Welcome to our new wine
tasting series. We’re going to explore
the wonderful world of wine – glass
by glass. This series will assist you
set-up your own wine tastings. Whether
you are a novice or a seasoned wine aficionado,
it’s not enough to read about this
stuff. To truly appreciate and learn,
you have to get in there in taste. Hey,
it’s hard work, but somebody has
to do it!
We’re kicking off the
series with Chardonnay, but before we
jump in, a few tasting pointers.
Color is an important element in assessing
a wine. White wines should range from
a pale greenish-yellow to a golden yellow.
Red wines should range from a deep fuchsia
pink to an inky dark purple. If a wine
has a lot of brown color to it, that
is an indication that it has either
aged too long or that it has oxidized,
usually due to a bad cork.
Swirl it around in your
glass and take a deep whiff. Swirling
sends vapors up and out of the glass,
allowing you to get a good smell of all
the different scents contained in the
wine. Smell is vital to a total tasting
experience. You know how when you have
a cold, you can’t seem to taste anything?
Nothing’s happened to your taste
buds – it’s because your nose
has lost its scent detection capabilities.
Don’t believe me? Try pinching your
nose closed before taking a bite of dinner
tonight!
So smell the wine! Don’t
worry about being able to identify what
you’re smelling. (Hmmm… is that
black cherry or wild cherry?). If it just
smells good to you – kinda like wine
– that’s good enough. Just recognize
that smell is a huge part of really tasting
the wine.
Sip a mouthful and hold it for a few
seconds. Let the wine roll around in
there a bit. Focus on how you get different
taste sensations in different parts
of your mouth – the sweet ripe
fruit on the tip of your tongue, acidity
on the sides of your tongue (you may
notice your mouth watering!). Now swallow
and notice how the wine taste in your
mouth continues to evolve. Again, don’t
worry about trying to identify specific
tastes. Just reflect on whether it was
an overall pleasant experience (or not!).
Was it a "wow" experience?
Did you make that involuntary yummy
sound and reach for the glass again?
Or did it leave you rather nonplussed
and ready to try something else?
A lot has been made as of
late over the "correct" wineglass.
Yes, Riedel makes great glasses –
a different one for virtually every type
of wine. And as you get more into wine
and settle into some favorite wines, you
may well want to invest in some excellent
quality glasses. But if you’re not
ready to go there just yet, don’t
despair. You can still taste the wine
– from whatever wineglasses you do
have. Typically, red wines are tasted
from balloon-shaped glasses, and white
wines from tulip-shaped glasses. And do
try to have a good-sized glass, to allow
for some vigorous swirling. Other than
that – don’t sweat it!
Let’s face it. Virtually
everyone and their brother make a Chardonnay.
The U.S. produces tons of the stuff, along
with most of the rest of the wine-producing
world. Why? It’s a relatively easy
grape to grow. It flourishes in just about
any climate – from cool-weather Burgundy,
to the famously moderate climate of California,
to the heat of Australia. But while it
can grow equally well in each of these
climates, the character of the fruit (and
the resulting wine) is decidedly different.
Add to that the distinct winemaking style
from these regions, and the result is
a huge range of Chardonnay tastes.
So the goal of this Chardonnay
tasting is to gain an appreciation for
the different Chardonnay regions and styles.
After the tasting, you’ll be able
to identify your preferences, so you can
feel more confident about choosing a Chardonnay
from a restaurant wine list or retail
shop.
We’re going to split
Chardonnays into three general categories,
based on climate and winemaking style.
Understand that these are generalizations
and that there will always be exceptions
that you can pick up along the way as
you experiment with buying and tasting
new wines. This is part of the fun, so
don’t stress out about it!
-- Cool climate, little or no
oak aging, pure soft fruit flavors. The
classic standard here is the Burgundy
region of France. To really demonstrate
this cool style, we’re going to focus
on three Burgundy regions – Chablis,
Macon (or Macon-Villages), and Pouilly-Fuisse.
(For more about these regions, plus the
richer riper white Burgundy wines like
Meursault and Montrachet, check out our
Introduction to the White Wines of Burgundy.)
These wines will be a pale
greenish-yellow in color. They will have
soft, ripe aromas – you may detect
pear and mild apple. And they will taste
soft and delicate, with a characteristic
acidity that balances the soft delicate
tastes. (In wine terms, "balance"
just means that the wine has some of one
thing, and some of another – it’s
not all soft and ripe, or it’s not
all acidic. It’s balanced!)
-- Moderate climate, some oak
aging, bold juicy fruit flavors. It’s
California all the way here (although
a few of California’s regions are
particularly warm and are included in
the next section!). California made its
name in the wine world by producing excellent
quality Chardonnays that have some oak
aging and feature more juicy fruit flavors
than the French "Old World"
style.
These wines will range from
pale yellow to straw yellow. They will
have loads of fruit aromas, featuring
everything from citrus to peach to melon
to green apple, and you will probably
detect the smell of oak. They will also
have loads of fruit flavors. And they
will feel like they have more body in
your mouth – this is the result of
oak aging.
-- Warm climate, plenty of oak
aging, super-ripe round luscious fruit
flavors. Australia is a great example
of these exotic, luxurious wines. Add
California’s warm Sonoma Valley and
its super-ripe wines to this section.
These wines will generally
be a golden yellow. The aromas will be
exotic and tropical, and oak is often
a dominant aroma. The will taste luxurious
and rich – a much more full-bodied
mouthfeel. The reason? A combination of
how ripe the fruit gets in these warm
weather zones, plus the generous oak aging
that these "New World" style
wines receive.
purchase two or three
bottles from each of the categories. You
may as well try to be consistent on your
price range – there’s nothing
to be gained from comparing a $10 bottle
of wine to a $70 bottle! My advice would
be to shoot for the $15-$25 range, and
where possible choose a lineup of wines
that are all priced as closely as possible
to each other. This is a nice middle ground
where you will get a good basis for comparing
the tastes and styles of the categories.
Once you zero in on your own personal
preferences, you can always experiment
with bargain priced wines and special
occasion splurges!
Pour about one ounce per
taste. Compare categories or within categories,
looking for the characteristics that we’ve
described here. Try comparing a warm-weather
Chardonnay with one of the Burgundy wines
– they hardly taste like they could
be made from the same kind of grape!
Finally, here are a few
suggestions for specific bottles to include
in your tasting lineup. But the point
here is to learn about the three regions,
not specific wineries. So we encourage
you to just buy whatever you find in your
local wine shop and start tasting!
– Verget,
Vocoret & Fils, Chateau de Maligny,
Georges DeBoeuf, and Michel Barat.
– Beaulieu
Vineyard Carneros, Artesa, Chateau St.
Jean, Robert Mondavi Coastal, and Kendall-Jackson.
– California
(Sonoma): Mueller, Stonestreet, and Ferrari-Carano.
Australia: Nepenthe, Chapel Hill, Lindeman’s
Bin 65.
We've found that our guests really enjoy
the opportunity to "grade" the
wines. You can make it as casual or controlled
as you like. We tend to put out a pile
of our
tasting notes sheets and then encourage
our guests to take notes. Somewhere toward
the end of the evening -- or once everyone
has had time to taste the various wines
-- we like to have a little group discussion
of the favorites. It really is a lot of
fun to hear everyone's opinions of the
wines, and there are always some interesting
surprises.
The most important thing
is to have fun with your tasting party.
Branch out to wines that are new to you.
Don't worry about the results -- everyone
will have a great time participating in
the tasting. And be sure to let
us know which wines were the hit at
your party!
For details on our past
tasting party ideas - click
here.
