The Inside Story from Italian Wine Merchants

Becoming a Better Taster, all it takes are senses

Taking notes and tasting wines

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to be innately gifted to become a wine taster.  As long as you’ve got eyes that see, a nose that smells, a tongue that tastes, and a passion to learn, you are all set.

Tasting wine and learning to verbalize that experience is no different than anything else in life; the only way to get better at it is to practice.  Whether you are tasting wine on a more formal level or just enjoying it with some friends, it’s always important to take a couple of seconds and describe to yourself what you have in front of you. Especially when blind tasting, your ability to recall previously tasted wines is a huge factor, so writing notes and going over them the next day are extremely helpful.  This is just like any other muscle, the more you work it the bigger it gets.

When you are done, you should be able to tell the type of the wine you tasted by just reading what you have written. Here is how I like to compose my notes (I’m looking specifically at red wine because it’s kind of the default setting for red wine. The process, though not the details, is mostly the same for white wines):

Sight: This might be the least helpful of them all, but it will still give you some clues as to what grape it could be and how old the wine is, especially when tasting red wine. Look at the wine in the glass; then swirl it and see how the legs, or the rivulets that run down the side of the glass look. Red wine starts our purple, then moves to ruby, red, brick and finally brown as it gets older. Also take note of the viscosity as this will help make confirmation of the weight on the palate. Don’t get too hung up on the legs, just take note on how prominent they are.

Smell: This sense is perhaps the most important. We have the ability to distinguish over a thousand aromatic compounds, and certain grapes show specific aromatics, making smell wildly helpful. I always check for the ripeness of the aromatics in every glass that comes close to my nose.  Riper aromas will give a good indication of warmer climates and vice versa. Also, it is important to note the maturity of the fruit.  Are the aromas still primary?  Or have they evolved secondary and tertiary characteristics? Secondary and tertiary characteristics—notes such as leather, cigar tobacco and tar—can indicate an older vintage or a wine that’s mature despite its chronological age.

Taste: This sense is smell’s conjoined twin. What you taste in your mouth is more or less an extension of what you smell, but despite that closeness in physical processes, the aroma of a wine and the taste of a wine can be very different–or very much the same. See what aromatics get replicated, amplified, or excluded from the wine’s taste. See also whether the taste changes. Many wines start out fruity and end dry, or build from woody to flowery, or undergo some other transformation. Note too how “clean” the flavors are, whether they seem to unfold in the glass or over time, and how long they last.

Feel:  This part, when assessed correctly, is the most helpful part in describing a wine to someone. In your mouth, does it feel more like water or more like cream?  Does the wine feel angular on the palate or round and smooth?  Also take note on how dry the wine is and how much you can feel the alcohol, as these will both give indication as to origin and variety. Now it’s time to look at the structure as this will determine how long a wine can last.  Tannins can either be very prominent or very light.  Are they rough or silky? Green or ripe? Harsh green tannins are never good, but round silky tannins are a sign of balance and maturity.

Conclusion:  The finish of wine might be the most important quality. After all, if you are drinking a $100 bottle, you should let that delicious flavor linger for a while!  You also want to take what you have written down qualitatively and transform it into a brief tasting note.  This is what you will ultimately remember, and it can help you buy wine that you suspect you’ll like even when you’ve never had it before. It’s also fun to impress your friends with your newfound skills.

Join us for one of our wine events to help hone your palate. There’s nothing like experience–delicious, delicious experience.

Blaming the Sulfites, Unfairly

A cool scientific look turns up some surprising results

“I can’t drink reds because of sulfites.”

Being immersed in the wine business, I hear this a lot.  Often when people have reactions to drinking red wine—usually headaches, sinus issues or other adverse reactions–they name sulfites as the cause. However, that causality is up for debate, and I thought I’d chime in.  As someone who was a science major in college, I know a lot about sulfites; they’re in a class of compounds that I researched extensively back in the day.

Sulfites, at the core, are preservatives. You can find them in hot dogs, cold cuts, dried fruits and, of course, wine, just to name a few oft-consumed items.  Sulfites have a special chemical property that makes them bind to oxygen molecules rendering them non-degenerative.  For all the life that oxygen gives, it can also easily take away life, and we see this in perfectly matured wine, red and white. However, sulfites in everything work the same. Therefore, if you really do have an issue with sulfites, and you might, you’d get sick when you ate your bologna sandwich at lunch, that gorp while hiking on a trail, or that midnight box of cookies. If you don’t have a reaction to these foods, you probably don’t have an issue with sulfites.

You probably have an issue with polyphenols.

The point that I want to make is that reds already have a natural antioxidant built in.  It is what makes red wine red, and it also gives you that astringent feeling in your mouth when you drink it.  This built-in antioxidant is called polyphenols.  Whites, unlike reds, have very little if any polyphenols, which means they have no way of protecting themselves against oxygen. This is another reason why white wines tend to have less longevity than reds. The upshot is that  if you have a reaction to red wine, but not to white wine or that shrimp cocktail you ate while drinking it (sulfites often appear in frozen fish and seafood), you probably have an issue with polyphenols. Don’t blame the sulfites.

Being a Wine and Spirit Education Trust diploma student and having concentrated on the technical side of winemaking, I’ve really opened my eyes to the connection between science and wine.  One more point to bolster my claim: whites generally contain a lot more added sulfites than reds because they don’t have ready and waiting naturally occurring preservatives. If you’re allergic to sulfites, you’re far more likely to react to drinking that glass of Vermentino than that glass of Barolo.

This is only my opinion based on some general wine facts, but I believe that most people who say their allergic to sulfites are not allergic to the sulfites but to the polyphenolic compounds of red wines.

But, hey, I’m not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV. If you really want to know, get a simple allergy test, and you’ll know for certain. In the meantime, have a nice glass of Chianti and relax.

Talkin’ Tannins

A meditation on the spine of the wine

Tannins are responsible for red wine’s color and giving you that dry and puckering feeling in your mouth. We most notice tannins in red wine, though they do exist in whites, however imperceptible. Some like the astringent feeling of tannins, some don’t, and still others take tannins on a case-by-case basis, depending on whether the tannins add or take away from the wine.  Most novice wine drinkers tend not to prefer the feeling of tannins, but a red wine with the correct balance of tannins will spark your interest and leave you yearning for more.

Tannins are the “backbone” of a wine.  Like a spine in a body, tannins provide the wine with structure, balance, body, complexity and longevity.  Found in the stems, skins and seeds of the grape plant, he most important tannic compounds come from the skins. Because the others are very harsh and bitter, winemakers minimize their presence during winemaking; the stems are removed before crushing and the grapes are pressed very slowly as to not break the seeds and release the bitter oils.  Some winemakers, like those in the Rhone Valley for instance, use the stalk and stems in precise amounts to add tannin to their wines.  Another, but less important, source of tannins come from the actual wood from where the wine was aged. Regardless of the source of the tannins, they are integral to good wine, and astute winemakers manipulate them to the wine’s best advantage.

The tannic backbone is the main reason why some wines will have a lifespan of two years and some for over twenty.  Tannins are in a class of chemical compounds called polyphenols.  At the heart of the molecule is a phenol molecule, which is a benzene ring with a hydroxyl group attached to it, and it is a highly reactive molecule.  Bonds are constantly broken and created during a wine’s life, but no one really knows how tannins help a wine age.  There is the notion that the smaller tannin molecules come together to make larger molecules, and they eventually fall out of solution to form the sediment sometimes seen in old wines.  The exact opposite could also happen whereby the tannins get smaller.  Regardless of how they do it, tannins make wine age better, and as a wine ages its tannins get softer, silkier and less perceptible. The wine’s tannic loss is our delicious gain.

Grape vines are wild plants with a myriad of biochemical, physical, and evolutionary processes that have helped them flourish. One of the main goals of the grape vine is to survive and reproduce.  When the fruits of the vine are young they are green, acidic, bitter and very tannic.  This insures that the berries make it to their full ripeness, changing to a beautiful color and becoming less tannic, sweeter, and less acidic.  Now they are ready to be consumed by an array of different animals who eat, digest, and scatter the seeds all over the ground, ready for germination and growth into new vines. Tannins, therefore, play an evolutionary role in assuring that we have wine—as well as making the wine we have more enjoyable and age longer.

Tannins provide me with a level of enjoyment that I can’t get from white wines.  Don’t get me wrong—I love white wines for their acid, but sometimes I just need that tannic red wine with a grilled steak. Tannic wines are great with grilled red meats, stews, braises, and older cheeses.  The tannins provide a counter balance to strong flavors of these dishes and help to prepare your mouth for the next round. The quality and balance of tannins can make all of the difference, but be careful because a wine that seems exceedingly tannic is also not good.  As I’ve said in other posts, it is not the strength of one particular characteristic that makes a wine, but how all of these components mesh together.

Via Montenapoleone on the Upper East Side

Valentino and his Chianti

After a late run through the Bauhaus exhibit at The Museum of Modern Art, I stopped with a couple of friends at Casa Lever (formerly the Lever House now taken over by the Milanese owners of Saint Ambroeus).  Although the decor hasn’t changed much, the menu, the wine list, and the vibe clearly have taken on an authentic Italian attitude. The lounge area is casual and a great area for watching the quintessentially New York scene unfold: entrenched Upper-East siders, errant lovers of all things Italian, and occasional art-lovers.  Knowing the meal would be a little pricey, I wanted to keep our wine choice more reasonable and chose the Hilberg ‘Vareij’ 2007.

Our sommelier was surprised and said that he loved the wine but he had to coax clients to try it and wanted to know how I knew it.  (Of course it is available at Italian Wine Merchants!).   As my friends and I were well into the bottle, a group of well-dressed clients who looked like they just walked off of Via Montenapoleone came into the restaurant. They were led by a tanned, good-looking, charismatic gentleman.  My friend Rick said, “Who is that? I recognize that face.”

“It’s Valentino,” I answered. I’d know that face anywhere; Valentino is one of my fashion idols.

As Valentino’s group grew, settled into their evening, and began emptying bottles, I said to our sommelier, “OK, I have to know what wine Valentino is drinking.”  He rolled his eyes and told me I would be unimpressed because Valentino asked him for a light Chianti.  The sommelier showed me Valentino’s choice: a bottle of Castello di Selvole Chianti Classico 2006.   But I knew something the sommelier didn’t. Rather than being scornful, I was impressed that Valentino chose what most Italians would drink at home—something from the territorio they know, something inexpensive, and something that goes well with a good meal they’re sharing with good friends.