Tasting outside the box: guide to fine wines

By Maggie Beidelman

Know just what to do and say to sound like a true wine connoisseur.

Wine tasting:

1. Look. Determine the color and clarity of the wine. Swirl it in your glass, look at the richness of the red -- is it more purple, maroon or pink?

Look at the white wine -- is it clear, amber or golden? Next, determine the opacity. Is it translucent or opaque? Can you see sediment?

Older red wines will be more translucent than younger red wines.

2. Smell. Swirl the wine in your glass, releasing its natural aroma, and take a quick whiff at the edge of the glass. Then, dip your nose into the glass and inhale deeply. Do you smell hints of oak, berry, flowers or citrus? Swirl the wine and smell again.

3. Taste. Take a brief sip of the wine. Next, spin the wine in your glass to let it aerate and suck in a bit of wine and air through your front teeth, letting the wine roll over your tongue and the top of your palate and through your mouth. This way, your entire mouth gets a taste of the wine. When swallowing, notice the warmth of the wine, which is a mark of its alcohol level -- the warmer it is, the more alcohol it contains.

Finally, exhale, letting the fumes of the wine envelop your mouth for a final taste.

Take one more sip. Is the taste different? If it is a red wine, does it have a fruity aroma, or one of cinnamon or pepper?

A smoky-tasting red wine may have been fermented in an oak barrel. If it's a white wine, does it taste citrusy, buttery or earthy?

For more information on wine tasting, visit the "How to Taste Wines" guide at About.com.

Wine vocabulary:

Full-bodied: Wine that is rich in flavor, with a consistency more like milk than water.

Light-bodied: Wine that is lighter in consistency and flavor. White wine tends to be more light-bodied than red wine.

Rosé: This pinkish wine is typically produced by either "skin contact," when the skins of red grapes are removed after a only few days of crushing and before the fermentation process, or by "saignée," when the winemaker removes some of the freshly-pressed grape juice and ferments it separately. Sometimes a rosé can be made by blending white and red wines, though this practice is discouraged.

"Basic Taste Sensations" for differentiating wine, according to WineSchool.com:

Bitter: "Young, red Bordeaux or Cabernet-Sauvignons will taste bitter because of their relatively high tannin content. Tannin is a bitter element in wines."

Dry: "A dry wine is one without noticeable sweetness. Technically, a dry wine retains little or no sugar after fermentation."

Earthy: "Not actually referring to a dirty or soil-like smell or taste, but to a characteristic of the wine derived from its special soil and climate. The iodine-like quality that many relate to red Graves wines, or the rubbery character many associate with Mayacamas Mountain Cabernets is called earthy, or possessing goût de terroir (taste of the ecosystem, if you will)."

Mellow: "A soft, smooth, often sweet-edged wine. A 'jug red' and a well-aged Cabernet-Sauvignon or Zinfandel may all be mellow."

Oaky: "Term used to describe the flavor of wines that have been aged in small, usually newish wood barrels."

Sweet: "A basic taste sensation dependent mainly upon grape sugars, but also one resulting from alcohol, new oak and to a degree glycerin. A sweet, as opposed to a dry wine, is one which retains some sugar after fermentation has ended." For more information, visit www.wineschool.com/vocabulary.html.

Contact Maggie Beidelman at (408) 551-1918 or mbeidelman@scu.edu.