Wine Tasting Part 2

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran. Today we are continuing our series exploring the basics of tasting and understanding wine. Yesterday we talked about the importance of looking at your glass of wine and some of the clues it will give you about the wine. One of the items we addressed was the color of the wine. If you observe any brownish brick or amber hues in your wine – whether white or red - what is that indicating? Well, this is an indication of age in some wines or of defect in other wines. Mostly what it tells me in a white wine is that I need to smell it. If it has the smell of sherry, it is most likely oxidized, and I will either throw it out or return it to the place I purchased it. Oxidized means that somewhere along the line the wine was exposed to oxygen which caused it to break down and convert to a less than fresh tasting and desirable beverage. In red wine, it tells me that most of the tannin has dissipated and this wine is either old or aging prematurely. Either way, the next thing I want to do is smell the wine and learn more about it. Whether the wine is brilliantly clear or off color, smelling it will give us lots more information. When we smell the wine we are calling on one of our most significant senses in the exploration of a glass of wine. Smelling will be the topic tomorrow as we continue our series of understanding more about tasting wine. Remember to send your wine questions to Linda at vine to wine dot net and thank you for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.