April 6, 2013
What’s in a
wine? I don’t have the slightest idea…well beside the grapes of course. It would take a connoisseur to tell me what
I’m missing. Since a connoisseur wasn’t
handy I asked my sister who has, over the years, developed a love for a good
‘Cab’. I wanted to try a red wine
because I’ve never particularly liked the reds. My first challenge was to find
a wine for the tasting. I didn’t want anything expensive.
We tried Old Vine Red
from California.
So the lesson began with opening
the bottle.
I learned that we needed to
let the wine breathe. This is achieved
by allowing more air to reach the wine. To
help process we poured the wine into the glass from distance of several inches.
Also the glass should be wide to have a larger expanse for the wine to, you
guessed it, breathe. When you see a wine connoisseur swirl the wine in the
glass they are allowing the wine to mix with the surrounding air to bring the
flavor of the wine to the surface.
I did all that.
I learned you never judge a wine by
the first taste. Always take a sip and
let the taste reach all of the mouth.
The wine overpowers the taste buds. Now I took a second. The second was
much of what the wine was there to offer me. The bitterness was gone and
replaced with a delicate sweetness combined with oak and…was it pepper? I’m not
sure. I just know hidden flavors came forth to give mystery to the pleasure of
the wine. Time mellowed out the wine even more and it became even more
enjoyable.
After a few swallows of the wine we
ate a piece of cheese. This gave the wine an even more interesting taste. Then
I tried a piece of chocolate. The wine took on a bitter taste.
Now when I go out to eat I can
order a glass of wine, perhaps a Pinot or a Merlot or a Cabernet, and continue
this lesson. I can take a wine tasting class at a winery here in the Twin
Cities or Napa or even France, (why not!) and look for the subtle differences
in the bouquet. I am certainly not an expert but I know something of the
science now.
What a wonderful second day of
something new. I have learned what makes the true red wine enthusiast so
enamored with something so lowly as a fermented grape. It is so much more than
that. It is chemistry and enchantment.
Sincerely,
Jeanne Mulcare
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