Consider "taste" as a verb. We tend to think of taste more and more as a noun, a bit of something to be eaten, the sensation of a thing in the mouth. Worse yet, we speak of good taste, and even seem to try to codify what is good and give it numerical scores. Think of taste as a verb, an action verb. To taste can be one of life’s grandest pleasures. It can be the best way to broaden knowledge of food and drink. The wine drinker who is not afraid to taste is freed from the boredom of drinking the same wine all of the time "just to be safe". Anyone who dares to taste for himself is no longer a slave to the wine writers, gurus, magazine publishers, and retailers. Learning to judge independently and to enjoy the process opens up the huge universe of good wine for the independent thinker.
To taste something requires that you give it your attention. Fun as it may be to casually drink great wines, without an effort to taste, much of the experience is lost. It is possible to drink wine regularly and to experiment broadly and never get the full joy of tasting. There are a few simple steps to remember, a few simple steps that enable or augment the experience of tasting.
First, observe the name of a wine. Most good wine provides a lot of information on the label. The producer or bottler is very important. See who made the wine. It always matters! Not all California Chardonnays are alike, nor are all Italian Chiantis. Who made the wine is the most important fact. A close second in importance is place of origin. Wine labels will at least list a country of origin (although recently some try to hide this fact). Better wines often cite a specific district such as "Sonoma County" or more specifically "Russian River". Some of the world’s top wines will name a specific vineyard. Wine is a product of place. Other facts such as vintage, grape type, and special attributes may also be named. If you don’t observe the label and note its information, you are hardly able to assess the wine or compare it to its peers, much less find it again when you are shopping.
Look at the wine. Note its color. Tilt the glass and look through the center for depth of color and through the "edges" for hints of complexity. White wines may turn more golden with age. Red wines may go from purple in youth to brick-orange in maturity. Swirl the wine and note how it coats the glass. Water would run down the sides leaving a few spots behind. Honey would coat the sides and hang there in sheets. Wine should be somewhere in-between the two.
Smell the wine. Do this right away. Put your nose in the glass and take light sniffs to avoid overwhelming the most delicate sense. Smell the "Aroma" or smell of the fruit itself. Then look for the "Bouquet" which is everything else: yeast, oak, must, bottle-age, etc. Smell is key. It is the best way to mark one wine from another and the best way to judge wines of a class. Smell is the best tool for tasting.
Finally, taste the wine. We often fail to truly taste our food and drink. To really taste, hold the wine in your mouth, move it around to the various taste buds, "chew" it a bit, and finally, aerate it while holding it on your tongue. Yes, really, hold the wine in your slightly open mouth while sucking in air. You have seen infants do this and they have the right idea about how to taste things. It is just fine to continue to drink the wine casually, but at first, savor it carefully.
All of this takes only a moment. It is possible to taste attentively and carefully without drawing attention in a crowded restaurant. If you take a moment for this you will begin to enjoy the endless variety of basic tastes, styles, and qualities of wine. You should enjoy wine more, and you should be freed from the "Taste" of others.
06/09 |