An Introduction to Wine

1
An Introduction toWine Wine Tasting
2
About Your Wine Tour Guide

• Clifford P. Ambers
• Doctorate in Geology Indiana Univ. 1993
• Making wine 20 years
• Owns/operates a tiny vineyard winery(Chateau Z
  Vineyard)
• Likes all well-made wine and will try any!
• Dr. Rebecca Ambers husband

C.P. Ambers on High Peak overlooking Lynchburg
and SBC
3
About the Class

• Syllabus

• Introduction/ aroma bouquet exercise- (aroma
  tasting)
• What is wine? (varied wine styles tasting)
• Introduction to the classic white varieties
  (Europes white classics tasting)
• Introduction to the classic red varieties
  (Europes red classics tasting)
• SPRING BREAK (2 WEEKS)
• Less common white varieties (other whites
  tasting)
• Less common red varieties (other reds tasting)
• Champagne sparkling wine (fizzy tasting)
• Final/Blind tasting and judging (a test tasting)

4
About the Class

• Rules

• Try to stay focused on the class and not your
  neighbors.
• No seconds until after class take your time.
• Control yourself (this is the main underlying
  theme of the class). Become aware of how alcohol
  affects you in small doses.
• Please turn off cell phones.
• Please try not to spill anything on the new
  carpet!

5
About the Class

• Lecture and Lab

• Lecture The first half hour of each class well
  spend discussing the days topic in PowerPoint
  format. Questions are encouraged. Ill try to
  cover most wine basics over the eight weeks.
• Laboratory The second half hour each week will
  be the wine tasting. We will cover the
  characteristics of each variety in lecture then
  taste the wines blind to see if you can
  identify them. We will taste wines in pairs so
  comparisons can be made. Bring a pen to take
  notes on the wines as we taste on the sheets
  provided. At the end of class we will reveal the
  wines and discuss your observations. Keep your
  note sheets and your aroma/bouquet handouts in
  your folder for future reference.
• BRING YOUR GLASSES and HANDOUTS EACH WEEK.

6
About the Class

• Lab Procedures

• Come early and help open the wines so you can get
  experience opening the bottles.
• We will use pouring tips to limit each pour to an
  ounce. Insert the tip all the way to its neck
  then invert the bottle in your glass and count
  one thousand and one, one thousand and two and
  quickly return the bottle to upright.
• Wait until you are told to taste before
  proceeding. Use the lab time to study each
  wines visual and olfactory aspects. Take about
  5 minutes per wine a LONG time!
• Spills should be soaked up with the paper towels
  provided and de-colored with Oxyclean I have.
  Trash can go in the blue buckets. DO NOT MIX
  WINE AND TRASH!!
• You can do follow-up tastes of the wines once
  each class is over.

7
Bad Drinking versus Good Drinking
8
Wine Tasting
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Sensuous versus Sensual

• Of or pertaining to the senses.
• In wine, this means using your senses fully to
  appreciate a wine.
• Tasting is sensuous

• Seeking satiety of the senses, especially in a
  hedonistic fashion.
• In wine, this means seeking inebriation.
• Dont be a drunk!

In this class we will be sensuous wine consumers
(tasters) and not sensual wine consumers
(inebriates)!
10
The Ping Effect Step 1
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The Ping Effect Step 2
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The Ping Effect Step 3
PING
The speech center is activated and talking is
suppressed only with difficulty. Inhibitions are
generally lessened. The effect is almost
immediate with even one small sample of alcoholic
beverage.
Blah, blah, blah...
13
Know Your Limit
Dont let the Ping Effect get out of control.
Do not taste before your tour guide or the class
will fall apart prematurely. Wine tasting
requires you to stay in full control of your
senses. Persons tasting many wines spit the
tastes out so they dont lose their sensing edge.
If you need to spit to keep your head on
straight, it is your right to do so. Use a cup
or glass and empty into the dump pitchers on the
tables. Use your time here to study how the Ping
Effect affects you! Low doses of alcohol DO
have a profound influence on people.
14
The Book

• Please read the first 110 pages over the course
  of the class. I will suggest readings for the
  classes, but it is all great. We will make
  reference to the regional sections later in the
  book, but they are mostly for your reference down
  the road. It is a steal of a wine reference.
• For week 2 please read pages XIII-XVII, 1-12,
  48-74 and start 98-110.

15
Wine Tasting 101 the short courseThe Five Ss
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SEE the wine

• Your best impression is often your first, so put
  your thinking caps on before beginning! See the
  wine and FOCUS on what you are doing before
  starting. Then.
• Color what is the wines color?
• Clarity is the wine crystal clear or cloudy?
• Viscosity is the wine thin or thick?
• Legs are heavy tears formed inside the glass
  from high alcohol content?
• Sediment are there crystals, chunks or sludge?

17
SWIRL the wine

• Coat the inside of the glass to help more wine
  evaporate.
• Look again for the legs (or tear drops) on the
  glass. The better defined they are the more
  alcohol is in the wine.
• Try to judge the wines viscosity as you swirl.
• Continue to ascertain color and clarity.

18
SMELL or SNIFF the wine

• Try to get at the fruit AROMAS in the wine and
  try to describe them (cherry, berry, tea, jam,
  apple, black current, etc., etc.). See your
  handouts.
• Try to get at the winemaking smells or BOUQUET
  and try to describe them (yeastiness, butter,
  kraut, leather, oak, alcohol, mushrooms, tobacco,
  etc., etc.).
• Try to judge if the wine is simple with only a
  few dominant smells or complex.

19
SIP the wine

• Intake a generous mouthful with some air bubbles
  if you can.
• Move the wine around your mouth for several
  seconds, coating all surfaces.
• Swallow or spit the sample.
• Try to describe how the wine tastes at first, as
  you coat your mouth, as you swallow, and
  afterward. Is it sour, sweet, tannic or strange?

20
SAVOR the wine

• Stop and THINK about what you have experienced.
  Can you describe what you have tasted? Enter
  your thoughts on your chart.
• SEE, SWIRL and look at the wine again.
• Formulate a question to test with another sniff.
  Sniff and try to answer yourself.
• Formulate another question to test with another
  taste. Sip and try to answer yourself.
• Repeat as needed until you know the wine. Make
  a mental note of it and why you like it or not.
  Write this down. Try to describe the total
  flavor.

21
John Steed Reviews the 5 Ss
(Note Steeds clear understanding of See, Smell,
Sip and Savor!)
CLICK TO PLAY
From A Surfeit of H2O episodeof THE AVENGERS
1965 (I was 2)
22
Introductory Aroma Tasting
Grape juice versus wine can you sense the
difference? Describe!
Now THAT is FOXY
Concord grapes on the vine at Chateau Z Vineyard.
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LAB PERIOD

• Visit each table and taste the wine(s)
• If a pair of wines is present, pour a bit of each
  and compare them side-by side
• Fill in your tasting evaluation form with your
  notes
• Use the handouts provided at sign-in to help you
  describe what you are sensing.

24
WEEK 1 WINES REVEALED
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End of Class 1

• Reminder for next week please read pages
  XIII-XVII, 1-12, 48-74, and work on 98-110.
• Next weeks class is on what is wine? and
  tasting various wine styles. Well also
  construct a synthetic wine from its components.
• BRING YOUR CLEAN GLASSES and YOUR AROMA/BOUQUET
  SHEETS!