1. Systematic Approach of Tasting Wine Flashcards
(37 cards)
1
Q
What does SAT stand for?
A
Systematic Approach to Tasting Wine
2
Q
Purpose of SAT?
A
- ability to describe wine accurately
2. make reasonable conclusions based on descriptions
3
Q
Structure of SAT?
A
Part 1 - Description: Appearance, nose, palate
Part 2 - Conclusions: Quality level, level of readiness for drinking/potential for ageing
4
Q
SAT hyphened terms
A
Only use one for description even if two terms may be correct
5
Q
SAT e.g. terms and separated by comma
A
You may use several of the terms for description (but only those terms)
6
Q
Danger with five-point scale? And how to prevent?
A
potential overuse of “medium”, possible to prevent by initial use of three-point scale. Be confident to use end of scale not only for extremes
7
Q
Prepare for tasting - hydration?
A
You should be well hydrated as nasal receptors may become dry and lose sensitivity (plus losing saliva when spitting)
8
Q
Tasting glass features (2) and volume
A
- rounded walls for swirling to release aromas
- inward sloping walls to capture aromas
volume: always same, e.g. 5 cl
9
Q
Appearance (4)
A
clarity, intensity, colour, other observations
10
Q
Clarity (2)
A
- Clear
- Hazy: although some wines are deliberately hazy they will not be used during exam
11
Q
Intensity - defintion? (3)
A
- How much colour the wine has (different at rim in tilted glass)
- pale, medium, deep
12
Q
Colour - definition, white vs red (5, 3, 5)
A
- Balance of red, blue, yellow, green, brown (not different at rim in tilted glass)
- white and rosé wines best judged with sufficient depth of liquid
- red best judged near rim
- White: lemon-green (some green), yellow, gold (some orange), amber and brown (mostly very odl or deliberately oxidized)
- Red: purple (some blue/purple), ruby (most), garnet (some orange), tawny (more brown than red), brown (no red)
- Rosé: pink (very pure, may have hint of purple), salmon (some orange), orange (dominant, very rare)
13
Q
Appearance - other observations
A
- Legs (or tears): high sugar and/or alcohol makes more viscous
- Deposit (filtered?)
- CO2: fault (refermentation or malolactic ferm in bottle), but not always (light, unoaked whites), sparkling wines
14
Q
Nose (4)
A
Condition, intensity, aromas, development
15
Q
Nose - condition (2, 7)
A
- clean, unclean (faulty?)
- Trichloroanisole (TCA): damp cardboard (“cork”)
- Reduction: “stinky”, rotten eggs
- Sulfur dioxide: all wines but especially sweets, if too much like acrid smell of recently extinguished matches
- Oxidation: opposite of reduction, deeper coloured and more brown, toffee, caramel, honey, coffee, lack of freshness (sometimes on purpose)
- out of condition: lost freshness, mostly due to poor storage (too long, hot, bright, variable)
- volatile acidity (VA): vinegar, nail polish remover
- Brettanomyces (“Brett”): yeast giving smell of plastic or animal
16
Q
Nose - intensity (5)
A
light, medium -, medium, medium +, pronounced
17
Q
Nose - aromas (3)
A
- primary, secondary, tertiary
- not every wine has primary, secondary or tertiary aromas
18
Q
Nose - primary aromas - definition? examples of primary clusters?
A
- Def: after fermentation, i.e. from grapes or created during fermentation process
- Mostly fruity aromas (e.g citrus, black), but also herbaceous, floral, etc
19
Q
Nose - secondary aromas - definition? examples?
A
- Def: post-fermentation
- Ex: from oak (vanilla, toast), malolactic fermentation (MLF, creamy, buttery), yeasty (lees contact), biscuity (autolysis)
20
Q
Nose - tertiary aromas - definition? examples? careful?
A
- Def: created during ageing processes
- Ex: oxidative (oxygen exposure during long period in oak) –> coffee, toffee, caramel, or non-oxidative (protected from oxygen due to ageing in bottle) –> petrol, honey, mushroom
- can influence primary aromas, e.g. fruit less fresh and get a dried/cooked character, i.e. such aromas can also come from primary in young wines due to dried grapes or grapes grown in hot climate
21
Q
Nose - development - definitions? 2 examples of no longer youthful when sold? all benefit from ageing?
A
- youthful: dominated by primary and secondary aromas
- developing: some tertiary can be detected
- fully developed: tertiary predominant - secondary fully integrated
- tired, past its best: when attractive aromas fade and unpleasant start to develop
- ex 1: Rioja Reserva - due to ageing before release it will have some tertiary aromas - “developing”
- ex 2: Tawny Ports and all Sherrys - undergo extended ageing and tertiary aromas dominate - “fully developed”
- No, for some wines youthful aromas do not change in positive way and no attractive tertiary aromas will develop, e.g. almost all rosés, most inexpensive whites and many inexpensive reds
22
Q
Palate - 9
A
sweetness, acidity, tannin, alcohol, body, mousse, flavour intensity, flavour characteristics, finish
23
Q
Palate - sweetness - levels (6), examples
A
- dry, off-dry, medium-dry, medium-sweet, sweet, luscious
- dry: no detectable sugar levels (very rare)
- off-dry: most “dry” wines (e.g. Alsace Gewürztraminer, Brut Champagne, inexpensive reds and whites
- medium-dry/medium-sweet: distinct presence of sugar but not enough to partner with deserts
- sweet: prominent feature (e.g. Sauternes, Port)
- luscious: very few sweet wines, notably more viscous, leaving sticky sweet (e.g. Rutherglen Muscats, PX Sherries)
24
Q
Palate - acidity - 3 types, detection, levels (5), examples, 2 points to remember
A
- mostly malic and tartaric (form grape juice), or lactic (from malic in all reds and many whites)
- side of tongue, makes mouth water
- low, medium-, medium, medium+, high
- low: feels broad, round and soft
- high: from grapes grown in cool conditions
- point 1: high level of sweetness and acidity can mask each other, e.g. sweet wine (acidity hard to detect) vs Chablis (easy to detect) - BUT mouthwatering effect stays same
- point 2: alcohol can create similar burning sensation as acidity
25
Palate - tannin - definition, sensation, levels (5), unripe vs ripe + example + how to know distinguish
- mostly from grape skins during fermentation
- cause mouth to dry up and feel rough due to tannins binding to saliva, contributing to textural richness felt above gums, sometimes also bitter at back of mouth
- low, medium-, medium, medium+, high
- unripe: more aggressively astringent
- ripe: more textural richness
- ex: barely ripe pinot noir with medium level tannins --> very astringent vs high-quality Shiraz from hot region with high levels of velvety-smooth ripe tannins showing little astringency
- how: A) tannins are astringent - thin body? then low tannins, B) low astringency but very full-bodied? then high tannins
26
Palate - alcohol - contribution (2), property, perception, how to distinguish from acidity, levels (3)
- contributes to texture and body
- property: more viscous, so at high levels wine seems heavier, at low levels seems more watery
- perception: high levels --> hot, burning sensation
- vs acidity: if mouthwatering --> high acidity, if thick and vicous --> high in alcohol
- levels: low (<11%), medium (11-13.9%), high (>=14%)
- levels fortified: low (15-16.4%), medium (16.5-18.4%), high (>18.5%)
27
Palate - body - definition, factors, levels, hard
- Def: textural impression created by wine
- main factor: alcohol
- sugar adds to body, high acidity makes lighter, high tannin makes wine fuller bodied, although low levels of astringent tannin can make it harsher, thiner and lighter
- levels: low, medium-, medium, medium+, full
- hard: sweet, high acidity, low alcohol... what's main factor?
28
Palate - mousse - levels (3)
- only sparkling wine
- levels: delicate (ageing, very soft and fine), creamy (lively sparkle without frothy or aggressive), aggressive (some young - extremely lively explode but lose all bubbles at once)
29
Palate - flavour intensity - differences with nose?
- in general flavours detected on palate should be same as aromas detected in the nose.
- Through warming of wine in mouth earthy, spicy and toasty characteristics can be more prominent on palate.
- Fruity and floral characteristics can be less prominent on palate.
30
Palate - finish - levels (5), definition
- short, medium-, medium, medium+, long
- Def: collection of sensations after having swallowed or spat.
- Important indicator of quality (i.e. the longer the better). BUT: only persistence of desirable sensations (e.g. not a long and bitter aftertaste...)
- can vary from taster to taster
- short: most basic quality wines (seconds)
- long: very fine wine (a minute or more)
31
Conclusions (6 + 4)
- Quality level: faulty, poor, acceptable, good, very good, outstanding
- Level of readiness for drinking/potential for ageing: too young, can drink now but potential for ageing, drink now but not suitable for ageing, too old
32
Conclusions - quality (4), defs
- Balance, intensity, length, complexity
| - Balance: sugar/fruit vs acidity/tannin - integration?
33
Conclusions - quality - balance - 3 questions
- 1st: how is overall balance achieved?
- 2nd: overall how well balanced?
- 3rd: how well integrated are the components?
34
Conclusions - quality - intensity - 2
- weak and dilute flavours seldom high quality
| - but more intensity not necessarily high quality
35
Conclusions - quality - complexity - origin, general / simplicity, examples , levels
- can come from primary aromas&flavours only or combination with secondary/tertiary
- complexity is desirable, but simplicity not always negative, i.e. not all premium wines are complex.
- sometimes purity and clarity of expression can be what makes wine great, and presence of oak or tertiary characters might detract from quality
- ex. Icewines often fall into this category
- outstanding: 4/4 criteria positive
- very good: 3/4
- good: 2/4
- acceptable: 1/4
- poor: 0/4
36
Conclusions - readiness - basic question?
- is wine made in a style that can benefit from ageing?
- if mainly primary aromas/flavours with light acid or tannin then likely not benefit from ageing
- therefore: drink now: not suitable for ageing
- if wine seems like it should have been fruity with light tannin or acid structure but has lost its freshness: too old
37
Conclusions - readiness - how does wine have to be ready for ageing? how will different characteristics develop over time?
- firm acid and tannin structure
- aromas&flavours develop away from primary to tertiary
- tannins soften
- alcohol, sugar and acidity don't change over time
- although sweet wines very slowly taste drier as age
- drink now but has potential: drinking pleasurably now but will improve positively
- too young: will be so much better in a few years and waste to drink now
