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Wine Education Agendas
view:
101
102
101 - Wine Appreciation
and Tasting
Why Wine?
I) Social Impacts - personal and historical scopes
A) Ethanol = psychotropic drug – effects central
nervous system
B) Affects on History – wine is intertwined with
historical events
II) Intellectual – cultural and commercial effects
A) Worlds oldest beverage – possibly as early as 6000
BC
B) Symbolism – religious and social events
III) Sensual – stilating pleasure through its complexity
A) Appeals to four of our five senses
1) Sight – starts our
wine perception
a) Color variations – Grassy to Golden, light Ruby to
Garnet
2) Smell – our most acute
sense
a) Aroma vs. Bouquet
3) Taste – mainly why we
drink it
a) Fruity and Bright to Complex and Developed
4) Feel – it can be the
least appreciated part
a) Silky and Supple vs. Rough and Aggressive
Wine Tasting
It’s all about the glass
I) Color clues – clear glass and white background
A) Basic – Is it a white or a red, dark or light?
B) Advanced – type and age
II) The Nose knows – the “swirl and sniff”
A) Basic – pleasant or putrid and open or tight
B) Advanced – “notes”
1) Primary – aroma related variety
2) Secondary – created through
winemaking
3) Tertiary – developed in the bottle
III) Consumption and the “swish”– analysis overload
A) Basic – good or bad
B) Advanced – Style and quality
1) Dry or Sweet
2) Level of Acid
3) Fruity or Earthy
IV) Palate perfection – The “feel” my favorite part
A) Basic – Soft and Light or Rough and Heavy
B) Advanced – The balance and body of the wine
1) The “attack” – the first sensation
your mouth feels
a) Sweetness
– level of fermentation
b) Grape skin
tannin – level of extraction
2) Mid-palate – aromatic and tactile
a) Oak
tannins – help fill the “doughnut”
b) Acids –
forward or flat
3) Finish – short or lingering
a) Alcohol -
“hot”
b) Bitter –
any perception of “greenness”
TOP
The Grape
I) The “terrior”-The
vineyard site.
A)
The soil – The composition (sand, silt, clay or loam)
B)
The climate – Weather (hot, cold, dry or wet)
C)
The topo – Elevation, land structures and proximal bodies
of water
II) Cultural
Practices – “How you farm it”
A)
Trellis and vine
spacing – Deciding what to use for “vigorous” needs
B)
Canopy Management
– ensuring yields and quality
1)
Pruning, leaf pulling and hedging
2) Yields –
Cluster thinning and dropping fruit
C) Pesticides
– Integrated pest management systems
1) Insects –
monitoring thresholds
2) Weeds –
ways to reduce weeds by using cover crops
3) Disease –
environmentally friendly chemicals
III) Harvest –
Timing or requirement?
A)
Sugar – Brix,
determines alcohol potential
B)
Acid – pH and TA,
determines crispness and stability of the wine
C)
Varietal
Characteristics – flavors commonly associated with the type of
grape
The Glass
I) Processing – How
you get the juice out
A)
Sorting – ensuring quality by removing “MOG”
B)
Crushing/Destemming or Whole cluster – determined by wine
making philosophy
C)
Pressing – different strokes for different folks
II) Fermentation –
Science and Art intertwined
A)
Fermentation
vessel – Oak, Steel, plastic or concrete
B)
Yeast – The magic
maker
1)
Native – Traditional method
2)
Commercial – Modern Science
C)
Extraction –
Flavors and Tannins
1)
Temperatures – Fermentation duration
D)
Malo-lactic fermentation – “To be or not to be”
III) Aging – Flavor
development
A)
The big question –
Oak or Steel?
1)
Oak – different types of oak
a)
American – Bold robust flavors
b)
French – Subtle and Complex
2) Barrel
Toasting – Caramelizing sugars in the wood
B) Duration –
Depends on style of the wine
IV) Fining and
Filtering – Wine clarification
A)
Racking –
Transferring the wine
B)
Fining – Wine
stability
1)
Protein Stability - “Cloudiness”
a)
“From fish guts to dirt” is all about the charge
2)
Tartaric Stability – “Wine Diamonds”
b)
“The big freeze” or “The seed”
C)
Filtering – Is it
Necessary?
1)
Micro-activity – bacteria presence?
2)
Residuals – Malic or Sugar
V) Packaging –
Recognition and Marketing
A) Bottle –
Type determined by the style
B) Closure –
“The big debate”
C) Label –
Governmental regulations
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