Wine Experts Guide

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Simple Tips in White Wine Tasting and Appreciation for Amateurs

By Nia Lawrence


Amateurs in white wine appreciation love to participate in wine tasting activities during a tour of a local winery. Through these events, wine lovers hone their skills in tasting and profiling different types of wines under the mentorship of an expert vintner or sommelier. These tours also provide a venue for wine enthusiasts to build a network of friends and business contacts within Australia's wine industry. However, before taking a sip of that white vintage at a wine tasting event, amateurs must first learn the mechanics of winemaking commonly applied during the fermentation process. Beginners to the business of wine drinking must also familiarize themselves with the varieties of light-skinned grapes used to make Chardonnay, Riesling, or Sauvignon Blanc, among others. In addition, the oldest whites usually appear amber or dark gold while younger wines appear in the palest shades of yellow to yellow-green.

Mostly, wine tasting events begin with a brief introduction to wine making methods and the characteristics of wine varieties. Yet, the most valuable lesson that tasters learn doesn't begin until the wine guru teaches the many ways of seeing, smelling, and tasting white wine. Before anyone gets to taste each wine sample, everyone in the group has to evaluate each wine's appearance and signature aroma. Glasses of pale liquid are held against the light to check for sediments or dark coloration from the wooden barrel. Darker hues of yellow or brown signal the wine's old age and the varieties of "dark grapes" included in the blend.

After determining the clarity and color of the wine samples, tasters move on to identifying the aroma of each variety. Before sniffing its aroma, the white wine is swirled gently inside the glass to get rid of its alcohol vapors that could hurt the nostrils. After ten to twenty seconds of swirling, the wine is now ready to be sniffed once or twice to get a very strong impression of its aroma. Beginners should smell samples of aroma standards before sniffing each wine for comparison. They may bring along a cheat sheet or an aroma chart to help them identify the common standards for whites, such as vanilla, cloves, asparagus, citrus, peach, and honey.

The actual tasting of white wine samples happens last in the sequence. It occurs in three chains of reaction, which consist of the Attack Phase, the Evolution Phase, and the Finish Phase. The first phase involves the collation of first impressions from the wine's acidity and bitterness to its texture and sweetness. During the Attack period, tasters may immediately describe a Chardonnay as dry white the second the liquid touches their lips and tongue. Other labels used to describe wine at this stage of tasting include fruity, spicy, soft, firm, and sweet.

Afterwards, they'll have a swig of the same white wine and roll the pale-coloured liquid around inside their mouths. This Evolution phase exposes every taste bud to the underlying flavours embedded in the wine. Distinct impressions during this phase include light, crisp flavours of citrus fruits, like peach and apple, or the heavy texture of butter or honey as the wine fills the center of the mouth. At last, check for its after-taste and ramnant flavours during the Finish stage, wherein tannic wines leave a little bitterness and drinking a full-bodied wine feels like you've just swallowed cream. At the end of the tour, you'll be ready to profile one or two wines you've tasted and compared.




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