Theology Uncorked - Intro to Wine

Feb 2010

John Anderson

Email: Click Here

Cell: 714 267 3418

Tulsa Wine Club info: Organized by Mark Stenner in 2003, the club meets monthly at a member’s home. Everyone brings a small food dish and pays a fee (usually around $20-25). Mark arranges all of the wines complete with background on the region and the wines themselves. If you would like more info email me, or Mark at Tulsa Wine Club (click here for email).

Overview for tonight

1.      Introduction

2.    Brief overview of popular thought on “how to taste” wine

a.     Proper Stemware/Glassware for tasting

3.    Review of the evening’s wine – 2008 Beringer Chenin Blanc, California

4.    Comparison / Review of Chenin Blanc, the grape, and comparisons and distinctions of the grape in California and France.

5.     Questions

Thoughts on “How to Taste Wine”

Adapted from an article written by Mark Stenner, Tulsa Wine Club

Opening the wine: Yes, you have to open the wine (unless you are in a restaurant of course). For red wines I always give the wine time to breathe if possible. Even an hour allows the wine to ‘open-up’ although trying the wine from a bottle and revisiting it for refills over an evening is a pleasant way to pass the time so don't get hung up over this. However, when planning for a special evening or an expensive wine planning ahead does pay dividends.

Serving Temperatures: Remember that serving temperature is important – most whites in the upper 40s and reds in the upper 50s and low 60s. Chilling reds is acceptable and recommended, especially during summer months. It takes about two hours in the fridge to get red wines to about 64 degrees, so about four degrees an hour.

To decant or not to decant: Usually I can’t be bothered, but decanting can speed up the readiness of a wine by exposing it to more oxygen and energizing it quicker. You might want to decant older wines because they typically contain more sediment from the aging process. Also look for wines which are marked as unfiltered. There will be sediment in this you want to avoid pouring into any glasses. You don’t need a decanter per se. Use any clean bowl and funnel and pour the wine (but not the sediment) into the bowl. Rinse out the bottle and allow it to dry thoroughly and simply pour the wine back into the bottle. Easy. Some white wines can also improve with decanting but this is typically marginal.

Glassware: of course glassware is important and I would advise any serious wine lover to purchase Riedel glasses. However, you don’t have to use them to enjoy wine. For white wines, small glasses prevent loss of aroma and concentrate flavors. For reds, you really need fairly large bowls for the wine to breathe in the glass. Never fill a glass more than a half-full, a third is really better. Although it sounds obvious – make sure the glasses are clean. If you store glasses in any cabinets they will pick up the surrounding odors so wash with water and allow the glass to dry.

One last thing – avoid smoking and wearing perfume or cologne during any tasting. Both severely dull your sense of smell and those in close proximity to you.

Pour your glass of wine, and pick up the glass by the stem. Give the wine a good little swirl in the glass to give it some life and release the flavors and aromas fully.

Color: Spend a few moments looking at the wine in the glass. Appearances count and master wine tasters can tell a lot from the color of the glass – including how ripe the fruit was and how the wine was made. However, we all can consider the color of the wine. Does it look vibrant? Is it rich? Do bubbles appear in the glass? It should have good clarity. If there is haziness this indicates an imperfection. Red wines typically lose color over their lifetime. As the wine ages it appears brownish on the rim, a good telltale sign that the wine is a few years old. For white wines the opposite can occur. Rieslings, Chardonnays, and Semillons all become a rich golden color with bottle age. Typical descriptors for a white wine include – straw, straw with green tints, light/medium yellow, light/medium gold, colorless or water white. For red wines, Cabernets or Zinfandel are typically inky-black in the middle, while Pinots, especially aged ones, are usually more transparent.

Nose: This is a good indication of what is to come. in fact some tasters suggest that the nose accounts for 75% of your perception. I think this is a gross overstatement but there is no doubting its importance. First sniff across the top of the glass, never breathing towards the glass, and then take a deeper sniff by putting your nose as far into the glass as possible. Do this, swirling each time, until you are confident that you have gained as much information as possible. Ask yourself – does the wine smell healthy (musty, rotten smells are never good)? Does the wine seem young, middle-aged or old? Do you like the aroma? Cabernets typically have a vegetal aroma, Pinots have earthy/gamey notes, Merlots display plums and black currant, while Shiraz display peppers and roasted vegetables – all appealing in their own way. For whites ask yourself if you can sense any bite or acidity on the nose. What fruit flavors can you perceive? Is it pervasive and strong, or fairly light and more fragrant? What fruits do you smell? Among the most common – Chardonnays show green apple, Sauvignon Blancs display tropical fruits and melon, and sometimes asparagus when from New Zealand. It sounds vaguely absurd, and I’ve personally never done it, but many tasters recommend going through your kitchen and smelling everything – in the fridge, the spice rack, fruit bowl, etc. – and with time your nose will improve.

Taste – The Technical Bit: This is the real test. This breaks down into two parts, the feeling in the mouth, and what flavors you are tasting. The technical element can be fun. You are now testing the acid, sweetness, alcohol and tannins in the wine. These elements need to balance for the wine to be well made. Take a sip. You’ll get your first impression of the texture of the wine – is it thin? Unctuous? Buttery? Velvety? Is it ‘dry’ or sweet? Full-bodied or light? Is it appropriately acidic or tongue-twistingly sour, or does is it lacking in acid and flabby? Does the flavor seem consistent with the aroma? Take another sip and this time swish the wine all of the way around your mouth, coating it entirely. Wines high in alcohol may feel ‘hot’ in the mouth. Similarly wines high in glycerol feel fat and thick. Both are increasing trends in winemaking, especially from Australia and the US, and also, sadly, France. Think about what else you are picking up and try and notice how sweetness is picked up at the tip of the tongue, sourness/acidity at the side of the mouth, and bitterness at the back. Once you’ve swallowed consider the aftertaste. Are the flavors the same or are they different? Is the finish long, medium or short? Are the flavors pleasant? Is the wine smooth, sweet, sour or astringent? Does the wine taste as it smelled or are there differences?

Taste – The Flavors: Consider the flavors you are (hopefully) savoring. For white wines you are typically (again) looking for fruit flavors, and with Chardonnays and other oaked wines how well the fruit and oak interact. For red wines there are literally dozens of flavors to consider. Cabernets typically have black currant, blackberry and cedar/tobacco flavors, and also mint and eucalyptus, and plum. Gamay is typically cherry and raspberry flavored. Merlots are dominated by cherry, blackcurrants, but also honey and mint at times. Common Pinot Noir flavors are strawberries, raspberries and plums when young, and truffles and gamey meats as they age.

Final thoughts: Consider the wine through the three stages. What did you think of the wine overall? The most common questions to consider if a red wine are - does the wine display a balance between wood, fruit, alcohol, acids and sugar? For example, if the taste is all wood, then the wine is overoaked and this element overpowers everything else. Were the tannins overwhelming? If they grip too tightly the wine may need some cellar time. For white wines – were the flavors fleeting or consistent? Is their good acidity and zestiness? Did the white wine leave a crisp, clean finish? This is normally desirable. I ask myself only one question. Do I like the wine enough to take another sip?

At a Tasting: Do take notes if you can. After several wines impressions are easily fudged and recollections can be horribly incomplete. When trying a range of wines from the same region or grape consider the similarities and differences, as well as the comparative value for money in the wine. This is a great way to speed up the learning process and a great way to compare with other people – are they picking up something you are missing?

Hopefully these brief notes will help you when you next taste a wine. Remember that drinking wine should be a pleasurable and relaxing endeavor, but taking note of what you are tasting can be highly rewarding in itself. A great wine experience can stay with a person for years.

Today’s wine - From the Beringer web site:

The Vineyards
The coordination between viticulture and winemaking teams is essential when choosing fruit, to achieve the optimum level of flavor and balance in the wine. The vineyards selected for the California Collection wines are bathed in warm sunshine the majority of the day, to yield the most ripe, sun-kissed fruit flavors in the grapes.

Winemaking Notes
Gentle handling and careful attention is given to the Chenin Blanc grapes from the vine to the glass. To retain the delicate varietal flavors, Beringer’s winemakers chill the juices immediately following crush and continue to closely monitor the temperature throughout fermentation. Just before dryness, they cool the juices even further to halt fermentation and retain a smooth, lush mouthfeel and lingering finish.

Tasting Notes
The California Collection Chenin Blanc is a well-balanced wine with aromas and flavors of crisp citrus, melon, and spicy ginger. It’s meant to be enjoyed with a variety of foods, from Asian and Mexican foods to a casual backyard barbecue with friends.

• Vintage: 2008
• Winery Tier: California Collection
• Varietal: Chenin Blanc

Chenin blanc

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chenin blanc (also Pineau de la Loire and Gout fort), is a white wine grape variety from the Loire valley of France. Its high acidity means it can be used to make everything from sparkling wines to well-balanced dessert wines, although it can produce very bland, neutral wines if the vine's natural vigor is not controlled. Outside the Loire it is found in most of the New World wine regions; it is the most widely planted variety in South Africa, where it is also known as Steen. The grape may have been one of the first to be grown in South Africa by Jan van Riebeeck in 1655,[1] or it may have come to that country with Huguenots fleeing France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Chenin Blanc was often misidentified in Australia as well, so tracing its early history in the country is not easy. It may have been introduced in James Busby's collection of 1832, but C. Waterhouse was growing Steen at Highercombe in South Australia by 1862.[2]

It provides a fairly neutral palate for the expression of terroir, vintage variation and the winemaker's treatment. In cool areas the juice is sweet but high in acid with a body full-bodied fruity palate. In the unreliable summers of northern France, the acidity of under ripen grapes was often masked with chaptalization with unsatisfactory results, whereas now the less ripe grapes are made into popular sparkling wines such as Crémant de Loire. The white wines of the Anjou AOC are perhaps the best expression of Chenin as a dry wine, with flavors of quince and apples. In nearby Vouvray AOC they aim for an off-dry style, developing honey and floral characteristics with age. In the best vintages the grapes can be left on the vines to develop noble rot, producing an intense, viscous dessert wine which may improve considerably with age.

Wine expert Jancis Robinson has noted that Chenin blanc is probably the world's most versatile grape being able to produce quality wines of various sweetness, including dessert wines noted for their aging ability, as well as sparkling made according to the méthode champenoise and fortified wines. The grape can distinguish itself as a single varietal wine or it can add acidity as a blending component. Its ability to be crafted into premium quality wines across a wide spectrum of dry and sweetness levels invites the comparison to German Rieslings-with Robinson noting that in many ways Chenin blanc is France's answer to the German Riesling.[4]

One of the major differences between Old world and New world styles of Chenin blanc is the fermentation temperature. Old World style producers in the Loire tend to ferment their Chenin blanc at higher temperatures, 60-68°F (16-20°C), than New World producers in South Africa and elsewhere which usually ferments their whites at temperatures around 50-54°F (10-12°C). This is because Old World wine producer tend not to put a premium on the tropical fruit flavors and aromas that come out more vividly with cooler fermentation temperatures. Chenin blanc can accommodate some skin contact and maceration which will allow extraction of phenolic compounds that could add to the complexity of the wine. Two of the aromas that skin contact can bring out is the characteristic greengage and angelica notes of Chenin. The grape's characteristic acidity can be soften by malolactic fermentation which will give the wine a creamier or "fattier" texture as would a period spent aging on the lees. The use of wood or oak aging is up to each individual producer. Old World producer tend to shy away from the use of new oak barrels which can impart flavors of vanilla, spice and toastiness-though these notes maybe desirable for a New World producer. In Savennières there is a tradition of using acacia and chestnut barrels for aging though acacia can impart a yellow tint to the wine and chestnut barrel may add some buttery notes.

While Chenin blanc is planted across the globe from China to New Zealand to Canada and Argentina, it is considered a "major" planting in only a few locations. Though France is the viticultural home of Chenin blanc, by the turn of the 21st century there was twice as much Chenin blanc planted in South Africa as there was in France. The grapes' versatility and ability to reflect terroir causes it to lead, what Jancis Robinson describes as, a "double life". In the Loire Valley of France it is prized as a premium quality wine grape able to produce world class wines while in many New World wine regions it used as a "workhorse variety", contributing acidity to bulk white blends and showing more neutral flavors rather than terroir. Throughout all its manifestations, Chenin blanc's characteristic acidity is found almost universally in all wine regions.

The aromas and flavor notes of Chenin blanc often include the descriptors of minerally, greengage, angelica and honey. Chenin wines produced from noble rot will often have notes of peaches and honey that develop into barley sugar, marzipan and quince as they age. Dry or semi-sweet Chenin blanc from the Loire will often have notes apple, greengage and chalky minerals that develop into more honey, acacia and quince aromas. New World styles of Chenin, such as those of South Africa, are more often made to be consume young and exhibit rich tropical fruit notes such as banana, guava, pear and pineapple. The alcohol level for dessert styles Chenin rarely go above 12% which keeps the wines more in balance. Drier styles of Chenin are more likely to be around 13.5%.

The age ability of sweet Loire Chenin blanc is among the longest lived in the world of wine with well made examples from favorable vintages regularly having the potential to last for at least 100 years. This longevity is attributed to the grape's naturally high acidity which acts as a preservative as the phenolic compounds in the wine breakdown, adding complexity and depth to the wine. Some off dry or "demi-sec" examples may need at least 10 years before they start drinking at peak levels and could continue to develop for another 20 to 30 years. Sparkling and dry examples of Chenin blanc from premium production and favorable vintages have also shown longevity levels not commonly associated with white wine. Chenin blanc wines are prone to going through "dumb phases" as it ages where the wine closes up, revealing little aroma and varietal characteristics.