First tasting of the course.
Each lesson we are tasting six wines. Having done lesson two I think the tastings will tie in with the grapes and regions covered. Lesson one we got a grab bag of diverse weights and characteristics to illustrate some of criteria of the Systematic Approach. http://wsetglobal.com/documents/ic_sat_22.06.09.pdf
We were asked to put down what we thought. As our first tasting we had little to gauge our findings against. I shall be writing my results in italics where they differ from the rest of the group, or are simply way off the mark. I’m going to put the ‘real’ results in Roman. Alun, our tutor, gently coaxed us back to reviewing what we had written initially once we had a few tastings done. ‘Have another sniff of the first one.’ Light – Medium – Pronounced means little without experience of each. A group vote showed what most of us had arrived at, then a comparison with the textbook answer. This hands on, eyes, nose and mouth on, part of the course is really, really good fun.
I’ll put the results from each tasting into the same format as our class notes. Without repeating parrot fashion from the course book, I’m going to run through how we get to the results.
Read the bottle. Seems obvious, but until lesson two I’d no idea how to really understand German wine categorization. Each tasted wine I’ll roll off what I’ve discovered about what the words on the label mean. There are initials and terminology to de-code, numbers and dates to consider. It’s all beautifully paraphrased here http://www.wine-searcher.com/wine-label-eu.htm
This will tell you what to expect, or at worst hope, to find in the bottle. Also another number to consider, in lesson one this was done after tasting, the price tag. Not knowing this first time round we were not far off the mark going in blind. Once we’re all more experienced the pricing point will be key. The expectation from this will determine whether it gets poor-acceptable-good-very-good-outstanding at Conclusion stage.
50ml into the ISO.
Look into the glass. That white background important here. Clear or dull, also if any little bubbles, spritz. Look from above to measure the Intensity.
See all the way through = Pale
See to the stem = Medium
Can’t see to the bottom of the bowl = Deep
Tilt the glass to 45° to assess the colour.
Swirl! Glass on the table, round and round, get the wine moving, air through it, aeration.
If it’s stale smelling then it’s off. Many ways it can go wrong here.
Intensity, we’ll learn to measure this with experience.
Aroma Characteristics is where Jilly Goolden http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jilly_Goolden got us all laughing some years back. Now we’re learning this actually fairly standardised vocabulary to express our findings.
Into the mouth. Keep it at the tip of the tongue to test for Sweetness, I’m really struggling with this. Then spit, an inebriated palate is a clouded palate.
The second sip is held in the mouth, air drawn in over it. An exhale through the nose then more air drawn in. This slurping sounds fairly ridiculous done anywhere other than a tasting.
Acidity, felt along the sides of the tongue and the amount of saliva stimulated.
Tannin, like in strong tea, coats the teeth and gets a unique tingle.
Body, this is all about the wine’s sensation, rather than a sensory reaction.
Flavour Characteristics, we’re going poetic again like the Aroma Characteristics.
Spit
Length, what lingers on.
We are all were repeating this to try and pick up all these fine points of tasting.
Conclusions, sum it up very succinctly.
So this is the how, next few posts are the wines we tasted.
Showing posts with label tasting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tasting. Show all posts
Sunday, 20 September 2009
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
WSET 8/9/09 Lesson 1 part 3
Wine Service
'Has it been chilled? Can you pop an ice cube in it?'
If, like me, you serve wine & food to customers for a living then this question will be as familiar as the statement 'Ooh the soup's nice & hot. ' Yeah, I've spent my whole career, as has the chef, ensuring I can put a bottle of wine in a fridge & the chef a saucepan of soup on a stove. So what else am I to learn from my WSET about wine service? Chilled wine has a place, as has the degree of chilling. Wine has an optimum placing, both arriving in its best receptacle as much as what next to.
Food fridges generally are set to 2-5ºC to ensure food is kept in its best condition for as long as possible. Drinks fridges not so cold. The coolest these should be at is 6º.
bettertastingwine has conveniently posted the matrix http://www.bettertastingwine.com/serving_temperature_chart.html so I'll not simply repeat, but it is of note that the fuller the wine the warmer the service temperature. The light chilling of paler reds has become more common practice in the UK now. I shall be less keen with the ice bucket for the fuller whites, also our snugly warm room temperature is way too warm for even the biggest reds, it'll be 1/2 an hour on the doorstep for the home service of these this winter at home.
I can open a bottle of wine, well practised, but there are a host of options for getting in there.
.
My preference is the little green chap 2nd left bottom row, the waiters' friend. My nemesis to his right. I've never tried the twin prong, so still have things to look forward to then. This image is from http://www.davidstuff.com/wine/glasses.htm who conveniently has a lovely selection of wine glasses too & some sound advice on their care. I particularly like this quote 'If, like me, you don't particularly care to handle your delicate crystal glasses after consuming more than one serving, then thoroughly rinse the wine residue out of the glass and clean it in the morning when your motor functions are more stable.'
One opening rule of some importance is the safe opening of sparkling wines. After ripping off the foil top, unwinding the cage, keep a thumb over the cork, turn the bottle away from people, hold at 30º take a firm hold of the cork & with the other hand turn the bottle. The force of the gas pressure in the bottle will send a cork away from you at dangerous speeds, but not a bottle away from the cork at noticeable pressure. If the fizzy has been a bit shaken up on its way to your hands, as the house Champagne seemed to have been on its way to http://www.graze-restaurant.co.uk whilst I was there, then the covering of the cork with a clean tea towel, then holding it through that, prevents the cork shooting out of your control & covers any lively activity after that. Done with flourish this looks professional. Sparkling wines always go back in the ice bucket to keep them cool, so a tea towel around the neck to dry the bottle is obligatory wherever it's being served.
So looking professional with wine service, there's a code of practice here. Show the bottle of wine to whomever has ordered it. The oldest gentleman is not necessarily this person these days, & the 'host' has often had the most botox so determining the most senior is treacherous in dimly lit service spaces anyhow. This is for them to read the label. I have been thankful of the 'host' paying attention here on many occasions. Offhand 'I'll take the Pinot' could result in many a wine of many colours coming to the table, once they've said yes it's their issue. The other important thing they're reading is the vintage. Vintages run out, wine suppliers could tell the restaurant they've moved on, but this may not yet have been updated on the wine list. For certain wines this is significant, let the discerning customer make this choice. They get to taste the wine, only 50ml or so. They can say yes or no at this point. It could be wrong in any way, off, tainted, too young, or simply not typical of type. Whatever, it is my rule is to not serve it if the customer doesn't like it, each restaurant has its own feelings on this. Pour everyone else's glasses before returning to the 'host's'. How much? Well, in the ISO glass it was filled to the point where the bowl is widest, its safe to use the same rule with the glasses on the dinner table.
Breathing, not just whilst you're at the table, but the wine too. Whites & rosés don't need it, but, as I was corrected, ALL red wine opens up with some breathing, even the lightest Gamays. The more mature reds will need it to pour off the clean wine away from the sediment. The bottle must have settled for a day or so, so no shakey shakey on the way to the table. Best to decant away from the table after tasting. Do it against a light source, the romantic traditional way is in front of a candle. This is so you can watch the wine as it pours into the decanter, then as the sediment reaches the neck of the bottle stop pouring, this little bit is for the stock pot, not the wine glass. Even non-sedimented reds open more after decanting. It's the aeration that gets oxygen into contact with the wine, so allowing aromas to come out. This makes a huge difference to very tannic reds as after a while the fruit aromas become more pronounced. There is an optimum time for this, so more than a few hours is generally too much. If there is something up with the wine, especially brett taint, then it becomes more apparent as the flavours develop. Double decanting is sometimes done to speed this aeration up. In some establishments the bottle is cleaned out & the wine returned to it. What makes no difference is simply opening a bottle of wine. The surface area at the neck of the bottle is too narrow to have any impact on the wine. If all you're to do is let the wine breathe, pour a little into a glass, the customer's hopefully, so the surface of the wine is in the body of the bottle.
Which glass for what? Beautifully shown on http://www.davidstuff.com/wine/glasses.htm The best shape, like the ISO, is a tulip shape. This is to maximise the surface area of the wine in ratio to the enclosed area above. Max your olfactory stimulation this way. The air above the wine is where the enjoyment all begins, so don't generally fill the glass above the 2/3's mark. The mid 20th century fashion for Champagne in Coupés was a bit of sacrilege, Marilyn had generally spilt most of it whilst tripping over anyway. The progress of the bubbles up through the Champagne imbues them with the wine's flavour, so the longest route gives the most aroma. The flute always wins. The white & rosé glass is slightly smaller & tighter than the reds' to concentrate their aromas. The 'bowls' for red wine allow all the bigger aromas room to dance. Fortified wine glasses are smaller again, not just as the measure served is less, but as they have higher alcohol present that vapour should be allowed to dissipate to accentuate the fruit & floral aromas. Sherries & brandies too have their respective glassware that bring out their best attributes.
So there's the synopsis for bottle service, how about the 'by the glass' customer? Here there has been great debate on size. The Paris goblet? So beloved of Sharon Watts for a swift shot or 2 of Gin Angie-style when she needed a lil stiffna! That's really the best use of this 70's wine service globe, 125ml GS (Government Stamped) mark nicely eroded by the glass-washer over long reuse. There is no reason to have nasty glassware for glass service of wine. Any glasses can be sent off to get the GS, or wine can be measured before pouring into the glass to comply with licensing law. So again it's back to how much?
125ml was the standard glass of wine size for many a year, then 175ml appeared as large. As our habits changed & eating out became more normal 175ml took over as the norm. This resulted in 250ml becoming large, pushing the 125ml definitively into being small. This is all well & good for choice, though few establishments offer all 3 sizes. Problems have arisen with compliance with due diligence as a licensee as wines have increased in ABV (Alcohol by Volume) through the late 80's & 90's. Without going all maths teacher, I don't have the cardigan range, if wine were sold in 1 litre bottles the maths would be easy.
Wine at 8% would have 8 units in 1 litre. Wine is sold in 75cl bottles, so multiply the ABV * 0.75 to calculate the units of alcohol in a bottle. In this instance 8 * 0.75 = 6 units. Confused?
Well, that's easy, so how many units in a 'glass' of wine? This is very important for people counting their units, usually drivers. Wine from this bottle in a 125ml glass = 1 unit; in a 175ml glass = 1.5 units; in as 250ml glass = 2 units.
With no 'standard' for a 'glass' of wine the discerning or conscientious customer has a raft of questions to ask. More importantly the average ABV for most wines sold in the UK is upwards of 12%, that's at least half as much again as illustrated. With 175ml taking over as the 'standard' it pushes units consumed well over 2, even with food, dangerously close to a driver over the limit of their BAC (Blood Alcohol Concentration). This is what is used to measure the levels of ethanol in blood that causes intoxication. The speed of alcohol becoming ethanol in a person's blood stream is affected by gender, health, weight, recent food intake, personal absorption & metabolism just to name a few factors. So how large measures of wine should be served in & at what ABV to be responsible licensees is a hot topic.
'How much til I'm over the limit mate?'
'Just step in this medical examination chamber adjacent to the restaurant & I'll let you know after an hour of tests!'
You've the wine in the desirable glass at a size you are comfortable with, now you'd like food with it. Unless drinking the wine on its own or finishing it before food then compatibility is pretty important for complete enjoyment. Many people choose wine after choosing food, or choose wine that will partner many food styles to keep everyone happy. I like a G&T before dinner so I can choose the wine after food choices. This restaurant http://www.ilsanlorenzo.it/ won me over on their approach by presenting 1st the aperitif menu, the only wines being by the glass; then food menu; then & only then the wine list.
There is great debate in restaurants over food matching, especially when 'taster/grazing/degustation' menus offer a matching wines option.
It seems the golden rule on incompatibility is oily & salty foods don't partner tannic red wines well.
I'm going to run through the prescribed matches in the order of the Systematic Approach;
Intensity - Intensely flavoured food = Intensely flavoured wine. Not to be misread as heavy or rich.
Sweetness - Sweet food, also salty = Sweeter than the food sweet wine. Use the sweeties also with salted nuts & oily patés.
Acidity - Acidic food, also salty food = Acidic wines. Many tastings will show high acidity, that watering mouth feel.
Tannin - It's the red meats here = Tannic wines.
Body - Lighter flavours = Lighter bodied whites & reds. Often the steamed meats with light sauces. Intense,creamy, rich foods = Full bodied whites & reds. This is where the seared meats, creamed potatoes & slow-roasted foods partner the chewy wines.
This is a bit of an over simplification perhaps, but as I get through the tastings I shall note the classic pairings, as I cook I shall try some of these out myself too.
'Has it been chilled? Can you pop an ice cube in it?'
If, like me, you serve wine & food to customers for a living then this question will be as familiar as the statement 'Ooh the soup's nice & hot. ' Yeah, I've spent my whole career, as has the chef, ensuring I can put a bottle of wine in a fridge & the chef a saucepan of soup on a stove. So what else am I to learn from my WSET about wine service? Chilled wine has a place, as has the degree of chilling. Wine has an optimum placing, both arriving in its best receptacle as much as what next to.
Food fridges generally are set to 2-5ºC to ensure food is kept in its best condition for as long as possible. Drinks fridges not so cold. The coolest these should be at is 6º.
bettertastingwine has conveniently posted the matrix http://www.bettertastingwine.com/serving_temperature_chart.html so I'll not simply repeat, but it is of note that the fuller the wine the warmer the service temperature. The light chilling of paler reds has become more common practice in the UK now. I shall be less keen with the ice bucket for the fuller whites, also our snugly warm room temperature is way too warm for even the biggest reds, it'll be 1/2 an hour on the doorstep for the home service of these this winter at home.
I can open a bottle of wine, well practised, but there are a host of options for getting in there.
.
My preference is the little green chap 2nd left bottom row, the waiters' friend. My nemesis to his right. I've never tried the twin prong, so still have things to look forward to then. This image is from http://www.davidstuff.com/wine/glasses.htm who conveniently has a lovely selection of wine glasses too & some sound advice on their care. I particularly like this quote 'If, like me, you don't particularly care to handle your delicate crystal glasses after consuming more than one serving, then thoroughly rinse the wine residue out of the glass and clean it in the morning when your motor functions are more stable.'
One opening rule of some importance is the safe opening of sparkling wines. After ripping off the foil top, unwinding the cage, keep a thumb over the cork, turn the bottle away from people, hold at 30º take a firm hold of the cork & with the other hand turn the bottle. The force of the gas pressure in the bottle will send a cork away from you at dangerous speeds, but not a bottle away from the cork at noticeable pressure. If the fizzy has been a bit shaken up on its way to your hands, as the house Champagne seemed to have been on its way to http://www.graze-restaurant.co.uk whilst I was there, then the covering of the cork with a clean tea towel, then holding it through that, prevents the cork shooting out of your control & covers any lively activity after that. Done with flourish this looks professional. Sparkling wines always go back in the ice bucket to keep them cool, so a tea towel around the neck to dry the bottle is obligatory wherever it's being served.
So looking professional with wine service, there's a code of practice here. Show the bottle of wine to whomever has ordered it. The oldest gentleman is not necessarily this person these days, & the 'host' has often had the most botox so determining the most senior is treacherous in dimly lit service spaces anyhow. This is for them to read the label. I have been thankful of the 'host' paying attention here on many occasions. Offhand 'I'll take the Pinot' could result in many a wine of many colours coming to the table, once they've said yes it's their issue. The other important thing they're reading is the vintage. Vintages run out, wine suppliers could tell the restaurant they've moved on, but this may not yet have been updated on the wine list. For certain wines this is significant, let the discerning customer make this choice. They get to taste the wine, only 50ml or so. They can say yes or no at this point. It could be wrong in any way, off, tainted, too young, or simply not typical of type. Whatever, it is my rule is to not serve it if the customer doesn't like it, each restaurant has its own feelings on this. Pour everyone else's glasses before returning to the 'host's'. How much? Well, in the ISO glass it was filled to the point where the bowl is widest, its safe to use the same rule with the glasses on the dinner table.
Breathing, not just whilst you're at the table, but the wine too. Whites & rosés don't need it, but, as I was corrected, ALL red wine opens up with some breathing, even the lightest Gamays. The more mature reds will need it to pour off the clean wine away from the sediment. The bottle must have settled for a day or so, so no shakey shakey on the way to the table. Best to decant away from the table after tasting. Do it against a light source, the romantic traditional way is in front of a candle. This is so you can watch the wine as it pours into the decanter, then as the sediment reaches the neck of the bottle stop pouring, this little bit is for the stock pot, not the wine glass. Even non-sedimented reds open more after decanting. It's the aeration that gets oxygen into contact with the wine, so allowing aromas to come out. This makes a huge difference to very tannic reds as after a while the fruit aromas become more pronounced. There is an optimum time for this, so more than a few hours is generally too much. If there is something up with the wine, especially brett taint, then it becomes more apparent as the flavours develop. Double decanting is sometimes done to speed this aeration up. In some establishments the bottle is cleaned out & the wine returned to it. What makes no difference is simply opening a bottle of wine. The surface area at the neck of the bottle is too narrow to have any impact on the wine. If all you're to do is let the wine breathe, pour a little into a glass, the customer's hopefully, so the surface of the wine is in the body of the bottle.
Which glass for what? Beautifully shown on http://www.davidstuff.com/wine/glasses.htm The best shape, like the ISO, is a tulip shape. This is to maximise the surface area of the wine in ratio to the enclosed area above. Max your olfactory stimulation this way. The air above the wine is where the enjoyment all begins, so don't generally fill the glass above the 2/3's mark. The mid 20th century fashion for Champagne in Coupés was a bit of sacrilege, Marilyn had generally spilt most of it whilst tripping over anyway. The progress of the bubbles up through the Champagne imbues them with the wine's flavour, so the longest route gives the most aroma. The flute always wins. The white & rosé glass is slightly smaller & tighter than the reds' to concentrate their aromas. The 'bowls' for red wine allow all the bigger aromas room to dance. Fortified wine glasses are smaller again, not just as the measure served is less, but as they have higher alcohol present that vapour should be allowed to dissipate to accentuate the fruit & floral aromas. Sherries & brandies too have their respective glassware that bring out their best attributes.
So there's the synopsis for bottle service, how about the 'by the glass' customer? Here there has been great debate on size. The Paris goblet? So beloved of Sharon Watts for a swift shot or 2 of Gin Angie-style when she needed a lil stiffna! That's really the best use of this 70's wine service globe, 125ml GS (Government Stamped) mark nicely eroded by the glass-washer over long reuse. There is no reason to have nasty glassware for glass service of wine. Any glasses can be sent off to get the GS, or wine can be measured before pouring into the glass to comply with licensing law. So again it's back to how much?
125ml was the standard glass of wine size for many a year, then 175ml appeared as large. As our habits changed & eating out became more normal 175ml took over as the norm. This resulted in 250ml becoming large, pushing the 125ml definitively into being small. This is all well & good for choice, though few establishments offer all 3 sizes. Problems have arisen with compliance with due diligence as a licensee as wines have increased in ABV (Alcohol by Volume) through the late 80's & 90's. Without going all maths teacher, I don't have the cardigan range, if wine were sold in 1 litre bottles the maths would be easy.
Wine at 8% would have 8 units in 1 litre. Wine is sold in 75cl bottles, so multiply the ABV * 0.75 to calculate the units of alcohol in a bottle. In this instance 8 * 0.75 = 6 units. Confused?
Well, that's easy, so how many units in a 'glass' of wine? This is very important for people counting their units, usually drivers. Wine from this bottle in a 125ml glass = 1 unit; in a 175ml glass = 1.5 units; in as 250ml glass = 2 units.
With no 'standard' for a 'glass' of wine the discerning or conscientious customer has a raft of questions to ask. More importantly the average ABV for most wines sold in the UK is upwards of 12%, that's at least half as much again as illustrated. With 175ml taking over as the 'standard' it pushes units consumed well over 2, even with food, dangerously close to a driver over the limit of their BAC (Blood Alcohol Concentration). This is what is used to measure the levels of ethanol in blood that causes intoxication. The speed of alcohol becoming ethanol in a person's blood stream is affected by gender, health, weight, recent food intake, personal absorption & metabolism just to name a few factors. So how large measures of wine should be served in & at what ABV to be responsible licensees is a hot topic.
'How much til I'm over the limit mate?'
'Just step in this medical examination chamber adjacent to the restaurant & I'll let you know after an hour of tests!'
You've the wine in the desirable glass at a size you are comfortable with, now you'd like food with it. Unless drinking the wine on its own or finishing it before food then compatibility is pretty important for complete enjoyment. Many people choose wine after choosing food, or choose wine that will partner many food styles to keep everyone happy. I like a G&T before dinner so I can choose the wine after food choices. This restaurant http://www.ilsanlorenzo.it/ won me over on their approach by presenting 1st the aperitif menu, the only wines being by the glass; then food menu; then & only then the wine list.
There is great debate in restaurants over food matching, especially when 'taster/grazing/degustation' menus offer a matching wines option.
It seems the golden rule on incompatibility is oily & salty foods don't partner tannic red wines well.
I'm going to run through the prescribed matches in the order of the Systematic Approach;
Intensity - Intensely flavoured food = Intensely flavoured wine. Not to be misread as heavy or rich.
Sweetness - Sweet food, also salty = Sweeter than the food sweet wine. Use the sweeties also with salted nuts & oily patés.
Acidity - Acidic food, also salty food = Acidic wines. Many tastings will show high acidity, that watering mouth feel.
Tannin - It's the red meats here = Tannic wines.
Body - Lighter flavours = Lighter bodied whites & reds. Often the steamed meats with light sauces. Intense,creamy, rich foods = Full bodied whites & reds. This is where the seared meats, creamed potatoes & slow-roasted foods partner the chewy wines.
This is a bit of an over simplification perhaps, but as I get through the tastings I shall note the classic pairings, as I cook I shall try some of these out myself too.
Tuesday, 15 September 2009
WSET 8/9/09 Lesson 1 part 2
The senses are being tuned, so how about the wine?
Now I could have gone a right old rant after grabbing a bottle on the way home from last week's class from Martin McColl, only to get it home to find it had already started the journey to making a lovely red wine based soup whilst being stored for sale. Heat & any wine ain't a good situation whilst it's still in the bottle.
This beautiful shot of a natural cave cellar in Bekaa, Lebanon isn't available in every dwelling. The environment that the wine is stored in is very important for its preservation.
Wine, obviously, is stored in all sorts of larger vessels whilst in production, however when finished it needs to be transported. A lot of progress has been made over the centuries in the vessels that wine is stored in. From the pottery, leather, wood or metal vessels in ancient history through various bottle shapes, many looking remarkably like modern port decanters, through to the now almost universal 75cl glass bottle. Here there is a great range of shapes that almost always in the old world are synonymous with a specific region. I will be learning region by region further along in the course, so will get to grips with the whys & wherefores of that along with the tastings of the regions. When on holiday in Var it's always fun to take along the 4 litre plastic container to fill up petrol station style with the local young rosé, but this container is only good for wine you're having within a day or 2.
Long term storage of wine is always done in bottle, & has been for a couple of centuries. These generally are in a dark coloured glass to keep light away from the wine, though for younger wines, often the whites & rosés, the glass is now clear to allow the drinker to see the colour of the wine. The bottle needs a closure of some kind to keep the air out & wine in. For the last few centuries this has generally been cork. Cork was a good solution in terms of success then, now it is being agreed nearly universally that cork itself presents too many problems to be the ongoing number 1 closure of choice.
Cork is a natural product. It is harvested by stripping the bark from the Quercus Suber, a sort of oak. This process doesn't harm the tree & is repeated every 9 years from the tree's 25th year. The tree only grows in certain climates, between 100m & 300m above sea level; annual rainfall between 400 & 800mm; temperatures never falling below -5ºC. The coastal margins of the Mediterranean have traditionally seen it grown, though areas of the new world are put aside to its production. Cataluña had been the centre for its production. It still remains a major producer, but during the Spanish civil war Portugal stepped in to become the European cork producer, now growing 30% of that market. With much of the manufacturing process centred south of Oporto, Portugal now processes 50% of the world's cork. Much imported from the European western Mediterranean & also north African regions. Algeria having been Cataluña's major rival before cultural shifts there in 1960's.
Cork goes through various processes before becoming a stopper. Cork is porous, so is cut at 90º to the growth to minimise any gaps. Bacterias & fungi are present in its structure, to help kill these it has been bleached with chlorine based bleaches. Other processes are now being explored, the major reason being the presence of TRICHLOROANISOLE. This compound will probably be cork's final undoing as it has been found that the bleaching isn't where it becomes present. Despite this drawback there is much in cork's favour; the trees are an environmental bonus, their acorns a cornerstone in feeding the finer end of pig farming; 90% of the time they form a perfectly good barrier for keeping the wine in; they are flexible, so when factors unfavourable to the wines good storage cause the wine to expand or contract the cork maintains the air seal. The major rival now to cork is the STELVIN, steel-vin (wine), screw-top favoured by many a British supermarket, or the synthetic, plastic, cork. Occasionally glass stoppers are used, there are all sorts of pros & cons for all the closures. Progress, research & development continues on all of them.
Transport is obviously never going to be a friend to wine, but the minimum of heat, light & vibration during this is a bonus. Bottles are good for this, but it is often during transport that any of the closures are compromised. The stelvin has an Achilles heel in that a strong knock can break its integrity so making a hole letting wine out & air in, or even a momentary loss of air seal that lets air in. To this end more finished wine is transported in bulk containers & bottled at, or near to, the country of sale. I am looking forward to a visit to Constellation's Avonmouth bottling plant in 2 weeks time. Bulk transport actually is good for wine, however I will be putting in a link here where the provenance of some wines has been 'flexed' due to political market forces in the Balkans.
So the wine's in the bottle. It has a closure. Now where is it going? The cellar! I don't have a lovely cave for my wine, nor do most of us. The key thing for wine storage isn't the appearance, but stability.
Cool & constant; within a temperature range of 10º to 15º, not within a day, but within a year. Cellars had obviously been the best for this as the ground worked as a great insulator to the day's & season's changes. It is the expansion & contraction of the wine that pushes & pulls on the closure that crucifies most wine. Constant refrigeration is bad too as it causes corks to contract. That air-seal integrity is what is paramount for maturation of many a stored wine. In the age of climate control the storage cabinets that can be placed anywhere that allow wine to be stored longterm where no cellars are available.
Lying down; for bottles under cork, the wine stops the cork drying out, so doesn't contract, maintaining that air-seal. The problem here is if the cork has any nasties in it then they are going to get into the wine. The damp nature of cellars again being a bonus for keeping the airside of the cork moist. With the modern closures of stelvin, synthetic & glass the reverse applies. Bottles are stored upright without the wine in contact with closure, so minimising any potential contamination from it. The synthetic is still viewed with suspicion in certain circles for its potential tainting by long contact with the wine, so it may become disregarded for long term storage. Stelvins have had extensive ongoing research & development into their ability to be complete or breathable seal for the long term storage of wines.
Darkness; natural & artificial light adversely affect wine. Not only does it cause heat, but light can cause unwanted chemical reactions in the bottle. This is why traditionally wine bottles were dark coloured. Wines served young obviously don't hang around long enough for the presence of light to affect them, so hence the ever increasingly light coloured or clear glass bottles around as we drink more young wines.
Vibrations; not for imbuing an extra cosmic element to the wine, but the wine should be still. Changes go on with wines made for maturing in bottle that cause particles to form in suspension, these either should remain motionless there, or should settle out. Railway arches or old freight yards near still operating lines, or depots near major roads, are not the best places for long term wine storage, despite the arches having other cellar-like bonuses.
Most of us aren't in the privileged position to be laying down fine wines to mature for a number of years or decades, or to be choosing which part of the cellar has the least light for the re-building of the racking. Many of us are storing wine for a while though & so often it's in the kitchen, which couldn't be more unsuitable as cooking causes the temperature to sore & plummet. Lounges are often poor homes too if they have heating or fires. Funnily it's the hoover cupboard under the stairs off of the un-heated hallway that wins in most modern homes.
I'm off again to heat up my kitchen for some lunch. Next blog will have getting the wine out of the bottle at the right temperature, into the right glass, then a little on how to keep it happy if it's being saved for later.
Now I could have gone a right old rant after grabbing a bottle on the way home from last week's class from Martin McColl, only to get it home to find it had already started the journey to making a lovely red wine based soup whilst being stored for sale. Heat & any wine ain't a good situation whilst it's still in the bottle.
Wine, obviously, is stored in all sorts of larger vessels whilst in production, however when finished it needs to be transported. A lot of progress has been made over the centuries in the vessels that wine is stored in. From the pottery, leather, wood or metal vessels in ancient history through various bottle shapes, many looking remarkably like modern port decanters, through to the now almost universal 75cl glass bottle. Here there is a great range of shapes that almost always in the old world are synonymous with a specific region. I will be learning region by region further along in the course, so will get to grips with the whys & wherefores of that along with the tastings of the regions. When on holiday in Var it's always fun to take along the 4 litre plastic container to fill up petrol station style with the local young rosé, but this container is only good for wine you're having within a day or 2.
Long term storage of wine is always done in bottle, & has been for a couple of centuries. These generally are in a dark coloured glass to keep light away from the wine, though for younger wines, often the whites & rosés, the glass is now clear to allow the drinker to see the colour of the wine. The bottle needs a closure of some kind to keep the air out & wine in. For the last few centuries this has generally been cork. Cork was a good solution in terms of success then, now it is being agreed nearly universally that cork itself presents too many problems to be the ongoing number 1 closure of choice.
Cork goes through various processes before becoming a stopper. Cork is porous, so is cut at 90º to the growth to minimise any gaps. Bacterias & fungi are present in its structure, to help kill these it has been bleached with chlorine based bleaches. Other processes are now being explored, the major reason being the presence of TRICHLOROANISOLE. This compound will probably be cork's final undoing as it has been found that the bleaching isn't where it becomes present. Despite this drawback there is much in cork's favour; the trees are an environmental bonus, their acorns a cornerstone in feeding the finer end of pig farming; 90% of the time they form a perfectly good barrier for keeping the wine in; they are flexible, so when factors unfavourable to the wines good storage cause the wine to expand or contract the cork maintains the air seal. The major rival now to cork is the STELVIN, steel-vin (wine), screw-top favoured by many a British supermarket, or the synthetic, plastic, cork. Occasionally glass stoppers are used, there are all sorts of pros & cons for all the closures. Progress, research & development continues on all of them.
Transport is obviously never going to be a friend to wine, but the minimum of heat, light & vibration during this is a bonus. Bottles are good for this, but it is often during transport that any of the closures are compromised. The stelvin has an Achilles heel in that a strong knock can break its integrity so making a hole letting wine out & air in, or even a momentary loss of air seal that lets air in. To this end more finished wine is transported in bulk containers & bottled at, or near to, the country of sale. I am looking forward to a visit to Constellation's Avonmouth bottling plant in 2 weeks time. Bulk transport actually is good for wine, however I will be putting in a link here where the provenance of some wines has been 'flexed' due to political market forces in the Balkans.
So the wine's in the bottle. It has a closure. Now where is it going? The cellar! I don't have a lovely cave for my wine, nor do most of us. The key thing for wine storage isn't the appearance, but stability.
Cool & constant; within a temperature range of 10º to 15º, not within a day, but within a year. Cellars had obviously been the best for this as the ground worked as a great insulator to the day's & season's changes. It is the expansion & contraction of the wine that pushes & pulls on the closure that crucifies most wine. Constant refrigeration is bad too as it causes corks to contract. That air-seal integrity is what is paramount for maturation of many a stored wine. In the age of climate control the storage cabinets that can be placed anywhere that allow wine to be stored longterm where no cellars are available.
Lying down; for bottles under cork, the wine stops the cork drying out, so doesn't contract, maintaining that air-seal. The problem here is if the cork has any nasties in it then they are going to get into the wine. The damp nature of cellars again being a bonus for keeping the airside of the cork moist. With the modern closures of stelvin, synthetic & glass the reverse applies. Bottles are stored upright without the wine in contact with closure, so minimising any potential contamination from it. The synthetic is still viewed with suspicion in certain circles for its potential tainting by long contact with the wine, so it may become disregarded for long term storage. Stelvins have had extensive ongoing research & development into their ability to be complete or breathable seal for the long term storage of wines.
Darkness; natural & artificial light adversely affect wine. Not only does it cause heat, but light can cause unwanted chemical reactions in the bottle. This is why traditionally wine bottles were dark coloured. Wines served young obviously don't hang around long enough for the presence of light to affect them, so hence the ever increasingly light coloured or clear glass bottles around as we drink more young wines.
Vibrations; not for imbuing an extra cosmic element to the wine, but the wine should be still. Changes go on with wines made for maturing in bottle that cause particles to form in suspension, these either should remain motionless there, or should settle out. Railway arches or old freight yards near still operating lines, or depots near major roads, are not the best places for long term wine storage, despite the arches having other cellar-like bonuses.
Most of us aren't in the privileged position to be laying down fine wines to mature for a number of years or decades, or to be choosing which part of the cellar has the least light for the re-building of the racking. Many of us are storing wine for a while though & so often it's in the kitchen, which couldn't be more unsuitable as cooking causes the temperature to sore & plummet. Lounges are often poor homes too if they have heating or fires. Funnily it's the hoover cupboard under the stairs off of the un-heated hallway that wins in most modern homes.
I'm off again to heat up my kitchen for some lunch. Next blog will have getting the wine out of the bottle at the right temperature, into the right glass, then a little on how to keep it happy if it's being saved for later.
WSET 8/9/09 Lesson 1 part 1
So here is where I begin my learning
I was issued with a box of 6 of the Industry Standard Organisation, ISO, Tasting Glasses. "The most important tool for a wine taster, when correctly used, is capable of revealing any secret of a wine."
Many forms of wine glass are drunk from. Many are specifically designed to enhance the characteristics of certain wines. To this end many are named after the wines they are most synonymous with. As I learned that the same wine drunk from 2 distinctly differently shaped glasses can taste dramatically different, I learnt that smell forms an enormous part of wine tasting, more on that later. So to have a standard method of tasting all wine a standard glass for the tasting process was agreed upon in the early 1970s. Here is a full article on the ISO Tasting Glass http://www.diwinetaste.com/dwt/en2002113.php
The ISO Tasting Glass is where the wine will be considered by the wine taster's senses. The process adopted by all wine tasters is called "The Systematic Approach to Tasting."
I am learning this at Intermediate Level & within that there is a very specific vocabulary used. Like any profession there is terminology & language that really only makes sense to people within that profession or with an interest in it. Engineers know what a gasket is (gas-filled basket?); sailors know which way port, starboard, poop & galley would be on a boat; chefs can tell a chiffonade from brandade; so the wine world has its own language too. All the words are familiar, but their usage is controlled so everyone in the industry, or around it, knows what each refers to.
So within this systematic approach I shall be 'approaching' all the wine that enters these glasses in the prescribed way.
Preparation for tasting;
The room, yourself & company should be odour free. No perfumes, no traces of strong flavours including tobacco & toothpaste.
Natural light, preferably north facing, with a white background. (We had ghastly fluorescent lights in anti-glare configuration in a corporate blue room belonging to Constellation. )
50 ml is poured.
There are 4 sections of results;
Appearance; Nose; Palate; Conclusion
The WSET have a matrix that you follow to get your results.
It is within this that the language becomes so specific, i.e. for colour descriptions for red wine; purple, ruby, garnet, tawny: the smell of wine in good condition; clean/un-clean: length on the palate; short, medium, long. These being very specific times of the taste remaining in your mouth, & even which of the tastes lingering.
The role of the glass becomes more clear as the lesson progresses. How light moves through this exact amount of wine. The 1st thing is looking at the wine's clarity, the 2nd its density. Obviously this standard volume of wine to look through is the only way to make this process uniform. This is even before the more convoluted smelling & tasting.
Glad to say extensive tasting of wines before made me the most vocal when it came to the 6 tastings as it was an area I'm very comfortable in. Conversely the complete novice, Angelika, had as much of interest to add as her palate was completely fresh to all the taste sensations from the wine. Learning which terminology to use where is going to be learned, or more fundamentally re-learned differently by me, to match to specific characteristics for all our senses on this course.
Next blog i'm going to relay the bits about wine storage, service & appreciation from the lesson. I'm also going to paraphrase the 1st 6 tastings we did.
Now I'm off to reheat my duck & lentil soup from last night as I'm famished. It was the only way to use up the ruined Campo Viejo Rioja that was undrinkable from the day before. More on wine storage, Martin McColl, later.
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