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The basics of wine appreciation: 7 things to remember

Serious wine enthusiasts are interesting. Actually, interesting may be the wrong word--we'll just say that they're unique, and not necessarily in a good way. While many disciplines seek to make themselves accessible to the neophyte and go out of their way to edify them, wine snobs have a weird form of elitism going on. This hasn't gone unnoticed in the wine world, which has resulted in a rash of more accessible wine commentary and media.  The bottom line with wine is this--does it taste good, and is it pleasurable to drink? Some people like swilling Thunderbird and Night Train, but that doesn't necessarily make it a good wine. Still, the essential element is enjoyment. While you should drink what you like, it is also important to know what makes a good wine good, and how to express what about the wine you like. Herewith, some basics of wine appreciation:

Having said that, liking a wine doesn't really mean much in terms of assessing its quality.  At this point, it is necessary to divorce somewhat personal taste with an appreciation for the craft of winemaking.  Our goal here is to give you a broader context within which to enjoy wine in order to appreciate it both in terms of drinking pleasure as well as on a deeper theoretical level.  So, lets get to the basics:

THE BASICS

 VARIETAL CHARACTER 

As just about everyone knows, different types of wine are made from different types of grapes.  If you want to sound like you know what you're talking about you'll refer to the different types of grapes as "grape varietals".  Each grape varietal has different tastes and characteristics, which, in large part, result in the differences between the various types of wine.  A "good" wine should have distinct "varietal character".  In other words, the more something tastes like what it is supposed to taste like, the better it is.  Admittedly, this is in itself a very vague and inexact concept but one that is important to grasp to understand wine.

 Of course, just because something tastes like what it is supposed to taste like doesn't mean that you or anyone else will like it.  It's like sushi, blue cheese, or anything else with very distinct and powerful taste characteristics--just because octopus is really good octopus doesn't mean everyone will like it.  Regardless of that, varietal characteristic is important to understand because it is one of the essential components of wine appreciation. 

INTEGRATION: 

One of the more profound things my wife has ever taught me was something that she learned in culinary school about what makes a restaurant "great".  In a great restaurant, she was taught, every component that makes up the dining experience is so flawlessly interwoven that you don't notice any of them.  In other words, you don't notice the service or the food quality or the ambiance because it is all so sublime.  That ideal can also be extrapolated to wine, and in wine talk it is called "integration".  In the context of wine, it involves the interplay of the various characteristics of wine (such as acids, tannins, etc.) in such a way that no one is predominant over another.  Ironically, it's a lot easier to talk about a poorly integrated wine than one that is well integrated.  In a poorly integrated wine, one characteristic or another will stick out like the proverbial sore thumb.  In a properly integrated wine, everything will be much more subtle. 

EXPRESSIVENESS:

A quality possessed by a wine with potent and distinct aromas and flavors.  Probably the easiest of all of these concepts to grasp.

 COMPLEXITY:

Like a good cigar, a good wine should be complex--in other words, it should have such depth of character that it's never quite possible (or at least difficult) to pin down what exactly it is you like about it.  The more complex, at least to the wine theorist, the better.  

CONNECTEDNESS: 

The notion that a wine should be truly representative of the land from which it came.  In other words, a French wine should taste like it could have come from nowhere else than a certain plot of land in a certain region of France.  The best cigars frequently convey this quality, and likewise so should the best wines.

DESCRIBING WHAT YOU TASTE:

The basic rule in describing wine is to "be creative".  For example, certain wines convey a unique combination of earthiness, slightly pungent savory tones, and a wet straw characteristic.  This character (of certain Sauvignon Blancs) is frequently described as "tomcat piss" Good descriptive terms are like that--expressive of the sense of the drink, even though it might not be something that you'd actually want to drink.  In this sense, describing a fine wine is no different than describing a good cigar, or the taste of a certain food.

Though creativity is key, there are a few descriptive terms that are more or less clearly defined and should be part of every wine lexicon: 

Acidic:  Acid is responsible for the "zesty"quality of some wines.  Wines with a lot of acid are more tart, vibrant, and refreshing than less acidic wines.  Wines without enough acid are flat, like a bottle of Coke that's been left out overnight. 

Tannin:  Tannin is a compound made from the skins, seeds and stems of grapes.  Tannin is necessary for long aging, though highly tannic wines can be overly tart when young.  Fortunately, aging tends to "mellow" this quality which is why some wines are better after aging then they are when young. 

Astringent:  A derisive term for wine that is too harsh and dry.  Imagine drinking a bottle of rubbing alcohol and you get the idea... 

Finesse:  A well made and integrated wine, with good balance. 

Body:  The perceived weight of the wine in the mouth.  The higher the alcohol content, the "heavier" the wine.  

Finish:  A great word, frequently heard in cigar talk, meaning aftertaste.  The taste that you have in your mouth after you swallow it.  Like a good cigar, a good wine should have a long and distinctive finish. 

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM RESTAURANT WINE SERVICE: 

Expect to pay more for the same bottle of wine that you'd buy elsewhere.  Expect that you should be able to get the wine when you want it, not when the sommelier or waiter thinks you should have it.   You should expect that the wine you get is in good condition (not overly oxidized or corked, for example).  Expect a wait staff that takes problems with its wine as seriously as it would take problems with its food or service.  If an establishment takes none of these seriously, don't patronize them. 

SEVEN THINGS TO REMEMBER ABOUT WINE:

1) Not all wines get better with age--some wines, particularly whites, should be enjoyed within a couple of years of the vintage date on the bottle.  The wines that do get better with age are rich red wines like the top California Cabernets and French Red Bordeaux. 

2) You don't need to remove the cork of red wines ahead of time to "let it breathe"--while some wines do benefit from aeration, the best way to do this is to pour it into a glass.

3) More expensive is not necessarily better--this is an easy concept to grasp if you have experience with cigars.  The bottom line is that at a certain point you get diminishing returns.  Unless you're collecting, investing or have serious money to burn you'll be better off with a wine costing $50 or less.  I wouldn't pay more than a c-note for a wine unless you really know what you're doing.

4) You don't need different glasses for different types of wine--once again, if you have a lot of discretionary scratch different glasses for reds and whites is a good thing, as are champaign flutes if you consume the bubbly.  For most purposes, however, a good general wine glass will do the trick.  And a glass is a glass--while expensive wine glasses have their own aesthetic merit, they won't make your wine taste better.

5) Don't store wine over the refrigerator, in the trunk of your car, or any other place warm--even if you don't have a wine cellar, keep your wine at room temperature.

6)  Myth: French wines are better than American wines.  To make a long story short, no they're not.  A cigar analogy is once again in order here:  just as the mere fact that a cigar is Cuban doesn't make it better than the finest Dominican or Nicaraguan products, there's more to wine quality than just country of origin.  There are some very good French wines, but there are also some very good wines from California, Oregon, Spain, Chile, South Africa and Australia just to name a few places.

7) Don't think that wine appreciation is a tedious discipline: it shouldn't be.  Armed with some basic knowledge and a trained palate, learning about and enjoying wine is a lot of fun.  The next thing to learn is pairing wine with food.  Properly done, it enhances the enjoyment of both.

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