Casino Connection Atlantic City

The Sensory Discovery of Wine

A beginners guide to choosing wine

by Robert Rossiello

Every good meal needs something to wash it down. Our dining guide would not be complete unless we turned our attention to that one beverage that enhances the culinary experience, wine. Wine is a mysterious elixir that when properly paired can bring out the best in food. From Italy to Argentina, from the south of France to the California coast, civilizations have made a religion out of fermenting grapes to bring forth their subtle properties.

The variety of wines available in this country is impressive, but sometimes when it comes to choosing wine people can be intimidated. So, with the assistance of an expert, we’ve outlined some steps to help you go from amateur to connoisseur.

Shawn Dore is the national education director for the Charmer Sunbelt Group, one of the largest distributors of alcoholic beverages in the country. Originally from Toronto, she ran her own business, Sommelier Services, where she bought wine for restaurants and private collectors, and taught about wine at a culinary college. From 2004 to 2006 she was the Wine Director for Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa. She has developed a program, “Taste Like a Pro,” which she presented at the 2007 Atlantic City Food & Wine Festival.

“I created the program as a quick and easy guide for retailers, but realized it works well for the average wine drinker,” she says. “People get a little intimidated when it comes to developing their taste. I wanted to show them how the pallet works—a guide to sensory adventure.”

The Nose & Taste Buds

Dore says that the key to wine tasting actually resides in your nose, not your mouth. The average person can smell over 2,000 different scents, so our ability to detect the aromas in wine is a critical component of tasting. Your nose can be trained, through practice, to tell you about the wine you are sampling.

Another critical component is the palate, which perceives four basic tastes: sweetness, sourness (acidity), salt and bitterness.

1. Sweetness—perception is on the tip of the tongue. If sweetness is a component within a wine, you will immediately taste it on the top of your tongue.

2. Sourness/Acidity—is sensed on the sides of the tongue and the cheek area. It can be a mouth-watering sensation.

3. Saltiness—perception is located in the upper forward area of the tongue.

4. Bitterness—is identified at the back of the tongue.

Other measurements include:

Body—the weight of the wine in the mouth, be it watery, light, very light, medium, full or very full.

Tannins—the sensation which is created is similar to the effect of black tea. Tannins are mouth-drying and you feel them primarily around the gums.

Alcohol—if a wine has too much alcohol the sensation is heat. Alcohol should be in balance with the other components in the wine.

Sensory Evaluation

Sight is the first sense you use in wine tasting. The color and condition give you the initial insight into the composition of the wine. When examining a wine’s color, hold the glass on a 45-degree angle against a white surface, like a white table cloth, and look closely. Whether the wine is brilliant, clear or cloudy can be your first indication of a fault. The color can tell you about the age, the grape variety and the way the wine was matured.

Different grape varieties have different color. In a wine’s youth the color will be dictated by the grape variety. As white wine ages it gains more intense color. As red wine ages it loses color. White wines range in color from pale yellow, to green, to brown. If a wine is aged in oak this can also affect color.

Smell is the second sense. Your initial smell is for identifying faults. You don’t want to corrupt your sense of smell if the wine is faulted, so this first smell should not be a deep smell but a surface smell.

The next step is to swirl your wine in the glass. Swirling releases the esters and aldehydes which combine with oxygen to yield the bouquet. In other words, swirling rapidly aerates the wine and gives it a better smell.

Then smell again. You have swirled to liberate the aromas of the bouquet, so this time stick your nose in the glass and smell. Short sniffs, one on top of the other, building the smell will help you to identify the smell. There are several terms for identifying scents, such as fruity, earthy, woody, etc. However, the best way to remember what a wine smells like is to develop your own custom wine vocabulary.

Now taste the wine. Without a doubt the most enjoyable portion of the experience, this is where you put your taste buds to work. You have taste buds all over your mouth. They are on both sides of the tongue, underneath the tongue, on the tip of the tongue, extending to the back of the throat. Ideally you want to draw air through your mouth while you taste, and you want the wine to be in contact with all of your taste buds.

While tasting, think about the wine’s sweetness, acidity and tannins. Think about the body. Do you like this wine? Is the wine balanced? These are some of the factors you should consider to determine if the wine is right for you.

Ultimate Dinner Date

Wine can be enjoyed on its own, of course, but serving it with food can elevate it to a new level. When it comes to choosing wines, Dore says to be adventurous.

“Don’t stick to what the magazines say, or the latest trend. Buy what you like and experiment with varieties.”

The simple rule of pairing red wine with meat and pasta and white wine with fish or poultry is meant to be broken. What is more important than the main course are the vegetables and sauce.

“Vegetables can bring a sweetness, acidity or bitterness to your taste buds, so its important to find the right wine with those components. The key is to find harmony—a good marriage of every aspect of the meal.”

As for introducing new wines, Dore has the solution to the ultimate dinner party. Invite friends to dinner and have each of them bring a wine from a different region of the world. Guests can do a presentation on the region, climate or grapes from information gathered on the internet. Then everyone can try the wine and discuss what they think. It’s the perfect way to keep the conversation going while introducing new wines.

Storing Wine

Ninety percent of wines are meant to be drunk within one to two years. Most wines will benefit by being slightly aged, but any wine that is kept for a long time needs to be stored under the right conditions or it can spoil. Using a wine cooler or cellar that captures the humidity helps preserve the wine at optimum temperature. It is also important that no light or vibrations disturb the bottles.

Most wines fare best at 55 degrees fahrenheit. Historically, room temperature was estimated at 60 degrees (pre-heating), so wines were traditionally served cooler. Wine served at the optimum temperature brings out the fruit quality and aromatics. However, the modern refrigerator is too cold for most wines, causing it to lose aromatics. A good recommendation is to take the wine out about 20 minutes before serving to let it warm.