By Les Kincaid
America is on a quest to learn more about wine. Most of
us have been to wine and cheese parties, but how about taking
it one step further with an at-home tasting? Home wine tastings
can be simple, fun and cost effective.
The Varietal Challenge
One of the best ways to explore the nuances of wine is
to hold a single varietal tasting, I suggest that you choose
six wines made from one important wine grape, with each wine
originating from a different wine-growing region. The "Varietal
Challenge" allows participants to achieve a comprehensive
understanding of the way different climates, soils and growing
conditions affect the aroma, taste and texture of wines made
from the same grape.
Home Wine Tasting Party Overview
For a first at-home tasting, I suggest that you select
the following six different Chardonnay-based wines:
- a white Burgundy
- a California Chardonnay
- an Australian Chardonnay
- a South American Chardonnay
- an Italian Chardonnay
- a New Zealand Chardonnay
Try to keep the price of each of these wines about the same.
One thing to note: The word "Chardonnay" does
not appear on white Burgundy labels such as Chablis or Meursault.
Most French wines are labeled by region, not grape type.
By French wine law, however, all white Burgundies must be
made from the Chardonnay grape.
The Wine Tasting Party
Set aside at least one to two hours. One bottle will easily
serve eight to ten people for a tasting, so the ideal number
of tasting participants is eight to ten.
Wine Shopping List
- Six bottles of Chardonnay from six different regions
(as listed above)
- Six brown paper bags (for blind tasting - optional)
- Appropriate Chardonnay wine glasses
- Water glasses (one per guest - optional)
- Bread and cheese
- Tasting sheets and pens
- More elaborate passed food (optional)
Conducting a Chardonnay At-Home Tasting
Note: While this activity is focused on the Chardonnay varietal
experience, for review purposes, many of the basic principles
for at-home wine-tastings are provided.
1. Select guests who have voiced an interest in
learning about wine to join the at-home tasting. Remember,
you want your guests to eagerly exchange descriptions,
evaluations and opinions.
2. In order to compare the wines with one another,
you'll need six appropriate wineglasses per guest. The
six glasses should be standing side by side in front of
each taster. To provide the very best sensory "laboratory" for
learning the wines and your palate, each glass will contain
one of the six Chardonnays.
3. The wines should be cool, but not cold. If
the bottles feel cold to your hand, let them sit for ten
minutes at room temperature before opening and pouring. If
the temperature is too cold, the flavor and aroma will be
inhibited. If the temperature is too warm, the wines will
taste too alcoholic and not show their fruit well.
4. Provide water glasses for those who want to sip
water to clear their palates after each taste. (optional)
5. Uncork all of the bottles.
6. Pour about two ounces into the glass for smell
and taste evaluation. Begin by looking at the
color of the wines, move on to the swirling and sniffing,
and last to the tasting. Give your guests enough time to
consider all the aspects of each wine. Focus first on the
appearance of the wines, then on the nose, then how the
wine tastes in your mouth (on the palate) and finally,
how each wine finishes.
7. Alternating the wine samples can be illuminating. For
example, after smelling the three Chardonnays in sequence,
go back to No.1. With the scents of the other wines in your
memory, this time it probably will strike you differently.
Comparing wines by going back and forth to smell and taste
is an invaluable sensory-analytic method, and is key to developing
your understanding of what you are experiencing. After a
while, it will become second nature.
8. You will, of course, act as teacher to your fellow
tasters. As such, you should explain to them what
you're doing, and above all, why you're using these procedures.
Discussion among the participants is as desirable as it
is inevitable.
9. Most people leap to judgment ("This wine
is weird!" or "I love this wine!" etc.)
before making any attempt to describe what they're experiencing. Try
to encourage the other participants to follow your lead--to
describe the characteristics of the wines before pronouncing
judgment. If some happen to like a particular wine and
a participant does not, ask for his or her reasons. Ultimately,
all will learn more from those who disagree than from those
who agree.
10. It is recommended that you keep notes on your
tasting experiences, simply because tasters are more likely
to recall a recorded experience. Taking notes
is a discipline designed to bring out the best in each
taster and enables one "to look back" at all
the wines that excelled in tastings, especially as one's
taste changes over time. And, change it will. Most tasters
start out impressed by, and liking, big, powerful, intensely
flavorful wines. Over time, the pleasures of more elegant,
restrained, subtler wines are likely to take precedence
over more powerful extroverted wines. Naturally, this varies
from one person to the next.
11. You can conduct an at-home tasting using one
of two methods: (1) All participants are able
to see the labels and know the sequence of the wines in
advance, or (2) The "blind" method, where the
wines are placed in bags and numbered before tasting. The
tasters know the names of the wines or where they come
from, but, in the tasting sequence, they do not know which
is which.
12. One of the most exciting ways to conduct an
at-home tasting is to serve the wines first in pure tasting
format--no food, except some bread. Select neutral
bread, such as baguette. Stay away from strong olive or
seed flavors. Afterward, serve the same wines with food,
something relatively straightforward. Fish and shellfish
are wonderful with Chardonnays. Make sure that the preparation
of the fish does not contain too many spicy ingredients.
They will alter the flavor of the wine and can make assessment
more difficult. You and your guests may discover that the
wines you liked best when tasted alone are not necessarily
the wines you like best when tasted with food.
13. Ultimately, it is how certain wines pair with
certain foods that serves as the basis for the wines selected. While
it is fun and instructive to taste wine by itself, in the
final analysis, wine is almost always drunk with food,
and it is how a wine tastes with food that determines its
appeal. Nonetheless, it's not absolutely necessary to serve
food after the tasting. It's perfectly possible to conduct
a successful tasting without food, however, the combination
of a tasting followed by dinner accompanied by the very
same wines makes for a pleasurably social and instructive
evening.
Discussion
After the tasting, ask your guests about their experience,
and compare it to your own. How did the Chardonnays differ?
What did you record in your notebook? How did your tasting
experience differ from the experience of your guests with
all six Chardonnays? Were there more differences or similarities?
What were they?
Other At-Home Tastings
The "Varietal Challenge" tasting format can be
repeated by featuring any other varietals. Grape types allowing
for fascinating regional comparisons include Sauvignon Blanc,
Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Syrah and Riesling.
About The Author
Les Kincaid is an author, chef and radio broadcaster who
covers the spectrum of wine and food in many forms of media.
He's written several cookbooks, and his latest is titled "Never
Trust A Skinny Chef...II" His weekly radio program,
"Les'
Wines & Vines" is a premier radio show broadcast weekly
on radio and cable stations to over 26 million households
in all 50 states.
Learn more at LesKincaid.com.
Article © 2006, Les Kincaid. All
rights reserved.
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