Red, White and You: How to Begin Your Relationship With Wine
I live about two hours south of Napa Valley, with Sonoma just to its west. Santa Cruz Mountain wineries pepper the area just south of me. If I drive two hours east, I can visit the wineries in Amador and Eldorado counties, a region famous for Zinfandels, Pinot Noirs and Barberas.
All of this suits me just fine, as I’m a big fan of wine and the wine culture. But let me tell you straight up: I am no expert. Nor am I a wine snob. I can be happy with a glass of Franzia right out of the box. I don’t mind opening a bottle with a screw top (though admittedly, the sound of a cork is more romantic). And I can’t taste or smell most of the individual “notes” that a sommelier will describe for a particular wine (cherries, vanilla, black pepper, licorice, etc.). I simply know what I like—and that is the most important step to enjoying a bottle of red, white or rose.
Of course, understanding your palate and discerning your particular taste involves an important step: Drinking it. You learn what you like (or not) through experience. I took a wine tour recently in Chianti with an Italian sommelier, Stefano, where I was reminded how not-an-expert I am. And I won’t remember most of what he taught me. But I was at least able to give a thumbs-up or “no grazie” to the wines I sampled simply because I’ve tasted enough to know what I enjoy.
There are five basic steps to evaluating wine, known as “the five Ss,” which has helped me understand not only wine, but also my own palate. These aren’t meant to be pretentious—they really work. Next time you order a flight, try them:
See. Pour the wine into a glass and hold it up to the light—it helps to tilt the glass. Study the color and look for clarity. Wines with intense colors tend to be bolder. If the wine is cloudy, your palate may be disappointed because something is probably wrong with the vino.
Swirl. Holding the stem of the wineglass (always), gently swirl the wine around and see how the wine hits the sides of the glass and then falls back down. This is known as the “legs” of the wine. A wine with good legs will cling to the glass.
Sniff. Raise the glass to your nose and sniff. What you smell will depend on your choice of wine. Some red wines carry an earthy aroma, or you may smell almonds, vanilla or pepper. If the wine is fruity, you might smell berries or apples. For me, I like a fruity and mostly sweet wine (as opposed to dry). If I lift a glass to my nose and it smells like jam, I get a little weak in the knees. And it hasn’t even hit my tongue yet.
Sip. Now taste. A dry red wine with tannins may leave you with what they call the “pucker factor.” A fruity sweeter wine will sit on the tongue and leave your mouth moist.
Savor. Before you swallow, swirl the wine in your mouth and enjoy the flavor. Most wines are made from a combination of grape types (a blend), and a good wine will have a nice balance of flavors. You can smell thousands of scents, but your taste perception is limited to salty, sweet, sour and bitter. It’s the combination of smell and taste that allows you to really enjoy wine.
And here’s a handy glossary of common wine terms. It took me forever to learn that dry in wine-speak doesn’t really mean dry.
Aroma or bouquet: The smell of a wine. Some aromas associated with wines include fruits, flowers, earth, grass, tobacco, butterscotch, vanilla and chocolate. (My sniffer isn’t that good, apparently, because I never smell half of those. But wine experts tell me they’re there, so there you go.)
Body: This refers to how weighty a wine feels in your mouth, which is usually attributed to a wine’s alcohol. You can classify a wine as light-bodied, medium-bodied or full-bodied.
Dry: This is basically opposite of sweet. You can classify wine as dry, off-dry (semisweet) or sweet.
Tannic: This describes a red wine that’s firm and leaves the mouth feeling dry. Tannins come from the grapes’ seeds, skins and stems as well as from the barrels the wine is stored in. Alone, they can taste bitter. Depending on the amount and nature of its tannin, you can describe a red wine as astringent, firm or soft.
Finish: This is the impression that a wine leaves in the back of your mouth and in your throat as you swallow it. An aftertaste, basically. In a good wine, you can still sense the wine’s flavors (fruity, spicy) in the finish.
And if you simply want to order a glass next time you’re out but don’t know where to start? For reds, try a Zinfandel, Petite Sirah or Shiraz. For whites, go with a Pinot Grigio, Reisling or Sauvignon Blanc.
Cheers to enjoying your vino!
