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“Squint or Savor” - The Numerous Flavors of Wine
Although the four main flavors; sweet, salty, sour and bitter
are all your tongue is actually capable of tasting, the long
lasting impression that wine leaves in your mouth is far more
complex.
When you drink or taste wine, your taste buds and your sense
of smell work together, building the overall wine tasting
experience.
The flavors, aromas, and sensations that wine tasting
comprises provide the whole experience that comes from a
sampling of wine.
Sweetness is something that wines are well known for. With
most types of wine, grapes are responsible for the sweet
taste. Grapes contain a lot of sugar which yeast converts into
alcohol during fermentation.
The grapes that were used to produce the wine will leave
behind various unfermented sugars and residual esters, which
your tongue will be able to quickly detect. This is because
wine maker's yeast is cultured to reach a certain alcohol
yield. At this point the yeast dies, and any remaining sugars
will remain unconverted
Once your tongue detects these residual sugars, the sensation
of sweetness from the wine will remain present in your mouth.
Alcohol is also present in wine, but your tongue cannot taste
alcohol, it is able to feel the mildly astringent effect of
the alcohol against the skin of the mouth.
So, even though the tongue doesn’t taste alcohol, the alcohol
is detected in the mouth.
The alcohol found in wine will also dilate blood vessels and
therefore intensifies the other flavors in the wine.
After you have sampled a few varieties of wine, the alcohol
level has a temporarily inhibitive effect on your taste buds,
making it hard to distinguish other drinks which you may
consume.
Another flavor is acidity, which affects the sugars' impact on
the palate.
With the proper balance of acidity, the overall flavor of wine
can be quite overwhelming. Once you taste wine that contains
acidic qualities, the acidity will leave an intense sensation
against your tongue.
Although acidity is an essential component of wine, too much
of it will leave a very sharp taste, often causing the drinker
to 'squint' as if they were sucking a raw lemon.
However, at the appropriate levels, acidity brings the flavors
of the grapes and fruits alive in your mouth and provides you
with a memorable wine tasting experience.
Yet another factor which can influence flavor is the presence
of tannins, which are the proteins found in the skins of
grapes and other fruits. If a wine has the right amount of
tannins, it will enhance the taste sensations, and accentuate
the other flavors.
Once a wine starts to age, the tannins will begin to breakdown
in the bottle, bringing a softer quality to the flavor.
Tannins are an essential part of the flavor of wine, providing
the wine has aged well.
The last flavor associated with wine is oak. Although oak
isn’t put into the wine during the manufacturing process, it
is actually transferred during the aging process, as most
wines will spend quite a bit of time in oak barrels. Depending
on how long the wine is left in the oak barrel or cask, the
ability to extract the flavor will vary. Most often times,
wine will be aged just enough to where the oak taste is
visibly there - and adds the perfect sentiment to the taste.
Although there are other flavors involved with the taste of
wine, they aren’t as obvious as those mentioned above. These
flavors are the most present in the wines which you need to
familiarize yourself with. But before you try to taste wine or
distinguish flavors, you must strive to learn as much you can
about the building block which composes the flavors of a fine
wine.
By doing this, you will be able to recognize and enjoy good
wine when you drink it, as well as being aware of which wines
are cheap, of poor quality, or have been improperly stored.
Source:
http://www.winebuyer.net |
