together because a few people have mailed me and some have just left comments with questions regarding wine. So, let it be known:

• I am a newbie. Be patient.
• I am getting information from a variety of sources and trying to summarize key points for you, the reader.

So anyway, let’s get on with it.

Tasting
Tasting wine rather than just pouring it down our throats increases our appreciation of the wine by allowing us to examine it in detail. Sure, the process can seem repetitive and pretentious at first, but with practice it becomes a subconscious habit. What we are doing is forcing our sensations to go to work and then we are pushed to put these impressions into words, this will allow us to keep the wine and its essence alive in our memories that much longer.
Preparation for tasting
If you really want to get a clear and concise impression of a wine, it is important that your tasting enviroment and conditions be ideal. You want an essentially odor free room free of smells like tobacco, cleaning products, food or perfume. Your tasting palate should also be clean and neutral so for the love of GOD, no chewing gum or excessive toothpaste etc. You can chew on a piece of bread to help prepare your tongue and neutralize any serious flavors that shouldnt be there. The light in the room should be natural and you should have a white place mat or some sort of white background against which you can judge colors and the appearance of the wine.
The Glass you use, for tasting purposes and simplicity, avoid glasses designed specifically to highlight a particular wines attributes. I have a wonderful set of crystal wine glass from Riedel that can greatly enhance the wine experience. However, if you learn wine in a more modest glass, these crystal specialized tasting glasses are appreciated even more. Also, to make fair comparisons between wines, you need a neutral wine glass that has a rounded bowl that is large enough to swirl the wine. The sides should slope inwards in a tulip shape to concentrate the aromas, and the stem should allow you to hold the glass without warming the wine. Remember that….USE THE STEM, DO NOT HOLD THE BOWL OF THE GLASS. That is WHY it has a stem.  Dont worry about looking like a puff,  your doing wine tasting, its too late, you already look like one.
Once you have all this prepared you can move on. It goes in this order: Appearance, The Nose, then the Palate and finally, draw conclusions about the quality.

Appearance
The main reason to first look at a wine is because its appearance can warn you of faults. Too old, badly stored, cork seal failed, etc are all things that make a wine “out of condition”.
These Out of condition wines are dull in appearance and can even look brown.
You can also learn about the age of a wine by its color. Is it intense?
If it is a red wine, is it RUBY (purply red) or GARNET (Orangy red)? Purple is an indicator of a young wine. Orange, amber and brown indicate more advanced aging.

Nose
Next step: Smell the wine. Swirl the wine. Do this by putting the glass on the table and placing your hand at the base. Make small circles. Swirling is not just something you can do to look like, well, a wine asshole, no it actually has a purpose: to release as many aroma molecules as possible. Lift the glass by the stem up to your face, put your Nose INSIDE THE GLASS, not over it or next to it, get your nose right in there and take a big sniff. Notice anything strange? For example a lack of aroma? That might be cork taint. It can result in no aroma or even a nasty wet cardboard box that a homeless bum slept in smell, not exactly the ideal wine experience.
Ok so if the wine is healthy, what did you smell? How intense were the aromas? Are they pronounced or are they hard to detect? When you start describing the smell, this is all opinion. Different people smell different things based on our own histories and nasal capacities. So don’t be shy, try and explain, verbally reproduce the smell if you can. Is it feminine, elegant, or clumsy? Dont say something like “It smells like my uncles toilet” or “This reminds me of the smell of bread my Sister bakes”…although this might be true, nobody else can connect with these descriptions.

Palate
Of course, tasting is subjective. We all have different sensitivities so, no two peoples wine experience will be the same. We can however, basically, agree on whats sweeter, more acidic, or more tannic. It takes a lot of practice….so you have to have wine often, and not just drink it but TASTE it, think about it, talk about it or write about it to get a feel for what is what. So when you taste look for the Sweetness (is it “dry”? meaning almost no sugar), Acidity (like a lemon, this will make a wine refreshing and vibrant, cool climates generally result in higher acidity), Tannin (Tannins are in the grape skin, and their presence depends on the skin contact during winemaking, white and rose wines have very little, these all add to the body of the wine) and Body (also called “mouth feel”, this talks about the richness, weight and viscosity oh and the alcohol of the wine).

Conclusions
Did you like the wine? Thats the first question to ask. If so, yes or no whatever, explain why you came to this conclusion. How was the BALANCE between the sweetness and acidity and tannin? What about the LENGTH or how long the taste lingered on your palate? A long, pleasant after taste can tell you about the quality of the wine. How was the INTENSITY? Here again balance is key. Think also of EXPRESSIVENESS and COMPLEXITY. All important factors. Of course, its good to talk about the wine while you drink and taste, or even to write about it. Just do not be silent. Put that wine you enjoyed so much into words.

Next time I will write about Wine 101: Matching Wine with Food

Untill then, Enjoy your wine and feel free to comment and contribute about any wines you have enjoyed recently that left an impression!