Red wine: a beginners' guide
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Are you confused when it comes to buying wine? Well it helps if you know your palette. Expert Richard Weiss continues our Market Kitchen wine course with a few handy tasting tips.
In this lesson Richard will be demystifying red wine; tannins, tasting and decanting, will all be explained in our easy to follow red wine tasting guide...
What are tannins?
Tannins are an astringent substance found in the seeds and stems of grapes. It is an important ingredient in the making of good red wines, helping them in the ageing process and giving them structure. When wines are young, the tannin often gives them a noticeable sharp quality that reduces as the wine ages.
You can test this yourself at home by getting a red grape and biting down on the pip and that is what you taste in red wine.
Taste
Try a range of wines and learn to pick out the familiar flavours.
Enjoy taste testing at home by choosing wines with different berries and accompanying then with the fruit such as strawberries or raspberries. Get use to the flavours and train your palette so you can pick the wines you enjoy.
Why do we decant?
1. With an old wine
It helps to separate the sediment which remains in the decanter when you pour your wine.
2. With a young wine
It is beneficial for some young wine to be decanted, to release their aromas.
Wines tasted;
Chateau de Roques, 1er cote de Bordeaux, 2004 £7.85 from Longford Wines
Chateau Lezongars Bordaux, 2002 £9.05 from Jeroboams
Dancing Bull Zinfandel, California, 2006 £8.99 from Wine Rack
Happy tasting!
Tannins are an astringent substance found in the seeds and stems of grapes. It is an important ingredient in the making of good red wines, helping them in the ageing process and giving them structure. When wines are young, the tannin often gives them a noticeable sharp quality that reduces as the wine ages.
You can test this yourself at home by getting a red grape and biting down on the pip and that is what you taste in red wine.
Taste
Try a range of wines and learn to pick out the familiar flavours.
Enjoy taste testing at home by choosing wines with different berries and accompanying then with the fruit such as strawberries or raspberries. Get use to the flavours and train your palette so you can pick the wines you enjoy.
Why do we decant?
1. With an old wine
It helps to separate the sediment which remains in the decanter when you pour your wine.
2. With a young wine
It is beneficial for some young wine to be decanted, to release their aromas.
Wines tasted;
Chateau de Roques, 1er cote de Bordeaux, 2004 £7.85 from Longford Wines
Chateau Lezongars Bordaux, 2002 £9.05 from Jeroboams
Dancing Bull Zinfandel, California, 2006 £8.99 from Wine Rack
Happy tasting!
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