{"id":375,"date":"2016-10-24T15:37:26","date_gmt":"2016-10-24T15:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=375"},"modified":"2016-10-24T15:37:26","modified_gmt":"2016-10-24T15:37:26","slug":"test-your-taste","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=375","title":{"rendered":"Test Your Taste"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There is a stereotype of wine lovers that portrays us as people who can take a sniff and a sip from a glass and identify the varietal, the label and the year.\u00a0 Maybe \u2013 just maybe \u2013 that\u2019s Robert Parker but it\u2019s not the rest of us and surely not us at Power Tasting.\u00a0 For most of the world, it\u2019s sufficient to tell the difference between red wine and white.\u00a0 (Hint: the white wine is colder.)<\/p>\n<p>The sort of folks who visit Wine Country with the express purpose of tasting wine should be a little more knowledgeable than that, but how much?\u00a0 And how can you tell whether you have the ability to discriminate better wines when you drink them?\u00a0 A few points apply: if you like it then it\u2019s good and if you don\u2019t, it isn\u2019t.\u00a0 Price plays no part in the matter.\u00a0 There are excellent inexpensive wines and costly bottles that are more about snob appeal than quality.\u00a0 And even knowledgeable tasters disagree; heaven knows Lucie and Steve do all the time.<\/p>\n<p>The solution, as with so many things in life is practice, along with its cousin, homework.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Try to differentiate two similar wines<\/strong>.\u00a0 Just for fun when we have friends over for dinner, we often open two bottles and compare them.\u00a0 We recently did this with two Carneros Pinot Noirs, both of which are favorites of ours from wineries whose wine clubs of which we are members.\u00a0 They were both the top wines from their respective wineries at similar price points.\u00a0 We had enjoyed each many times but had never tried them next to each other.\u00a0 In comparing wines this way, we were forced to be very conscious of what we were smelling, tasting, feeling in our mouths, remembering after we swallowed.\u00a0 There is no right or wrong; in fact, the two couples split in their opinions.\u00a0 The important thing was to discern the slight differences in two great wines.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Try the wrong wine<\/strong>.\u00a0 Often when dining with friends at a restaurant, we\u2019ll order two wines to accompany different courses.\u00a0 While there are no hard and fast rules, the wines ought to be complementary to the food.\u00a0 A heavier wine like a California Cabernet or an Australian Shiraz will fit better with a steak and a lighter wine such as a Beaujolais with a chicken breast.\u00a0 At least that\u2019s what the book says, but what does your mouth say? If you have two different wines open, taste the one that\u2019s not supposed to \u201cgo with\u201d.\u00a0 If it clashes, why?\u00a0 What\u2019s wrong with it?\u00a0 And then, why is the \u201cright\u201d wine right?\u00a0 What is working well in <em>your<\/em> mouth? \u00a0Finally, is there something about the \u201cwrong\u201d wine that you actually like?\u00a0 Sometime, contrast is more interesting than compatibility.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Know what you don\u2019t like.<\/strong>\u00a0 Steve doesn\u2019t like thin, acidic wines so a lot of Burgundies leave him cold.\u00a0 Lucie, on the other hand, is not a fan of heavy, fruit forward wines so she\u2019s not high on California Syrahs.\u00a0 Of course, there are exceptions in both cases, so you need to have an open mind.\u00a0 If someone says to Steve, \u201cTry this Pommard, you\u2019ll like it\u201d, he\u2019ll give it a go and sometimes he does indeed like it.\u00a0 The trick in a case like that is to ask, \u201cWhat is there about this Pommard that I like that I don\u2019t like about other Burgundies?\u201d\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019s the mouth feel, or the fruit or the aroma.\u00a0 Whatever it is, search for wines of that type that are reputed to have those characteristics.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Listen to your wine<\/strong>.\u00a0 Some years ago, Steve had a long-term out-of-town project.\u00a0 One night he decided to make dinner for his project team of eight consultants and bought three Bordeaux blends from California and an actual Bordeaux.\u00a0 He then challenged them to say which one they liked best and why.\u00a0 Most of the staff were young and inexperienced in tasting wine but, amazingly, as they expressed their opinions, the terminology of wine criticism started coming out.\u00a0 This wine was round.\u00a0 That one had a long finish.\u00a0 The real Bordeaux was subtle with more complexity.\u00a0 It\u2019s not enough to like one wine more than another.\u00a0 You have to be able to articulate why you prefer one over another and the words you use will help you understand your own taste.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These simple tests are good preparation for a trip to Wine Country. \u00a0It\u2019s very possible that you\u2019ll taste wines you\u2019ve never had before, maybe never heard of before.\u00a0 By doing your homework, you\u2019ll have a better idea of what\u2019s good and not so good to the ultimate expert \u2013 yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There is a stereotype of wine lovers that portrays us as people who can take a sniff and a sip from a glass and identify the varietal, the label and the year.\u00a0 Maybe \u2013 just maybe \u2013 that\u2019s Robert Parker but it\u2019s not the rest of us and surely not us at Power Tasting.\u00a0 For &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=375\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Test Your Taste<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=375"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":376,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375\/revisions\/376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}