Monday, March 31 2008

What Are You Looking At?

After a while, they all start to look the same . . .

Ah, another installment in the ongoing series on how to taste wine. Finally, we're going to talk about what to look for when you taste wine. We base our judging system on a variation of the UC Davis 20-point scale. It breaks wine down into evaluation categories. Interestingly, the judging system was invented to help commercial wineries grade bulk wines for transfer between different winemaking facilities. I've read this a hundred times, but nobody has ever satisfactorily explained what the purpose of these transfers were: wine swapping between one winemaking division that ran out of Chardonnay and another that had excess? One winery that couldn't sell Petit Sirah swapping it to another for Riesling? It's a funny old mystery. Still, you can see why they needed a good grading system: individuals had to have a common language to describe and judge wine from separate locations, and a way to accurately convey that information between them. Here are the ten categories for evaluation:


1. CLARITY/APPEARANCE: (2 Points)

‘You drink with your eyes’ isn’t precisely true, or wine tasters would all be crying, squinting and cursing, but first impressions of wine is visual and it plays a large part in the perception of quality. With modern fining and filtration techniques virtually every wine we see today is brilliantly clear—cloudy wines cause much consternation and upset.

Clarity is the term judges use to describe the absence of suspended materials in wine. Suspended bacteria and yeast cells cause a hazy-white appearance. Similar milky-white hazes are caused by excessive amounts of iron. Excess copper often causes a reddish-brown haze. Tiny suspended crystals of potassium bitartrate can produce a dense, milky appearance in white wines.

Star-bright or brilliant wines, clear with a distinct sparkle = 2 points. Bright wines clear as glass = 1.5. Translucent wine, dull appearance, hint of haze = 1.0. Cloudy wine with distinct haze = 0.0.


2. COLOUR: (2 Points)

Appropriate colour for white wine ranges from light straw to gold to dark amber. Some white table wines, such as Sauvignon Blanc, are light straw with a slight greenish tint. Brown tones may be appropriate for some types of well-aged white dessert wines, but brown shades are undesirable for white table wines. Blush and rosé wines range from light pink to light red. Brown is never appropriate for these wines, and orange tints are a sign of ageing and colour loss.

Red wine colours range from light garnet red to dark, almost opaque purpley-black. Hue can tell you a lot about red wine. All reds contain a small amount of blue pigments when young, and combined with the regular red pigment this causes them to look purple. As they age the blue breaks down leaving only the true red colours, so bricky shades can be appropriate for older red wines. In general, ready to drink, red table wines show neither purple/violet nor brown. Brown or tawny colours are appropriate for some older, red dessert wines such as Port

Colour typical for type and age = 2.0 points. Nearly correct colour = 1.5 points. Off colour = 1.0 points. Completely wrong = 0.0 points.

3. AROMA/BOUQUET: (4 Points)

Wine odours are complex and made up of many different components. The nose of a wine is composed of aroma, bouquet and any off-odours.

‘Aroma’ refers to the odours in the wine imparted by the varietal characteristics of the grapes. The aroma characteristics of any wine are present in fresh juice before fermentation is started. For example, Muscat has a distinctive grapey-grape smell and most of this odour comes directly from the grapes used to make the wine. The best varietal wines exhibit easily detectable and discernable varietal aromas.

‘Bouquet’ describes the odours produced by the winemaking process: fermentation by-products, oak barrels, controlled wine oxidation, bottle aging, etc.

Undesirable wine odours result from mistakes or poor winemaking techniques. Sulphur dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, oxidation, raisining, greenness, mousiness, bacterial, rubber, or mouldy smells, etc. can show up in poorly made or contaminated wine.

Correct nose and distinct varietal characteristics = 4.0 points. Pleasant fruity nose = 3.0 points. Clean, simple nose = 2.0 points. Absent or underdeveloped nose = 1.0 points. Defective or malodorous= 0.0 points.

4. ACIDITY: (1 Point)

Acid, alcohol and body must be in correct proportion for a balanced wine. Low acidity wines taste flat, insipid and boring. Excessively acidic wines sharp, under-ripe and unbalanced.

Good balance, appropriate for the type = 1.0 points. Slightly low or slightly high acid = 0.5 points. Flabby or sour wines = (0.0).

5. SWEETNESS: (1 Point)

Dry table wines do not have a significantly sweet taste. Many table wines are finished with 0.5 to 0.74 % residual sugar. Very small amounts of sugar can enhance the mouth feel but do not produce perceptibly sweet tastes.

Off-dry table wines have a slightly sweet taste, but should be balanced by appropriate acid levels. Aperitif, sparkling and dessert wines can contain high levels of residual sugar—they’re supposed to taste sweet. The most important thing for all styles is balance: the wine shouldn’t cloy or seem over-sharp.

Appropriate, balanced sweetness = 1.0 points. Slightly too sweet/not quite sweet enough = 0.5 points. If the wine is cloying, syrupy or off-balance = 0.0 points.

6. BODY/TEXTURE: (2 Points)

Body is the way wine feels in the mouth. A mouthful of water feels different from a mouthful of cream. The cream feels heavier, thicker and more viscous than water. The same concept applies to wine. A full-bodied wine feels heavy and viscous in the mouth. Dark red table wines are more likely to be full-bodied than white table wines, and the body should be appropriate for the wine type.

Body appropriate to style = 2.0 points. Nearly correct = 1.5 points. Slightly thin/heavy = 1.0 points. Empty, thin or clumsy = (0.0).

7. TASTE/FLAVOUR: (2 Points)

Wines have a tremendous range of tastes and flavours, and the flavour changes as the wine ages and matures. Favours should be typical for the type of wine, and the wine should be smooth and balanced In other words, Sauvignon Blanc should taste like Sauvignon Blanc, not Riesling, Pinot Noir should taste delicately of violets and raspberries, not brutishly of blackberries and blackcurrant.

Complex, appropriate flavour = 2.0 points. Fruity but simple = 1.5 points. Agreeable and not unpleasant = 1.0 points. No flavour/disagreeable or inappropriate = (0.0).

8. BITTERNESS: (1 Point)

In general, bitterness is undesirable in wines because bitterness contributes to harshness. Most wines should be well balanced with no discernable bitterness. However, some grape varieties, such as Muscat, often exhibit slight amounts of bitterness, and skilful winemaking is needed to minimize this inherent bitterness. In general, these wines should not be downgraded because of this varietal characteristic unless the wine is unbalanced and the bitterness detracts from the wine.

Balanced = 1.0 points. Slightly bitter or out of balance = 0.5 points. Bitter = (0.0).

9. FINISH: (1 Point)

Tannin in red wine produces astringency, the dry, puckering sensation in your mouth that makes your lips stick to your teeth. White wines contain almost no tannin, and should not exhibit perceptible astringency. Young red wines often contain high levels of tannin, and may show too much astringency. This fades as red wines age, becoming smooth and round.

Finish appropriate to age = 1.0 points. Nearly correct = 0.5 points. Astringent/harsh = (0.0).

10. OVERALL QUALITY: (4 Points)

This category is the grease that lubricates the winemaking gears, and most judges use it to correct a score that seems low or high for the drinkability or pleasure the wine gives. Some wines look off, but taste great. Other wines may score well in all categories but may be no fun to drink. After all, drinking wine should be a pleasurable experience.

Delightful wine you can’t get enough of = 4.0 points. Charming, yummy = 3.0 points. Decent = 2.0 points. Nothing special = (0.0).

Next, fault identification--everything that can go wrong with a wine.

posted by Tim at 05:14PM

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