New Video: Wine Faults

New episode is up, this time discussing common Wine Faults.

With this, I feel I’ve reached the end of a series:

• We learned HOW wine is made – Vinification
• We learned about the ENVIRONMENT where a wine is made – Viticulture
• We learned how to categorize a wine’s FLAVOURS and AROMAS
• We learned how to analyse a wine’s STRUCTURE
• And most recently we learned how to objectively judge a wine’s QUALITY

With this latest video covering Wine Faults I think you should have a good solid foundation of knowledge that will help you to enjoy a wine with more confidence, whether you got that bottle from a wine shop or (when they are allowed to open again) wine bar or restaurant.

For example, let’s take someone who knows NOTHING about wine:

• Buy a bottle from a shop and take it home
• Open the wine, drink it
• Try to pin down all the aromas and flavours randomly:
  • “Oh there’s Lemon… Apple… Mango… Peach… Nuts…Vanilla… Lemon… did I say that already?”
• Even though there’s a lot of flavour you’re not enjoying it as much as you think you should, but you don’t know why… but you still think it’s “Yummy”

After learning about wine:

• Buy a bottle from a shop and take it home
• Open the wine, taste it…
• Take time to consider all the aromas and flavours in a structured manner:
  • “Citrus fruits… definitely Lemon and Grapefruit, maybe a little Mandarin…
  • “Tree fruits… There’s Red Apple and Pear…”
  • “Stone fruits… White Peach and Nectarine”
  • “Tropical… maybe a little Mango and Pineapple”
  • “Some White Flowers, a bit of vanilla and cinnamon spice, yogurt, hazelnuts…
• Again, a lot of flavours, but it’s still missing something – THIS TIME you know what:
  • “Feels like it needs a bit more acid to liven it up (Balance), and the flavours seem to disappear very quickly (Length)”
  • “I think it’s still got Intensity and Complexity, so I’m happy to call this a GOOD wine”

If you’re a little more curious, you can read the label to see WHERE the wine comes from and how the grapes were grown (Viticulture), maybe do a little research on the producer to see what winemaking decisions they made (Vinification).

A little knowledge will take you a long way.

I hope you enjoyed watching this series as much as I enjoyed scripting, recording and editing it.

Subscribe to my YouTube Channel to get notified when I upload a new video.

Cheers, see you again soon.

Read More: Hello, My Name Is Mark Law DipWSET