Fundamentals

Question 1

What are the key components of sight?

Answer 1

• Clarity and sediment
• Color/Concentration
• Rim variation
• Tearing
• Staining
• Gas

Question 2

List the five key impact compounds

Answer 2

1. Pyrazines
2. Rotundone
3. TDN (Trimethyl-dihydro-naphthalene)
4. Monoterpenes
5. Thiols

Question 3

What impacts clarity in a wine?

Answer 3

• Density (concentration) of color
• Turbidity
• Visible sediment

Question 4

What is turbidity?

Answer 4

Indicates measure of clarity of a liquid – haziness caused by microscopic solid particles in suspension within a liquid (note: particles still suspended, so haven’t “fallen out of suspension” like with visible sediment. this is just a measure of haziness)

Suspended particles affect clarity – so a more turbid wine will have lower clarity (translucent vs. transparent) because it’s less able to refract light

Not impacted by visible sediment or color of wine

Question 5

What is opacity?

Answer 5

Highly-concentrated, dark color allowing little light to pass through

Typically used to refer to deep red wines that you can’t see through

A wine can be opaque and not turbid or hazy

Question 6

How does visible sediment differ from turbidity?

Answer 6

Visible sediment is result of solid particles that have fallen out of suspension (vs. turbidity which is microscopic particles in suspension)