Wine tasting 101

Sariah Vieira, wine specialist at Coeur d'Alene Cellars, is hardly the snooty continental type - even though she can distinguish a syrah grape from a petite verdot by smell. She lived and sipped wine in France and Lausanne (French-speaking Switzerland), traveled throughout Europe, and is Portuguese-American, but she won't mention it unless pressed. She's as sweet as the chardonnay twirling in her glass, and she knows her wine.

The increasing popularity of wine tasting is bringing it down to the humble, mutable earth of its flavorful origins. So to those who want to embrace their inner sommeliers the next time a bottle is uncorked, Sariah offers these basics of wine tasting, simply sight, smell, and taste:

1. Sight. Examine the wine's color and clarity in a clean, clear glass - check the hue against the light. Is it opaque or transparent? Consistently colored, or perhaps a lighter and darker core? The color intensity suggests the concentration of flavor, and is affected by its age, the grape varietal, and whether or not it aged in oak.

Consider the legs - those "tears" that stream down the sides of the glass after you swirl it. Do they coat the sides of the glass? Thicker and slower legs indicate a higher alcohol level. If the wine falls down in sheets, it generally has less alcohol, but residual sugar can also lead to slower legs, so a sweet wine may showcase legs that slide more slowly.

2. Smell. Next, examine the wine's "nose" or "bouquet." To maximize bouquet, especially reds, oxygenate it by decanting the bottle (slowly pouring into a decanter, a specially shaped glass container) at least 30 minutes before tasting. If you can't, let it aerate in the glass for 5 to 10 minutes. Swirl the wine in the glass using a circular motion to help aerate it, thus releasing the less volatile aromas and allowing the wine to open up.

While different noses will smell differently, there are characteristics of grape varieties. Sink your nose into the glass and inhale deeply. Can you detect citrus or other fruit notes such as tangerine, pear, blackberry, or cherry? Spicy smells like cloves, vanilla, or pepper? Floral notes such as lilac or jasmine? Perhaps an earthy smoke, cedar or even tobacco?

3. Taste. Take a small sip and swirl it around the mouth to hit every taste center and get a true sense of texture. Sommeliers classify taste in three steps: initial impression, evolution, and finish. Good wines will have distinctive phases and attributes.

Body: Is the wine full like cream or thin like water?

Acidity: Does the wine invigorate the palate? Acid gives wine crispness and freshness; if unbalanced, wine tastes flat and sour.

Tannin: Does the wine have a dry, astringent quality? The bitterness you taste comes from the grape skins, seeds, and oak aging. Red wine tends to have higher tannins than white, due to the extended contact red grapes have with the juice during fermentation. White wine can also have tannin from being aged in wooden barrels.

Sweetness: Sweetness comes from the wine's fruit flavors and residual (fermented grape) sugar. If there is no perceived sweetness, a wine is "dry."

And finally, the "finish." How long does the taste linger in your mouth? Is the finish aggressive or smooth?

If it's the wine Sariah now pours, it tends to be a longer, smooth finish, in my opinion. But you needn't agree. Tasting is like art; it rests differently on the tongue of each beholder.

"Wine is bottled poetry." - Robert Louis Stevenson

Next time: Beer tasting. Just to be fair.

Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network and winery volunteer with increasingly particular tastes. Contact her at Sholeh@cdapress.com.