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rjs3
NJ
Barrel Filler
Posts:1124
 | | 11/26/2003 1:35 PM |
| | How do you craft a good tasting note ? I cannot seem to taste anything in particular, like berries, tar, chocolate, etc. I only can tell if I like it or not. How can one develop this skill ? | | | |
| ChangeMe
Grape Stomper
Posts:152
| | 11/26/2003 2:01 PM |
| It takes experience, but it isn't very hard once you get to it.
It is easier if you know what to look for, but this can fool you as well. Ask your wine retaielr for somevarietal specific wines, and then try them side by side. Say a Cabernet Sauvignon for black currants, a Pinot Noir for raspberry. Whites are easier to taste than reds, so you could just as well start there. The vanilla taste of american oak is an easy to spot as well.
I really recommend that you buy Jancis Robinson's Wine Tasting Workbook. It will only set you back some 25$ and is easily one of the most comprehensive and easy to read beginner's guides to wine tasting. Why not try Amazon.com. | | | |
| Pool Boy
Laurl, MD (DC suburb)
Master of Wine
Posts:13711
| | 11/26/2003 3:25 PM |
| TNs are just babblings and musings and impressions you get from the wine. Honestly you just need to blurt out and scribble down your thoughts when you do blurt these things out. It also helps to taste wines in a variety of ways, not just the one bottle you popped open for dinner tonight. Side by sides are nice, small tasting parties are nice, wine dinners are great (but can be challenging since you might want to revel in the fun instead of taking TNs) -- especially if with other wine dorks, since you might learn something from them and they might learn something from you.
I've used the most oddball TN descriptors, not because they are looney, but because that is what a given wine has yanked out of my vocal cords and brain. 'Steely, waxy baconfat', 'huge chunks of hay', 'kind of rocky, but more like pebbles, but not gravel' come to my mind as weird descriptors.
Just write down what you blurt out and take it from there, IMO. | |
www.roguefood.com -- www.cellartracker.com | |
| Eric White
San Ramon, CA
Advanced Sommelier
Posts:9250
| | 11/26/2003 3:26 PM |
| As Markus notes, it's mostly experience - the more you taste, and the more different wines you taste, the easier it will come.
I am very methodical about my notes, particularly in a setting where we are tasting multiple wines side by side. I begin by evaluating the color of each, then move on to the nose of each, and finally the taste. I never make a final evaluation after only one taste, it usually takes 2, 3, or 4 tastes (when possible).
Next, compare! As you develop your ability, use comparisons to tune your skill. If you think you smell honeysuckle, go out and smell some honeysuckle and compare to whats in the glass. If it's cocoa, open up some cocoa and smell the two side by side. Open your spice cabinet wide and compare the aromas to what's in the glass - let your imagination be your guide. If you want to spend the scratch, Le Nez du Vin kits are wonderful, but's it's a lot of cash and you can start with what's at hand.
Finally, relax and enjoy! This isn't a test where you will be graded right or wrong, don't stress over it, relax and ejoy the wine and make it a journey of exploration! | | | |
| ChangeMe
Master of Wine
Posts:12891
| | 11/26/2003 4:57 PM |
| | i am with you rjs. i have a very hard time picking out different smells and tastes. i just know what i like when i taste it. | | | |
| TCK
Barrel Filler
Posts:1279
| | 11/26/2003 6:47 PM |
| Part of the problem is that people don't use there nose enough. Smell everything! This is like weight lifting for your nose. Sounds dorky but it's true. Next, start small look for fruit families first. Smells like mellon, Red fruit, tree fruit.
Powerful nose of dark fruit, full body, thick tannins, strong oak - I like it. This is a perfect tasting note for a Cab that everyone can understand. Not ever TN needs to look like a piece by Hemingway.
I have heard of people who have started with very neutral wines and added things to them to get the scents. Squeeze a drop of cherry juice into a neutral flavored red, can you smell it. Soak a piece of green pepper in a glass for 2 minuted and see if you can pick it up.
This is also odd but it is a fun experiment that my friend swears helped him. Just don't spend a ton on the wine. A $7 light or no oak merlot would work fine.
Another thing is just association. There is a smell in Syrah that I call tar. I'm not sure it actually smells like tar, but it is the same smell that others call "Syrah Tar" so I call it tar.
To really boost your pallet you should often have two bottles of of diffrent wine going to compare and contrast. This is the best way to strengthen your nose. | | | |
| rjs3
NJ
Barrel Filler
Posts:1124
| | 11/26/2003 6:55 PM |
| | Wow......sounds like I need to do more drinking !!!!!!!!!! | | | |
| TCK
Barrel Filler
Posts:1279
| | 11/26/2003 7:02 PM |
| Now that's the kind of Homework you don't mind getting!  | | | |
| ChangeMe
Master of Wine
Posts:11169
| | 11/26/2003 7:11 PM |
| | Agree with TCK. I actually bought a kiwi just to cut it open and smell it. | | | |
| dinwiddie
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2178
| | 11/26/2003 7:33 PM |
| Some of the descriptors are easy to notice in wine, especially once you have heard them used before, like cedar or rosemary or cassis. But as others have said, it just takes experience.
Now tj does come up with some interesting ones sometime (like chili powder, slate (instead of pebbles) and oatmeal with brown sugar or senses of thicket, hawthorne, licorice and soapstone, to name a few he used at our last dinner.) | | | |
| TBird
Park Slope, Brooklyn
Wine Connoisseur
Posts:5219
| | 11/26/2003 7:33 PM |
| Quote:
Agree with TCK. I actually bought a kiwi just to cut it open and smell it.
BO, over here, we even eat them...   | | | |
| NorCalVinoLover
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2202
| | 11/26/2003 7:35 PM |
| Thanks TCK, I'm gonna do more smelling with my tasting this long weekend.
 | | | |
| ChangeMe
Master of Wine
Posts:11169
| | 11/26/2003 8:45 PM |
| | TBird, I love kiwi, but I wasn't eating any carbs at the time and my wife didn't want it. | | | |
| GATC
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2420
| | 11/26/2003 9:43 PM |
| | Eric, does your kit has creosote, tar, pencil lead and other descriptors like that or is it mainly fruits and flowers? | | | |
| Eric White
San Ramon, CA
Advanced Sommelier
Posts:9250
| | 11/26/2003 9:50 PM |
| | None of those you mentioned GATC, but it does have some spices, coffee, chocolate, nuts, and some animal aromas. The full list is availablehere | | | |
| GATC
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2420
| | 11/26/2003 10:14 PM |
| Thanks, that was quick. There are few aromas that I notice in red wines that I don't think fits into any of the 50+/- items that is listed. Come to think of it, creosote comes very close to a characteristic that I really don't like at all, but Parker uses it on some wines (e.g. 2000 Calon Segur) in a positive way.
Fruit characteristics are easier for me. In German rieslings, I can sense lemon, lime, peaches (white and yellow), strawberries, pears, figs, melon, and a few more fruits. Actually, the 2001 Darting rieslaner has a characteristic that is unique (to me) and I cannot identify it. I really like it, but it is more of a mixture of fruits than one in particular.
In red wines, I like the fruit characteristics more than the inorganic ones. But, other than cherry, the fruit flavors seem more of a mix or mutation than pure fruit of one kind of other. I've always wondered if this is why people use red fruit, black fruit, and blue fruit instead of naming the exact fruit. | | | |
| ChangeMe
Master of Wine
Posts:11169
| | 11/27/2003 12:34 AM |
| | I also use a term that seems to have only meaning to me, which is probably not good. I find most CA Cabs have a "milk bottle nose." It reminds me of the smell of the rinsed out milk bottles waiting to be returned to the milkman. We lived out in the sticks when I was a kid and we had milk delivered to the house. | | | |
| Tom
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2384
| | 11/27/2003 2:45 AM |
| Well crafted notes are obviously an art and a talent that I have not developed at this point. I, like others, know what I like and sometimes the best recommendation is would you buy it again, would you give it to a friend, or would you be happy to recieve it as a gift? If you can answer "yes" to all three, you have a good wine.
I have a terrible time identifying smells. I simply do not know what the h--ll a brambleberry smells like, or even looks like. Guava? Blueberries? I know what a blueberry TASTES like, but I can't pick up a distinctive smell. Just drives me nuts.
I do appreciate those that craft good notes though. they do help me determine if I'd like something. I have 100% confidence in some of the regulars on this board that if they describe soemthing to my general liking, it'll fit nicely in the WDoT cellar.
Best thing is to enjoy, sample everything possible. Smell everything you can, although you will get odd looks at the produce counter. | | | |
| Pool Boy
Laurl, MD (DC suburb)
Master of Wine
Posts:13711
| | 11/27/2003 3:09 AM |
| Quote:
Now tj does come up with some interesting ones sometime (like chili powder, slate (instead of pebbles) and oatmeal with brown sugar or senses of thicket, hawthorne, licorice and soapstone, to name a few he used at our last dinner.)
Heh heh heh
Even I had forgotten some of those. And, in all honesty, I think the oatmeal with brown sugar one was Jaimetown's. | |
www.roguefood.com -- www.cellartracker.com | |
| David Niederauer
Los Gatos, CA
Master Sommelier
Posts:15756
| | 11/27/2003 5:17 AM |
| The thing that helped me the most when I was beginning was a "wine wheel".
The Wine Wheel | | | |
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