Welcome to the second part of the series Tasting Analysis Like a Professional. In the first part we looked at the method itself, the systematic path through the glass. Now we begin in earnest, and we begin where sensing itself begins, namely with sight.
Sight is the first and most underrated phase of a wine analysis. It is tempting to rush on to aroma and taste, but a disciplined visual assessment sets the frame for everything that follows. It tells us something about the wine's condition, its age, its structure and often also about the winemaker's choices. In this part we get precise about colour, clarity, rim and viscosity, and just as importantly, about what sight can actually reveal, and where the line is drawn.
Hvad du lærer
- To describe colour and colour intensity precisely and systematically
- To read what clarity and the rim in the glass can reveal about the wine's condition and age
- To understand what viscosity (the so-called legs) is really connected to
- To know the limitations of sight, so that you do not over-interpret what you see
Colour and intensity
Sight is one of the five senses we work with in sensory analysis, and it functions through transduction, where physical events are converted into electrical activity in the sensory nerves. The eye's retina contains two kinds of specialised neurons: rods, which cannot perceive colour and sit in the peripheral areas, and cones, which perceive colour and sit centrally behind the lens. The cones contain three types of visual pigment, which react to red, blue and green wavelengths respectively, and it is the interplay between them at different intensities that lets us distinguish the many intermediate colours. It is precisely this ability that we draw on when we read a wine's hue.
When you assess colour, separate two things: hue and intensity. The hue places the wine on an axis, from pale straw-yellow tones through golden to amber in the whites, and from purple and ruby through garnet to brick-red in the reds. Intensity is about how deep and saturated the colour is, best assessed by tilting the glass and looking down through the liquid against a white background.
The colour is not random. In red wine it comes from anthocyanins, colour pigments that sit in the grapes' skins and which belong to the wine's phenolic compounds. The amount of colour therefore depends, among other things, on cuvaison, that is the period during fermentation where the juice is in contact with the skins. The longer and more intense the contact, the more pigment and structure is drawn out. Colour intensity is thus not just cosmetics, it points back to a winemaker's decision.
Clarity and rim
After hue and intensity comes clarity. A healthy, finished wine is usually clear to bright. Cloudiness can have several explanations, and here we must be sober: a wine can be deliberately unfiltered, or the cloudiness can point towards a condition that calls for attention in the later phases. Sight raises the question, but it is aroma and taste that answer it.
Think too of the tools the winemaker has for clarification. Fining with bentonite, a fine clay, or depth filtration with kieselguhr, a powder of decomposed deep-sea algae, are classic methods. A bright wine can thus be the result of active clarification, while a slightly cloudy wine can reflect a deliberate decision against the same. Neither is in itself a verdict on quality.
The rim as an age marker
The rim, or edge, is the outermost zone of the liquid where you tilt the glass. Here the layer is thin, and the colour reveals itself most honestly. In young red wines the rim is often close to the central hue, often with bluish or purple tones. With age the colour migrates towards garnet and brick-red, brownish nuances at the edge, because the phenolic compounds, including anthocyanins and tannins, slowly change through controlled oxidation during maturation. In white wines the movement goes the opposite way, from pale and greenish tones towards deeper golden and amber nuances. The rim is thus one of the most reliable visual bearings on age and development, as long as you read it carefully.
Viscosity and 'legs'
Tilt the glass, let the wine settle against the side, and look at the streaks that run back down. They are called legs or tears. It is tempting to read them as a sign of quality, but they are not. The legs are first and foremost connected to the wine's content of alcohol, that is ethanol, and of sugar.
The mechanics are physical. Alcohol evaporates faster and has a different surface tension than water, and this creates a movement in the thin film on the glass, which draws liquid up, after which it gathers and runs down as legs. The more alcohol, and the more dissolved substance, the more pronounced and slower the legs. Residual sugar and the amount of dissolved solids (extract) made up of proteins, tannins and minerals contribute to both viscosity and body, and this is partly read here.
Legs therefore tell you something about the wine's weight and alcoholic heft, a useful preliminary indication before aroma and taste. But they say nothing about whether the wine is well-balanced, clean or pleasant-smelling. Use them as a hint about body, not as a verdict on quality.
What sight can and cannot reveal
Sight is strong at pinpointing a few concrete things: hue and intensity, clarity, approximate age via the rim, and a sense of body via viscosity. It is a good start, because it guides your expectations for the next phases without locking them in.
But here is the important reservation. Wine is perceived with several senses, and by far the most of what we call taste is in reality aroma and chemical perception. Aroma's compounds are hundreds of volatile substances, and sight, for good reasons, cannot see a single one of them. A wine can look magnificent and smell faulty, and conversely a modest colour can conceal great aromatic complexity. Many of the most significant aroma substances are moreover glycosidically bound in the grape, invisible until they are released during maturation and ageing, and they never reveal themselves to the eye.
The professional attitude is therefore humble. Let sight raise hypotheses. Let aroma and taste decide them. It is precisely this discipline, where each sense contributes its own and nothing more, that separates systematic analysis from the quick impression.
Kort fortalt
- Always separate hue from intensity, and assess both against a white background.
- Red wine's colour comes from anthocyanins in the skin and is affected, among other things, by cuvaison.
- Clarity can reflect a deliberate choice about filtration or fining, and is not in itself a verdict on quality.
- The rim is a reliable bearing on age, towards brick-red tones in red wine and towards golden in white wine.
- Legs are connected to alcohol, sugar and extract, that is body, not quality.
Ofte stillede spørgsmål
Do lots of legs mean that the wine is of high quality?
No. Legs reflect above all the content of alcohol and dissolved substance such as sugar and extract, and thereby give a hint about the wine's weight and body. They say nothing about balance, purity or aroma, so they should never be read as a quality marker in themselves.
Can I judge a wine's age on the colour alone?
You can get a good way, especially by reading the rim, which moves towards brownish and brick-red tones in red wine and towards deeper golden in white wine over time. But use it as a hypothesis, not a conclusion. Aroma and taste must confirm what sight suggests.
Klar til næste skridt?
Now you have set the frame with the eye. In the next part we move into the field where the wine really unfolds, namely aroma and the aroma families. Read on in Aroma: Aromas and Aroma Families, where we get to grips with the volatile compounds that sight can never see.
Feel free to bring a glass along while you read, and try the theory out in practice. And remember that the best pairing is always the wine you yourself like, with the food you yourself like. Do dive into the range and find a bottle to practise your senses on.