‘Tis the season to drink a lot of wine. For those of you new to the pleasures of the grape, you may find yourself in a situation where your fellow revelers are discussing the merits of the wine at hand. You’re loving what you are tasting, but you would like to contribute more than “I like it” to the conversation. Here are some basic things to think about.
Body – No, this has nothing to do with weight lifting. What we are talking about here is how the wine feels in your mouth. Think whole milk versus water. Milk is thick and creamy, and water – well, it’s not either of those things. So roll the wine around in your mouth a bit and you should be able to make a pronouncement about body.
Fruit – Wine is made from grapes. However, if you do not want to look like a complete dweeb, never say it tastes like grapes. Depending on varietal and growing region, there are all sorts of fruit flavors in wine. While this is not absolute, you can usual rely on cherries playing a part in red wine and citrus or apples playing a part in white. Anyway, you taste what you taste, so except for saying grapes, do not be afraid to express an opinion here.
Dry or Sweet – After fermentation, there is residual sugar left in the wine. How much, determines the level of sweetness. If the wine does not taste at all sweet you call it dry. A little bit of sugar is off-dry. Sweet is just sweet.
Tannin – Here you are almost always dealing with a red wine. The more you are feeling like you are chewing on a tree trunk or the moisture is being sucked right out of your mouth, the higher the tannins.
Acidity – Think lemon juice. A little bit of acidity is a good thing. You often hear of wines with the right balance of acidity as being crisp. Too much is, well, too much.
Armed with this information hold your wineglass by the stem (never the bowl); give it a swirl and a sniff; and, boldly jump into the conversation.
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