How to appreciate wine (Australian wine)?

The study experiences in Sydney made me love the wine of Australia. The tours in Australian wine regions opened my mind and encouraged me to acquire more knowledge about how to appreciate Australian wines. Though Australian wine does not have long history like French wine, yet it is a representative of ‘New World Wine’ which is to distinguish with traditional wine growing regions in the world.

Wine Appreciation | What is the description of wine?

Wine can be simply described as the fermented product of grape juice.

Wine Appreciation | How many factors affect the taste and flavor of wine?

The taste and flavor of wine are influenced by grape varieties, soil, climate, viticulture and vinification techniques, and annual weather conditions, etc.

Wine Appreciation | How to taste wine?

People use eyes, nose and mouth to taste wine step by step.

First step: Eye

The color, clarity, effervescence, and viscosity of wine are identified by people’s eyes. In general, the color of the wine provides a good indication of the wine's age, condition and style. For example, the color of white wines ranges from ‘water white’ to ‘brown’. Green tones can be superimposed throughout which indicates the wine has been well made and often means that is young. On contrast, brown tones mean the white wine has come into contact with oxygen or that is too old. The other example is the color of red wine indicates body. The more color, the more body.

Second step: Nose

People use nose to distinguish primary aromas (sourced from the grape variety), secondary aromas (sourced from the winemaking process), tertiary aromas (sourced from the aging process), intensity, and faults. Each variety of grapes brings to the wine with distinctive fresh-fruit smell. For example, Riesling grape can typically have a lime or citrus smell.

Third step: Mouth

Final, people use mouth to taste the wine, sense the flavor, experience mouthfeel and complexity. The wine will be judged whether it is too sweet, salt, acid, and bitter or faults. Apart from taste, the mouth also experience astringency, body, effervescence, length, persistence, and other sensations of wine. Let me explain it more detail about the above sensations of wine. Astringency is dryness caused by tannins reacting with mucous membranes. Body is the mouth feel of a wine, which is from a light to full bodied wine. Effervescence is small amounts of carbon dioxide trapped in the bottle, only in sparkling wines (in terms of Australian wine). Length is a flavor from front mouth to the end mouth. Persistence means how long is the mouthfell.

After you have done the above steps, the last thing is to share the information with your wine companion. Though people have different taste bud, yet the good wine is always good. Appreciating wine is a way to enjoy life.