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
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