Wine tasting

A wine tasting is organized by and for winemakers, wine critics, sommeliers and other experts of the market in wine and for wine lovers and consumers to assess the quality usually several wines. Also names such as wine tasting or wine tasting will cause relation used.

• 6.2.1 Assessment criteria and characterization proposals

• 6.3.1 Assessment criteria and characterization proposals

• 6.4.1 Assessment criteria and characterization proposals

Occasions

At each stage of the winemaking and wine marketing wine samples are required. Both during and after the fermentation of the must. Here, the winemaker judged by bulk wine samples, the development processes of the container. Each step in the development of a new wine - from filtering through fining, deacidification or the duration of the oak aging - is controlled not only by laboratory tests, but also by sensory tastings. In the marketing of cask wine, buyers and multipliers interested in a barrel tasting.

When defining a Füllverschnitts more recipe variants from the bottling upcoming as bottles of wine bulk containers are usually created in-house. One must assume that the taste of the same wine has evolved slightly differently in each barrel or tank. In particular, the addition of sweet reserve is a matter of taste, to the likes several in-house opinions should be sought.

If the bottled wine to be marketed as a quality wine, he must be made to official examination to obtain the official control number. This first test of a wine is ordered by law exactly. A blind tasting by experts is one of them.

When buying wines from producers all wines can be tasted before in the rule. To this end, many companies have set up a tasting room. Here is a cooling pod ready, which is filled with all terms on the price list wines. In this outer frame, the wine Consumers can seek advice in finding the perfect wine for its needs. It may happen that the customer does not find the right wines to time- intensive sampling the entire price list or only very little buying. For such customers, there is dialectal names. In the Rheingau they are called Schnutentunker.

There are also organized paid wine tasting, though the place without buying expectancy for participants, but ultimately are promotional activities. The cost of such wine tasting sized according to the type and number of wines to be tasted and the number of participants. Eleven to a maximum of eighteen participants can share a bottle of wine ever. Each Unopened bottle for wine tasting will be charged. If the wine tasting takes place at the producer, it can be connected with a trade or cellar tour and a basement sample. During the summer months find wine tours to the vineyard parcels of the organizing winery becoming increasingly popular. It has proved to the audience when the interpreter a wine tasting makes not only the sensory specificities of each wine attentive, but also gives information about the winery, about the work in the vineyard and in the cellar, and last but not least all through humorous anecdotes about the wine loosens up.

When ordering a wine tasting the base line must be coordinated with the customer. Standard is a wine tasting by the quality levels, starting with the simple quality wine leading up to the elite; depending on the budget can also be a Beerenauslese, Eiswein or a dry berry selection form the conclusion. A wine tasting can also be used for presentation of different grape varieties, vineyards and vintages or to demonstrate the difference between dry, semi- dry or mildly upgraded wines. More than ten to twelve different wines are not common.

PROMOTIONAL also act as wine presentations, in which one or more wineries their products either deliberately introduce a professional audience, the buyers of the wine trade and the catering trade, or the event is aimed at the general public. The most famous event of its kind for professional audience in Germany is the Mainz Wine Market.

In wine seminars, wine lovers of professionals entertaining and step by step into the depth of the wine culture are introduced.

Finally, there are some formal occasions for wine tastings, namely when a producer's premises with his wines participating in awards at the federal or state level or even at international competitions. Here again regulate the flow experts.

Also the organization of official controls under the right wine can not do without tasting. From farm or from the market, and not least on wine festivals are taken by inspectors wine samples and officially examined.

Tasting by experts

In general, the description of wines is fixed here in writing. Frequently, the wines are grouped into so-called Flights: similar wines, either a region, grape variety, one year, etc. are directly compared sequentially or in parallel sensors.

A classic categorization divided the impressions of the wine in

• Eye: clarity, color and clarity of the wine to be tested
• Nose: olfactory impression after swirling the glass
• Tongue: the taste test in the mouth
• Disposal, also called reverberation: the nachdauernde impression that the wine has left the mouth.

In many professional wine tasting wines are rated on a point system. Particular importance - even for the commercial success of a wine - for example, have the Parker Points. This point system is named after the renowned wine critic Robert Parker.

Wine glasses

A wine tasting should be conducted with appropriate wine glasses. Duty for a tasting are clean, up cup-shaped closed wine glasses to allow a good evaluation. The stem of the glass serves as a handle and therefore must be long and grippy enough. The chalice is during the wine tasting remain free of fingerprints and also the hand heat should not be applied to the wine.

So-called wine - tasting glasses are according to ISO 3591 standard glasses for wine tasting. These colorless glasses are reminiscent of small white wine glasses or sherry glasses. Your special design causes can develop its odor with the lowest possible influences on the wine.

For private use, also glasses that hold about 20 cl of liquid and are made ​​of thin clear glass suitable. A bulbous, tapering upward shape is advantageous in that can develop the fragrances well due to the large liquid surface, but are held back by the smaller opening in the glass, and also the swirling the glass to wet the largest possible aroma surface is less risky with itself tapered opening. The consumer fairs often encountered Roman goblets are unsuitable due to their thick walls; a color and purity assessment is hardly possible with them.

Other utensils

Furthermore, bread, usually plain white bread, kept ready and simple as possible not sparkling mineral water as well as vessels for the spitting may not drunk wine.

Blank

Often, the wines are tasted without knowing their labels to exclude Vorbeeinflussung: only the product in the glass is to be assessed; known or unknown names, large and less large cohorts should not cloud the judgment. Such a tasting called blind tasting or blank.

If a meal is offered as part of a wine tasting or tasting, is often in dispute, at which time the food to be served. Some require it as a basis for sensory to do not fail early on, even (after 10 or 15 different wine - pressing ). Others, however, require that the food the wines had to be readjusted because food - especially sharply flavored - can affect the sensory capacity adversely.

It is clear that a good host a tasting it to let their guests: not only whether you get something to eat, even when to be fed. When fed late, so each participant will contribute ago for his receptivity and basis for wine enjoyment worry.

Some guests like to eat some sausage or cheese for wine, others reject this as " geschmacksverfälschend " from.

In a randomly chosen blank, it is rarely possible for experts to identify individual wines and their vintages. The diverse range of wines and the different stages of development of a wine during ripening and storage conditions of each individual bottle make the almost impossible.

Implementation

The process of tasting a wine is conducted in several phases with a classic wine tasting. The various phases will be described briefly below. At each stage assessment criteria are called, together with characterization proposals.

White wine is served chilled, though ideally not straight from the fridge, because it would be too cold for the assessment of six to eight degrees, but it will warm up quite quickly at room temperature. 10 to 12 degrees are ideal.

Wine tasting should be kept at a temperature of about 14 to 15 ° C; he will quickly warm to 18 to 20 ° C during pouring. At higher temperatures, the odor perception of ascending alcohol is impaired.

Glasses should be free of impurities, as they can affect the smell and taste impression otherwise. The wine should be poured carefully so he does not get too mixed with air.

Assessment of the color or "The Eye "

The best way to recognize the color when the glass is held in front of a white background. In this case, the clarity, the color and the purity of the wine to be tested. Therefore, we consider the wine glass on the one hand from above, but also keeps the glass at an angle, as the wine color depending on the fluid level may vary slightly. After a review of the color, the glass should be held horizontally to the light; some wines show on the glass so-called tears, these are formed by the surface tension. Unlike many claims enter the so-called tears or church windows that form after pivoting edge of the glass, no direct information on the quality of a wine. They merely indicate an increased by alcohol or sugar viscosity.

Interesting is the edge of the wine to the glass: it is judged by its margin size (more than one millimeter margin width indicates an older wine), and according to the variation of color in relation to the " deep " Wine: An orange border color is also a sign of matured wine.

Assessment criteria and characterization proposals

• Colour: raspberry, garnet, purple, ruby red, cherry red shimmer, playing with violet, maroon, pink, yellow green, pale yellow, golden yellow, deep gold
• Color intensity: intense, deep, bright, clear, fine, transparent, shiny, sparkly, bright light
• Wine tears: tearful, yellow, clear, streaky tears
• Color: shades, nuances
• Clarity: clarity / purity, turbidity
• Depth: Color satiety or paleness
• Luminosity: bright, dull

The smell or " The Nose"

After the visual perception comes the olfactory impression. An attempt is made to distinguish different distinctive odors and name. The olfactory impression consists of three phases.

First, you can smell the glass, without panning it because there are extremely volatile compounds in the wine that are lost after the first panning.

Now, the glass is rotated to bring the lower surface of flavors and strengthened. After another smell other odors are perceived.

The wine now needs some time to recover; then re- smelling. Some wines have again the same odor impressions as at the beginning, at the other, the odor impressions have changed through the air intake.

More in detail, is smelled by the inclined glass "down" (at the bottom ) and once the scent of the wine is taken once "up". Due to the different severities of fragrant imaging molecules are significant differences can be identified with its use.

Assessment criteria and characterization proposals

• Bouquet: a more or less pronounced, flat, powerful
• Finesse: plump, elegant, poor, small, sparkling, fusty, clean, racy, nervy, classy, ​​great breath ...
• Aroma ( fragrance ): fruity: raspberries, cherries, sour cherry, plum, black currant, apple, apricot, pineapple, lemon, pear, quince, elderflower
• Floral: violets, geraniums, wild rose, Reseda, privet, Chrysanthemum
• Spices: vanilla, anise, cinnamon, caramel, pepper, cloves
• Wood: cedar, sandalwood, wood - roasted flavors
• Animal odors: musk, beeswax
• Other odors: truffles, resin, gum, tobacco, leather, tar, earthy, smoky, grassy

The sense of smell is the most important tool of sommeliers as the nose can distinguish many more shades than the tongue. The nose is by a factor of one hundred more sensitive than the tongue. What is perceived as a flavor of the tongue, is to many parts as a nasal Aroma: For the body temperature- mouth the backcourt aroma arises in the nose.

From the "nose" can include essential qualities of the wine as grape varieties, origin, age, processing the sommelier.

The taste or " The tongue "

The tongue can convey a range of taste sensations.

The wine is sipped slowly, the air supply intended. The wine is moved slowly in the mouth and leave it there a little longer. The sensation of "sweet" decreases with time, the bitter taste sensation increases. In the mouth, then just make rough - bitter bitter tannins ( tannins ) and noticeable on the palate the taste.

Assessment criteria and characterization proposals

• Body: light, balanced, heavy, full-bodied, flat, in fruit, fleshy, oily, bulky (alcohol increases rapidly to head), nutty, velvety, silky (fine structure ), thin, raw, oxidized, consumed, fusty ( bacteria- infected, smell of ethyl acetate, inedible )
• Astringent (some rough sensation on the tongue, typical tannic wines): not easy, astringent
• Sweetness: dry, balanced, discreet, sweet, oily, doughy
• Acid: not saying ( acid absent), flat, piquant ( impression of freshness), spicy, fine, abundant, unpleasantly sharp
• Balance: unbalanced, balanced, perfectly
• Bitterness: No, light, bitter substances, inky, metallic, herbaceous, gangrenous, hard, small
• Salt taste: No, in traces

It is possible to interrupt the sample here and spit the wine into a vessel. This allows the sampling of very many wines without taking up the entire alcohol.

The disposal

Great wines should be drunk at the tasting to assess the nachdauernden impression after the wine has left the mouth. Depending on how long the wine taste in the mouth and throat can be felt, it is called a long or short finish or aftertaste.

Assessment criteria and characterization proposals

• Geschmackspersistenz or flavor length: short finish, powerful finish with long aftertaste, " peacock's tail " ( the bouquet returns after some time )