Wine Tasting for Beginners

By Alexander.Turcan@Turcanlaw.md

Learning to taste wine is no different than learning to really appreciate music or art in that the pleasure you receive is proportionate to the effort you make.

The ability to sniff out and untangle the subtle threads that weave into complex wine aromas is essential for tasting. Try holding your nose while you swallow a mouthful of wine; you will find that most of the flavor is muted. Your nose is the key to your palate. Once you learn how to give wine a good sniff,  you’ll begin to develop the ability to isolate flavors—to notice the way they unfold and interact—and, to some degree, assign language to describe them.

Whenever you have a glass of wine in your hand, make it a habit to take a minute to stop all conversation, shut out all distraction and focus your attention on the wine’s appearance, scents, flavors and finish.

Step 1: Look

How to judge the look of a wine color and opacity of wine can give you hints as to the approximate age, the potential grape varieties, the amount of acidity, alcohol, sugar and even the potential climate (warm vs. cool) where the wine was grown.

Age: As white wines age they tend to change color towards more yellow and brown colors, increasing in overall pigment. Red wines tend to lose color, becoming more transparent as time goes on.

Alcohol and Sugar: Wine legs can tell us if the wine has high or low alcohol and/or high or low sugar.

The thicker and more viscous the legs, likely the more alcohol or residual sugar the wine has.

Step 2: Smell

How to judge the smell of wine aromas in wine nearly give away everything about a wine; from grape variety, whether or not the wine was oak-aged, where the wine is from and how old the wine is. A trained nose and palate can pick all these details out.

Wine aromas fall into 3 categories:

Primary Aromas: Primary aromas are from the type of the grape and the climate where it grows.

Secondary Aromas: Secondary aromas come from the fermentation process (the yeast). A great example of this is the “sourdough” smell that you can find in Brut Champagne that is sometimes described as “bready” or “yeasty.” Yeast aromas can also smell like old beer or cheese rind. Another common secondary aroma would be the yogurt or sour cream aroma that comes from fermentation.

Tertiary Aromas: Tertiary aromas (sometimes referred to as “bouquets”) come from aging wine. Aging aromas come from oxidation, aging in oak and/or aging in bottle over a period of time. The most common example of this is the “vanilla” aroma associated with wines aged in oak. Other more subtle examples of tertiary aromas are nutty flavors found in aged vintage Champagne. Often, tertiary aromas will modify primary aromas, with the fresh fruit of a youthful wine changing to be more dried and concentrated as it develops.

Step 3: Taste

When tasting, pay attention to:

 Sweetness

 Acidity

 Tannin

 Alcohol

 Body

Sweetness:

The best way to sense sweetness is on the front of your tongue in the first moment you taste a wine.

Wines range from 0 grams per liter residual sugar (g/l RS) to about 220 g/l RS. By the way, 220 will have a consistency close to syrup!

Most people would draw line for dry wines at around 10 g/l of residual sugar, but the human threshold of perception is only 4 g/l.

Most Brut Champagne will have around 6-9 g/l RS.

Your average harmoniously sweet German Riesling has about 30 or 40 g/l.

Wines with high acidity taste less sweet than wines with low acidity, because we generally perceive the relationship between sweetness and acidity, not the individual parts. Coke has 120 g/l but tastes relatively “dry” because of how much acidity it has! Coke’s really high acid is why you can also melt teeth and hair in it. Coke’s total acidity is way higher than any wine.

Acidity:

Acidity plays a major role in the overall profile of a wine, because its the mouth-watering factor a wine has, which drives wine’s refreshment.

There are many types of acids in wine, but the overall acidity in wine is often measured in pH. Acidity is how sour a wine tastes. High acid wines are often described as “tart” or “zippy”. pH in wine ranges from 2.6 which is punishingly acidic to about 4.9 which is barely detectable as tart, because it’s much closer to the neutral 7.0 measurement.

Most wines range between 3 and 4 pH.

High acidity wines are more tart and mouth-watering. High acidity can indicate a wine from a cooler climate region or wine grapes that were picked early.

Low acidity wines tend to taste smoother and creamier, with less mouth-watering qualities.

Super low acidity wines will taste flat or flabby.

Tannin:

Tannin is a red wine characteristic and it can tell us the type of grape, if the wine was aged in oak and how long the wine could age. You perceive tannin only on your palate and only with red wines; it’s that cotton-ball- like drying sensation.

Tannin comes from 2 places: the skins and seeds of grapes or oak aging. Every grape variety has a different inherent level of tannin, depending on it’s individual character. For example, Pinot Noir has inherently low-level of tannin, whereas Cabernet has very high level.

Tannin from grape skins and seeds is typically more abrasive and can taste more green.

Tannin from oak will often taste more smooth and round. It typically hits your palate in the center of your tongue.

Tasting for oak tannin versus grape tannin is extremely difficult; don’t worry if you don’t get it right.

Alcohol:

Alcohol can sometimes tell us the intensity of a wine and the ripeness of the grapes that went into making the wine.

Alcohol level can add quite a bit of body and texture to wine.

Alcohol ranges from 5% alcohol by volume (ABV) – 16% ABV.

A sub-11% ABV table wine usually means something with a little natural sweetness.

Dry wines at 13.5% to 16% ABV are all going to be quite rich and intensely flavored.

Fortified wines are 17-21% ABV.

Alcohol level directly correlated to the sweetness of the grapes prior to fermenting the wine. For this reason, lower ABV (Sub-11%) wines will often have natural sweetness; their grape sugar wasn’t all turned into booze.

Warmer growing regions produce riper grapes which have the potential to make higher alcohol wines.

Body:

Body can give us clues to the type of wine, the region it was grown and the possible use of oak aging.

Body usually is directly related to alcohol, but think of body as how the wine “rests” on your palate.

When you swish it around in your mouth, does it feel like skim, 2%, or whole milk? That texture will roughly correspond with, light, medium, and full bodied in wine. Usually body will also correspond with alcohol, but various other processes like fermentation, oak aging or residual sugar can all give to wine additional body and texture.

Six major flower aromas in wine

Learning the major flower aromas will help you discover all the awesome nuances in wine.

Flower aromas in wine are actually from a variety of chemical compounds. For instance, the smell of geranium flowers in wine is the presence of geraniol, a terpenoid. Many wine experts talk about esters, terpenes and thiols.

Rose

A complex flower aroma in wine, rose can be found in a variety of red and white wines.

Examples: Gewürztraminer, Pinot Noir, Grenache, Sangiovese, Nebbiolo

Geranium

Considered a fault when present in high amounts because the chemical compound geraniol doesn’t occur naturally in grape must (mashed grapes before fermentation).

Examples: Muscat, Gewürztraminer, Malbec, Torrontes

Citrus Blossom

A perfumed smell that is very complex and desirable in white wines.

Examples: Riesling, Chardonnay

White Flowers (Lilly)

A subtle flowery smell that accompanies fruit flavors in white wines.

Examples: Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Muscadet

Lavender

A flower aroma found in mostly red wines, similar to rose.

Examples: Syrah, Malbec, Tempranillo, Sangiovese

Violet

The floral aroma found in fine red wines.

Examples: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petite Sirah, Malbec

The Wildlife of the Pyrenees

By Rocco Sta. Maria

As the Lions prepare to conquer the Pyrenean highlands in May 2016, it is worth taking note of the wildlife we could potentially encounter.   The Lions who have been to the Spanish Pyrenees on more than one occasion will recognize the terrain as mountainous – reaching altitudes of 3000 metres, thick and dense in some of the foothills and more like mountain pastures with a variety or rock formation higher up in the mountains.

The Pyrenean wildlife adapted to this terrain throughout the centuries.  The “isard” (or the Pyrenean Chamois) Pyrenean chamois, is a species of goat-antelope which can be found in the mountains up to an altitude of 3000m.

It is a small animal reaching an average height of just under a metre at the shoulder. You can easily identify the chamois from their backward curving horns that appear on both males and females. Their coat is typically reddish brown during the summer and turns a brownish black in the winter, with dark patches around the eyes. It is an incredibly agile animal, negotiating scree slopes and steep mountain terrain with ease!

The red deer is one of the most common animals that you will see in the foothills and mountains of the Pyrenees.  This is the 'brame des cerfs' in French and an umissable opportunity to see and hear the red deer in the wild.

The Egyptian vulture is an unmistakable raptor with its white plumage and black trailing wing edges. It's an impressive bird with a wingspan of almost 2 metres and, like all raptors, feeds on carrion and dead animals in exposed places. The Pyrenees are home to close to 100 territorial pairs so do look out for them when you are out and about.



The bearded vulture or 'gypaete barbu' as it is called in French, is a spectacular sight which you may be lucky enough to spot up in the Pyrenees mountains. Considered to be the largest raptor in Europe with its 3m wingspan, it is also one of the most endangered raptors in Europe.  It is identifiable by its distinctive spoon-shaped tale and is one of the most useful raptors to have around. 80% of the its food is composed of bones, feet, tendons and ligaments from the carcasses of wild and domestic hooved animals which it can ingest thanks to its powerful digestive juices. It is nature's best cleaner-upper!

The brown bear is the most talked about animal in the Pyrenees. Until the early 20th century there was a healthy population of brown bears in the Pyrenees. However, in the course of the century, the population dwindled until, in 1996, 3 Slovenian brown bears were reintroduced into the Pyrenean mountain forests in an effort to boost the population.


This was a controversial move as farmers whose herds of sheep and cattle roamed the high mountain pastures complained that their flocks would be attacked and destroyed by this big brown predator! The slogan 'Non aux ours' ('No to the bear') started to appear in spray paint on roads and walls as public feeling grew. But despite all this, the bears are actually very private, shy animals and there is now a healthy population living in the forests of the central Pyrenees.

So, what do Lions do when confronted with a bear ?  Call Don Antonio and he will scare the bear away by inviting him to the next Lion adventure.

ALPS vs. PYRENEES

By Alberto Racca <racca.alberto@gmail.com>

“Oh Nice, I went to Tuscany last year”. This is one of the typical answers you get in Turin,

my hometown, when you say that you are going for an expedition on the Pyrenees. It’s unfair

and wrong, I know. But that’s how it is. Torino is a city in the North West of Italy located

very close to the Alps. Exactly like Americans do not contemplate any other significant

country in the world, the Torinesi cannot relate mountaineering sports to anything else other

than the Alps. But now, let’s try to be objective and compare the Alps and the Pyrenees along

key dimensions:

SIZE

No comparison here. The Alps is the most extensive mountain range system in Europe,

stretching for 1,200 kilometres across eight countries: Austria, France, Germany, Italy,

Liechtenstein, Monaco, Slovenia, and Switzerland.

The Pyrenees instead extend for about 491 km, separating the Iberian Peninsula from the rest

of the continental Europe.

HISTORY

Pyrenees are a bit older, boasting about 10 million years. They were shaped by the collision

between the Iberian plate and the Eurasian plate about 130 million years ago.

The Alps were formed a bit later by the collision of the Eurasian and African plates.

GEOLOGY

The Eastern part of the Pyrenees consists largely of granite, particularly resistant to erosion

and glacial development, giving the chain a massive and unworn character. The Alps consist

of different layers of rock from the plates that collided, including limestone and gneiss. The

rocks are on average more prone to erosion, creating steep vertical peaks, as well as lakes and

glaciers.

LANDSCAPE

Due to different geology, landscapes tend to be quite different, across many points:

 Structure: the Pyrenees run in a North–South sequence, while in the Alps, also due to

their size and diversity, there are all kind of patterns

 Lakes: lateral valleys of the Alps are full of lakes, while in the Pyrenees water tends to

flow away in mountain torrents

 Glaciers: in the Alps the glaciers are frequent and they stretch far down into the valleys,

while in the Pyrenees they are less frequent and have their greatest lengths along the

direction of the mountain chain.

THE VERDICT

It would not be fair and sensible for me to give a verdict, mainly for two reasons. First, I am

not sufficiently qualified since I have never been to the Pyrenees. Second, my admission to

the Lions has not been yet ratified and I’d rather maximize my chances. But I’m sure the

Pyrenees will live up to the highest Alpine expectations. Maybe next year I’ll ask some

Torinesi to come and see.

FOTO 1

Aletsch Glacier, Switzerland

FOTO 2

Glacier de l’Aneto, Spain