The Flavors Of Wine
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Although the four main
flavors - sweet, salty, sour, and bitter
are all your tongue is really capable of
tasting, the long lasting impression that
wine leaves in your mouth is far more
complex. When you drink or taste wine,
your taste buds and your sense of smell
are involved, adding to the way you
interpret wine overall. The flavors,
aromas, and sensations that wine is
comprised of provide the interaction that
you taste when you sample
wine.
Sweetness is something
that wines are well known for. With most
types of wine, grapes are responsible for
the sweet taste. Grapes contain a lot of
sugar, which breaks the yeast down into
alcohol. The grapes and yeast that were
used to produce the wine will leave
behind various sugars, which your tongue
will be able to quickly detect. Once your
tongue detects these various sugars, the
stimulation of sweetness from the wine
will be ever so present in your
mouth.
Alcohol is also present
in wine, although your tongue doesn't
really know how to decipher the taste of
alcohol. Even though the tongue doesn't
really taste alcohol, the alcohol is
present in the mouth. The alcohol found
in wine will dilate blood vessels and
therefore intensify all of the other
flavors found in the wine. After you have
samples a few types of wine, the alcohol
level can easily have an effect on your
taste buds, making it hard to distinguish
other drinks that you may
have.
Another flavor is
acidity, which will effect the sugars.
With the proper balance of acidity, the
overall flavor of wine can be very
overwhelming. Once you taste wine that
contains it, the flavor of the acidity
will be well known to your tongue.
Although acidity is great with wine, too
much of it will leave a very sharp taste.
With the right levels, acidity will bring
the flavors of the grape and fruits alive
in your mouth - providing you with the
perfect taste.
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effect of flavor are tannins, which are
the proteins found in the skins of grapes
and other fruits. If a wine has the right
amount of tannins, it will give your
tongue a great feel, and bring in the
sensations of the other flavors. Once a
wine starts to age, the tannins will
begin to breakdown in the bottle, giving
you a softer feel to the taste. Tannins
are essential for the taste of wine -
providing the wine has been properly
aged.
The last flavor
associated with wine is oak. Although oak
isn't put into the wine during the
manufacturing process, it is actually
transferred during the aging process, as
most wines will spend quite a bit of time
in oak barrels. Depending on how long the
wine is left in the oak barrel or cask,
the ability to extract the flavor will
vary. Most often times, wine will be aged
just enough to where the oak taste is
visibly there - and adds the perfect
sentiment to the taste.
Although there are
other flavors involved with the taste of
wine, they aren't as present as those
listed above. The above flavors are the
most present in wine, and also the
flavors that you need to get more
familiar with. Before you try to taste
wine or distinguish flavors, you should
always learn as much you can about the
components responsible for the flavors.
This way - you will know more about what
you are tasting and you'll truly be able
to appreciate wine.
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