Vinopolis Patinum Tour

London, 11 December 2005

This tour was both an art lesson and a self development experience, therefore it deserves a post on both pages.

The visit started with 20 minutes of wine tasting class held by a Californian young lady. She kept it really simple and basic, but it was still interesting to get some fundaments before starting the drinking session, because this is what this tour essentially was. I was hoping to have more information about the different grapes and the different fermentation procedures, but I found only some brief explanatory notes on the panels for each country which did not really enrich my (limited) knowledge. The tour was organised geographically, but, although Italy was one of the countries (as it should be being the largest producer of wine—in terms of quantity and not of exportation), there was hardly any Italian wines to sample.

So, what did I learn?

The four sensual steps in wine a wine tasting involve three senses: 1. sight; 2. smell; and 3. taste.

First step—the colour is an indicator of the wine,
A purple colour indicates a young wine, while a orange/brown nuance is the sign of a mature wine. The intensity of the colour should tell about the body of it: does it look light? Medium? Or full bodied? Swirling the wine is a way to give it oxygen and assess the quantity of alcohol and sugar by looking at the tears (lacrime in Italian) depositing on the wall of the glass. The more they are the more the wine is sugary and the slowest they sink down the more the wine is alcoholic, and viceversa.

Second step—a quick sniff should tell us a lot about the flavour which can be metaphorically compared to four natural varieties of essences: flower, spices/herbs and fruit. A second deeper whiff should confirm the first impression. So Shiraz* resembles blackcurrant, Sauvignon blanc* reminds cider and lemon, etc. As my dad observed, they are compared to cocoa, tarragon, vanilla, melon, etc., but never to grape. :o )

Third step—Slurping, which means keeping a small sip of wine on the top of your tongue and softly inhaling with the mouth, i.e. allowing some air to pass through the lips and through the wine in order to release all the aromas and different component of it, including the alcohol! You are allowed to spit that intense sip and can proceed to a second proper drink to enjoy the tastes your tongue would recognise: sweetness on the top of it; bitterness at the back and intermediate savours on the sides of it. Note the after taste, i.e. how long does the taste stay in your mouth? If more than 6 seconds, it is definitely a quite strong wine: in technical terms a “full bodied” wine.

In conclusion, one point was made clear: there is no way to ascertain the quality of a wine, unless it is corked** or high sulphured, in which case you should simply return the bottle. With the experience you can describe the quality of different wines more accurately and simply express your opinion and your taste, because, after all, this is the ultimate subjective encounter.

[I took note of each wine I tasted and will post the description later on--I can’t find the notes right now!]

* Types of grapes.
** When the cork gets to dry it can be attacked by a bacteria. This happens in one bottle out of 20, so it is quite common and very normal to send it back. A corked wine is unmistakeable by the bad smell.