Wine culture in Eger
The art of wine tasting
 To be able to enjoy good wine, we should get to know some fundamental elements of wine tasting, which is a kind of science in one way and also an art on higher levels. Drinking up your wine from whatever glasses in a minute is obviously not part of this art!
There can be so much beauty and greatness in a glass of good wine - not to forget the work of the owner - that it should not be drunk up in a minute – but rather savoured. These beauties start with the colour of the wine and last until its aftertaste and final decay. So let’s get to know all the basic elements that are required for tasting.
The glass
It does matter what kind of glass we use to drink from. The shape, size and material of the glass are very significant. To be able to see the real colour of the wine the glass must be smooth with light walls. Decorations and other form in the glass can be very nice but also very disturbing so we should not use any glasses like these. The wine glass always has a prop, mostly having a mouth, which is getting smaller as it gets higher. Its bulk depends on the wine to be tasted but it is never small. In serious cases, people may have numerous different glasses and take extreme care in selecting the best one for the wine they want to taste. If you do not have the luxury of different glasses for each wine, then you may use the international standard glass for wine tasting. Its shape and size is ideal in most cases and it is universal. It is compulsory to have it in every wine cellar.
To taste the wine you only need half a decilitre but never more than one decilitre.
The tasting should be done in a room that is light and the air is clean. The environment should be free from any other aromas. If possible do not eat any heavily seasoned or spicy food before tasting because it may disable, addle your taste.
The clolur and clarity of wine
When we taste the wine the first thing to check is its colour and clarity. It tells us a lot about the wine. In case of white wines the colour shades can tell us a lot about the method that was used to make the wine and its age. The colour may range from the totally clear, greenish white through straw yellow to gold. Bright colour is mostly the characteristics of reductive, younger wine while darker colours indicate that the wine is oxidative and probably older. In case of red wine the colour also tells us a lot. Above all it tells us the age of the wine. If the colour is deep lilac and purple the wine is a younger, fresher one. Later this colour changes into ruby and later garnet red while the really old red wine can be brick red. In these cases the colour of the wine close to the edge of the glass seems to be light orange while deeper it looks darker.
The aroma of wine
To be able to judge the wine we should move around the glass (this is why we should use a glass with a small mouth) so that the aroma getting in touch with the air can loose and can be felt more easily. After that we take some short sniffs into the wine so that we can take something like a sample of aroma. It all tells us a lot. If its aroma is comfortable or if the aroma is bad, stinging, sulphuric it can probably be a sign of a possible error during making the wine. The aroma of the good wine makes you remember to flowers, fruit, plants, spices and sometimes minerals. Some of these are characteristics of a certain type of wines, which make it possible to recognise a kind of wine. Sometimes we meet the so-called animalistic aroma, especially with mature red wine. Based upon their origin there are three types of aromas. Most part of the aroma is originated from the grape itself, and that is preserved by the careful grape-grower with the help of up-to-date methods. (It is mainly possible with reductive wine production.) The secondary aromas accrue during the yeast of the wine. In the barrel or in the bottles there are other aromas that can accrue these are called bouquet.
The intensity of the aroma can also be different ranging from the reserved to the intensive.
The taste of wine
AWhen we have finished with the sight and the aroma we reach the last section of the tasting, this the actual taste. A sip in the mouth is enough. It is worth moving the wine around in our mouth, almost chewing it so that we can separate its aromas. The first impression is the complement, which determines the taste of the wine (it can be acidly, smooth, containing tannin, hard, lively, etc.) If the wine is silent or there are bubbles. After that you may taste the different aromas, intensity, harmony or disharmony. Finally after swallowing the wine we can feel the aftertaste, which ingredients, richness, and length are characteristics of the wine.
The most important components of the taste are different acids, alcohol, sometimes sugar, and mainly in red wine tannin. The wine is good if these components are in harmony. None of them is over the others and none of them is more intensive so the wine is in balance. Acids give the backbone of the wine. Their amount and kinds are vital. Alcohol gives the durability of the wine and of course takes part in forming the taste. A lot of wine can produce a kind of sweet taste even if there is no additional sugar. Sugar that can be found in grape juice is normally transformed into alcohol during the process of fermentation. In most cases it goes well so the wine is dry. If the fermentation is stopped earlier than normal or it stops because of any reason the wine contains a certain amount of sugar. The amount of this additional sugar determines if the wine is semidry, semisweet or sweet. This additional sugar is normal if the wine is supposed to be sweet. These wines are made of grape that is normally gathered later than usual. In some cases the dry wine is the scale of quality wine. For meals we normally drink dry wine except for desserts. In high quality, muscatel wines, which are naturally sweet, a small amount of sugar remains in the wine. Normally these are accompanied by strong acids so they are in balance as well. (The best example is the Tokaji aszu.) In case of red wines it is the amount of tannin that determines the aroma and taste of the wine. During the process of fermentation tannins become more and more smooth and round.
Dr. Csizmadia András
Source: Egri Borok Könyve (Kossuth Kiadó, 2000) |
