Good Cooking since 1995
What is a good wine?
A good wine is any wine you like, but first you need to find out what you like.
There are thousands of wines available and not everyone may be to your liking. There are a lot of variables that go into producing commercial wines, weather, soil, grape variety, the winemaker’s style, aging in oak or stainless steel, and bottling. Wine making is a science. Although you may have had a few good homemade wines, chances are that they were made by someone who had developed a technique for them and weren’t just lucky. The best way to find what you like is to experiment and taste, taste, taste! Remember what you taste and what tasted good to you. When and where you taste may be just as important as how well the wine was made. It is recommended that you start with a clean mouth---really!
We’re not talking teeth freshly brushed and rinsed with
Listerine, but maybe rinsed with water, having eaten a slice of
French bread and a bit of mild cheese such as cheddar. Your
mouth and taste buds need to warm up to the tasting process.
Think of tasting and remembering the taste. It’s a good idea to
taste a few wines together so that you may compare them. Usually
white wines are tasted alongside white wines, i.e. Chardonnay
with Chardonnay and Fumé Blanc with Fumé Blanc. The same applies
with red wines.
There is an art to tasting wine and a
difference between tasting and drinking wine. When tasting wine,
first look at the wine in the glass, notice the color and sheen.
Swirl the wine, not to be an exhibitionist, but to induce oxygen
and let the wine develop its bouquet; the perfume or “nose” can
be most enjoyable. This foretaste from the bouquet is a preview
of the actual taste. Now sip the wine and let the wine roll in
your mouth and over your tongue so the taste buds awaken before
slowly swallowing it. After the swallowing, concentrate on the
taste that is left behind, analyze the flavors and warmth, enjoy
the pleasure. You’ll know immediately if the wine is “corked” or
“burnt”; both are signs of something wrong. “Corked” wine tastes
musty and cork flavored, “burnt” wine tastes like sherry or
vermouth.
Before a second taste, or moving on to taste the next wine,
make some mental comparisons to help you remember the wine,
discuss it with others who may be tasting with you, and envision
what you would eat that would complement it and taste good.
Wine and food go hand in hand, so try to have some simply
prepared items to eat with the wine. Bear in mind that when you
first start out and when you become an expert you should not eat
overly spiced and prepared foods with wine in general. The
flavors will kill the lusciousness of the wine. You want to
taste the wine and be able to taste the food at the same time,
they should complement each other. This will help you find a
wine you like. On a hot summer night, a cold glass of Wente
Chardonnay tastes so good---light, lemony, smooth and richly
pleasant. You can taste the Chardonnay grape with every sip and
appreciate the warmth as it fills your mouth. Wow, what a
lingering aftertaste of citrus flavors and fruit. This same
wine, when served with Cajun blackened steak, tastes almost like
ice water. What happened? I used to like this wine! Well, it’s
all in the combination and learning what to eat and drink with
what. Simply put, you learn about “wine pairing” through
experimentation and mistakes. It helps to read food and wine
magazines and websites and participate in wine tasting and
cultural events where wine and food are present and part of the
event. Talk to others and take notes. The ultimate might involve
a trip to a winery or attending wine seminars. It helps to
follow the guideline of white wine with white meats, chicken and
lighter foods, and red wine with beef, rich foods and tomato
sauces.