Flavors and aromas in wine.

Here's a question I get frequently in the Morovino tasting room. "Mrs. Vino, your tasting notes say that I may taste black pepper in this wine. Is there actual pepper in it?" The answer is "no." When a wine label or tasting room attendant says that you might taste or smell black pepper (or cherries, or truffles, or earth, or spices), there probably AREN'T those things present in the wine. Instead, the combination of the grape, the type of barrel, the yeast used to ferment the wine and the magic of the winemaker bring flavors or aromas similar to black pepper or cherries or earth to the wine. You can only taste 5 things: Sweet, sour, bitter, salty or Umami (more on that in another post). but you can smell an infinite number of things. A newly mown lawn. A crisp green apple. Even though you are "tasting" the wine in your mouth, you are actually smelling it!! When we sip wine and slurp it a little (Mrs. Vino calls that the ugly sip--usually accompanied by a slurping noise and a chewing motion), we are adding oxygen to the wine in our mouth. The wine molecules vaporize and enter your sinus cavity through the rear of your mouth (yes, Mrs. Vino knows that sounds gross). You are actually smelling the wine at this point. (Mrs. Vino calls that "smell/taste.") Depending on the type of wine grape and the art of the winemaker and the age of the wine, the wine might "smell/taste" like tart red cherries (Morovino Sangiovese is a great example) or even dried plum (Morovino '99 Zinfandel). Everyone's palate is different. Anything you "smell/taste" in a wine is valid. Sesame seeds. Espresso. That great patchouli candle you had in 1972. But certain wines do exhibit consistent and classic "smell/tastes" (like Sangiovese and red cherries). Tasting notes are a great start when experiencing wines, but your experience of the wine is just as important. Remember, if you like a wine--it's a good wine. If you don't like a wine--it's just not a good wine for you. If a wine smells like wet newspapers--then it's truly bad and you should send it back. Cheers! Mrs. Vino

To Breathe. Or Not to Breathe.

You come home, kick off your shoes and turn off your cell phone. You are ready to sit back, relax and enjoy a nice glass of wine. A nice red would suit you just fine. You pop the cork and are faced with the age-old wine dilemma: to breathe or not to breathe. Is it hype? Is it hooey? Does wine really need to breathe? Last week in the tasting room, one of our guests asked me to explain the contradiction that exposure to air helps wine open up, but exposure to air can also cause wine to spoil. It is my belief that ALL red wines--premium, medium or daily drinker--can benefit from a little oxygenation. Some whites may benefit from aeration, but that’s another post. Haven’t we all had the experience of having a glass of an affordable daily drinker that was good, but having a second glass that was excellent. Were our taste buds dulled by the first glass? The chances are that because the bottle had been exposed to a bit of air, the flavors of the wine could more fully develop. Allowing a wine to breathe can help it to open up and reveal its finest qualities. Aromas become more intense and more varied. Tanins, alcohol and herbal characteristics can soften and smooth out. Allowing oxygen into a recently opened bottle of wine changes its chemical composition in ways that scientists are still trying to analyze. But there you are in your stocking feet, ready to relax, really, really wanting a glass of wine--do you really need to decant and leave the wine to breathe for an hour, maybe two? There are several really great ways to let a wine breathe. Some take more time than others. The cheapest, easiest way to let a wine breathe is to pop the cork and let the bottle sit on your counter for an hour. Unfortunately, trying to get air into the wine through that tiny little bottle neck is not particularly effective. A more effective way to do this is to decant your wine. Decanters don’t need to be expensive. Mrs. Vino’s favorite decanter cost $4.00 at Cost Plus World Market! You do want a decanter that has a fairly large opening. Pop the cork on your bottle and pour the wine into the decanter. Allow it to splash against the sides. Almost any red will benefit from at least an hour in a decanter. Feel free to swirl the wine around in the decanter a few times as you are waiting! But hold on! Is there such a thing as too much decanting? And should every wine be decanted? Yes. And No. One to two hours of decanting is sufficient for most wines. More than that and you risk losing all the subtlety in the wine. And really delicate Pinot Noirs should never be decanted. The best way is to check the progress of the wine as it is decanting by smell, or by small tastes. "But Mrs. Vino," you say. "I want my wine, now!" If you are willing to make a tiny investment, there are some excellent solutions to oxygenating wine right away. You have probably heard about the Vinturi--it’s an aerator that you hold over your wine glass and pour wine through. It is an excellent tool and it is available in most wineries or wine shops for about $40. They are lovely to look at and feel good in your hand. It’s hardy and should last you years. In Mrs. Vino’s home, however, we use the Selection decanting pourer by Menu. Why this instead of a Vinturi? Simple. Mrs. Vino is a klutz. She can never manage to pour wine through the Vinturi without spilling it. The Selection sits firmly in the top of a bottle and all you need to do is pour through it. You don’t need two hands. It doesn’t drip. We have used the Selection at home for nearly 5 years and it does an EXCELLENT job of aerating wine. We’ve been trying to find a distributor for three years--and we finally found an importer. The Selection is available in the tasting room for $19.95. Come on in and taste-test it. Now occasionally Mr. Vino threatens to give a wine mouth-to-mouth resuscitation by sticking a straw in the bottle and blowing bubbles. This might be a little too much oxygen. But hey, each to his own. I’ll let him give it a try and let you know how it works! Cheers! Mrs. Vino