Organic wine tasting

It's easy to understand wine

The senses needed for this are given to almost everyone, namely seeing, smelling, tasting, feeling and of course your 5^th sense "thinking". One or the other of these senses may be somewhat underdeveloped, because they are less respected and practiced, but this is trainable. In addition, attention, concentration, patience and memory are required, as well as a pleasant, odorless, and well-lit room. Important are the glasses suitable for the wine you are to taste. These should be washed with hot water, without the use of perfumed rinsing agents and they should not be polished with glass towels which have been rinsed with softeners. The use of perfumed hand lotions before tasting Should also be avoided so that the fragrances of the wine can be perceived unadulterated.

The chronological order of a wine tasting:

The optical inspection: of organic wine is the first quality test. The color of the wine should correspond to the grape varietal (s), the age of the wine and its method of cultivation and should be clear, ie not cloudy. It does not hurt to swivel the glass slightly and observe how quickly the wine in the glass follows the movement of your hand. The degree of inertia is an optical indicator of the density and the body of a wine. Dull, milky-looking wines point to a faulty wine making.

The smell of the organic wine: the aromas of a wine do not all appear at the same time, because they are contained in the most diverse acids of the wine, which respond to different temperatures and the duration of the air contact and become perceptible. It is therefore recommended to apply some patience for this process. Smell first on the glass without having swiveled directly before, then swirl the glass and repeat the smell and you will notice more distinct and different flavors and fragrances. In each repeated process, you will again become aware of the variety of the aromas contained in wine be astonished. What remains open is whether you are able to assign fragrance fragrances to one of the following aroma groups and fragrances:

• Ground-dependent: earthy: like fire stone, slate, metallic, mineral, humus like forest soil dusty like house dust, concrete.
• Biologically: Lactically as yoghurt, butter, cheese, cream, sauerkraut baked goods such as bread, baguette, gingerbread
• Animal: fresh meat, leather, wet wool, stable, mold, decay.
• Heat embossed: Caramelised, chocolate, cocoa, chocolate, caramel candy, candy, smoky, smoked bacon, ash, bread crust, burnt wood, tar, burnt rubber, roasted aromas like toast, coffee.
• Spices sweet: like vanilla, cinnamon, paprika powder, strong as carnation,
• Herbs: Thyme, Lovage, Juniper, Laurel, Eucalyptus, Foliage, Tobacco.
• Vegetable: Flowers like violets, lilacs, roses. Fresh peppers, truffles, mushrooms, artichoke, green beans, black olives, peppers, beans, cabbage. Nuts like walnut, almond, coconut.
• Woody: like cedar, cigar crate, wet wood, sawdust, old, dry wood, resin
• Extracts: like cold tea, Lquorice, sweet as honey, malt.
• Fruit: citrus fruits like orange, lemon, lemon peel, grapefruit. Berries such as raspberry, strawberry, redcurrant, blackcurrant, blackberry, elderberry, blueberry.
• Dried fruit: like dried plums, raisins, date, figs, pear.
• Stone fruit: such as quince, sour cherry, sweet cherry, plum.
• Artificial: like candy
• Boiled: like quince jam, red jam, red berries, fruit juice.
• Chemically: ink like ink, ink, paper, wet paper, cardboard, pungent like iodine, medicine, lacquer, sulfur, vinegar, ethanol, glue, solvent, plastic, cork.

All these flavors are produced by the acids contained in wine or by the different methods of wine making and ripening, for example, wines matured in barriques of American oak can reveal a clearer vanilla flavor than when they are made from French oak. Should a wine smell unpleasant and this smell still exists after a long air contact, then a wine error seems to be the reason - see "chemically" Such wines in the mouth is no fun and can be avoided by the optical and odor check.

Tasting and testing organic wines

Please avoid eating and drinking any kind of sweet food and drinks, also smoking before tasting wines because it would disturbs the taste buds in your mouth. To neutralize your mouth and palate, it is best to by eat a piece of bread and drink some water before.

As only the taste components sweet, sour, salty and bitter can be perceived in the mouth, tongue and palate, this test seems easy. But we can also feel the temperature, the viscosity, the suppleness, the softness, the roughness of a wine. Thus, taste control contributes to assessing the quality of a wine objectively, and to determine the palpable parameters of body, harmony and purity:

The body of a wine corresponds to its content of extracts (minerals). At a high extract value one speaks of a body-rich wine. This body is essential for a persistent, intense taste and for the aging capacity of a wine.

A wine is harmonious or balanced, when the sweet, bitter and acidic substances are balanced. Otherwise wines apear simple, monotonous, but never complex.

When acidity or bitterness dominates, we experience the taste unpleasant.  Sweetness, on the other hand, can lead to pleasant taste sensations despite the lack of complexity. This is a reason, why the fermentation of weak, faulty or acidity rich wines is often stopped before it would finish later by itself. That way more residual sugar is left in the wine. Another practice is to add concentrated grape juice for sweetening.

Inexperienced wine drinkers fall into such tricks, which are unfortunately practiced also in the organic wine processing. Most good French, Spanish or Italian organic wines, with the exception of some specialties, contains less than 3 g / l of residual sugar.

Pure wine is a wine, when the aromas of the grapes are fresh and clean and are not disturbed by untypical or unpleasant aromas. These are caused by moldy, rotten grapes, or an incorrect wine making.

For the final assessment of a wine the intensity of purity, body and balance is the decisive criterion, being of equal importance.

According to the International Assessment System, a perfect wine is given up to 33.33 points each for body, balance and purity, together 100 points, or the number of points for less perfect wines.

• The body of a wine corresponds to its content of extracts (minerals). At a high extract value one speaks of a body-rich wine. This body is essential for a persistent, intense taste and for the aging capacity of a wine.
• Harmonious or balanced, a wine is produced when the sweet, bitter and acidic substances are balanced. Otherwise wines look simple, monotonous, but never complex.
• When acidity or bitterness dominates, we experience the taste unpleasant.  Sweetness, on the other hand, can lead to pleasant taste sensations despite the lack of complexity. This is a reason, why the fermentation of weak, faulty or acidity rich wines is often stopped before it would finish later by itself. That way more residual sugar is left in the wine. Another practice is to add concentrated grape juice for sweetening.
• Inexperienced wine drinkers fall into such tricks, which are unfortunately practiced also in the organic wine processing. Most good French, Spanish or Italian organic wines, with the exception of some specialties, contains less than 3 g / l of residual sugar.
• Pure wine is a wine, when the aromas of the grapes are fresh and clean and are not disturbed by untypical or unpleasant aromas. These are caused by moldy, rotten grapes, or an incorrect wine making.
• For the final assessment of a wine the intensity of purity, body and balance is the decisive criterion, being of equal importance.
• According to the International Assessment System, a perfect wine is given up to 33.33 points each for body, balance and purity, together 100 points, or the number of points for less perfect wines.