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There are 2 distinct types of wine tasting « technical « or « hedonistic ».
They differ in method and purpose.
Technical tasting is for the professionnals. The principal aim is to assess
a wine from a commercial viewpoint, does the wine has any faults, is it typical
of its origin, can it be treated as an investment or should it be sold quickly
? Such tastings are not organised with the pleasurable experiencve of wine drinking
in mind, this is strictly business .
Hedonistic tastings are all about pleasure : the taster experiences the wine
in the best possible conditions. Such tasting should be educational and should
enable the participants to increase their knowledge of the product. The 2 types
of tastings do however overlap and neither should be pursued at the expense of
the other. The most rewarding experience for the drinker comes from combining
strict technique and the pleasurable art of tasting. Acquiring the technical expertise
for tasting is really a matter of mastering a series of opertations which after
a time becomes automatic.
SO HOW DO WE DO IT ?
It's amazing how little most of us know about something we do as often as eating
and drinking. Much has been written explaining what happens to food and drink
once it enters our digestive system but very little is to be found on the complexed
process known as tasting. Most of us realise that chewing our food helps prolong
our enjoyment and that professional wine or tea tasters indulge in some unpleasant
gargling. That, for the most of us constitues the sum total of our knowledge on
the subject.
THE TONGUE
A sophisticated organ or blotting paper ? If we were to rely entirely on the
bality of the tongue to inform us about our food and drink, we would spend our
days in confusion and disappointment. The human tongue is after all, fairly crude,
only able to distinguish four basic sentations : sweet, sour, salt and bitter
: each being recorded on specific area of the tongue.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE NOSE
What we call the « taste » of something is the composite impression it makes
on our minds by what we sense through our nose and mouth. The human nose is in
fact much more sensitive than the mouth. Without our sense of smell , we are unable
to appreciate food or distinguish between easily.
When chewing, the vapors travel from the back of our mouth, up what is called
the retro-nasal passage, to the same sensory organs. So what we call « tasting
» actually includes quite a bit of unconscious « smelling ».
THE EYES
Standard texts on wine tasting point out at an early stage that 3 organs are
involved : eyes, nose, mouth - in that order. Authors usually start by giving
their readers detailed exposition of what the sense of sight can reveal about
a wine. It is true that professionnal wine tasters spend quite some time « eye-ing
» the wine before putting glass to lips. The Wine society however is here to indulge
in the joys of consumption and not to simply admire the visual pleasure of a glass
of Claret . The eye does neverhtless have an important role to play even for the
pleasure drinker, anticipating a fault. Hazy wine indicates some kind of malady
and suggests an uncharacteristic taste is likely. If the wine is browner that
one would normally expect, then the wine is probably oxidized. This is due to
back storage or an inferior cork. An unexpected sparkle will make the wine worse
than it should. The wine may be going through an unintentional secondary fermentation
in the bottles.
Wine crystals are quite harmless and also quite rare. The wine trade sick of
having bottles returned , now go to great lenghts to remove the offending articles
by freezing and filtering before bottling. Bits of cork or deposits from the lip
of the botle in your glass are due to careless opening and /or poor service.
SO LET'S DO IT
Condition and environment :
The taster must be in good physical shape, there is a little point in attempting
to savour the joys of the wine with a cold. For best results , the palate must
be fresh and have had no recent contact with spicy foods, chocolate, mints or
tobacco. The average palate is most alert betwenne 10-11 :00 am.
The setting is also very important. Ideally the room should be aired free from
strong odors ( including the perfume as of the tasters ) and well lit, preferably
natural light. The ideal temperature should be 20 °- 22 °C.
Finally the glassware used should be thin scrupulously clean and tulip shaped.
Have a nice tasting
FUGUES EN FRANCE can set up tours for you in Provence as well as cooking courses
Catherine Thevenin
FUGUES EN FRANCE
Email:fugues@club-internet.fr
( To view our complete section on Wine Tasting - Click
Here )
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