Tasting Tip! Color or Colour, as it’s spelt in English.

Drinking wine is easy, fill up the glass and chug it down, wow feel the rush! Now that’s one way to consume wine but it’s not really in the spirit of things! If your pounding the plonk (rapidly consuming wine), whether you knock it back or sip and swirl, all things being equal and the same quantity consumed, the end result is the same right? Right, so look, if you want to get more knowledgeable about wine and therefore potentially enjoy it more; make getting to know it a more conscious choice.

So that being said, it’s not necessary to crawl in a gunny sack and jump in the deep end. Periodically we will be posting a tasting tip. If you miss any tips don’t spit the dummy, just search 'Tasting Tips" on the Blog Post Archive. Nothing too poncy, just some basic stuff so you can understand what the wankers are on about.

So let’s get to it! Visual observation is pretty much the first thing you should do; Fill the glass about one-third full and hold the glass by the stem as this limits the influence of heat from your hand warming the wine. Now concentrate on the color, intensity and clarity. Each requires a different way of looking at the wine in the glass. The true color of the wine is best judged by tilting the glass and looking at the wine through the rim, to see the variation from the deepest part of the liquid to its edges. Intensity can best be gauged by looking straight down through the wine from above. Clarity or whether the wine is brilliant, or cloudy with flotsam, is most evident when light is shining sideways through the glass.

Color: Color gives clues to a wines character. Wines based on Cabernet tend to show darker colors, looking toward purple, instead of the ruby tones associated with Pinot Noir. 

Intensity: Intensity relates to appearance. When evaluating appearance, intensity describes the concentration of color. The more concentrated and opaque a wine's color the higher its intensity. Common descriptors for color intensity are pale, medium or dark.

Clarity: Referring to the amount of suspended particulate matter in a wine, clarity is described in terms of the wines reflective quality; brilliant, clear, dull or hazy. An obvious or pronounced haziness may signify spoilage, while brilliant or clear wines are generally sound.

Pick up a few clues like this and you will be poncing it up with your wanker mates in no time.

Never forget that tasting wine is supposed to be fun.

Now that’s a tip!

Cheers,

WineWalkabout

Kiwi & Koala