Appreciating Wine

Make sure you can appreciate wine and know exactly what you’re talking about. Here are some commonly used wine terms with a description of their meaning:

Acidic: Tartness/sourness.
Aroma: Smell of a young wine.
Balance: When sugar, acid and alcohol complement each other.
Body: Weight or fullness of the wine.
Bouquet: Smell of an aged (processed) wine.
Chewy: Wines with a lot of tannin and flavour.
Clean: Wines with no chemical characteristics and direct flavour.
Dry: .0%-.9% residual sugar.
Fat: A heavy wine, can imply richness.
Finish: Last impression of a wine in your mouth.
Jammy: Big, sweetish wines, typically reds.
Legs: Drops that roll down sides of glass when swirled.
Length: The way a good finish can evolve after swallowing.
Must: Grape skins, seeds, stems and juice just after crush.
Nose: Term used for the bouquet and aroma of wine.
Plumy: Big, round, ripe reds.
Smoky: Characteristic associated with heavily oaked wines.
Tannin: Natural compound from skins and stems of grapes.
Varietal: Wine that is labelled with a predominant grape.
Vintage: The year grapes were harvested.

Tasting Terminology

Describing what you taste can be tricky. Make sure you use this list to help you describe the wine you taste:

Floral: Jasmine, Rose, Geranium, Violet
Spicy: Cinnamon, Cloves, Black Pepper, Liquorice, Anise, Mint
Fruity – Citrus: Grapefruit, Lemon, Orange
Fruity – Berry: Blackberry, Raspberry, Strawberry, Blackcurrant, Cassis
Fruit – Tree: Cherry, Apricot, Peach, Pear, Apple
Fruit – Tropical: Pineapple, Melon, Banana
Fruit – Dried: Raisin, Prune, Fig
Herbaceous - Fresh: Stemmy, Grass, Capsicum, Eucalyptus
Herbaceous – Dry: Hay, Straw, Tea
Vegetables: Asparagus, Olives, Artichokes
Earthy: Dusty, Mushroom, Concrete
Mouldy: Musty, Mouldy,
Papery: Wet cardboard, Wet paper
Sulphur: Onion, Garlic, Burnt match, Wet Wool, Wet dog
Wood: Vanilla, Pine, Cedar, Oak
Burned: Smoky, Burned Toast,
Caramel: Honey, Butterscotch, Buttery, Chocolate

How to organise a wine tasting

It’s a great way to entertain and guaranteed to bring forth much discussion.

First, select three to six bottles of different varieties of wine.
Choose a cross-section of types from red to white. A good starting point would be to choose some of the wines shown on this page.

About a half hour before the testing begins, chill those bottles that recommend being served chilled in ice buckets containing cold water and ice cubes.
A good rule of thumb is to mix the water and ice at a ratio of one to one.
Be sure to allow room in the buckets for the displacement of the water and ice by the wine bottle.
Depending on the size of the bucket and the size of the bottle, you should fill the bucket to between one-half and two-thirds full with the water-and-ice mixture.
Then plunge the unopened wine bottle into the ice bucket, and it will be chilled in time for your party.
Provide stemmed wine glasses for each of your guests.
Since they will be rinsing their glasses out between tastes, one glass per person is ample, although you may want to have separate white and red wine glasses.
Have plenty of fresh water available for your guests to drink between wine samples to cleanse their palates and snacks such as cheese and crackers, fruit, or crusty bread so they can determine which wines best enhance the flavours of food on their tongues.

To begin, open the first bottle of wine and let it breathe for a few minutes.

Pour each guest a sample from the bottle.

Now, tell each guest to swirl the wine around the inside edge of their glass and to smell the bouquet or aroma of the wine.

The smell is an important part of the wine-tasting experience because it actually adds to the taste you experience when you take the wine into your mouth.

Next, have your guests sip the wine, but not swallow it.
Professional wine tasters swirl the liquid in their mouths and then discreetly spit it out. Provide receptacles for your tasters to do so if they wish.

Most likely, your guests will want to swallow their sample.
Then, each guest should eat a bit of food from the snack tray and then taste the wine again.

This may change the opinion they form from the first taste.

If you want to discuss the wines at the conclusion of the party like professional tasters do, you may want to provide your guests with paper and pencils so they can take notes on each sample and share their opinions when all the tasting is done.

After everyone has sampled the first bottle of wine, rinse each of their glasses well with clear water and begin the procedure with the second bottle of wine. Continue these steps until all bottles have been sampled.

Discuss your findings after tasting. By this time, each should have good opinions (and should be happy to express them) on each of the wine samples.

Which wines to serve?

Knowing which wines to serve with which foods is sometimes an instinctive response that comes from experience. Wines can bring out the subtle flavours and textures in food, and foods may do the same for the wines.

The following guidelines are from our own experience with Wine & Truffle Company wines:

Riesling

The crisp, summer flavours of Riesling mean that it’s a wonderful accompaniment to fresh seafood, oysters, prawns, salads and light chicken dishes.

Chardonnay

Seafood and pasta dishes with light cream sauces pair well with Chardonnay, as do roasted or grilled poultry, pork or veal seasoned with herbs or light sauces, and polenta topped with cheese or pesto.

Semillon Sauvignon Blanc

This blend is particularly enjoyable when served with fish, light meats, and mildly spicy Asian dishes.

Cabernet Merlot

The robust flavours of Cabernet Merlot team exceptionally well with pasta, steak, pizza, and lamb chops.

Merlot

Serve the distinctively smooth Merlot when you’re serving French cuisine, roast turkey, venison and gamey meats.

Shiraz

An outstanding choice of wine to service with beef fillet and tomato based sauces, rich spicy meals, veal, kangaroo or even roast duck.