food

Wine flavours


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I don't especially like wine but I do like tea and I realise I can learn a lot about tea from wine. Specifically, about identifying and distinguishing flavours.

Flavours come mostly from smelling, not tasting. The tongue only detects salt, sweet, sour and umami. There are four things that contribute to a wines flavour:

  • Fruit
  • Wood
  • Earth
  • Other

Fruit

Red wine

Red fruit

Are lighter like strawberry and raspberry.

Black

Are darker like blueberry and blackberry.

White wine

White wine will always have a citrus base like lemon or lime, or if more exotic, orange or tangerine. The fruit in white wine are more exotic, like peach, pineapple, or more subtle flavours like apple and pear.

Wood

Wood flavour come from the barrels the wine was stored in, unless it was stored in barrels made of steel, cement or old wood. Wooden barrels are made of oak which grows all over the world but has different flavours in different areas. In the common french oak you can detect cinnamon, nutmeg, toast and vanilla. In American oak you can additionally find dill and coconut.

Earth

Earth flavours come in through two ways, the terroir and the yeast. The terroir is the surrounding area the grapes were planted in which will contribute flavours like stone, fallen leaves, minerals, sand, clay, pebbles, wild herbs. Yeast flavours will come through mainly in European wines, not the rest of the world and will contribute hints of leather and nail polish remover.

Other

Red wine

  • flowers
  • bacon
  • meat
  • sausage

White wine

  • butter
  • flowers
  • cat pee
  • grass

The cork can add to the flavour in the form of wet dog, wet newspaper or burn rubber.

Last updated 14 April, 2018

About

I inspire new possibilities to deepen love, intimacy and self-expression. I mainly write articles about that, but you'll also find refrences on design, fitness and finance. More

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