Tasting for Style and Quality

Identifying wine aromatics are important for tasting, as is honing in on its structure. Tasting for the MW, however, I’ve noticed I’ve had to add ‘tasting for style’ to my repertoire. The quality assessment is a key component of the Practical exams, usually worth even more points than absolute identification of the wine, so I pulled three styles of dry wine this morning in order to reflect on styles and quality of wine.



Frascati and Muscadet
Frascati is made in central Italy from Malvasia and Trebbiano, two of the most neutral grapes I know. Malvasia generally has higher ripeness and a fuller body, so blending with the higher acid Trebbiano makes for a pleasant wine. I thought this Frascati had an awful lot of aromatics (I probably shouldn’t have picked a Frascati ‘Superiore’, which I am guessing is a Frascati higher in alcohol, so will have higher aromatics). Starting with the Frascati, like I said there were more aromatics than I thought there would be. It was nearly tropical, indicating a warmer climate. The acid seemed to be high until I tasted the Muscadet. While still writing down components to a traditional tasting note, I concluded that the Frascati was a soft and refreshing wine and its relative neutrality on the palate would make it an excellent aperitif.

Muscadet always smells musty – nearly corked - to me. I believe that to be the lees talking. Aromatically, this wine was even more neutral, though I did get that pure lemon aroma and flavor. There was a bit of CO2 prickle on the tongue and really mouthwatering acid. My personal preference says this is not a very pleasant drink, but I could imagine it being a lovely mignonette for oysters.


Gewürztraminer
Here was the step up in style and quality (by design). A darker color suggesting more ripeness and/or extract, and textbook Gewürztraminer aromatics easily jumping from the glass: perfume, perfume, perfume, plus a little tropical note. The palate was softer and much fuller in body, which allowed for a longer finished compared to the two above. It also seemed slightly off-dry, a little more red apple (so again, ripe), and even had a little spiciness/bitterness on the finish.

Going from the Gewürztraminer back to the Frascati and Muscadet not only highlighted the more ‘noble’ nature of the Gewürztraminer grape, but also the higher quality: Gewürztraminer had a longer length that was layers and layers of tropical fruits and spices. It probably helped somewhat that, by design, the Francasti and Muscadet retail for around $13 and the Gewürztraminer was $22.


Maybe Too Easy
The tasting was designed to focus on different style and quality levels and that was definitely achieved. It was helpful to go about this tasting with the intention of quieting my analytical mind and focusing on the quality and the setting that such a wine of this style would be served. Next up will be a look at terroir and quality.

The wines:

* Borgo del Cedro Frascati Superiore 2010 $13.50, 13.5% abv

* Hautes Noelles (Serge Batard) Muscadet Sur Lie 2010 $13, 12% abv

* Paul Blanck Gewurztraminer 'Classique' 2010 $22.50 (for 750ml), 14% abv

Wine Basic Tastes and Structure

I’m terrified by the Practical in the Master of Wine exams, which is another way of saying I suck at blind tasting. I did about average (for me) in my tasting group this week, but I was disappointed and how little structural components I could get out of each glass. So I've prepared several mixtures to look at some of the basic structures that make up wines: sugar, acid, and alcohol.

I had three empty and cleaned wine bottles. For sugar I dissolved 3T in water then diluted it up to a 750ml. I used the juice of two lemons for acid and diluted it up to 750ml. And alcohol was represented by a half of a small bottle of vodka diluted to 750ml (so about an 11-12% abv solution).


Components

Sweetness: I was surprised to learn that sweetness, something I always looked for on the tip of my tongue as that’s what everyone says, wasn’t found there for me. Turns out I register sweetness on the back of my palate by my molars, though really the sensation washes over everything.

Acid: This is a very localized sensation on the sides of the tongue extending into the cheeks. And there’s also that unmistakable mouthwatering sensation that hits with acid. I heart acid.

Alcohol: This one is complicated. I definitely taste a bitterness (like almond skins?) towards the back of my palate, but I don’t get the ‘sweetness’ that many folks talk about with alcohol. I added another splash of vodka directly to my glass and that just made me gag. Texture-wise, alcohol certainly has ‘weight’, especially if you swish with water first to immediately compare. And it spreads around, i.e., it is not super-concentrated on any part of the tongue. But at the moment, I think I need to look for that bitterness to indicate higher alcohol levels.


Balance of Components

Acid/Alcohol (50/50): I suppose this showcased that elusive sweetness in alcohol. The mouthwatering nature of the acid was blunted by the alcohol mix, though possibly also by sheer dilution.

Sugar/Alcohol (50/50): Ok, unlike the last blend, this one showed no dilution of sugar, therefore the alcohol base does exhibit sweetness. Just not overtly. To me. The blend allowed the sweetness to wash over my palate (courtesy of alcohol) and when I immediately compared it to the sugar base, I was back to localized sweetness. Interesting.

Sugar/Acid (50/50): This is why good wine is so cool. Both the sugar and the acid were present and you could shift your attention back and forth between them. Balance defined.

Sugar/Acid/Alcohol (one third each): A crude version of wine. The acid made my mouth water and was tempered by the sugar, which was spread around by the alcohol. Otherwise, the flavor was disgusting.


More Practice is Needed

My solutions were pretty primitive for this exercise. I’ve dusted off my old copy of Baldy’s The University Wine Course, and in addition to my regular tastings, will try to get through the tastings presented in Schuster’s Essential Winetasting (which has been the inspiration of today’s exercise). At a minimum, I'm ready to pay a lot more attention to structures.