sommelier gives tips for beginners

To consume wine, you can, and should, enjoy it the way you prefer. However, if your intention is taste and learn more about this drink, rich in aromas and flavors, then things change. So how to taste a wine? It is necessary to pay attention and follow some steps to understand the drink. It is called sensory analysis, which begins with visual analysis, followed by olfactory and gustatory analysis.

Although there are no rules for drinking, tasting a wine with some knowledge in sensory analysis can help the consumer to more easily identify what kind of drink he prefers, in addition to the choice of grape or whether the drink is dry or smooth. Among the preferences for choosing the drink may be the predominant aromas, flavors and sensations that the drink causes in the mouth.

Wagner Gabardo, director of the Alta Gama sommelier school and director of the Paraná Winegrowers Association (Vinopar), explains each step of the sensory analysis below. See below the step by step on how to taste a wine.

First step: Visual analysis

This first phase is merely descriptive of color and appearance. A younger red wine is usually a more intense, bright and vivid color, being more purple or burgundy, known as a ruby. When this red wine ages, the color loses its brightness and gains a certain turbidity, leaving the intense colors aside and starting to gain more brick tones, such as a darker and more earthy burgundy, indicating that the wine is in a process of maturation. longer.

The same thing happens with white wine. When you’re younger, you tend to be very clear, almost transparent. As the wine ages, it takes on a more golden hue.

According to Gabardo, it is not possible to draw precise conclusions about the taste or quality of the drink just by looking at it. “There is the story of the thickness of the wine running down the inside walls of the glass, which is what we call a tear, being associated with quality. What is not true. There are many factors that affect the thickness of the wine, such as the amount of alcohol, the amount of residual sugar, which is the sugar of the grape itself, or even the type of grape used. Therefore, at this stage, only hypotheses are raised, because it alone will not be enough to judge that wine ”, he explains.

Second stage: Olfactory analysis

This phase is where the aromas of the wine will be identified, an activity that involves training and affective memories. So if you think your nose is “bad for it”, believe me: just train it.

Here, you must shake the glass so that there is oxygenation, which allows the aromas to start to rise so that you can feel them. Having the ability to identify the different aromas has to do with the person and how much they pay attention to it in their daily lives. For example, people who like to cook or are cooks by profession can identify some aromas more easily, the same happens with those who are very fond of flowers.

In red wines, it is possible to recognize fruit aromas, especially red and dark ones, such as black plum, which is very common, jabuticaba, cherry and strawberry; condiments and spices, such as nutmeg, anise, cloves, cinnamon, black pepper and white pepper, which give a fresh and spicy sensation on the nose.

White wines, on the other hand, have more aromas of citrus fruits, white fruits, stone fruits and tropical fruits, such as mango, melon, carambola, pineapple, green apple, pear, grapefruit (grapefruit, in English) and lemon. In addition, floral aromas, such as jasmine flower, orange blossom and white lily, may also emerge.

It is the frequent exposure to different aromas which facilitates the recognition and identification of more floral, fruity, mineral notes, among others. At this stage, affective memories have a great impact.

The same region of the brain that processes scents is also the region that processes emotions. An aroma that reminds you of a good memory makes you tend to like the wine more. The opposite is also true: if any nuance reminds you of a flavor or even a moment that you do not like, it is likely that you will disapprove of the wine – the conclusion will be given by an emotional response.

Third stage: Taste analysis

The last stage can bring conclusions that are very different from the hypotheses formulated in the visual and olfactory analyses. This is because taste is one of the most complex senses and it also involves aromas. At this stage, it is necessary to pay attention to the flavors of the drink and also to the sensations that it causes when letting the liquid “walk in the mouth”, so that all the taste buds can come into contact with the wine.

The basic tastes – sweet, salty, sour and bitter – are a good parameter to start describing the flavors of the wine and, little by little, you will realize which notes you prefer.

The Brazilian palate is quite sweet and makes wines that contain more sugar (natural from the fruit) the preferred ones. A sweeter beverage is easier to consume and generally appears more “round” to laypersons. Acidity, on the other hand, can be identified from the stimulus to salivation that the liquid causes. The longer salivation lasts after sipping, the higher the level of acidity in the wine.

Even if we don’t associate salty taste with wine, in some drinks it can appear in the aftertaste, that is, after you swallow it. The same happens with bitterness: after taking a sip, you can feel it more subtly or markedly.

more sensations

Other characteristics that can be included in your list of criteria for choosing a wine according to your preference are unctuousness, heat and astringency.

The unctuousness of the drink is “the weight” that the liquid presents. “If you drink skimmed milk, it has a specific greasiness, which is lighter than whole milk, for example, which in turn will be lighter than milk straight from the cow”, compares Gabardo, who indicates using this example as a a way to train your perception when tasting different wines.

The “heat” of the drink is the alcohol content. “If you’ve ever had a simpler cachaça or a more elaborate cachaça, you know what it’s like for the liquid to go down burning. For wine, it’s the same thing”, compares Gabardo.

The sensation of astringency causes a kind of dryness in the mouth, as if the roof of the mouth, tongue and gums were no longer gently touching, showing “resistance”. It is a feature more present in red wines, which bring more tannins due to the presence of the skin in the production process.

The sensation caused by astringency is also called “tying the mouth”. “An example is black tea. When you infuse a sachet in a cup of water for five minutes, you will feel a sensation in your mouth. If you leave it for ten minutes and drink it again, you will feel that the liquid is more astringent”, explains Gabardo.