TASTING COURSE VI - BODEGAS SANTALBA

SENSE OF TOUCH

With the wine into the mouth you can have two different sensations:

 

Active, which is located in the tongue and pasive, located in the lips and cheeks.

The astringency (dry and rough sensation), the temperature that the alcohol couse into de mouth ot the spicy flavour are touch reactions when we are tasting wine.

The most important is the astringency because it cause a worse result tasting the wines.

SENSE OF EAR

This one is the less important but it can give us lot of information during the tasting, for example the sound when the wine goes into the glass confirm us some other sensations from other senses like the density.

After this, as we explain at the beginning of the course, the most important is to practice and train the senses with easy examples and start getting knoledges, you will see with time your progress.

TASTING COURSE V - BODEGAS SANTALBA

Hi Friends! After some time without posts now we restart full of energy with our tasting course. We are going to explain you two senses today: smell & taste. Both are extremely important in the tasting process and give us information to say i like or i do not like this wine so... LET'S GO :)

SENSE OF SMELL

This sense give us information about the grape variety, winemaking process and ageing, barrels (oak) and evolution. As you know in the smell sense we have two kinds of information gived by the nose and the retronasal the part between the mouth and the nose

We will need two different words aroma if we speak about positive sensations smell for the negative ones.

 

First, through the nose we have the primary aromas and the inhalation is with the still wine or after shake it turning it slightly.

On a second step, we have to shake it more and we will have more aromas, the secundary aromas, from the fermentation.

Primary aromas from the grape and could be:

•  FRUTY:

White wine:: Orange, lemon, moscato

Red wine: Blackberry, cherry, raspery, ...

•  FLORAL:

Violet, rose, pine...

•  VEGETABLES: 

Rosemary, pine, green pepper...

Secundary aromas, will be produced in the fermentation process and they are inhalated when we shake strong the wine and through the retronasal. Some of them are saffron, pineapple, pear, apple, peach, strawberry, honey, ...

 

 

 

 

The terciary aromas, are produced during the ageing time knowed as BOUQUET and we have :

From Oxidation because of the contact between oak during its time into the barrel and the ageing into the bottle because of the NO oxigen in this period. Some of them are vanila, mushroom, toasted bread, nuts, cacao, coffe, caramel...

 

 

DO YOU KNOW THE MEANING OF "ENVERO"??

In our vineyards in La Rioja-Spain, some time ago we could watch the "envero". It is a term used in viticulture referred to one of the most important stages in the grapes ripening. Basically it´s a change in the color; the red varieties change into a bluish color, and white ones turn yellow.

This change represents a transition to the end of the ripening, it takes place in the summer and can be considered the beginning of a countdown when we can start thinking about the harvest. That countdown  depends on grape varieties, climates and weather conditions. Grapes, as they grow on the vine, are undergoing morphological and physiological changes that allow them to accumulate substances such as sugars and acids, primary aromas and some phenolic compounds that are the responsible of the color, taste and structure of wines.

Not much time ago, winegrowers tasted grapes from the vines after "envero". Valuing the sweetness and the  acidity decreasing in grapes, they decided the best moment for harvest. Today, even without despising this technique, we can check acidity and sugar content in grape and we are able to decide more accurately, parcel by parcel, the begining for the harvest every year.