PALATE OF WINE TASTING
There are two aspects to the palate of wine tasting, texture/taste and flavour. Texture speaks of the sensation of the wine on the tongue and palate, the perception of weight as well as the reaction of wine on the taste buds to give sensations of the five tastes of sweet, sour, bitter, salty and savoury. Flavour is produced from the variety of tastes and retro-nasal olfactory scents that combine to produce our understanding of a flavours. The aspect of flavour in wine tasting looks to unfold the different flavours recognized in a wine, in the lingering after taste and then how well all of these flavours and after tastes come together
TEXTURE
When you take that first critical sip of wine, holding it delicately for a moment in the center of your tongue; and then as you purse your lips as if to whistle and draw in some air instead to roll across your tongue; As you continue on to swish the wine tenderly around in your mouth, inspiring your tastebuds and intriguing your palate; finishing with the gentle rolling swallow that allows the wine to slowly coat your throat; you are engaging the texture of the wine, assessing its body, determining its astringency and finding its alcohol standing.
Our tongue, our palate and our esophogus all contain tastebuds. The human adult mouth contains anywhere from 2,000 to 10, 000 of these tastebuds which have a life cycle of about ten days to two weeks.These tastebuds are sensitive to the five flavors of sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami or savory.
As we take our first sip of wine the first impression we receive by our tastebuds is the sweetness or dryness of the wine. The more dry a wine is perceived the less sweet it will be and the more sweet a wine is, the less dry it will be. Sweet and Sour are opposites and sweetness is caused by sugars found in a wine and dryness is a perceived sensation of the tart sour acidity of a wine. The relative levels of sweetness and dryness that the tastebuds perceive is caused by the relative levels of sugar and acidity in a wine. The more acidity there is in a wine, the less sugar there is in the wine and vise versa.
The sweet and dry relationship is the first thing we perceive because our tastebud sensory for sweetness and acidity is at the tip of our tongue. Sweetness causes a tingling sensation on the tip of the tongue and a possible oil sensation in the middle of the tongue that lingers. the Acidity level of a wine can cause tingling in the tip of the tongue as well as the sides and produces a gravely dry sensation on the roof of the mouth when you rub your tongue against it that we perceive as dryness. The level of sweetness and or dryness can be a very important clue as to the varietal, style or origin of a wine. Also, don't confuse fruitiness with sweetness. If in doubt, pay attention to how dry or sweet the wine is on the finish and not just the initial blast of fruit on the tip of the tongue. A wine can be bone dry, off dry, medium, sweet and very sweet. The BC Liquor stores have developed their own scale and numbering code for the sweet to dry scale with grams of sugar and wine types for each section. You can click here to visit their site for more information
Tannins give the wine its bitterness, a feeling of herbaceous astringing dryness much like that which you would perceive if you sucked on a wet teabag. Tannins can confuse determining the dryness of a wine because they have a physically drying aspect. This is because tannins bitterness makes it astringent. It makes a tongue dry and after swallowing there lingers a bitter dry feeling. When confused if the wine is in fact dry it might help to remember that a sweeter wine cannot be dry and that dryness of a wine has more to do with tartness than physical dryness. Its also helpful to remember that only reds and oak matured whites contain tannins and the bitter drying sensation. Tannins purpose is to add balance, complexity and longevity to a wine. In proper proportions, tannins allow us to perceive flavors like coffee and chocolate.
The next thing you are going to focus on is the body of the wine. This is the weight of the wine. Is the wine light and watery or heavy and thick? A wine can be light-bodied, medium-bodied, full-bodied--or something in between. The body of the wine is effected by the alcohol content and acidity. Wine's higher in alcohol content tend to be heavier wines and they also tend to be more bitter with tannins. The level of alcohol can also be felt not just by body but by the amount of burning sensation along the center of the tongue and along the throat and chest cavity when swallowed. Generally, a heavier bodied, sweeter and more tannin filled, most likely red, wine is going to contain more alcohol while a lighter, more tartly acidic, more likely white, wine is going to contain less alcohol.
FLAVORS
When it comes to tasting flavors, you want to look for balance, finish and complexity. To determine the balance you need to decipher the possible many flavors within the wine. Like aroma and bouquet, these flavors come primarily from the variety of grape itself as well as secondarily from additional processes. Looking to discover the primary flavors of the wine, when you were smelling the nose of the wine do you remember the fruits that you perceived? are those fruit flavors perceptible in the taste of the wine? are additional fruits perceived in the taste? Remember the types of fruit flavors that would come with a white wine, usually light, tropical and citrus flavors. With reds we are more likely to taste dark berries and strong dark fruits.
Next look to the secondary flavors. Start with the earthy flavors. look for tastes of minerals like dirt, slate, chalk. These flavors are usually perceptible especially on the roof of the mouth just up and behind the upper teeth. these earthy qualities lend complexity to a wine. Next on the secondary flavors, look to the hints of wood. These come from oak maturation and are perceived either as wood itself or spices, caramel, smokiness and vanilla. These woody hints are often perceived by the middle of the back of the tongue.
With the flavors developed we can conclude the level of balance in our wine by deciding how well the four components of flavors, acid, tannins and sugars come together. In another words, how well the tart, sweet, bitter and fruit, wood and earthiness balance each other out.
After deciding on the balance of the wine, look to the finish of the wine. This is the after taste. Usually a longer lasting finish means a higher quality wine. A high quality wine can have a finish that lingers for minutes.
The very last component of our wine tasting is determining the complexity of the wine. Complexity refers to how many different aromas, bouquets and primary and secondary flavors can be recognized in a wine combined with how much these change as the wine travels along the palate. This last component may take several sips to determine, not only because it will take several sips to tell them apart but because these aromas and flavors change and develop in the glass over time.
TEXTURE
When you take that first critical sip of wine, holding it delicately for a moment in the center of your tongue; and then as you purse your lips as if to whistle and draw in some air instead to roll across your tongue; As you continue on to swish the wine tenderly around in your mouth, inspiring your tastebuds and intriguing your palate; finishing with the gentle rolling swallow that allows the wine to slowly coat your throat; you are engaging the texture of the wine, assessing its body, determining its astringency and finding its alcohol standing.
Our tongue, our palate and our esophogus all contain tastebuds. The human adult mouth contains anywhere from 2,000 to 10, 000 of these tastebuds which have a life cycle of about ten days to two weeks.These tastebuds are sensitive to the five flavors of sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami or savory.
As we take our first sip of wine the first impression we receive by our tastebuds is the sweetness or dryness of the wine. The more dry a wine is perceived the less sweet it will be and the more sweet a wine is, the less dry it will be. Sweet and Sour are opposites and sweetness is caused by sugars found in a wine and dryness is a perceived sensation of the tart sour acidity of a wine. The relative levels of sweetness and dryness that the tastebuds perceive is caused by the relative levels of sugar and acidity in a wine. The more acidity there is in a wine, the less sugar there is in the wine and vise versa.
The sweet and dry relationship is the first thing we perceive because our tastebud sensory for sweetness and acidity is at the tip of our tongue. Sweetness causes a tingling sensation on the tip of the tongue and a possible oil sensation in the middle of the tongue that lingers. the Acidity level of a wine can cause tingling in the tip of the tongue as well as the sides and produces a gravely dry sensation on the roof of the mouth when you rub your tongue against it that we perceive as dryness. The level of sweetness and or dryness can be a very important clue as to the varietal, style or origin of a wine. Also, don't confuse fruitiness with sweetness. If in doubt, pay attention to how dry or sweet the wine is on the finish and not just the initial blast of fruit on the tip of the tongue. A wine can be bone dry, off dry, medium, sweet and very sweet. The BC Liquor stores have developed their own scale and numbering code for the sweet to dry scale with grams of sugar and wine types for each section. You can click here to visit their site for more information
Tannins give the wine its bitterness, a feeling of herbaceous astringing dryness much like that which you would perceive if you sucked on a wet teabag. Tannins can confuse determining the dryness of a wine because they have a physically drying aspect. This is because tannins bitterness makes it astringent. It makes a tongue dry and after swallowing there lingers a bitter dry feeling. When confused if the wine is in fact dry it might help to remember that a sweeter wine cannot be dry and that dryness of a wine has more to do with tartness than physical dryness. Its also helpful to remember that only reds and oak matured whites contain tannins and the bitter drying sensation. Tannins purpose is to add balance, complexity and longevity to a wine. In proper proportions, tannins allow us to perceive flavors like coffee and chocolate.
The next thing you are going to focus on is the body of the wine. This is the weight of the wine. Is the wine light and watery or heavy and thick? A wine can be light-bodied, medium-bodied, full-bodied--or something in between. The body of the wine is effected by the alcohol content and acidity. Wine's higher in alcohol content tend to be heavier wines and they also tend to be more bitter with tannins. The level of alcohol can also be felt not just by body but by the amount of burning sensation along the center of the tongue and along the throat and chest cavity when swallowed. Generally, a heavier bodied, sweeter and more tannin filled, most likely red, wine is going to contain more alcohol while a lighter, more tartly acidic, more likely white, wine is going to contain less alcohol.
FLAVORS
When it comes to tasting flavors, you want to look for balance, finish and complexity. To determine the balance you need to decipher the possible many flavors within the wine. Like aroma and bouquet, these flavors come primarily from the variety of grape itself as well as secondarily from additional processes. Looking to discover the primary flavors of the wine, when you were smelling the nose of the wine do you remember the fruits that you perceived? are those fruit flavors perceptible in the taste of the wine? are additional fruits perceived in the taste? Remember the types of fruit flavors that would come with a white wine, usually light, tropical and citrus flavors. With reds we are more likely to taste dark berries and strong dark fruits.
Next look to the secondary flavors. Start with the earthy flavors. look for tastes of minerals like dirt, slate, chalk. These flavors are usually perceptible especially on the roof of the mouth just up and behind the upper teeth. these earthy qualities lend complexity to a wine. Next on the secondary flavors, look to the hints of wood. These come from oak maturation and are perceived either as wood itself or spices, caramel, smokiness and vanilla. These woody hints are often perceived by the middle of the back of the tongue.
With the flavors developed we can conclude the level of balance in our wine by deciding how well the four components of flavors, acid, tannins and sugars come together. In another words, how well the tart, sweet, bitter and fruit, wood and earthiness balance each other out.
After deciding on the balance of the wine, look to the finish of the wine. This is the after taste. Usually a longer lasting finish means a higher quality wine. A high quality wine can have a finish that lingers for minutes.
The very last component of our wine tasting is determining the complexity of the wine. Complexity refers to how many different aromas, bouquets and primary and secondary flavors can be recognized in a wine combined with how much these change as the wine travels along the palate. This last component may take several sips to determine, not only because it will take several sips to tell them apart but because these aromas and flavors change and develop in the glass over time.
Reference:
Sommelier Scribbler - sommelierscribbler.com
Tim Gaiser @timgaiser.com
Rick Bakas @ rickbakas.com