Umjeće kušanja vina

Wine is first valued by sight. The glass in your hand should have a white background (a table cloth or a wall) to rank the colour and clearness of the wine. The colour, regardless of its sort, should not be muddy, gloomy or misty. A “healthy” colour is clear and always compatible with the wine type and age.

The smell is maybe the most important sight when we taste wine and grade its character. An easy move of our hand, “circle” the content of the glass, will make the smell of the wine stronger. Lean your nose into the glass and catch the essences that perspire, all the rest will be taken by the nerves’ ends which will take the stimuli to our brain. The transmitted stimuli will bring up a memorized smell and compare this smell with it.

By tasting we supplement the experience of smelling and confirm the wine characteristics. People percept only four tastes; sweet, sour, bitter and salty. The new dry white wine is e.g. sour, while new red whine leave a bitterish flavour.

Wines can also differ in their body (“weight”) which determines more or less alcohol in it.

The key of quality wines is the balance of all the elements.

Professional wine tasters never swallow a tasting sip, and between tasting two wines they rinse their mouth with water.

WINE FRAGRANCE

The smell is maybe the most important sight when we taste wine and grade its character.

Wine contains more than 200 different chemical components from which many are identical with those of fruit, vegetables, spices, herbs and other substances.

Due to the existence of chemical correlation of this complex process, wine experts use a rich language of metaphors describing wine characteristics.

First of all, the smell of wine differs according to the kind of grapes which is the framework of the fragrance. Afterwards one can notice the specific smell caused by the fermentation in oak barrels or aging in a bottle which mixed with a fruit basis makes wine bouquet.

There are smells warning us something is of law quality or even perishable.

The sour taste is caused by acetic acid and the acetone flavour comes from ethylene; the smell of a tire, rotten eggs or garlic is caused by the biochemical reaction produced by sulphides.
The bad wine obstruction can also cause hard or humid flavour. While the flavour of spoilt milk produce the bacteria lactobacillus. In other words, the smell will tell you everything in time.