Wine Start 25

Conditions and Growing Environment - Factors that influence wine - WSET Level 2 Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/wset/factors-that-influence-wine-conditions-and-growing-environment-wset-level-2-282900/#tLDkc515h1d3vrJy.99

My first lesson at the WSET level 2 course started with a tasting of three types of wine - no course I've ever taken before is more indulgent than this; sipping from glasses at ten in morning while reading an atlas of major wine regions to understand the links between geographic conditions and the various tastes of the wine. The type of grape determines largely the flavour, colour, sugar, acidity and the levels of tannin in the wine. Other conditions, namely climate, weather, sunlight, water, warmth and nutrients also affect the the taste of the wine. Climates suitable for wine production are divided to three categories: hot, moderate, and cool. Climate type can have dramatic impacts on flavour of ripe grapes. Latitude (the closer to equator the hotter), altitude (the higher the cooler) and influences of the sea (such as warm ocean currents and cold ocean currents) can lead to clues on the taste of the wine. Generally speaking, hot climate (such as in Australia) brings more alcohol, a fuller body, more tannin and less acidity while cool climate brings less alcohol, lighter body, less tannin, and more acidity. I taste one type of Chardonnay from Pouilly-Fuisse, France, and another from Marlborough, New Zealand. While the New Zealand wine offers topical fruit flavors of pineapple and mango, the French wine gives pronounced citrus, crisp acidity and mineral notes. Climate is also a main factor that influences temperature, a key to production of sugars. Most of the vineyards lie between 30 and 50 degrees latitude, including China's Ningxia, the country's biggest producer of wine grapes and home to some very impressive wines. Very few vineyards are closer to the equator than 30 degrees because it is generally too hot. Use the where to study map on the WSET website to see which courses are available near you. Some grape varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon need more heat than others to ripen fully, while Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir need a moderate or cool climate to avoid over-ripening and to maintain their refreshing character and acidity. Weather conditions, which vary from one year to the next, also have impacts on taste, which explains the importance of vintage in some regions with inconsistent weather patterns such as Bordeaux and Champagne. Extreme weather conditions such as hail, high winds, floods and late frosts may reduced production and quality of grapes of a certain year. After taking into account all these factors, I quite appreciate the glass of Malbec from Mendoza, Argentina from vintage 2012, which is produced from grapes that survived the worst conditions in Mendoza in the past decade. Sometimes very good wines are in debt of Mother Nature's blessing. Sunlight, which gives energy to grapes to combine carbon dioxide and water (which can come from rain, the ground or irrigation) into sugar, and water are indispensable. "Just enough" seems to be perfect, as too much sunlight makes grapes ripen too fast with unpleasant jammy flavour, and too much water leads the growth of rot, and causes grapes to become bloated. Vines also need tiny amount of nutrients provided by the soil. As long as there are sufficient nutrients, poorer soils are better - because they encourage vines to "compete" with one another to absorb the nutrients and become crop of higher quality. After the class, I found my high-school world atlas deep from the bookshelf and read the maps of the wine regions again, whilst sipping from glasses if wines to reinforce the memories of the link between geography and tastes. As the WSET course reinforced, the best way to understand wines is always drinking. Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/wset/factors-that-influence-wine-conditions-and-growing-environment-wset-level-2-282900/#tLDkc515h1d3vrJy.99

Q.14 One of the children of Queen Elizabeth II (in the picture) was inducted in the Commanderie de Bordeaux. Which one?

Andrew

Rio Negro is a wine growing region in which of the following countries?

Argentina

Q.3 How many hours of sunshine were there in the 2014 growing season?

1,427

Q.1 Which is the greatest vintage among the following?

1899

Q.2 How much of English wine produced is sparkling?

2/3

Q.2 Roughly what percentage of Champagne vineyards were destroyed in World War I?

40%

Q.6 Roughly how many vineyards are there in England and Wales at the moment?

470

Q.7 How many areas is Rías Baixas divided into?

5

Q.6 How many registered wineries are there in Priorat?

99

The wine regions Bairrada, Dão and the Minho are found within which winemaking country?

Portugal

Q.6 Château Calon-Ségur's symbol is:

A heart

Q.7 What do Châteaux Léoville-Barton, Lynch Bages and Phélan-Ségur have in common?

A part of their name is from their Irish heritage

Trocken is the German word for:

Dry

Q.3 What is bontemps?

A wooden bowl, which is made to hold beaten egg whites that are used for fining wines

The main difference between a Pouilly-Fuissé and Pouilly-Fumé is:

Pouilly-Fuissé is from Burgundy, while Pouilly-Fumé is from Loire Pouilly-Fuissé is made from Chardonnay and Pouilly-Fumé is made from Sauvignon Blanc

Q.3 Which Spanish wine maker was Decanter's Man of the Year 2015?

Alvo Palacios

Q.10 Who is the oldest family owning a classified growth in the Médoc?

Barton

How to hold your own wine tasting Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/how-to/how-to-hold-your-own-wine-tasting-273181/#syrhlK2p9CDLrmgZ.99

Berry Brothers & Rudd's new book shares some top tips so you can host your own tasting at home, plus suggestions for the styles of wines to try. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2015/09/0000017e1-Pied._Tasting_May11_sm_6018-630x420.jpg Wine tasting TAGS: It isn't hard to hold your own wine tasting; get a group of friends together, share the cost and learn from each other. You can have a lot of fun exchanging your impressions - preferably without having seen the label on the bottle. Ideally, you'll need a glass for each wine you're tasting. Mark them in some way to prevent them from becoming mixed as you compare one wine with another. The simplest is to draw up a sheet of paper with numbered circles so you can put the glasses back in the right order; or use tags, sticky dots or elastic bands to identify them. Have some covers to disguise the bottles, or three (ideally identical) decanters or jugs for the recognition game at the end of each tasting. For your wine tasting, try using the Berry Bros & Rudd guide on how to understand wine, and write your own tasting notes with Andrew Jefford's six-point guide. Wines to choose: At the Berry Bros & Rudd Wine School, we taste wines like those listed below. For your home wine tasting, adapt your list to what's available to you. Taste fine wines from around the world at one of our Decanter Events Session one To discover and think about ripeness, acidity, oak/no oak: Wine 1: Chablis Wine 2: New World Chardonnay To discover and think about alcohol, how you perceive it: Wine 3: German Riesling Wine 4: Amarone To discover and think about tannin: Wine 5: Beaujolais Wine 6: Barolo To discover and think about age and maturity: Wine 7: Young Spanish red wine Wine 8: Old Rioja For sessions two to six, pour the wines into the numbered glasses. You can do this 'blind', from covered bottles, without saying which is which - or you can be open about the identities of the wines. Session two Sauvignon Blanc Wine 1: Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand Wine 2: Pouilly-Fumé, Loire, France Chardonnay Wine 3: Pouilly-Fuissé, Burgundy, France Wine 4: Chardonnay, California Sémillon Wine 5: Graves Blanc, Bordeaux, France Wine 6: Sauternes, Bordeaux, France Now try mixing them up and guessing which is which (you may need to pour more samples - ask someone else to do this for you to get the best chance of not cheating....) Session three Cabernet Franc Wine 1: Bourgueil, Loire, France Wine 2: Chinon, Loire, France Merlot Wine 3: Merlot, South of France Wine 4: Merlot, Chile Cabernet Sauvignon Wine 5: Cabernet Sauvignon, South Australia Wine 6: Cabernet Sauvignon, Maipo, Chile Wine 7: Bordeaux, France Session four Riesling Wine 1: Riesling, Germany/Austria Wine 2: Riesling, Eden Valley, Australia Gewurztraminer Wine 3: Gewurztraminer, Chile Wine 4: Gewurztraminer, Alsace, France Chenin Blanc Wine 5: Chenin Blanc, South Africa Wine 6: Vouvray, Loire, France Session five Gamay Wine 1: Beaujolais, France Wine 2: Morgon, France Pinot Noir Wine 3: Red Burgundy, France Wine 4: Pinot Noir, New Zealand Syrah/Shiraz Wine 5: Crozes-Hermitage, Northern Rhône, France Wine 6: Shiraz, South Australia Session six Grenache Wine 1: Tavel Rosé, Southern Rhône, France Wine 2: Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Southern Rhône, France Tempranillo Wine 3: Joven Rioja Wine 4: Gran Reserva Rioja Sangiovese Wine 5: Chianti Classico, Tuscany, Italy Wine 6: Brunello di Montalcino, Italy Nebbiolo Wine 7: Barolo, Piedmont, Italy Wine 8: Barbaresco, Piedmont, Italy With all the sessions, try mixing them up and see if you can guess which is which... Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/how-to/how-to-hold-your-own-wine-tasting-273181/#syrhlK2p9CDLrmgZ.99

Q.5 Decanter consultant editor Steven Spurrier owns a vineyard in Dorset. What is it called?

Bride Valley

Q.4 Which producer owns this vineyard in southern England? Hint: this producer applied for a European Union PDO (protected designation of origin) in 2012.

Camel Valley (Cornwall)

Spain, Portugal, USA - Common Labelling Terms that show Quality - WSET Level 2 Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/wset/spain-portugal-usa-common-labelling-terms-that-show-quality-wset-level-2-286268/#6fJbvKcDmi3WGYAw.99

This article is written by a journalist on a journey of discovery - and on a mission to learn about wine. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2015/12/baron-de-ley-gran-reserva-630x400.jpg baron-de-ley-gran-reserva Baron de Ley Gran Reserva Credit: Baron de Ley By John Elmes Though the writing on a French bottle of wine can get extremely complicated very quickly, we would probably back ourselves to understand a few things. With Spain and Portugal - and I'm putting them together because they're two countries geographically intimate - there are a few words from their languages that will pose a few more questions. Spanish and Portuguese Wine Labels Taking Spain first, and it sounds as basic as it comes, you should know that red wine is not 'vino rojo' as white wine is 'vino blanco'. In Spain 'tinto' on a bottle indicates red wine. Fortunately, red wine in Portuguese is 'vinho tinto', so we have some viticulture crossover. Quality in Spanish wine is often linked to ageing the wine. The wines from the Rioja DOCa region for example (the "most famous" our tutor Lydia says) or the Ribera del Duero DO, where the main grape is Tempranillo, will likely have 'growing up' words written on them. This is because it's traditional to age wine in barrels in Spain. Rioja, in particular, gains most of its character from oak ageing. Anson on Thursday: Redefining Rioja terroir At this juncture, it's worth noting that when you shift into Portugal, be careful of spelling. Portugal's 'Douro' DOC is just over the border from the Spanish 'Duero', with Touriga Nacional, instead of Tempranillo, presiding as the "star" grape. I found the languages' closeness meant I had to concentrate on labels more intently to ensure I wasn't confusing a 'Douro Reserva' with a 'Ribera del Duero Reserva'. Back to Spain. If a wine says 'joven' (young) you know the wine has been made, bottled and packaged ready for selling with little to no oak. If a bottle doesn't have 'joven' or any ageing words on it, it'll be a 'joven'. Employing a family metaphor, Lydia says this wine is "your toddler". 'Joven' wines undergo no oak ageing, they will be simple in character. The "stroppy teenager" in Spanish oak ageing is 'Crianza' which translates as 'upbringing'. This wine is "still very young", but will have had some oak and bottle ageing but will have the red fruit flavours of a joven Rioja. 'Reserva', the adult of the family, is as Lydia amusingly puts it "more reserved" than the younger members. By law, 'Reserva' wines have been aged for a minimum amount of time in oak and the bottle. As such, these wines have gained complexity and we're entering into the quality areas of a Spanish, or Portuguese for that matter, wine label. Lydia also noted that though the word 'Reserva' in Spain is "legally defined"; many Chilean and Argentinian wine bottles have it written on them, and this "doesn't mean anything." The terms are often used to differentiate between brands, but won't necessarily reflect quality for a South American wine. Use the where to study map on the WSET website to see which courses are available near you. However, if you were to see an Argentinian wine labelled: Tempranillo, 18 months oak-aged, 2012; and a Spanish one labelled: Rioja, Reserva, 2012 - you'd be looking at similar wines in terms of production. The elder statesmen, "the grandparents" of Spanish ageing, are 'Gran Reserva' wines. You will know these are premium wines because they are only made from outstanding vintages. Lydia says they might be made from the "oldest vines" (which give lower yields). "Old vines" is an interesting label addition, seen often, and in a variety of languages. For example, you'd read it as 'Viñas Viejas' on a Spanish bottle. It certainly seems to denote quality because of the lower yield, and therefore higher quality grapes, old vines produce. But I've been sceptical about it from when tutor Jim told us in our first lesson that it had no legal definition and therefore creates a lot of disagreement in the wine growing world. USA Wine Labels In the USA, "old vines" is a definite mark of quality, probably because some of their Zinfandel vineyards - Zinfandel being one of the most important black grape varieties in California - are over a century old. If they keep their 100-year-old vineyards, there must be a pretty good reason for doing so. Zinfandel is a quirky one too in that, like Syrah/Shiraz, it has a differently named twin, the 'Primitivo' grape from Southern Italy. "Grape DNA testing", Lydia says, has proved they are the same variety. [Decanter insert - DNA testing has proved they are very similar, but are actually both clones of a Croatian grape called Crljenak.] Therefore, it amazed me that when we tasted an outstanding Primitivo from Marks & Spencer supermarket, which cost less than £10, we had tried a wine from the same grape - a similarly outstanding, bespoke Californian vineyard Zinfandel in our second lesson - which was three times the price. It just goes to show that something the same can be so different when made in different parts of the wine world. Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/wset/spain-portugal-usa-common-labelling-terms-that-show-quality-wset-level-2-286268/#6fJbvKcDmi3WGYAw.99

All of the following tools are used to sort grapes during harvest except: Conveyor belt Vibrating table Centrifuge Human hands

Centrifuge

Q.7 Which grape variety is the most planted in England's fledgling wine industry?

Chardonnay

Which grape is not a Rhône variety?

Chardonnay

Q.5 One of these wines is not a Barsac first growth - which one?

Château Doisy-Daëne

Q.9 Which of these Graves crus classés does not produce white wine?

Château Haut-Bailly

Q.12 Which of the following estates was not classified in 1855?

Château Siran

Q.13 Which of the following estates is only classified for its red wine?

Château de Fieuzal

Q.9 Which of these tasting notes is for Hattingley Valley, Kings Cuvée Brut, Hampshire, England 2011?

This Chardonnay-dominant blend is 100% barrel fermented and simply stunning. Full of rich, roasted nut and orchard fruit characters, it also shows beautifully crisp acidity. Compelling in a unique, spicy way.

Q.8 Why do the Commandeurs du Bontemps have two colours for their robes?

To distinguish the specific appellation (Sauternes/Barsac for the yellow robe)

Riesling Grape - Climatic, Winery Influence, Most important regions - WSET Level 2 Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/wset/riesling-grapes-climatic-winery-influence-most-important-regions-wset-level-2-286035/#aY1IZOtct5pWpwFL.99

This article is written by a journalist on a journey of discovery - and on a mission to learn about wine. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2015/12/Alsace-Hugel-Riesling-grapes-botrytis.jpg Alsace Hugel, Riesling grapes botrytis By Robert Haynes-Peterson Riesling has fascinated me for a while now. In the U.S. at least, Riesling was long considered an overly sweet, uncomplicated wine and by the late '80s / early '90s or so, as Americans became more serious about wines, Riesling was pretty déclassé. Then something happened. Wine buyers and educators discovered the whole, deep, complex world that is Riesling wine. Now, if you corner a master sommelier and ask what their 'indulgence' wines are, odds are he or she will include an unusual Austrian, German or Alsace Riesling in the mix. 'It's absolutely one of my favorite white grape varieties,' our instructor May Matta-Aliah told us, recognizing that many of us in the class clung to old notions of sugary, flabby wines. 'It shows the imprint of the terroir it is grown in like a mirror.' Use the where to study map on the WSET website to see which courses are available near you. Riesling is an aromatic white grape with an emphasis on fruit and floral notes. In fact, the wines we sampled in class were quite pronounced on the nose. Those aromatics change significantly depending on where and when the grape is harvested. Because it has both a high potential sugar content and retains a high acid content, it's a tricky but versatile grape. It's one reason for the unusual German labelling system (discussed in a separate post) that identifies both when the grape was harvested and, separately, the relative dryness or sweetness of the wine. Early harvest grapes often give the floral notes, with green apple, lime and white peach. Harvesting late, especially in cool regions like Germany's Mosel, brings out peach notes, mango and pineapple. The thin-skinned grape is susceptible to botrytis ('noble rot') which creates a naturally sweeter wine. Leave it on the vine through the first frosts, and you get Eiswein (ice wine), a popular dessert option. In the much warmer Pfalz region of Germany, the wines tend to be dry and elegant, but Matta-Aliah notes that even in the Mosel, more and more growers are offering a dry interpretation of Riesling. 'A lot has to do with culture and context,' she explained. 'Germans used to drink wine as an aperitif, pairing beer with their food. Now they're drinking a lot more wine with their food.' Fortunately, I've learned, Riesling is up to the task. Australian Riesling Panel Tasting The grape also grows well in Australia of all places. The Clare Valley and Eden Valley are gaining attention for dry, medium-bodied wines with tons of citrus aromatics. They also tend to age well. I think many of the people in class were surprised that there was as much going on with these wines as there are. 'It's an absolutely beautiful grape,' Matta-Aliah told us. 'I would love to be able to separate in people's mind that Riesling does not have to equal sweet. The irony is, a lot of people who say they don't like sweet wines, then taste a great off-dry Riesling, have a sort of revelation. They say, 'ohhh!' It also has such beautiful acidity and there's a kind of tautness with the acidity. It doesn't always work, but when it does, it's just gorgeous.' Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/wset/riesling-grapes-climatic-winery-influence-most-important-regions-wset-level-2-286035/#aY1IZOtct5pWpwFL.99

Q.1 Where is this? A worker is ploughing the land, becasue tilled earth helps to protect the vines during the -10°C winter. (Photo Credit: Thierry Gaudillère)

Clos de Vougeot, Côte de Nuits

Syrah and Shiraz Grapes - Climatic, Winery Influence, Most important regions - WSET Level 2 Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/wset/syrah-and-shiraz-grapes-climatic-winery-influence-most-important-regions-wset-level-2-285043/#Ed5Sp3QHWtZWDqKd.99

This article is written by a journalist on a journey of discovery - and on a mission to learn about wine. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2015/12/Australia-Barossa-Valley-Glaetzer-Ebenezer-Old-Vine-630x417.jpg Shiraz - Barossa Valley Glaetzer Ebenezer Old Vine By John Elmes Syrah and Shiraz are the same grape: Syrah is the French term while Australians say Shiraz. An inauspicious start to my education on this black variety. Mercifully, it is similar grape to Cabernet Sauvignon (small and thick-skinned) so I had a modicum of prior knowledge to keep me from total ignorance. Remembering Shiraz wines I had had before, I was fairly certain flavours would include black fruits and hints of peppery spice. As a rank amateur, it is gratifying when you make a judgement call which turns out to be partly true. The Grape Syrah wines are produced in moderate and hot climates, their thick skins requiring a healthy dose of sun to allow them to ripen. They tend to be deeply coloured, with medium-high tannin and medium acidity levels. The styles vary depending on the climate, but wines are normally full-bodied, with black fruits flavours. In moderate climates, you may encounter peppery spice, herbaceousness and smokey characteristics. In hotter regions, you will have riper, even jammy, fruit flavours with sweet spice (liquorice) and dark chocolate shining through. Oak treatment, either through barrel ageing or the use of chips/staves, is common and adds toast, smoke, vanilla and coconut flavours. Erica, my Syrah teacher, puts it succinctly: 'Syrah likes oak.' While using Syrah alone can produce a fulfilling and satisfying wine, it is regularly blended with the grape Grenache to give it structure: boosting colour, tannin and acidity, and adding dark fruit character to the red berry notes of Grenache. Regions The Northern region of France's Rhône Valley is Syrah's historical and classical home, and we were told to think of the area as "100 per cent Syrah", despite other grapes growing there. Syrah's vertiginous sites, which peer over the Rhône river, make for difficult harvesting and expensive production. Thus, winemakers concentrate on producing top-quality wines - to make it 'worth their while', as Erica says. Côte Rôtie and Hermitage are the premium appellations of the region, producing some extremely rare and expensive wines. For those with shallower pockets, the larger, flatter and more affordable appellation is Crozes-Hermitage. The trade-off in price, is that the wines will probably have less body and intensity, and probably less or old oak treatment. Top 10 Australia Shiraz Moving to the other side of the world, Australia is lauded for its Shiraz (Australian terminology is appropriate now, I think). The grape is grown all over the country and consequently, wines come in a variety of styles. A Shiraz produced with grapes from hot climates, is perhaps the best-known of these styles. The Barossa and Hunter Valleys have such climates, and the former is world-renowned for its Shiraz. The wines have pronounced black fruit flavours of blackberry/plum, complemented by sweet spice and dark chocolate. Oak treatment is marked in these wines, adding essences of vanilla, smoke and coconut. In the country's more moderate regions, the best wines can resemble those of the Rhône. Best New World Syrah for Rhône lovers While France and Australia remain the Syrah/Shiraz big players, there are green shoots of promise from other significant wine producing countries such as South Africa and Chile; adding to the global presence of this exciting grape. During my lesson, we tasted a Northern Rhône Côte Rôtie and a Barossa Valley Shiraz. Both were complex and full-bodied, with pronounced flavours redolent of the regions in which they came from. While I leant towards the Côte Rôtie - its tannin and acidity balance, black cherry, black pepper, vanilla, and bizarre, but weirdly appropriate, mint flavours completely enveloping my senses - Syrah's pure versatility ensures it has enough to appease all tastes. Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/wset/syrah-and-shiraz-grapes-climatic-winery-influence-most-important-regions-wset-level-2-285043/#Ed5Sp3QHWtZWDqKd.99

Lees

Dead yeast cells, which form a deposit at the bottom of a tank after the alcoholic fermentation. Winemakers may age the wine in the presence of the lees, to protect from oxidation and provide a more complex flavour. Some wines, notably Muscadet sur lie, are bottled directly off the lees. Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/lees-1-44239/#oDiOYa1WB2y19Ust.99

What does it take to become a Master Sommelier? Read more at https://www.decanter.com/premium/what-does-it-take-to-become-a-master-sommelier-246020/#8mC1JJdF0Lzic895.99

Earning the title of Master Sommelier is no easy feat. The exam is notoriously difficult and only those who truly live and breathe in the world of wine have any chance of making it, as Matt Stamp MS explains... image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2013/04/mastersommelier-630x417.jpg master sommelier The red pins for passing the Master Sommelier exam. TAGS: What does it take to become a Master Sommelier? As a fellow - and more veteran - Master Sommelier once said to me, 'An MS should be able to say something sensible about any wine, from anywhere in the world.' From Banfi's Brunello to Renardat-Fâche's Bugey-Cerdon, success hinges on the ability to accurately yet concisely categorise a wine's contents, make the sales pitch, competently pair it with food, get it on the table before the course arrives and manage all of the above with no shortage of tact and aplomb. The best of us are more likely interpreters of our guests' tastes than advocates for our own. We hang on a low rung in the service industry, far from the rarefied air consumed by top critics and yet - as I am reminded as I watch scenes from my own MS exam unfold in the documentary film SOMM - the best sommeliers live and breathe only in the world of drink. While many great sommeliers may find their own, self-taught, path to the top, the MS Diploma is the most valuable certificate one might achieve in the service and sale of wine. But it doesn't come easy: just seven of the 60 hopeful candidates at a recent exam cleared the hurdle, and the Court of Master Sommeliers (CMS) admits only a handful of new members to its ranks each year. Since 1969, when the exam was first held in London, only 197 people worldwide have achieved this distinction. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2013/04/Certified-sommelier-pins-630x417.jpg master sommelier The pins for certified sommeliers. Credit: Court of Master Sommeliers Today, the CMS has European and American chapters, with members in the UK, US, Canada, and Chile. The Court's members head wine programmes in some of the world's best restaurants (New York's Eleven Madison Park, England's Fat Duck, California's The French Laundry) as well as more casual wine destinations (New York's Corkbuzz, London's 28-50, Colorado's Frasca Food and Wine), and they are an increasing force in the marketing and making of wine. Nightmare food and wine matches - from the sommeliers The exams So what does it take to become a Master Sommelier? The simple answer is that you pass a test composed of three sections - tasting, practical service and theory - buttressed by years of preparation. Retire the lofty image of a 'super taster', likely French, baptised in wine and by some divine lottery versed in the nuances of Margaux and Yquem by puberty. For me, the route was less glamorous. Read more at https://www.decanter.com/premium/what-does-it-take-to-become-a-master-sommelier-246020/#8mC1JJdF0Lzic895.99

All of the following are sparkling wines, except: Fiasco Cava Prosecco Sekt

Fiasco

The process that involves removing microscopic particles from a wine, using a gelatinous or coagulating substance, is called:

Fining

Q.8 In 2014 Spain was the largest exporter of wine in the world. Which country did the majority of it go to?

France

Champagne and World War One: 'the darkest hour' Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/champagne-and-world-war-one-the-darkest-hour-281711/#ALMsw8E1SLMm1b8E.99

From Champagne houses printing banknotes to harvesting under shellfire, Decanter looks at Champagne during World War One as part of the Armistice Day and Veterans Day commemorations. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2015/11/Reims-Cathedral-1914-630x417.jpg Reims Cathedral hit by German shellfire in 1914 Reims Cathedral hit by German shellfire in 1914 Credit: Wikipedia TAGS: Champagne and World War One: Champagne lost people, vineyards, buildings and markets as a result of vicious fighting during World War One. Don and Petie Kladstrup, writing in their book Champagne, described World War One as Champagne's 'darkest hour'. They wrote, 'of all the terrible moments in Champagne's long history, none was more catastrophic than World War One.' Champagne quickly found itself on the frontline between the German and Allied armies in autumn 1914 and was thereafter at the centre of the bloody war of attrition that continued for another four years. SEE ALSO: Champagne houses served Nazis fizzy dishwater Reims cathedral was among the first casualties after German artillery caused the building to catch fire in September 1914. Champagne harvests during the 'Great War' have become famous for being predominantly handled by women and children; most of the men having been conscripted to fight. The 1914 vintage has since been lauded as one of the 20th Century's finest in Champagne, but the harvest was a close-run thing in many areas. An Allied offensive forced the Germans to abandon Epernay only a week before picking began, and harvesting was brought forward amid gunfire and shelling. SEE ALSO: Guns and grapes in taxis - wine and the war in Syria There were also financial worries. Maurice Pol Roger, of the namesake Champagne house, was mayor of Epernay at the time German troops marched into town on 4 September 1914. 'All the banks closed once the Germans arrived, so there was no way of getting any money,' Hubert de Billy, great grandson of Maurice Pol Roger, told guests at the Decanter Fine Wine Encounter in London last weekend. 'So, he and others decided to begin printing their own banknotes,' de Billy said. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2015/11/Epernay-Banknote-1914.jpg Epernay banknote 1914 An Epernay emergency banknote from 1914. Credit: Ebay Several cities and towns across France were given special dispensation to print 'emergency banknotes' during the war. Some of the notes have since become collectors items. By 25 September 1915, the second great battle in the Champagne area got underway following a French attack on German lines orchestrated by Marshal Joffre. He abandoned the offensive around one week later. Years of trench warfare followed and it is estimated that around 40% of Champagne's vineyards were destroyed by Armistice Day on 11 November 1918. But, Champagne was still produced. A recent auction of a Krug cellar visit and tasting of the 1915 vintage sold for $116,000 at Sotheby's in September this year. After World War One, Champagne lost much custom in two major markets due to the Russian Revolution and US prohibition. It is quite something, therefore, that Champagne growers and houses now produce around 300m bottles annually. Sources: 'Champagne' by Don & Petie Kladstrup, Decanter Fine Wine Encounter 2015, FT: Howtospendit, Wikipedia Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/champagne-and-world-war-one-the-darkest-hour-281711/#ALMsw8E1SLMm1b8E.99

In the southern hemisphere, the winegrape harvest usually occurs from:

The correct answer is: Late February through May

Q.2 What is the most widely grown grape in Spain?

Garnacha

Landwein (Ger.)

German wine designation, roughly equivalent to the French Vin de Pays. There are 15 Landwein regions, though the category is seldom used as it is so easy to qualify for the superior QbA category. Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/landwein-ger-2-44257/#oy8L1cLuY7kSVMmh.99

Tasting notes decoded: Hints of Lemongrass?

Get to grips with the some of the more obscure tasting notes used by wine experts, with graphics from Decanter's design team. This week we decode 'lemongrass'... image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2018/08/Lemongrass-1-630x417.jpg tasting notes decoded TAGS: How to understand tasting notes: The latest... Lemongrass Looks like grass but smells of citrus - lemongrass is a highly aromatic tropical plant that is widely used in Asian cooking as well as herbal remedies. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2018/08/Lemongrass.jpg tasting notes decodedLemongrass contains a chemical compound called citral, also found in lemons and artificial lemon flavouring, which is responsible for its citrussy character. The sharp herbaceous and citrus characteristics found in lemongrass make it a useful tasting note for describing wines with a similar flavour profile. Wines with notes of lemongrass are typically still or sparkling whites that have a strong backbone of acidity and complex aromatics. For example, certain bone-dry Champagnes can fall into this category, such as Moët & Chandon's Grand Vintage Extra Brut 2009, which combines lemongrass notes with fresh apple and cardamom spice. Still white wines with lemongrass hints include dry Riesling wines from Australia's Eden Valley. Pewsey Vale, Museum Reserve The Contours Riesling 2012 was found to be brimming with citrus notes, including kaffir lime, lemon verbena and lemongrass, when tasted for Decanter by Sarah Ahmed. SEE ALSO: Chaffey Bros. Wine Co., Not Your Grandma's Riesling, Eden Valley 2014 Like Riesling, Sémillon is a grape variety noted for its rich and diverse aromatic profile, often featuring citrus influences. In Bordeaux, Sémillon is often blended with the zesty, grassy characteristics of Sauvignon Blanc to create full-bodied aromatic white wines that can sometimes carry lemongrass hints. A prime example would be Château La Mission Haut-Brion, Pessac-Léognan, Cru Classé de Graves 2017, given 99 points by Decanter's Jane Anson, who praised its notes of 'passion fruit, nectarine, white pair and touches of lemongrass'. Some sweet Sauternes wines made from this blend can also retain fresh lemongrass aromas in their youth, such as the 'zippy and zesty' Château Filhot, Sauternes, 2ème Cru Classé 2017. SEE ALSO: Château Doisy-Védrines, Sauternes, 2ème Cru Classé 2017 Source: Royal Society of Chemistry Fruity image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2017/06/Apricot.jpg tasting notes, apricot Apricot 'Apricot' in a tasting note is in the spectrum of other stone fruits, such as peach, indicating a certain ripeness in the grapes, and used to describe white wines - although not as ripe as in hot climate wines, where the fruit descriptors become tropical, like pineapple and mango. In Decanter's How to read wine tasting notes, it says apricot 'denotes warm, summery ripeness.' Apricot is often associated with the grape Viognier, along with peach and blossom, found the in Rhône and increasingly in the New World like California and Australia. Richer Albariño, from North West Spain, is another fine white which regularly gets described with an apricot nose. Apricot is also an aroma often found in sweet wines; either as the fresh fruit, or dried apricot, which is sweeter and more intense. Matching Sauternes and Barsac with food It can be found in sweet wines like Sauternes and Tokaji, and fortified wines, like in Tawny Port, along with other dried fruits. Dried apricot is not restricted to sweeter wines only, and is found in dry wines too, like Domaine de la Taille aux Loups, Les Dix Arpents 2014. See: Disznókő, Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos 2006 | Zull, Weinviertel, Grüner Veltliner Klassik, 2016 | Château Coutet, Barsac, Bordeaux, France 2011 | Château Lamothe, Sauternes, 2eme Cru Classé, 2013 image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2017/06/banana.jpg tasting notes decoded Banana Ever caught the whiff of bananas when opening, sniffing or drinking wine? If you have, it could be for the following scientific reasons — please note there are almost certainly no actual bananas involved. One possible cause is the winemaking process carbonic maceration, commonly used in the production of Beaujolais wines, made from the Gamay grape. In this process, the grapes are sealed in a vessel filled with carbon dioxide prior to regular fermentation, which gives Beaujolais wines their distinctive juicy or subtly tropical flavours. The chemical compound behind banana's aroma is mainly isoamyl acetate, an ester that's also found in pears and bubblegum — another signature Beaujolais scent. It can occur in red or white wines as a natural by-product of carbonic maceration, or from the yeasts in regular fermentation. Interestingly, the same compound is released by the honey bees from their sting to alert fellow bees to danger. Yeasts: do you know what's flavouring your wine? Banana's flavour profile is among the tropical fruits — notes like pineapple, passionfruit and lychees. Aside from Beaujolais, you can look for it in South African Pinotage. Or from aromatic white wines, especially those fermented at cooler temperatures, including Albariños like Martin Codax 2011 or Coto Redondo, Liñar de Vides 2011 both from the Spanish region of Rías Biaxas in Galicia. In other white wines, ripe banana notes are associated with richer fruit flavours and sweet blossom aromas. Such as Haridimos Hatzidakis, Assyrtiko, Santorini 2012 or aged whites like Colonnara, Cuprese, Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi 1991. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2018/06/Bergamot.jpg tasting notes decoded Bergamot Bergamots are citrus fruits that are commonly shaped like yellow or green dwarf pears with dimpled skins, but they are in fact a variety of bitter orange. Although edible, bergamots are rarely eaten fresh due to their intensely acidic and tart-tasting flesh, which is more palatable in marmalade or juice form. The incredibly aromatic essential oils in bergamots' skins makes them very popular in perfumes and it's also an important ingredient in Earl Grey tea. When it comes to wine tasting notes, bergamot is a useful citrus fruit descriptor for certain dry white wines, as it expresses a flavour or aroma that is more bitter than oranges but sweeter than lemons. Examples could include aromatic German Riesling wines, such as Dreissigacker, Bechtheimer Geyersberg, Rheinhessen 2014, noted for its 'powerful nose of bergamot and leaf tea' followed by floral flavours of rose and geranium. Or French Muscadet wines from the Loire Valley like the 96-point Pierre-Luc Bouchaud, Pont Caffino, Loire 2014, exuding complex aromas of 'golden pair skin and subtle struck match' alongside orange blossom and bergamot. Red wines with vibrant acidity could also express bergamot notes, such as Pinot Noirs like Bisquertt, La Joya Gran Reserva 2014 from Chile's Leyda Valley and Portuguese red blends from Douro Valley like Symington, Altano Organic 2015. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2017/08/Olive.jpg understand tasting notes Black olive The colour of olives is generally related to how ripe they are: green olives are harvested before the olive has ripened, and black olives have been left to undergo ripening. During the course of ripening, polyphenol (aka tannin) levels drop. As a result, the astringency of the green olive relaxes into a more gentle and earthy tasting black olive. In wine tasting notes, black olive might be used to describe the earthy and subtly bitter edge found in some red wines. Syrah is a classic example, where black olive may be found alongside black fruit and black pepper notes. SEE: Wind Gap, Sonoma Coast, Syrah, California 2012 | Domaine Les Bruyères, David Reynaud, Crozes-Hermitage 2015 Californian Cabernet Sauvignon from cooler vintages might display black olive, as they are generally more savoury and less fruit-forward. For example, the Cabernet dominant blend of Opus One, Oakville, Napa Valley 2009. The primary flavours and aromas of Pinot Noir can also develop via ageing into earthy and vegetal flavours that might come under the black olive profile. For example Kutch Wines, McDougall Ranch, Sonoma Coast, California 2009 — where black olive blends with spice and forest floor flavours. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2017/10/Blackberry.jpg understand tasting notes Blackberry Blackberries are soft, black-coloured fruit, commonly found wild in English hedgerows during summer months. They can be eaten fresh, cooked in puddings or made into jam. In the wine lexicon, blackberry belongs in the black fruit category, alongside similarly sweet and tart soft fruits, such as blackcurrants, blueberries and black plums. As you might guess from their appearance, blackberries are closely related to raspberries, although the latter is considered more tart in taste and less firm in texture. Leafy or brambly blackberry flavours might be used to describe a tannic, full-bodied red wine style that hasn't yet fully matured. Prominent blackberry with leafy notes could also hint that the grapes didn't fully ripen before they were harvested. SEE: Zanoni Pietro, Zovo, Amarone della Valpolicella 2011 On the other end of the spectrum, jammy blackberry notes describe the rich ripeness associated with fruit preserves, when heat and sugar are added to intensify flavours. If you see blackberry paired with words like cooked, stewed, jam or dried, it might be describing red wines with developed fruit flavours from controlled oxidation, a common feature of bottle-ageing. This could apply to classic Bordeaux or Rioja blends and Californian Cabernet Sauvignon, where blackberry primary fruit flavours can intertwine with oak influences like vanilla, cedar and chocolate. SEE: Château Palmer, Margaux, 3ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux 2012 | Contador, Rioja 2014 | Ridge Vineyards, Estate Cabernet, Santa Cruz Mountains 2008 As a typical black fruit flavour, blackberry notes are ubiquitous in red wine tasting notes — from Touriga Nacional wines from Portugal, to Nero d'Avola from Sicily. SEE: Aldi, Zom Reserva, Douro 2015 | Donnafugata, Sherazade, Sicily 2015 Look for them in certain Syrah wines from Barossa Valley and northern Rhône to compare how they interact with characteristic gamey, spicy, tarry or smokey notes to create complexity. SEE: Penfolds, RWT Shiraz, Barossa Valley 2015 | Delas, St-Joseph Rhône 2010 Bramble image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2018/05/Bramble.png tasting notes decodedThe official definition of bramble is a wild bush with thorns, usually genetically related to the rose family. As a wine tasting note, bramble generally refers to the most commonplace example: blackberry bushes, which can be cultivated for their fruit or found growing wild in hedgerows. Consequently, bramble is found in the black fruit category of the wine lexicon, alongside blackcurrant, blackberry itself, black cherry and black plum. Much like the term hedgerow (see below), bramble encompasses an overall sense of different natural flavour components. For this reason bramble makes for a very useful wine descriptor, because it can express conjoined black fruit, as well as herbaceous or even blossom notes. The choice to describe a wine as having 'bramble' notes, rather than simply 'blackberry' ones, could mean that the wine has a black fruit character plus an overtone of leafiness. In this way it can indicate desirable or undesirable characteristics, depending on the wine style. For example, in the case of a youthful cool climate Pinot Noir, such as Wakefield Estate, Fourth Dimension Pinot Noir, Adelaide Hills 2016, a 'spicy, almost tangy, red fruit and bramble character' is appropriate to the style that the winemaker is seeks to achieve. Or, Hahn, Lodi, Boneshaker Zinfandel 2014, where the herbaceous-fruity bramble note marries rosemary and menthol with the rich kirsch and chocolate. Other tasting notes might specify that it's the fruity element of bramble that's most prominent in the wine, such as Bodega Norton, Lote Negro, Mendoza 2015 - displaying 'inky bramble fruit' with plums and oak spice. Or in the powerful black fruit flavour profile of Nebbiolo wines such as Fontanafredda, Langhe Nebbiolo, Ebbio, Piedmont 2015, where a 'nose of hedgerow fruit leaps out of the glass, with berry and bramble flavours'. However, 'green' or 'leafy' aromas in some wines can also indicate underripe grapes. Candied fruit Candying is a preservation technique that involves coating any given piece of fruit, nut or ginger in a sugary glaze, sealing the fresh flavours inside for longer. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2018/06/Candied-Fruit.jpg tasting notes decodedIn this way candied fruit retains more of its original fresh fruit flavours than dried fruit or jams, although they also become saturated with sweetness. The effect of intense fruitiness encased in sweetness makes candied fruit a useful tasting descriptor for a range of wines that present this flavour combination. Candied fruit flavours are perhaps found most prominently in fortified wines like tawny Port, where it often manifests as candied citrus, as in Messias, 20 Year Old Tawny and Marks & Spencer, 10 Year Old Tawny Port. You might find candied stone and tropical fruit flavours and aromas in sweet white wines like those of Sauternes, such as Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey 2013 and Château Rabaud-Promis' Promesse de Rabaud-Promis 2015. Subtle notes of candied citrus peel can also be found in the complex flavour profile of certain red Burgundy wines, such as Louis Latour, Romanée-St-Vivant Grand Cru 2016 and Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Romanée-Conti Grand Cru 2014. Some Brut Champagnes - although dry by definition - can still have hints of candied fruits. In the best examples these flavours are balanced by fresh acidity, to prevent any cloying sweetness. For example Krug 2004 is able to encompass 'candied fruits, gingerbread, white chocolate, caramel and marzipan' while remaining light, fresh and dry — resulting in a Decanter score of 97/100. ALSO: Bollinger, RD 2004 | Moutard Père & Fils, Brut 1992 image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2017/03/Cassis.jpg tasting notes decoded Cassis As a tasting note, cassis refers to ripe and concentrated blackcurrant flavours or aromas. It's often used to describe rich and full-bodied red wines, such as mature Bordeaux wines, or those made from earthy southern Italian varieties such as Nero d'Avola, Aglianico and Primitivo. The blackcurrant flavour profile belongs to a broader 'black fruit' category. Within that category, it's more aligned with the tartness of blueberries, and not with the sweetness of dark plum and blackberry flavours. The term can cover different forms of intense blackcurrant fruit flavours, from a large helping of blackcurrant jam, to a handful of the fresh berries. The tasting term is not to be confused with the wine region of Cassis in Provence, which is renowned for rosé wines that generally express red fruit rather than black fruit notes, and white wines of a mineral and citrus character. To fully comprehend the flavour, why not try the blackcurrant liqueur crème de cassis. This also goes well in a 'Kir Royale' cocktail — made by pouring a small measure into a flute and topping up with Champagne. Cherry Cherries have a distinctive fruit character, often replicated artificially for confectionery and liqueurs. When it comes to wine tasting notes, it's important to image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2017/06/cherry-wine-taste.jpg cherry wine tastedistinguish between different cherry forms and flavours. For starters, there are both sweet and sour cherries — think of the difference between maraschino and morello cherries. Red cherries are seen as part of the red fruit flavour profile, and black cherries are included in the black fruit category. In both of these, cherries might be seen as not so sweet or tart as the berries, yet more concentrated than fleshy plums, for example. In Decanter's How to read wine tasting notes, the general character of cherry is defined as, 'firm, vibrant fruit with a touch of acidity and none of the sweetness of, say, blackcurrants'. Wines that can carry notes of tart cherries include northern Italian reds, such Piedmont's Barolo and Barbaresco wines made from the Nebbiolo grape. Red cherry notes can be found in some Tuscan Sangiovese wines from Brunello di Montalcino and Chianti. SEE: Giovanni Rosso, Barolo, La Serra, Piedmont, Italy, 2010 | Pio Cesare, Barbaresco, Piedmont 2013 | Bottega, Il Vino dei Poeti, Brunello di Montalcino 2010 | Monteraponi, Chianti Classico, Tuscany 2014 Young Pinot Noir wines can encompass a range of cherry flavours from red to black, particularly those of New Zealand, where some of the best examples combine cherry with hints of jam or strawberry to offset earthy notes. SEE: Best New Zealand Pinot Noir under £20 Perhaps the wine most associated with cherries is Beaujolais, a red wine made from the Gamay grape. Cherry notes in these wines are usually the product of carbonic maceration, a process in which whole grapes are sealed in a vessel filled with carbon dioxide prior to regular fermentation. This helps to preserve the naturally juicy and fruity character of Gamay. SEE: Domaine Georges Descombes, Morgon, Beaujolais 2015 | Domaine de la Voûte des Crozes, Côte de Brouilly, Beaujolais 2015 image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2017/05/Citrus1.jpg tasting notes decoded Citrus As a tasting note, citrus is defined by high acidity and fresh fruit flavour; characteristics that can be found in many white wines. Although wine may not reach the acidity level of, say, lemonade, it can have a strong acidic structure that recalls sharpness of fresh lemon, lime or grapefruit on the nose and palate. It may also be found alongside notes like 'mineral' or 'steely', because certain high acidity wines can feel almost hard-edged in the mouth, lacking in sweet fruit flavours. Accompanying notes of more sour fruits, like green apples or pears, are relatively common. Minerality in wine: What does it mean to you? In wine, citrus is categorised as a primary aroma, because it relates to the flavour of the grapes themselves as opposed to winemaking or ageing processes. Examples of citrussy wines can include young dry whites like Vermentino, Verdejo, Albariño and Sauvignon Blanc. SEE: Uvaggio, Vermentino, Lodi, California 2013 | Beronia, Verdejo, Rueda, Spain 2016 | Eidosela, Albariño, Rias Baixas, Galicia, 2011 | Cloudy Bay, Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand 2016 | Domaine Guyot, Les Loges, Pouilly-Fumé, Loire 2015 Note: citrus can sometimes be detected as citrus peel or zest, which might suggest a more pithy and intensely aromatic character than citrus juices. This is because the pungent odour of citrus fruits comes from the chemical compound limonene, which is located in the peel. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2017/05/coconut.jpg tasting notes decoded Coconut First things first, it's important not to confuse the flavour profile of coconuts with nuts. Coconuts are not nuts, they are drupes (stone fruits). Their distinctive flavour and aroma is distinct from either fruits or nuts, and can be found in products like coconut milk or oil, as well as the desiccated coconut you might have eaten in a Bounty bar. In wine, coconut generally manifests itself on the nose as a kind of dulled sweetness, which doesn't pique the senses in the same way as sweet fruit or honey flavours. Instead it is more heavily aromatic, which is why it's categorised among the 'kernels' such as almond, coffee and chocolate. Notes of coconut can come from esters, which are the chemical compounds behind many aromas. Specifically lactones, which are responsible for the peculiar sweet aromas associated with coconuts. Beverley Blanning MW goes one step further in her exploration of oak aromas: 'beta-methyl-gamma-octa-lactone - that's coconut aroma to you and me'. Coconut is one of the key aromas that distinguishes oaked wines, and it's usually counted as a tertiary aroma because it's related to the ageing process. Oak flavours can come from contact with wood chips, staves or barrels. Coconut is strongly evoked by American oak, along with vanilla notes. Oak barrels: What they do to wine Wines with coconut notes can include oaky red Riojas with some years behind them, like La Rioja Alta, 904 Gran Reserva 2007 and Bodegas Muriel, Reserva 2008. As well as big Cabernet-dominated Australian reds like Wolf Blass' Black Label wines, aged for many months in American Oak. SEE: Wolf Blass, Black Label 1979 | Wolf Blass, Black Label 1974 | Wolf Blass Wines, Black Label 1992 image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2017/02/Cooked-Fruit.jpg tasting notes decoded Cooked Fruit A 'cooked wine' can be considered a fault. It can refer to a bottle that has been exposed to extreme heat. This can occur during shipping and is evident to the consumer as the cork can protrude and the wine quality will be greatly diminished. However, when a person refers to 'cooked fruit' when tasting, this means that the grapes have had too much hang-time on the vine or too much sun exposure and are in fact overripe or even sunburned. This leads to a wine that has lower total acidity, which will make it taste less fresh; it will usually have jammy characters. This jamminess can be coupled with a higher level of alcohol, which can create a flabby mouthfeel. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2018/04/Cranberry.jpg tasting notes decoded Cranberry Cranberries are small and round red berries, which grow in clusters on low-lying evergreen shrubs. When fresh, the sweetness of cranberries is largely overwhelmed by their acidity, so they're usually cooked and sweetened into sauce, jam or juice form. Their sweet and tart flavour profile makes them a useful wine descriptor, and cranberries are found in the wine lexicon as part of the red fruit category. On the sweet to tart red fruit spectrum, cranberries probably sit between raspberries and redcurrants. You can look for cranberry notes in red wines with high acidity, like some young Pinot Noir wines from cool climates. For example, Fortnum & Mason, Axel Neiss, Spätburgunder 2014, from Germany's Pfalz region, has a nose filled with 'bitter cherry and cranberry' followed by tart fruit on the palate. Elsewhere, Soter Vineyards, Planet Oregon Pinot Noir 2015, from the US appellation of Oregon, has a 'vibrant acidity' and 'coats the mouth in flavours of red strawberry, cherry and cranberry'. As well as unoaked Pinot Noir styles such as Zinck, Portrait Pinot Noir 2015 from Alsace, expressing 'fresh cranberry and cherry fruit with velvety tannins'. In her article Sancerre: The French Pinot Noir you should be drinking, Decanter's Tina Gellie outlines how the 'bigger day-night temperature differences' in the Loire give rise to more 'crunchy raspberry- and cranberry-style' Pinot Noirs, compared to those from Burgundy. SEE: Domaine Vacheron, Belle Dame, Loire 2010 Younger Grenache wines can also have relatively high acidity and tart red fruit flavours, such as cranberry. For example, Momento, Grenache 2015, from Swartland is noted for its 'fresh acidity with tart cherry and cranberry fruit'. Willunga 100, Grenache 2014, from South Australia's McLaren Vale, displays 'juicy cranberry, cherry and raspberry on the palate'. A slightly more unusual style — also from South Australia — Alpha Box & Dice, Enigma, Adelaide Hills 2015 is a wine made from the high-acid Italian Barbera grape — resulting in tarry characters with a 'cranberry-laced acidity which runs through the centre'. Fig Figs are said to be some of the first fruits to be cultivated by humans; they have origins in Turkey, India, as well as many Mediterranean countries. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2018/02/Fig.jpg tasting notes decodedGenetically, figs are related to the mulberry family, and they grow on trees or bushes. They're favoured for their smooth, syrupy fruit flavour and pulpy texture. Although often enjoyed fresh, figs are easily dried out into a chewier, sweeter form — as the fruit sugars become concentrated after the water content is decreased. It is in this form that they feature in the wine lexicon, alongside other dried fruits like dates, prunes and raisins. Due to their earthy and richly sweet flavour profile, dried fig notes are primarily found in full-bodied reds and fortified wines. This could include Portuguese red blends like Herdade de Malhadinha Nova, Matilde, Alentejano 2013 and JP Ramos, Alentejo, Marquês de Borba, Alentejo 2014 — both combining fig notes with spicy undertones. Or Primitivo wines from southern Italy, like Masseria Metrano, Primitivo, Salento, Puglia 2014, where fig mixes coffee and bitter herb aromas. Among fortified wines, you can look for fig notes in Tawny Ports, as well as mature Madeiras, such as HM Borges, 20 Year Old, Verdelho. Or Pedro Ximénez sherries like Bodegas Rey Fernando de Castilla, Antique Pedro Ximénez NV. In her article What is premature oxidation? Jane Anson identifies fig as a possible precursor to a wine becoming oxidised: 'In red wines, the warning signs come with prune, fig and other dried fruit aromas - these are positively sought in specific types of wines such as Amarone or Port, but would be a likely indication in a young dry red that the wine will not age as it should.' However, she warns that sensitive grapes with dried fruit flavours, like fig, are at more risk than more robust varieties: 'Some styles of dry reds - such as still Douro reds and some Languedoc wines - naturally have dried fruit aromas when young, and are made from grapes with high natural acidity and resistance to heat. 'But the danger comes with other grape varieties that are more susceptible to fluctuations in temperature.' Sources: britannica.com, decanter.com image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2017/12/Gooseberries-e1515170730252.jpg tasting notes decoded Gooseberries A traditional fruit of the English garden or hedgerow, hairy-skinned gooseberries are prized in baked desserts for their fresh and tart flavours. Genetically they're related to currants, although they are at the most sour-tasting end of the spectrum. They are most commonly green-coloured, although strains of red, yellow and pink gooseberries do exist. In the wine lexicon they belong in the 'green fruit' category, alongside green apple, pear and grape. These are generally less sweet than red, black or stone fruits, displaying a primarily tart character instead. Gooseberries are typically found in aromatic white wines, as their tart taste and slightly floral or tangy scent makes them a useful descriptor. Sauvignon Blancs may have gooseberry notes, particularly those made in cool climate regions like Marlborough in New Zealand or France's Loire Valley. SEE: Auntsfield, Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc, Southern Valleys, Marlborough 2016 | Asda, Sancerre, Loire 2016 See Oz Clarke's description of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, when it first found its way onto the market in the 1980s: 'No previous wine had shocked, thrilled and entranced the world before with such brash, unexpected flavours of gooseberries, passion fruit and lime or crunchy green asparagus spears ... an entirely new, brilliantly successful wine style that the rest of the world has been trying to copy since.' Sauvignon Blanc to change your mind Another common, if strange-sounding, description of the smell of Sauvignon Blanc is 'cat's pee on a gooseberry bush' — denoting the austere urine or petrol-like aromas intermingling with the green fruit tartness of gooseberries. Gooseberry notes do not generally emanate from the grapes themselves, instead they are the result of yeast action during fermentation. Benjamin Lewin MW explains the science: 'The gooseberry and passion fruit aromas of Sauvignon Blanc come from sulphur-containing compounds that are released during fermentation from non-odiferous precursors in the grape.' Yeasts: do you know what's flavouring your wine? Alternatively, you can look for gooseberry notes in wines made from the Bacchus grape, a Riesling-Silvaner and Müller-Thurgau hybrid. Bacchus wines are sometimes likened to Sauvignon Blanc for their fresh, green character and high acidity. SEE: Sixteen Ridges, Bacchus, England 2015 | Chapel Down, Bacchus, Kent 2015 image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2017/07/Green-Apple.jpg tasting notes decoded Green apple Green apples are generally thought to be more tart and less sweet than their red or yellow counterparts. To test this, try biting into a granny smith followed by a gala or golden delicious apple. You should notice your mouth water more with the green apple, as you produce more saliva in response to the higher acid content. Specifically, malic acid which is derived from the latin word for apple, 'malum'. Wine also contains malic acid, which can give the impression of green apple flavours and aromas in your glass. Wines that are high in malic acid have more pronounced green apple notes, these include cool climate dry whites such as Chablis wines, as well as Riesling and Grüner Veltliner from Germany or Austria. In these wines, green apple might be found alongside other green fruits with a similar flavour profile, such as gooseberry or pear, as well as mineral or metallic notes. SEE: Domaine Jean-Paul et Benoît Droin, Valmur Grand, Chablis 2015 | Weinhof Waldschütz, Riesling Classic, Kamptal 2015 | Eschenhof Holzer, Wagram Grüner Veltliner, Wagram 2015 The effect of malic acid is not always desirable, particularly in some red wines and Chardonnays. It can be processed using malolactic fermentation, when bacteria break down the tart malic acid into lactic acid — the same substance that's found in dairy products. This might be used in Chardonnay wines to bring out more buttery flavours and give a more rounded creamy mouthfeel. Sources: The Persistent Observer's Guide to Wine: How to Enjoy the Best and Skip the Rest by J. P. Bary | Decanter.com image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2017/02/Jammy.jpg tasting notes decoded Jammy The term jammy is usually applied to red wines low in acidity but high in alcohol, such as Californian Zinfandel or Australian Shiraz. It describes ripened or cooked fruit, in which the pungency and sweetness is intensified compared to fresh fruit flavours. Jammy is associated with red fruits like strawberries and raspberries, as well as darker fruits such as blackcurrants and blackberries — essentially fruits you can imagine making into jam. As a fault, it can express poor growing conditions in which the vines are overexposed to heat and sunlight. This causes the grapes to ripen too quickly, and the resultant wines can develop a cloying jamminess with a flabby mouthfeel. Wine writer Robert Haynes-Peterson notes that Pinot Noir wines are most at risk, as these thin-skinned grapes are 'intolerant of high temperatures which results in jammy, rather than fruit-driven, wines'. Read more However, some people see jamminess as adding an enjoyably complex and concentrated fruitiness to wines; Matetic's EQ Syrah from the San Antonio Valley was praised by Decanter's James Button for its 'multi-layered jammy and savoury elements'. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2018/01/juniper-berries.jpg tasting notes decodedJuniper berries Gin lovers will know the importance of juniper berries in relation to spirits, but they can also be a useful wine tasting note. Despite their name and appearance, juniper berries are actually the fleshy seed cones of a conifer shrub. How to taste gin like a professional They are far more bitter and peppery than actual berries and are rarely consumed fresh. Instead juniper berries are usually dried and used as a savoury spice, or a gin botanical. In the wine lexicon, the juniper flavour is found in the 'botanicals and herbs' category alongside lemongrass, as well as savoury herbs like sage and basil. You can look for juniper notes with a similar flavour profile to this category; that is, with a bitter herb and peppery spice character. This might include full-bodied red Syrah wines, like Peay Vineyards, Les Titans Syrah 2011 and Arnot-Roberts, Clary Ranch Syrah 2012, both from California's Sonoma Coast AVA. Juniper might feature in the complex aromas of Nebbiolo wines from Piedmont, including Gaja, Sorì Tildin, Barbaresco 2013, where it mingles with typical notes of black cherry and mint. As well as some of the bold and aromatic red wines from Portugal's Douro Valley, such as Quinta do Vale Meao, Meandro 2011, where it melds with garrigue and black fruit. A more unusual example might be Ao Yun's full-bodied Bordeaux blend from southern China's Yunnan province. Decanter's John Stimpfig noted the 'juniper, pepper and cumin' elements to the 2013 vintage. SEE: Ao Yun, China 2013 Aside from red wines, you might find juniper notes in some cool-climate dry whites, like Torrontés from the high-altitude terroirs of Salta in Argentina. SEE: Bodega El Porvenir, Torrontés, Salta 2015 And even sparkling wine - Furleigh, Estate's Blanc de Blancs 2009, made in Dorset, noted for its rich stone fruit character with 'a flash of juniper bitterness'. Kirsch image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2018/05/kirsch-1.jpg Kirsch, pronounced 'kee-ersh', is a dry cherry brandy from Germany - where it's full name is 'kirschwasser', meaning 'cherry water'. It's traditionally made using morello cherries, which are fermented whole including their stones, giving the resultant spirit a bitter almond edge. In the wine lexicon, kirsch is placed in the dried or cooked fruit category, as it corresponds to the concentrated fruit characteristics found among descriptors like jammy, stewed fruit and raisin. Kirsch's flavour profile of distilled cherry fruit flavours, plus a hint of bitter almond, makes it a useful descriptor for many dry red wines. You can look for kirsch characteristics in rich full-bodied reds such as Syrah wines from France's Rhône Valley, where it can compliment savoury notes like herbs, smoke, earth and pepper. New world Syrah, commonly called Shiraz, can express kirsch-like flavours too, such as examples from South Africa and Australia - although here it tends to meld with stronger hints of sweet spices. Other reds with a kirsch character could include fruit-forward Malbec wines from Argentina, which often mix kirsch with dark fruit and floral notes. SEE: Fable Mountain Vineyards, Syrah, Tulbagh 2011 | De Bortoli, Yarra Valley, Estate Grown Shiraz, 2013 | 55 Malbec, La Consulta, Tomal Vineyard, Teho, 2011 Dry red wines from northern Italy, made from Nebbiolo, Sangiovese or Barbera grapes, can also all display a bold cherry character that can sometimes express itself as a kirsch note. Similarly, the powerful dark fruit profile of some Bordeaux blends can manifest itself in cassis and kirsch-like flavours. SEE: Cascina Val del Prete, Roero Riserva, Piedmont 2013 | Château de Fieuzal, Graves, Pessac-Léognan 2015 Loganberry Loganberries are a hybrid formed of blackberries and raspberries, and they have shades of both in their look and taste. Originating in California in the 1880s, loganberries have become a popular addition to berry desserts and preserves across the US, UK and Australia. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2018/08/Loganberry-1.jpg tasting notes decodedThe fruit is a deep claret colour when ripe, meaning that it technically belongs to the red fruit category of the wine lexicon, alongside its parent fruit, raspberry. In wine tasting notes, loganberry is used to describe red fruit flavours that aren't as tart as raspberry and cranberry, whilst not reaching the sweetness levels of, say, strawberry. Possessing elements of both sweet and sour red fruit flavours, loganberry can be a useful tasting note for wines that have similar characteristics. These are generally dry red wines with a strong red fruit flavour profile combined with medium to high acidity, creating both sweet and tart elements. Many dry reds fit this description, including French greats from Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Rhône Valley. For example, our tasters have found loganberry notes in Château La Mission Haut-Brion 2015, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti's La Tâche 2015 and Clos St-Jean, La Combe des Fous 2016. Syrah/Shiraz wines can also display loganberry flavours, such as Rolf Binder's Heysen Shiraz 2013 from Barossa Valley, in which the tart element of loganberry balances denser notes of blackberry jam. Further south, Obsidian Reserve Syrah 2013 from New Zealand's Waiheke Island was praised by our expert panel for its aromatic blend of loganberry, cinnamon, mint and bay leaf. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2017/12/Lychee-1-e1513352008995.jpg tasting notes decoded Lychee With their spiky red exteriors and translucent white flesh, lychees are one of the more exotic fruit varieties in the wine lexicon. They're defined by a mildly sweet fruit flavour, with an edge of tartness and a floral aroma. Their large central seed makes lychees look similar to stone fruits, but when it comes to wine they are classed among the tropical fruit flavours — joining mango, banana, passion fruit and pineapple. Lychee notes are typically found in white wines, often those with subtle fruit flavours and spicy or floral characteristics. A classic example is Gewürztraminer wine, described by Thierry Meyer, DWWA Regional Chair for Alsace, in Gewurztraminer to change your mind: 'It smells of ginger and cinnamon, fragrant rose petals and pot pourri with a dusting of Turkish Delight and tastes of deliciously exotic lychees and mango.' These wines are commonly made in cool climate regions like Alsace and Alto Adige in northern Europe, as well as Marlborough in New Zealand. SEE: Lidl, Gewürztraminer Vieilles Vignes, Alsace 2016 | Gewürztraminer, Alto Adige, Trentino-Alto Adige 2014 | Yealands Estate, Gewürztraminer, Awatere Valley, Marlborough 2010 Other aromatic white wines with lychee notes could include Sauvignon Blancs, such as Massey Dacta, Marlborough 2015, which combines minerality with tropical fruits. As well as Pinot Grigio, Prosecco and Soave wines from northern Italy, Austrian Grüner Veltliner and Torrontés from the lofty heights of Salta. SEE: Cantina Tramin, Unterebner Pinot Grigio, Alto Adige 2014 | Sommariva, Brut, Conegliano-Valdobbiadene NV | Bolla, Retro, Soave Classico, Veneto 2011 | Bodega Colomé, Colome Torrontes, Calchaqui Valley 2015 image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2017/07/Melon.jpg tasting notes decodedMelon Although there are many different types of melon - watermelon, canteloupes, crenshaw, hami to name a few - when talking about melon flavours in wine, we're generally talking about those associated with the honeydew melon. Do not confuse this with the French grape that makes Muscadet wines, Melon de Bourgogne, which actually has very little to do with melon fruit. In the wine tasting lexicon, Melon is found among other tropical fruits like pineapple, lychee and mango. The flavour profile of ripe melon is generally fruity, refreshing and sweet, although its sugar content is not normally as high as that of pineapple. Rosé wines can be a good place to look for melon flavours and aromas. This is particularly true for wines from Provence, like Domaine Gavoty 2013, as well as some 'provençal-style' Californian rosés, such as Picayune Cellars, Rosé, Mendocino County 2016 or Arnot-Roberts, Clear Lake Rosé, Lake County 2016. Melon can also be evoked by rosé Champagnes, made from varying ratios of Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay. Including De Castelnau, Rosé Champagne NV, where fruity melon is balanced by floral beeswax notes. Elsewhere, you might also find melon notes in full-bodied white wines from warm climates, such as Chardonnay from Californian regions like Napa Valley and Sonoma County. As well as in some Italian white wines like premium Pinot Grigio, or fruit-forward Prosecco wines. SEE: Truchard, Chardonnay, Carneros, Napa Valley, California 2014 | Ronco del Gelso, Sot lis Rivis, Isonzo 2012 | Masottina Extra Dry, Rive di Ogliano, Conegliano-Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore 2010 Source: Decanter.com image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2017/10/Orange.jpg understand tasting notes Orange Oranges are a species of citrus fruit which branch into many varieties, whether it be your lunchbox satsuma or a red-fleshed blood orange. Despite its many forms, all orange varieties share a similar citrus character that's less acidic than lemon, lime or grapefruit and more fresh, fruity or tangy instead. The same chemical molecule is behind the aroma of lemons and oranges, known as limonene. But it exists in two slightly altered forms and interacts with our nasal receptors differently, resulting in the two distinctive fruit scents. Wine tasting notes might be more specific by naming which part of the orange fruit correctly describes the flavour or aroma found in a wine. For example, a wine could have notes or orange peel or zest, which indicates a more pungent orange aroma, because limonene is concentrated in essential oils given off by glands in the rind. This means that when you peel or grate the skin of an orange you release a stronger and more bitter odour than that of its flesh. Wines with orange zest or peel notes are generally dry white wines with mineral, green fruit or floral characteristics. These can include Fiano wines from Campania in southern Italy, Riesling from Australia's Clare Valley, or Californian Chardonnays — where orange zest notes might be intermingled with tropical fruit flavours. SEE:Pierluigi Zampaglione, Don Chisciotte Fiano, Campania 2011 | Wakefield Estate, The Exquisite Collection Riesling, Clare Valley 2016 | Fess Parker, Ashley's Chardonnay, Santa Rita Hills 2014 You may also see the tasting term 'orange blossom', referring to a very different tasting profile to orange fruits. Orange blossom is typified by a fresh white flower aroma, with a gentle bitter edge. You can look for orange blossom notes in white Burgundies such as Domaine Leflaive, Puligny-Montrachet Le Clavoillon 1er Cru 2015 or Greek white Assyrtiko wines like Ktima Pavlidis, Emphasis Assyrtiko Drama PGI 2013. Do not confuse orange descriptors in wine tasting notes with orange wines, which are made using white wine grapes which are macerated in their skins, giving them an amber hue. In this case term 'orange' is in reference to their colour and does not prescribe orangey flavours or aromas. Sources: Citrus: A History by Pierre Laszlo | Decanter.com image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2018/06/Geranium.jpg tasting notes decodedGeranium Geraniums are much loved for their vivid flowers, but it's the leaves that are responsible for their distinctive musky-floral aroma; something that is widely used in perfumes and aromatherapy. In the wine lexicon geranium is in the floral category of primary aromas, meaning it's usually created by the grape and alcoholic fermentation, rather than winemaking techniques or ageing. Within the floral category it can perhaps be thought of as more herbaceous than rose, though more floral than elderflower. Geranium aromas are most commonly found in aromatic whites, such as premium aged examples Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi, from the eastern Italian Marche region. Colonnara, Verdicchio, dei Castelli di Jesi Classico 1991 melds geranium with floral-sweet honey aromas and banana. Alternatively, you might find geranium notes in the floral aroma profile of German Rieslings, such as Dreissigacker, Bechtheimer Geyersberg 2014, exuding flavours of 'roses and geranium jelly'. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2018/06/papaya-1.jpg tasting notes decoded Papaya Papaya, or pawpaws, are seeded fruits that come in sizes ranging from pear shaped to almost spherical. They have green flesh that turns a rich ochre yellow or orange when ripe. In the lexicon of wine tasting descriptors papaya belongs in the tropical fruit category, alongside notes like passion fruit, mango and pineapple. These descriptors capture the pungent and sweet fruity character found in some wines, often whites made from aromatic varieties with a ripe, fruit-forward flavour profile. For example a South Australian Riesling like Two Hands, The Boy, Eden Valley 2014, expresses 'ripe and soft papaya flavours' that are pleasantly counterbalanced by its vibrant acidity. Similarly, a Viognier wine like Elephant Hill, Te Awanga, Hawke's Bay 2010 might layer 'luscious stone fruit, papaya and apricot aromas' upon a strong backbone of acidity. Other examples could include Sauvignon Blanc from Bordeaux, such as Château Bauduc 2016, or South African Chenin Blancs like Spice Route, Swartland 2015 and David & Nadia Sadie, Hoë-Steen 2015. Tropical fruit flavours like papaya can also develop in wines made from late-harvest grapes that have been affected by noble rot, such as sweet wines from Sauternes or Tokaji. SEE: Château de Myrat, Barsac 2ème Cru Classé 2014 | Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey, Sauternes 1er Cru Classé 2017 Oaky or leesy flavours can sometimes give the impression of a tropical fruit tang. These flavours can arise from wines that have been either fermented or aged in oak, rested 'sur lie' (on their lees) or from bâtonnage (stirring the lees). This could apply to some Chardonnays from Burgundy, like Olivier Merlin, Sur la Roche, Pouilly-Fuissé 2016 and Domaine Sangouard-Guyot, Au Brûlé, St-Véran 2016. It can also apply to some of the more complex premium Champagnes, including Krug, Grande Cuvée 160ème Édition NV and Louis Roederer, Cristal 2000. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2018/01/Passion.jpg tasting notes decoded Passion fruit Passion fruits are recognisable by their purple or yellow hard casing, which can be cut open to reveal the vivid yellow pulp and green seeds within. They are related to the berry family, which also includes grapes. They thrive in tropical climates and grow on vines; passion fruit plantations don't look too dissimilar to wine vineyards, with the plants commonly trellised in lines. Passion fruits are favoured in desserts and confectionery for their powerful fruity flavour, which is predominantly sweet with a slight sour tang. This flavour profile can emanate from wines too, and passion fruit is included in the wine lexicon in the 'tropical fruit' category, alongside notes like lychee, melon and pineapple. You can look for passion fruit notes in aromatic dry white wines, with high acidity. For example New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is known for its ability to produce an array of pungent fruit flavours, including guava, passion fruit and mango — as well as equally strong flavours in the vegetal department, like cut grass and asparagus. SEE: Opawa, Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough 2016 | Harrods, Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough 2015 | Tinpot Hut, Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough 2016 You can find similar examples of this herbaceous and tropical fruit hybridity in Sauvignon Blancs from South America too: Cono Sur's Reserva Especial 2014 from Chile boasts 'intense mango, passion fruit and fresh herbs'. Or Trapiche's Costa & Pampa Sauvignon Blanc 2016 from Argentina, noted for its heady mix of 'cut grass and passion fruit' aromas. Aromatic Pinot Grigio and Gewürztraminer wines from Italy's Alto Adige region are capable of displaying ripe tropical fruit notes, such as passion fruit, alongside floral and citrus characteristics. Certain South African Chenin Blancs, also have passion fruit flavours to match tangy acidity. SEE: Cantina Tramin, Unterebner Pinot Grigio, Alto Adige 2014 | Baron Widmann, Gewürztraminer, Alto Adige 2013 | Swartland Winery, Bush Vine Chenin Blanc, Swartland, 2015 image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2017/05/pineapple.jpg tasting notes decodedPineapple As you're probably aware pineapple is a tropical fruit, with sweet and juicy pungent flesh. It's this sweet pungency that's reflected in some wine aromas, though no actual pineapple is present. There is such a thing as wine made from pineapples instead of grapes, but we won't get into that here. As a tasting note, pineapple is aligned with other sweet-smelling exotic fruits like melon, banana, guava, mango and passionfruit. Its flavour profile is sweeter than the citrus fruits, but it has a freshness that distinguishes it from stone fruits, such as apricots and peaches. You can find pineapple notes ripe white wines, such as a Riesling like Tongue in Groove Waipara Valley, New Zealand 2013. Or you might find it in more traditional late-harvest examples, especially from cool regions like Mosel in Germany. It's generally ascribed to the influences of Botrytis Cinerea, or Noble Rot. Science: How noble rot influences wine flavour As a thin-skinned grape, Riesling is particularly susceptible to Noble Rot — a fungus that pierces the skin of grapes and lowers the water content, whilst maintaining sugar levels. Botrytis is able to invoke fruity notes because of chemical compounds like fureanol, which is also found in very ripe pineapples. Look for its pineapple influence in sweet wines from Sauternes too, such as Château Suduiraut 2013. Some oaky and ripe New World Chardonnays may also exude aromas of pineapple, as they tend to have a more exotic fruit profile, along with hints of sweet spices and a higher alcohol content. Typical examples are Californian Chardonnays, such as Fess Parker, Ashley's Chardonnay, Santa Barbara 2014 and Y Rousseau, Milady Chardonnay, Napa Valley 2012. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2017/09/plum.jpg understand tasting notes Plum It's often hard to define a single position for plum in the tasting note lexicon, because it can appear to span stone fruit, red fruit and black fruit categories, depending on the variety and its level of freshness and ripeness. It is commonly associated with Merlot wines, particularly in their younger years, and may denote a fleshy character to the wine. You will often find plum in tasting notes for fruit-driven varietal wines dominated by black fruits, including Cabernet Sauvignon — but not exclusively. Sometimes tasting notes might specify 'black plum' or 'dark plum', denoting richer and sweeter flavours, as might be seen red wines from Douro, made with Portuguese varieties like Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca. SEE: Sainsbury's, Taste the Difference Douro 2015 | Casa Ferreirinha, Callabriga, Douro 2014 You can find plum flavours and aromas in other varieties, too, such as Syrah and Grenache blends, like Domaine de la Cadenette, Costières de Nîmes, Rhône 2015 and La Cabane Reserve, Grenache & Syrah, Pays d'Oc 2015. In Barbera and also some Nebbiolo wines from Piedmont, ripe red plum notes can be intensified by influences of sour cherry. SEE: Ciabot Berton, Fisetta, Barbera d'Alba 2011 | Fratelli Serio & Battista Borgogno, Cannubi, Barolo 2009 You may also come across 'plum jam' in tasting notes, referring to plums which have been heated with added sugar, creating more intensely sweet, complex flavours. In powerful Sangiovese wines like Capanna, Brunello di Montalcino 2010 and Il Marroneto, Madonna delle Grazie, Brunello di Montalcino 2010, plum jam notes may combine with flavours of spice. Source: Decanter.com Pomegranate Pomegranates can be recognised by their hard shiny exteriors, coloured red or yellow, which can be split open to reveal bright ruby-like seeds. They're image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2018/03/pomegranate.jpg tasting notes decoded said to originate from the Middle East, but today their juicy seeds are found in drinks and sweet or savoury dishes around the world. The tart taste of pomegranate seeds might be compared to that of sour cherries or cranberries, and it's a useful descriptor for wines with similar flavour profile. Pomegranate flavours can sometimes be expressed by fuller-bodied rosé wines, when their red fruit character is combined with high acidity. For example, Domaine des Tourelles, Rosé 2015 from Lebanon is made from a punchy blend of Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault and Tempranillo, resulting in 'heaps of wild strawberries and red berries' plus 'an extra dimension of pomegranate-like acidity'. Spanish rosés, or rosados, often display these characteristics too, such as Pyrene, Rosado 2016 from Somontano - a blend of Tempranillo, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon that has 'pleasingly tart pomegranate and strawberry fruit', as well as 'zippy grapefruit acidity'. The robust acidic backbone and prominent fruit flavours of this style of rosé can make for great summer barbecue pairings. In her selection of great rosé wines with food, Fiona Beckett highlights Charles Melton, Rose of Virginia 2015, a Grenache rosé from Barossa Valley, for its 'perfumed cherry and pomegranate fruit' — a good match for lamb. Rosés aside, you can also look for pomegranate notes in red wines with vibrant acidity and a ripe red fruit flavour profile. This could include Cinsault reds, like Tenute Rubino, Lamo Ottavianello 2015, made in Puglia, noted for its strong aromas of 'red cherry and pomegranate fruit'. Or fruit-forward Carignan wines from California, such as Lioco, Sativa Carignan 2013, expressing 'mouth-watering tastes of rosehip and pomegranate'. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2018/06/Prunejpg.jpg tasting notes decoded Prune Prunes are dried plums of any variety, typically blackish purple in appearance. Despite their shrivelled and wrinkly appearance, prunes are favoured in for their rich, sweet and juicy fruit flavours - making them a popular ingredient in jams, juices and Middle Eastern tagines. In the wine lexicon prunes are found in the dried and cooked fruit category, as they share common flavour characteristics with raisins, dates and fruit preserves. These descriptors have more concentrated sweet fruity flavours compared to fresh fruits, as sugars become concentrated through the processes of drying or cooking. You can look for prune flavours and aromas in many medium to full bodied red wines with concentrated fruit flavours, typically those that have spent some time in oak. For example fruit-forward, verging on jammy, Italian wines made from Sangiovese and Barbera grapes: Vignamaggio, Chianti, Classico Gran Selezione 2011, Poggio Ridente, San Sebastiano, Barbera d'Asti Superiore 2014. Or rich Syrah and Grenache wines from warmer French regions like Languedoc-Rousillon or southern Rhône. Tasting notes for these wines often contain clusters of multiple red, black, fresh, baked and dried fruit descriptors. Laurent Miquel, Larmes des Fées, St-Chinian 2014 was praised for its 'sweet plum and prune scents and exciting, generously fruity plum, blackcurrant and damson flavours'. Other examples could include Argentinean Malbec wines, such as Gauchezco, Oro, Paraje Altamira 2013, which combines liquorice and prune notes. In her guide on how to taste en primeur wines Jane Anson said 'fig and prune flavours can mean the fruit is slightly overripe' in new vintages of Bordeaux wines. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2017/08/tnd-raisin.jpg raisin flavour in wineRaisin It might seem natural enough to find flavours of raisin in your wine, given that they're really just dried out grapes. Indeed some wines are made from desiccated grapes, like Amarone wines from Valpolicella (where grapes are dried for 100 days or more), or sweet wines such as passito or vin santo styles. In these examples grapes are simply air dried by being laid out on racks in well-ventilated spaces, or hung from the rafters. SEE: Tommasi, Ca' Florian, Amarone della Valpolicella, Classico Riserva 2009 | Romano Dal Forno, Vigna Sere Rosso, Veneto 2004 The taste of raisins is defined by the concentration of fruit flavours and sugars left over after most of the water is removed. This explains why styles made by lowering the water content of grapes prior to pressing can later express raisiny notes in the glass. Sweet wines made using the onset of botrytis cinerea (aka noble rot) are part of this category too, as the fungus pierces the skins of the berries, lowering water content whilst retaining sugar levels. This includes wines like Sauternes from Bordeaux and Tokaji from Hungary. Some sweet sherries are made from dried grapes too, namely those that use Pedro Ximénez or Moscatel grapes that have been left in the sun for several days. These berries make naturally sweet sherries that don't require artificial sweetening after maturation, and they often have raisin in their tasting notes. SEE: Maestro Sierra, Pedro Ximénez, Jerez | Osborne, 30 year old, Pedro Ximénez Venerable VORS, Jerez In the wine lexicon, raisin belongs in the dried fruit category alongside tasting notes like dates, sultanas, dried figs and prunes. It's not unusual to find dried fruit flavours alongside cooked or stewed ones, because the process of cooking can also concentrate sugars and flavours in a similar way to drying. Bear in mind that wines can display dried fruit flavours even if they aren't made from dried out grapes, because some intense, earthy or complex fruit flavours can seem raisin-like. For example, you may find raisin notes in Syrah wines from the Crozes-Hermitage or Saint-Joseph appellations in northern Rhône. SEE: Vidal-Fleury, Crozes-Hermitage, Rhône 2010 | La Tour Coste, St-Joseph, La Combe, Rhône, France, 2010 Sources: sherrynotes.com | Decanter.com image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2017/11/Raspberry.jpg understand tasting notes Raspberry One of the tartest red fruits, raspberry has a distinctive flavour and aroma that's relished in desserts and confectionery. Raspberries are genetically part of the rose family, alongside other soft hedgerow fruits like blackberries and loganberries (blackberry-raspberry hybrids). In the wine lexicon, raspberry part of the red fruit category — at the tartest end of the spectrum, next to cranberry. Although some notes may contain 'sour raspberry', 'tart' is a more specific adjective, relating to their acidic yet sweet, fruity nature. Given these characteristics, it's more commonly detected as a primary aroma in ripe and fruit-forward red wines with medium to high acidity. Many wines from around the world fit this description, but some typical grape varieties include Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Gamay and Tempranillo and Italian grapes like Nebbiolo, Sangiovese, Barbera and Primitivo. SEE: Collin Bourisset, Fleurie, Beaujolais 2015 | Tolpuddle Vineyard, Pinot Noir, Coal River Valley, Tasmania 2014 | E Pira and Figli, Cannubi 2006 | Bodegas Muriel, Taste the Difference Vinedos Barrihuelo Crianza, Rioja 2012 Lots of rosé wines typically have red fruit flavours and prominent acidity too, like Sacha Lichine, Single Blend Rosé 2016 from Languedoc-Roussillon. Or Graham Beck, Brut Rosé — a non-vintage sparkling wine from South Africa's Western Cape, which combines 'vibrant raspberry acidity' with a leesy 'brioche finish'. You may see 'raspberry jam' in tasting notes, and this suggests the wine has more condensed raspberry tones; because jam making involves the addition of heat and sugar, which intensifies sweet and fruity flavours. For example, Bersano, Sanguigna, Barbera 2011 from Piedmont is noted for its raspberry jam aromas, as a result of its 'vivacious acidity', plus intense and lingering sweet red fruit flavours. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2017/02/Strawberry-and-butter-1.jpg tasting notes decoded Strawberry Strawberry falls into the red fruit flavour category, along with notes like raspberry, cherry and jam. It can be experienced as an flavour, but is most commonly identified as a wine aroma. It's created by the fragrant organic compound called ethly methylphenylglycidate, also known as an ester. Strawberry notes can usually be found in light reds such as Californian Zinfandel wines, and New Zealand Pinot Noirs. As well as among the complex aromas of more tannic wines made from the Sangiovese and Nebbiolo varietals. Strawberry aromas are also expressed by rosé wines, such as Domaine Delaporte's rosé from Sancerre and Famille Negrel's La Petite Reine rosé from Bandol. Or even in sparkling rosé wines, such as The Wine Society's Champagne Rosé and Exton Park's Pinot Meunier. The nature of the strawberry aroma can range from an attractive berry freshness, to an unpleasant cloying fruitiness. For example, sommelier Laure Patry praises Erath Vineyards' Oregon Pinot Noir 2012 for its 'bright and fresh with ripe strawberry aromas'. But it can be distasteful if over-pronounced, in these instances it might be paired with words like 'cooked' or 'stewed'. Benjamin Lewin MW claims the 'strawberry notes of Pinot Noir' are 'released or created by yeast during fermentation', and he argues that different strains of yeasts can be used to enhance certain aspects of a wine's flavour profile. Read more image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2017/11/Tomato.jpg understand tasting notes Tomato Tomato is one of the less common tasting notes, but nevertheless it has its place in the wine lexicon — among vegetal notes like green bell pepper (capsicum) and potato. Tomato, green bell pepper and potato may appear to have little in common, but they all belong to the nightshade family and contain pyrazines — the chemical compound behind their sharply herbaceous aroma. NOTE: When it comes to describing wine, tomato notes are commonly manifested as 'green tomato' or 'tomato leaf' — to highlight its herbaceous character, rather than the rich and sweet flavours of red ripe or cooked tomatoes. A form of pyrazine (methoxypyrazine, to be exact) is found on the skins of grapes, which can heavily influence the flavour profile of resultant wines if the fruit is unable to ripen fully. This can be particularly noticeable in Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Carménère wines, especially from cooler climate regions. SEE: Masseto, Bolgheri, Tuscany 2006 | Robert Mondavi, To Kalon Vineyard Reserve, Oakville, Napa Valley 2012 | Château Tour Haut-Caussan, Médoc, Bordeaux 2010 Given time, this green tomato/tomato leaf character may evolve into complex notes such as cigar box, but it may never reach its full potential if the tannins were too undeveloped at the time of harvesting. Herbaceous tomato notes can be desirable, such as in cool climate Sauvignon Blancs from Marlborough in New Zealand. For example Konrad's Hole in the Water Sauvignon Blanc 2016, where tomato leaf and capsicum complement its citrus and green fruit character. Sources: Decanter.com, Foodwise by Wendy E. Cook Herb & Spice image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2017/09/Almond.jpg understanding tasting notes Almond When it comes to alcohol, almond is perhaps most associated with Amaretto; the Italian liqueur whose name translates to 'little bitter'. Almond's signature bitterness is thought to be caused by benzaldehyde, which is a chemical compound formed in wines during fermentation and also carbonic maceration - when grapes are sealed in a vessel filled with carbon dioxide prior to regular fermentation. As well as fermentation, it can also come from yeast influences, in a similar vein to biscuit and brioche notes. This could include wines rested sur lie, 'on the lees', or those that have undergone bâtonnage, also known as 'lees-stirring' Levels of benzaldehyde are generally higher in sparkling wines, particularly those made using the traditional o

What is the difference between black and white pepper? Ask Decanter Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/difference-black-white-pepper-ask-decanter-399998/#8vcCL6wj1pTXmTfl.99

Have you seen both black and white pepper appear in wine tasting notes, but aren't sure how they differ? We explain... image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2018/08/writing-tasting-notes-630x417-630x417.jpg Black and white pepper Seen black and white pepper used in tasting notes? Credit: Nina Assam / Decanter TAGS: What is the difference between black and white pepper? Ask Decanter Both black and white pepper come from the same peppercorn plant, but how they are processed produces the difference in flavour. The peppercorns are originally green in colour but black peppercorns are sun dried, while white peppercorns have the out layer removed, either before or after drying, leaving the white seed. 'White pepper smells more pungent than black pepper, black pepper is slightly fresher and more complex,' said Matt Walls, Decanter World Wine Awards regional chair for Rhône and judge for the Decanter Retailer Awards. 'The 'peppery' flavour found in plants comes from a naturally occurring compound called rotundone, and it's present in peppercorns, herbs such as oregano and certain grapes. 'White pepper contains around twice the amount of rotundone as black pepper.' Black pepper in wine 'Peppery notes in wine tend to come from particular grape varieties rather than as a product of the winemaking process,' said Walls. According to Decanter's tasting notes decoded, 'black pepper notes usually crop up in earthy or spicy dry red wines, particularly those made from Syrah / Shiraz, either single-varietal or constituting a classic blend with Mourvèdre and Grenache.' For example, the Yves Cuilleron, Bassenon, Côte-Rôtie 2012 was described by our tasting panel as having a 'smoky note to the red fruit, pepper and capsicum.' And the Vidal, Legacy Series Syrah, Gimblett Gravels 2010 has 'a lovely kick of pepper.' Walls said that black pepper notes can also be found in Pinot Noir, Gamay and Graciano, albeit not as commonly as in Syrah wines. White pepper in wine White pepper - generally a less common aroma - is a classic flavour of Gruner Veltliner, such as Lidl, Pfaffl Grüner Veltliner, Niederösterreich 2017 , which Decanter's Amy Wislocki described as 'a cracking Grüner Veltliner - open and expressive, with the trademark white pepper notes of a young Grüner.' It is also found in the Domaine Papagiannakos, Assyrtiko, Attiki 2015, described as having a 'supple texture with pithy acidity and crisp white pepper'. Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/difference-black-white-pepper-ask-decanter-399998/#8vcCL6wj1pTXmTfl.99

How to serve wine

How to serve wine : Tips on how to open, decant and serve your wines like a professional. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2010/08/Corkscrew-How-to-Serve-Wine-630x417.jpg how to serve wine - corkscrew Chambrez Vos Vins Leave everyday reds and whites until the day you need them, but bring your finer reds up from a cool cellar the day before to bring them gently upto room temperature. Let The Wine Breathe When you have pulled out the cork some restraint is needed. Let the wine interact with the air, it helps the aromas develop and eases out the flavours. Delicate Or Commercial Wines With a delicate wine, or most commercial wines, there's little need to practice the above. It may even prove fatal for the more volatile mature wines - just uncork and enjoy. To Set The Process Off Either leave the bottle standing, cork off, or better still, pour into a decanter. This will not give the wine nearly as much airing as when it is left in the bowl of a glass. Younger, more closed wines need longer. More complex wines really show their class with a little time. Separate The Wine From Its Sediment The main basis for decanting is to separate good wine from sediment. Vintage port and mature claret are the greatest culprits. Barely filtered California Cabernets (Cabernet Sauvignon being renowned for throwing a deposit) or Rhones (Syrah another sediment fiend) may muddy your glass if undecanted. Let The Sediment Settle Sediment must settle in one place. Leave the wine upright - for 12 hours plus. Alternatively, use a decanting basket which tilts the bottle at 45 degrees, leaving the sediment on the underside of the bottle. Position the bottle neck towards the decanter with a good strong light or candle the other side. Pour slowly and steadily, lifting the bottle as you go, until the sediment has reached the neck. There is no need to filter if the sediment was settled well. Filtering can also taint the wine. Decanting Whites Decanting whites is of no great use, except for the sweeter dessert styles. Swirling the glass should give adequate aeration. Temperature As a rule of thumb, keep white wines to a maximum of 11 degrees centigrade (cooler for light, acidic still and sparkling). Reds can be just as sensitive: keep them to a maximum of 18 degrees centigrade (cooler for the more mature wines. Try chilling your Beaujolais or Loire reds . Always use a bucket and iced water. Over Chilling It is possible to over-chill wine. This is a type of vinous character assassination so caution is urged. Putting wine in the fridge - Ask Decanter Ease Your Wine Out Of The Bottle The wine should be poured slowly into the glass from the bottle or decanter, letting the wine trickle gently out - unshaken and unstirred. Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/how-to/how-to-serve-wine-1-52758/#RHa6Th9tKDARufDZ.99

How to choose where to store wine Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/how-to/storage-how-to/how-to-choose-where-to-store-wine-276469/#X1waxlJSAZ7JtzWT.99

If you choose to store your wine with an external company, it can be hard to choose between the different, reputable companies. Wine investment specialist Anthony Rose shares his key points to consider when deciding where to store your wine. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2015/10/Where-to-store-wine-630x416.jpg Where to store wine Where to store wine Whether for future drinking or investment, commercial wine storage is hugely valuble for cellaring your wines. The importance of good cellaring is not merely to keep your wines at the right temperature for slow development (a constant 13°C is ideal), properly humidified and free from potentially harmful light, vibration or flooding. With investment in mind, in-bond storage is advisable as it makes disposal easier in a global market, where being able to show good condition is paramount. SEE: Where to store wine in the UK Many independent merchants offer good storage facilities at competitive prices, usually when you buy your wines from them. If they use the likes of Octavian themselves, it's likely to be cheaper to store with the merchant rather than going direct to Octavian, whose benefits include optimum temperature, ultra-secure storage and a certificate of pristine storage. SEE: Where to store wine in the USA When comparing facilities, bear in mind the importance of comprehensive, full market value insurance and the ability to trace provenance of each case with your name on the case to ensure ownership. Smith & Taylor offers a specific tailor-made service on the American locker model. Storing wine at home? See Steven Spurrier's video guide to storing wine. Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/how-to/storage-how-to/how-to-choose-where-to-store-wine-276469/#X1waxlJSAZ7JtzWT.99

Letting the Wine Stew: Maceration - Factors that influence wine - WSET Level 2 Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/wset/letting-the-wine-stew-maceration-factors-that-influence-wine-wset-level-2-282923/#EUf2mRWV8EP2p5l9.99

In its basic form, "maceration" is a sort of infusion of fruits, herbs or spices in a standing liquid. It's a method integral for making everything from gin to beer to soap. For winemakers, however, it's more than that; it's a near-magical element of the fermentation process. As we discussed in class, when preparing to convert grape juice, water and yeast into alcohol (and carbon dioxide) via fermentation, the winemaker has a big choice: Do they ferment the grape juice (also called the "must") on its own, or in contact with the rest of the grape cluster (the skin, pulp, seeds and stems)? Do they...macerate? 'You make choices in the vineyard, during winemaking, maturation and bottling,' says our instructor, May Matta-Aliah, an experienced wine educator. "Every single one of these decisions is going to have an impact on the wine." Maceration is probably the most visually recognizable of the winemaker's choices: it's the difference between white and red wine. That's because the nearly colorless flesh and juice of red grapes is the same as white grapes. All the color, tannins and many of the flavors we associate with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or Pinot Noir come from the skin of the grape. You get the color by "crushing" the grapes a bit (so juice and skins mingle), then letting everything ferment together. Use the where to study map on the WSET website to see which courses are available near you. Sitting in large steel (or oak or clay) fermentation tanks, usually following a crushing, the juice, skin, flesh and other bits soak together for between about 2 and seven days, depending on the type of grape and how intense the winemaker wants the wine to be. A thick-skinned grape (like Cabernet Sauvignon) will infuse more color, faster, into the fermenting juice than a thin-skinned one (like Pinot Noir). May is quick to point out to us, however, that a dark color doesn't necessarily mean a better wine. In fact, an opaque Pinot Noir (one you can't read a menu through if you tilt the glass over it, for example), may actually involve added coloring. "Learn to like translucency in wine," she insists. White wine, by the way, is kept white by pressing the juice/must out of the grapes, running it off and fermenting it without the skins (some white wines receive a few hours of contact for a little more color and complexity. Again, it's up to the winemaker). While the macerating liquid is converting from juice to wine, the solid materials continually float to the top of the fermentation tank, creating a firm "cap" (imagine a foot-thick skin on chocolate pudding or yogurt). This needs to be mixed back into the developing wine several times a day, either via "pumping over" (where juice is drained out the bottom of the tank through a hose and pumped back up to the top of the tank, or through physically "punching down" the cap with a tool that looks a bit like a long metal Swiffer. I've tried to do this and trust me, it's not easy work. Fortunately Periscope videos only last 24 hours, or my comically inept attempt would be viral somewhere. Eventually the young wine from that sloppy, bubbling purple mass of fermenting liquids and solids is drained out of the bottom of the tank (aka "free run" wine). The stuff left behind will usually then be pressed once or twice to get more wine out which may be discarded, blended into the free run to make a more character-driven blend before aging, aged separately from the free run to be blended later, or sold off to other winemakers (choices, choices). May also noted in this class (and during others) that following the decision to let grape juice macerate, the winemaker has several options along the way. Rosé wines are made the same way as red wines, but the process is "abbreviated," with skin contact lasting only a day or two (less contact equals less color). For Burgundy-based Pinot Noir wines, some producers still "cold soak" the grapes and juice: The mixture is kept at a low-enough temperature that fermentation doesn't begin for a couple of days. The idea is that more color transfers to the juice for a deeper, richer wine than if the thin-skinned grape was simply fermented (May says not all winemakers agree that such a transfer actually happens to any significant degree). Carbonic Maceration (not yet covered in class), is a completely separate process where whole grapes are fermented in a carbon dioxide-rich tank before crushing. The idea being that it creates a very lush, soft "fruity" wine (think Beaujolais Nouveau, where this process is common). What did I learn? I'm finally able to sort out the steps differentiating white and red wines. The short version: White Wine: Grapes are crushed, then pressed. Then all the juice (not yet wine) is fermented on its own without any solid bits. Red Wine: Grapes are crushed and *not* pressed. The juice ferments with all the other bits of the grape cluster thrown in. After fermentation, wine (not juice) is pressed off to be aged or bottled. It doesn't seem that hard, but for some reason, until this very course, I was never able to quite keep it all straight in my head. Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/wset/letting-the-wine-stew-maceration-factors-that-influence-wine-wset-level-2-282923/#EUf2mRWV8EP2p5l9.99

In the northern hemisphere, the bulk of the winegrape harvest usually occurs from:

The correct answer is: Mid-August through mid-November

What is a stave?

The correct answer is: One of the curved pieces of wood that comprise a barrel

Q.5 What is the youngest age rating for Spanish wines?

Joven

Q.4 Which haute couture designer created the label of Château Rauzan-Ségla 2009?

Karl Lagerfeld

Q.2 Where is this? This south facing parcel of 29-year-old vines is at 520m and planted with the white Macabeu grape.

La Soula, Roussillon

Late harvest

Label term used to indicate a wine made from grapes harvested later than usual, normally therefore at a high degree of maturity and possibly affected by botrytis. Normally sweet. Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/late-harvest-1-44245/#dVOX8hDLXXCpj2ip.99

Q.15 What is the name of Château Rieussec's second wine?

Les Carmes de Rieussec

Punch-down is a process that involves:

The correct answer is: Pushing the grape skins into the fermenting juice to extract more color, flavor and tannin

Q.4 What festival happens in October in Ezcaray, Rioja?

Mushroom festival

Cooperage: the art of oak ageing

Oak ageing is an art. The barrels a winemaker chooses have a marked effect on how the wine will taste, lending flavours that range from sweet to austere, says Margaret Rand. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2014/09/000008ba5-cooperage.jpg Every wine has a back-story. We're accustomed to tracing a wine's history back to the unbroken grape, then shrinking and greening the grape on the vine to a hard speck, and then watching the flowering. Is it early? Late? Homogenous? It's how we explain why wine tastes the way it does. But from the moment we reach the barrel in which the wine is aged, there's another back-story. It branches to the cooperage - to the fire that toasts the wood, to a cooper examining the grain, to the ageing of the staves in the rain and the wind, to an oak tree growing straight in a French forest. In the first story we ask, which vineyard? Which winemaker? When it comes to oak, we ask, which forest? Which cooper? If you're a winemaker, the second question is more vital than the first. If you're a winemaker, all forests look alike. And yet the barrels you buy from Taransaud, say, are different to those you buy from, say, Boutes or Sylvain, and they make the wine taste different. Really extraordinarily different. House style image: http://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2014/09/000008ba1-Chateau_Margaux_barrel.jpg A quick, simplistic summary: Taransaud barrels are reckoned by winemakers to make wine taste less seductive in youth than others, but are excellent in the long term - they're powerful, a little austere. You might use them for your grand vin, maybe less so for your earlier-drinking second wine; Boutes might be better for that. Nadalié barrels give a certain sweetness. Sylvain is somewhere in between. Mercurey gives a lovely balance between fruit and wood. Seguin-Moreau is fairly similar to Taransaud. And that's to name only a fraction of the coopers, and to ignore the subtlety with which coopers can adjust their barrels to suit your wine. What you want, whether you're buying a barrel or a suit, is something that fits. Your terroir, your blend of grapes, and what you are trying to achieve or express, is unique. Serious châteaux do not buy barrels off the peg. They invite their coopers along to taste their wines - the day I spoke to Véronique Sanders of Haut-Bailly she'd spent the morning doing just that, discussing with all seven of them her terroir and her grapes and the intricacies of her wine. 'There were tiny differences between [the wines of] the different coopers; the differences were much greater a few years ago. There was a feeling that they all understand what we want.' When the cooper understands the wine, he can suggest the right wood for it. The number of variables is mind-boggling. There's the forest, which is usually linked to the sort of grain, but different parts of the same forest - and even different trees in the same part of said forest - may have very different grains. Basically, a tight grain from a slow-growing tree will give more elegance and less tannin; a more open grain from a faster-growing tree will give more tannins and less fruit aroma. Some winemakers have favourite forests as well as favourite coopers, but even here the cooper counts. 'All coopers have access to the same forests, so barrels should be more or less the same, but they're not' says Benjamin Sichel of Château Angludet. Benjamin had been saying to Tonnellerie St-Martin that the wood needed to integrate better into his wine. 'He said: "We have to try the forest of Jupilles" [near Le Mans]. I didn't know it before, but I tried it and I always ask for it from him now. He tells me I'm his only client asking for 100% Jupilles. In our wine it integrates the complexity without overpowering the wine. But on its own it's too much, and misses something. Barrels from Tonnellerie Taransaud complement it.' image: http://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2014/09/000008ba4-Chateau_Palmer_barrel.jpg A blend of coopers is always best, complementing not only different aspects of the same wine, but also different grape varieties from different terroirs. Eric Murisasco, technical director at JP Moueix, likes Remond and Taransaud barrels for the limestone of Château Bélair-Monange, and Demptos and Seguin- Moreau for the clay of Château Trotanoy. Three or four different coopers is probably the minimum, plus one or two new ones on trial. There doesn't seem to be a big difference in approach between Right and Left Banks. When I asked John Kolasa if he treated the Merlot of Château Canon differently to the Cabernet Sauvignon of Rauzan-Ségla, he said: 'It's Merlot on the plateau of St-Emilion, with power and structure. If you want Vivaldi, it's different to wanting Beethoven.' Chewing on wood Fabien Teitgen, technical director at Château Smith Haut Lafitte, goes a step further. The château has its own cooperage on site, so he chooses the wood. 'When the wood is split open you can see the grain. And the smell is very important. You get an idea of the style of the wood from the smell. I chew it too, to feel the tannins, to see if they're dry, and to judge the aromatics. From that I decide what to buy.' Ageing is another variable - are the staves aged out in the open for one year, two years, three, or even longer? What happens in ageing is not only that rain washes tannins from the wood but also that enzymes develop in the wood, and those enzymes affect aromas. Camille Poupon of Tonnellerie Sylvain says: 'Aquitaine has a maritime climate, so the ageing is faster than in, say, California. Two to three years in a maritime climate is enough to wash the tannins.' Two years' ageing gives a different result to three years. Again, it's all about what suits your wine. First you need rain, and then fire. The toast of a barrel (done by lighting a fire inside the half-finished barrel) comes in different grades: light, medium, medium+, heavy.... The heavier the toast, the more pronounced the flavours of chocolate, coffee and what the French call 'torrefaction' - roasted flavours - you'll get. But you'll also get less wood flavour. A heavier toast means less aroma and less finesse. With a lower toast you get more wine flavour but also more wood flavour. Complicated? Yes, very. Most winemakers settle for more-or-less medium toast, but every cooper will have its own version of that. A short, hot toast will give different results to a longer, slower toast, even if both are called 'medium'. A longer, slower toast gets further into the wood and gives more subtlety, more sweetness. 'You get different flavours with different temperatures,' says Véronique Dausse, general director of Château Phélan Ségur. 'Burnt wood is not just burnt wood.' Sichel was interested in low toast, 'to gain more complexity. But coopers don't like low toast because it only works on wood which is perfectly matured. And low toast integrates less well with the wine.' We're back to the fit. That integration of wood with wine is the nub of the matter. Sanders compares the perfect barrel to a Diane von Furstenberg wrap dress: 'It shows off your femininity, it's extremely comfortable and doesn't hide anything, and it fits and flatters.' And actually, like a dress, you can try it on and change your mind - sometimes. image: http://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2014/09/000008ba3-Chateau_Montrose_barrels.jpg Tasting samples of the same wine from different coopers after 18 months' ageing shows just how different the results are. Taste wines after just 10 days in barrel and you can already see the direction in which they are travelling - they're branching away from each other, some to opulence, some to structure. At Phélan Ségur, Dausse and her staff taste all the barrels when the wine has been in them for just two hours. That's enough to tell them if the combination of wood and wine is going to work. If not, they can change the combination. It's a fair old task, because it involves several hundred barrels; but if it's necessary ('We've done it a couple of times') they'll do it. With a top-quality, new French barrique costing €600-€700 (£500-£575), it's too expensive a story to get wrong. Read more at https://www.decanter.com/features/cooperage-the-art-of-oak-ageing-245755/#Q0yCXkBAgTDVo25S.99

Champagne and Champagne Method - Methods of Production - WSET Level 2 Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/wset/champagne-and-champagne-method-methods-of-production-wset-level-2-285689/#PsJqS2xIx7MkC7bO.99

This article is written by a journalist on a journey of discovery - and on a mission to learn about wine. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2015/12/France-Champagne-Louis-Roederer-cellar-bottles-credit-Eric-Zeziola.jpg France Champagne Louis Roederer cellar bottles credit Eric Zeziola Champagne Method Bottles in the Louis Roederer cellars. Credit: Eric Zeziola By Robert Haynes-Peterson Why is Champagne the way it is? What makes it so special? What is the Champagne method of production? I was about to cover that and more in my seventh WSET course exploring Champagne. Use the where to study map on the WSET website to see which courses are available near you. Actual Champagne (as opposed to other sparkling wines) is subject to some of the most rigorous production regulations in the wine world. What intrigues me is that these rules aren't arbitrary. Much of what we see, taste and drink in a quality bottle of bubbly is a by-product of the geology, physics and history that went into making Champagne in the first place. The Champagne Method Champagne must be made from any combination of three specific grapes grown in the Champagne region: Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay. Two of these are red, yet Champagne is usually pale lemon in color. 'Champagne grapes must be harvested by hand,' says our instructor May Matta-Aliah, 'and they use the most gentle presses you can imagine so there is almost no skin contact which would add color.' - Christmas Champagne recommendations Champagne is made within a very tightly defined region of northern France. 'This is the northern-most growing region in France,' says Matta-Aliah, 'it's very cold and the grapes barely ripen'. This gives the grapes high acidity. The region is also known for chalky soils, impacting drainage and may contribute a specific minerality to the wine. Champagne goes through two fermentations: the primary turns the grape juice into wine, the secondary, created by adding more juice/sugar and yeast and conducted in the bottle, traps carbon dioxide to get the bubbles. Because the second fermentation creates more alcohol and the base wine can only be so strong, the first fermentation is a fairly low-alcohol, high-acid wine. After the secondary fermentation, Champagne is aged "sur lat" (on its side) for a legal minimum of 12 months, with the now spent yeast cells and waste still in the bottle as it ages contributing to the complex flavor profile. The evolution of the Champagne creation process we know today led to many innovations: thicker bottles and specialised corks to hold the pressurised contents; "Riddling," which involves turning uptilted bottles very slowly to move all that dead yeast (sediment) to the bottom; "Disgorgement" which involves a rapid freezing of the sediment, popping the cap and letting them blast out of the bottle. "Dosage," an addition of sugar and "reserve wine" to top off the bottle and regulate its sweetness. Even the deep punt at the bottom of the bottle, according to Matta-Aliah, was added to create a place for sediment to settle (before the Disgorgement technique was developed), making it easier to decant cleanly. - Champagne Quiz - Test your knowledge What I drew from of all this is that, even if one follows the production process exactly (and many do—when it's made in France but outside Champagne, the wine is called a "Cremant," outside France, it's sparkling wine made in the "Traditional Method"), you're never going to replicate exactly the look, feel, smell and taste of true Champagne. No wonder the Champagne houses are so proud of their accomplishments! Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/wset/champagne-and-champagne-method-methods-of-production-wset-level-2-285689/#PsJqS2xIx7MkC7bO.99

Q.2 Who wrote this? 'The French are so proud of their wines that they have given the names of great growths to some of their towns and cities.'

Oscar Wilde

Q.11 Which other fruit tree can be affected by phylloxera?

Pear

Resveratrol isn't the only red-wine compound with reported health benefits. Which has been found to reduce flu symptoms?

Quercetin

Which of the following is reportedly a heart-healthy chemical found in red wine?

Resveratrol

Q.10 On Barack Obama's state visit to the UK in 2011, which English sparkling wine was he served?

Ridgeview Cuvee Merret Fitzrovia Rosé 2004

If you're tasting a wine that has floral, citrus, peach and/or mineral accents, you're most likely tasting:

Riesling

Q.1 90% of this region's global exports is red wine. Which region is this?

Rioja

Hydrogen sulphide

Rotten egg gas. Often produced during fermentation, but should have been dealt with by the time a wine is bottled. Occasionally develops in bottle (such a wine is said to be reduced or dirty). Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/hydrogen-sulphide-1-44273/#kktu8Pr6mckugzyF.99

Lactic acid

See 'acids', 'malolactic fermentation'.

How to write wine tasting notes

See Andrew Jefford's six point guide on how to write wine tasting notes with enough description to make them interesting, but without baffling those you are writing for. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2013/07/Andrew-Jefford-DAWA.gif DAWA vice-chair: Andrew Jefford DAWA vice-chair: Andrew Jefford Writing wine tasting notes that carry practical relevance and literary value is a tricky business, as explained in the column Jefford on Monday: Tasting notes - the shame of the wine world? Yet, both of these things are arguably necessary facets of a good tasting note. Here are my six tips on how to write wine tasting notes that have some balance between the two. 1: No fruit salad Analogical descriptors are useful - if used in moderation. Limit yourself to half a dozen at most, ideally those with some sensual kinship with one another. 2: Remember the structure A wine's structure, shape and texture are just as interesting as its aroma and flavour; don't forget to analyse and describe these. See also: How to read wine tasting notes 3: Balance is all Balance and harmony are highly valued by drinkers, and a hallmark of all great wines. If a wine has these qualities, how? If not, how not? What's wrong? image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2015/08/Wine-Aroma-wheel-by-Ann-Noble.jpg Wine aroma wheel by Dr Anne Noble The wine aroma wheel developed by Dr Ann Noble 4: Be partisan If you like it, make sure we know that, and why. If you don't, make sure we know that, and why. 5: Be comprehensive If you have time, give the wine a little context. Tell us its past and future. Mention other wines from somewhere else it might be useful to compare it with. 6: What else? Go on, surprise us. That's what poetry does. Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/how-to/how-to-write-wine-tasting-notes-272531/#32YJpyHkJz3RDQkB.99

Lagar (Por.)

Shallow stone trough, used for foot treading of grapes, particularly for making Port. This tradition still continues, though many Port producers now perform fermentation in tanks. Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/lagar-por-1-44261/#slQ2om8rVzb7rAjP.99

Sherry wine and chocolate pairing ideas

Sherry doesn't immediately spring to mind as a choice to pair with chocolate at the end of a meal. But Decanter's associate editor Tina Gellie discovers that the different styles lend themselves to some exciting matches... image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2015/12/sherry-wine-chocolate-elvis-630x417.jpg Sherry wine and chocolate Sherry wine and chocolate Credit: Time Inc UK / Elvis TAGS: Sherry wine and chocolate Chocolate and wine matching is rarely successful due to the (usually) high sugar content of the chocolate and the relative dryness of the wine - a few jammy, high-octane Shiraz wines aside. But the nature of fortified wines is the reason why Port (particularly LBV) and vins doux naturels such as Banyuls are traditionally our go-to choices for chocolate desserts. While these fortifieds have some residual sweetness, most Sherries are dry. However, it's their nutty, dried fruit characters which lend themselves perfectly to a range of chocolates. And what better way to find your perfect pairing than to get a selection of fine bars or individual pieces (no Quality Street please) and a few Sherry styles, and mix and match between them. 'No right answer' 'There is no right answer - it really is what you prefer, though some styles of chocolate and Sherry will naturally work better with one another,' advises Sarah Jane Evans MW, the Decanter World Wine Awards regional co-chair for Sherry who wrote her Master of Wine dissertation on the wine style, and is also a founder member of the Academy of Chocolate. Evans says the ideal approach is to have a sip of the Sherry and think about all of its components: flavours acidity weight length Then take one square of chocolate and let it melt on your tongue and, as with the wine, appreciate its sweetness, the flavours, intensity and texture in your mouth. When the chocolate is about two-thirds melted, then have another sip of the Sherry and see how the two marry together. Perfect after-dinner debate It's the perfect after-dinner debate: which Sherry goes best with which chocolate; who agrees with whom. And as Sherry can be kept recorked in the fridge for one to three weeks (the more oxidative the ageing the longer they should last), there are plenty of opportunities to try the experiment again with a different set of wines, chocolates - or dinner guests. SEE ALSO: Top Christmas Sherries Mix and match: Suggestions for Sherry and chocolate pairings Lighter styles of dry Sherry, such as fino or manzanilla, are probably better early on in the meal, either as an aperitif with cheeses and charcuterie, or with a starter course of fish or shellfish. But if you are daring, you could try anything leftover in the bottle with a smoky dark chocolate infused with chilli or almonds that should complement the fresh salinity of these wine styles. Amontillados are naturally dry (less than 5g of residual sugar) but can be medium dry up to medium sweet (115g/l). These wines are finos that mature under a layer of yeast called flor. This flor is then killed off by a second fortification, and the subsequent exposure to oxygen gives the wine a tawny colour and rich, complex nutty flavours. This flavour profile lends itself well to milk or dark milk chocolate studded with almonds, hazelnuts or sea salt. Palo cortado Sherries also start life off as finos but, unlike with amontillados, here the flor dies off naturally early on. The wine is further aged after fortification with exposure to oxygen, giving a Sherry that is traditionally said to have the nose of an amontillado and the taste of an oloroso: fine, dry and elegant with citrus peel, roasted nuts and tangy saline notes. These complex Sherries need a chocolate that is not too sweet - ideally a high-percentage dark chocolate with complementary nut and fruit notes. Florentines or dark chocolate-covered apricots or gingers would be a good choice. Unlike amontillados or palo cortados, oloroso Sherries never see a layer of flor as they are fortified early in their life. This full oxidative ageing means these dry wines are dark in colour and richer and denser in flavour - think figs, dates, raisins, treacle and coffee notes. Chocolates with a caramel centre, pecan praline, nougatine or marzipan, or simple chocolate-covered raisins or coffee beans would work well. Cream Sherries - and there are very good-quality ones out there, not what granny has in her cupboard - are sweetened olorosos (115g/l-140g/l residual sugar) that have been blended with PX. Pedro Ximénez (PX) Sherries are made from the variety of the same name (the others are from Palomino), where the grapes are sun-dried and then fortified to give a thick, inky-black nectar that is frequently described as Christmas pudding in a bottle. As PX is so sweet (between 212g/l and 500g/l of residual sugar), a bitter 85% to 100% dark chocolate would be a good counterpoint. Moscatel, from the Moscatel de Alejandria grape, is made in a similar way to PX but is not quite as sweet (minimum 160g/l). While still quite dark in colour, its flavour profile is more honeyed, marmaladey and floral, making it an option for chocolate-covered citrus peels or plain dark chocolate. Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/food/recipes-2/food-and-wine/sherry-wine-and-chocolate-pairing-ideas-286240/#6t8OGXokLDt5ARGB.99

All of the following cheeses are made from cow's milk except: Triple Cream Brie Spanish Manchego Bayley Hazen Blue English Farmhouse Cheddar

The correct answer is: Spanish Manchego

Q.1 Which British politician has a Champagne named after him/her? It is thought that he/she drank 42,000 bottles of Champagne in his/her lifetime.

Sir Winston Churchill

What does the phrase "hang time" refer to?

The correct answer is: The length of time a bunch of ripening grapes hangs on the vine

The term "must" refers to:

The correct answer is: The mushy mix of juice and pulp that has yet to be fermented

To "green harvest" means to:

The correct answer is: Trim unripe fruit to reduce yields and concentrate the remaining grapes

In general, cheese is easiest to pair with:

The correct answer is: White wine

A Champagne house has invested in an English vineyard for the first time. Which Champagne house is it?

Taittinger

Lanolin

Tasting term used to describe a wet-wool aroma or taste. Particularly associated with the Semillon grape. Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/lanolin-1-44249/#BdidR4DW3gCuLX5l.99

Fruity

Tasting term used to describe the attractive flavour of wine made from ripe grapes, which may be reminiscent of a wide range of fruits including citrus fruits, red and black berries, and stone fruits. Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/fruity-44386/#rBuyjZF7wpzirOoL.99

Light.

Tasting term used to indicate a wine pale in colour or lacking in body or mouthfeel. Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/light-1-44222/#QpzLowB15bb1buSK.99

Length

Tasting term used to indicate the duration of the aftertaste, once a wine has been swallowed. Good length is a sign of a high-quality wine. Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/length-1-44234/#lt1pYPpbBzdfemFY.99

Q.10 In which region of Spain is Suertes del Marqués winery?

Tenerife

What is a girolle?

The answer is: A cheese slicing tool designed for use with Tête de Moine, a Swiss cow's milk cheese

As a red wine ages it:

The answer is: Gets lighter in color

Sancerre is a white wine made from which of the following grapes?

The answer is: Sauvignon Blanc

Generally speaking, within what temperature range does red-wine fermentation occur?

The correct answer is: 75°-90° Fahrenheit

The level of sugar in the grapes affects which of the following properties of a wine?

The correct answer is: Alcohol level

Which is the largest wine company in the world?

The correct answer is: Constellation Brands

Red wines best match up with which kind of cheeses?

The correct answer is: Firm, mellow cheeses

As a white wine ages it:

The correct answer is: Gets darker in color

Q.3 What is the minimum length for vintage Champagne to be aged?

Three years

How to look after your palate

To do your best wine tasting, your palate needs to be in best shape. Elin McCoy shares her tips for how to look after your palate. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2015/09/SimplyItalian-89-630x416.jpg Look after your palate, Simply Italian tasting Take as few medications as possible: More than 250 prescription drugs (antidepressants, antihistamines, asthma medications, drugs to lower cholesterol) can alter taste sensations, with some causing dry mouth. Chemotherapy and radiation, not surprisingly, can kill off receptor cells. Don't smoke: Nicotine suppresses the nerve activity in areas of the brain associated with taste and smell; chemical compounds in cigarettes dilute the ability of taste buds and olfactory cells to send sensory messages to the brain. Stay healthy: Head injuries, infections and disease all can affect smell and taste. For more ways to look after your palate, read Jefford on Monday: Palate Fitness Visit your dentist regularly: Poor oral hygiene affects the ability to taste; look after your mouth to look after your palate. There's conflicting evidence as to whether tongue cleaning makes a difference. See also: How to understand wine Watch what you eat: Beware of cheap Chinese pine nuts (Pinus armandii), which can wipe out your taste and smell and give some people a bitter, metallic aftertaste for weeks. And try to eat less salt and sugar, which can overstimulate your tastebuds. Practise smelling and tasting wine regularly: It helps to boost your taste memories. Look out for our next Decanter tasting event or read how to hold your own wine tasting. Live in an unpolluted environment: Or take protective measures against pollution. Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/how-to/how-to-look-after-your-palate-274322/#zPQvQBklxfllPoku.99

A sturdy and chewy red, with bright berry fruit that mingles with floral, mineral and sweet tobacco notes. It's medium- to full-bodied, with an intense bead of fruit, firm young tannins and a long, ultra-clean mineral finish.

Varietal The tasting note opens by referring to this wine's sturdy structure and chewy texture, so we can look here first in order to home in on the varietal. Let's start with Carmenère, whose typical lush texture and spicy, plummy character make it an easy target for elimination. Syrah is also likely to have a more supple, smooth texture than our wine offers, and we're additionally missing the grape's typical olive, black cherry and tar notes. Next up is Cabernet Sauvignon, which can produce sturdy, chewy wines and might be a possibility. But the fruit base of a Cab is currant or cassis, not the bright berry fruit we have here, so we move on. Sangiovese is a strong option, with a flavor range that fits: berry, floral notes, mineral and tobacco notes are all good matches. However, our wine is "sturdy and chewy" with "firm young tannins," and quality Sangioveses typically show fine or silky tannins. This leaves Aglianico, which when young can display a tannic barrier that requires aging for a number of years to break down. The bright character of the fruit is due to the typical high level of acidity in the Aglianico grape. This wine is an Aglianico. Country Australia, Chile and France are all doubtful origins for a wine made from Aglianico, which is grown in these countries in miniscule quantities, if at all. If you've been to Paso Robles or maybe Amador County in California, you might have had the chance to sip on a locally produced Aglianico, but not of the evident quality of our wine this week. Last on our list is the correct choice: Italy. Aglianico is firmly rooted in Italy as one of the peninsula's noblest red varieties, along the lines of Nebbiolo in Piedmont and Sangiovese in Tuscany. The variety originated in Greece—the name "Aglianico" is thought to be a corruption of "Ellenico"—but made its home in the south of Italy many centuries ago. This wine is from Italy. Age Aglianicos, generally speaking, are produced in two different formats: in an accessible style meant to be drunk young, or in a style that can be very unapproachable early on, with the expectancy of a lengthy aging process. The first style usually includes medium-bodied wines, with lots of bright fruit and floral character. There's typically a slight pull on the finish, just to remind you that it is Aglianico. For the second style, "sturdy" and "chewy" are the right words to describe the structure of a wine that is built to last. Though the fruit is inviting from the start, the wine is best drunk at least five years after the vintage. The chewy, young tannin character of our wine clearly puts it in the latter category. At the same time, these aspects preclude the two older age ranges, as we would expect the tannins and structure to mellow with age. Our wine also shows a tobacco note that can be attributed to aging in oak barrels. This additional aging makes the youngest bracket unlikely. Our best bet is the range of 3 to 5 years old. The bright fruit and still firm structure allow us to place this wine at the younger end of the bracket. This wine is from the 2003 vintage, making it 3 years old. Appellation We have two contenders here for the appellation, Irpinia and Aglianico del Vulture. Both are situated in the south of Italy, the former in the Avellino province of Campania, and the latter in the neighboring region of Basilicata. So how can we tell which we have here? The clue is in the structure of the wine. Aglianicos from Campania generally have a sturdier structure than those in Basilicata. (More color too, though the note doesn't tell us about the color.) The difference in structure is due to the type of terrain on which the Aglianico grows. The Irpinia region consists of high-altitude hills, and the soil is compact and relatively poor. The vine has to work harder here, and the resulting wine has a more rugged structure. The Vulture region is hilly too, but at a lower altitude, and the soil is more fertile. The wines are softer and more elegant, with tannins that usually stop short of being chewy. Our wine is both sturdy and chewy, making Irpinia the natural choice. This wine is from Irpinia. Wine It's the Feudi di San Gregorio Irpinia Serpico 2003, reviewed at 90 points in the July 31, 2006, issue of Wine Spectator. It retails at $90, and 7,000 cases were made. The 2003 vintage was characterized by a blisteringly hot summer throughout the Italian peninsula, making it difficult for grapes to ripen evenly. Serpico is a good example of a well-balanced wine, with fresh fruit, that took full benefit from the relatively cool micro-climate in the vineyards located on the high hills of Avellino.

This big and burly red is packed with licorice, black cherry, iron and earth aromas and flavors. There's weight and character, and it ends with a long, mineral-tinged aftertaste.

Varietal To unravel the mystery of this week's wine we'll have to consider the two main components presented in the note: the wine's structure—"big and burly," with "weight and character"—and its range of flavors. The flavor profile is particularly helpful for ruling out some of the given varietals. Cherry is a very common descriptor for Tempranillo, but it's almost always accompanied by vanilla, spice and often plum notes, none of which are present here. Licorice, black cherry and even iron are possible for Syrah, but we're lacking two of Syrah's signature flavors, black olive and pepper. We're also missing signature flavors when we consider Cabernet Sauvignon. Black cherry is OK, but without tobacco or currant notes it's unlikely our wine is a Cabernet Sauvignon. So we move on. Last on our list are Nebbiolo and Pinot Noir, two grape varietals that often produce very similar wines depending on where they're from. Nebbiolos can definitely be big and burly, and almost all of our flavor descriptors are good matches, particularly the licorice, black cherry and mineral notes. But Nebbiolos frequently show a dried flower note and when younger, as our wine seems to be, they're usually very closed. They exhibit less of their flavor profile and more of the wine's structure. On the other hand, most Pinot Noirs are open and forthcoming, even in their youth, and our wine's flavor profile includes textbook Pinot notes. This wine is a Pinot Noir. Country We can quickly rule out Australia and Spain from our lineup, as neither produce a great deal of quality Pinot Noir. Northeastern Italy has been successful with Pinot Noir, known locally as Pinot Nero, but these wines are typically light- to medium-bodied, unlike our weighty wine. This leaves us with California and France. As anyone who's seen Sideways knows, many top-quality Pinot Noirs are being produced in California these days. However, Cali Pinots are rarely big and burly, and we would probably expect more fruit flavors and less emphasis on the iron and earth notes. This Pinot Noir is from France. Age This red is "packed" with primary Pinot flavors and lacks notes of dried flowers or strawberries that we would experience in an older Pinot. We therefore eliminate the two oldest age brackets, 6 to 9 years old and 10 to 15 years old. The 1- to 2-year-old bracket would make the wine from the 2005 or 2004 vintages. 2005 red Burgundies have yet to be released, and 2004s are typically slim and fresh, more lightweight and elegant than we see here. This means our wine best fits the 3- to 5-year-old age bracket. We can quickly decide against the 2001 vintage, when rain and hail produced uneven results, with lighter wines in general. The 2002 vintage was an outstanding year, with wines that are classic examples of red Burgundy: an elegant balance between red fruit flavors and acidity, with supple tannins. Our wine is big and burly, with a lot of weight. These descriptors suggest chewier tannins and a more massive structure, both of which are hallmarks of the 2003 vintage. Europe's heat wave in 2003 radically reduced yields, and growers in Burgundy harvested smaller, more concentrated fruit, with thicker skins (and consequently, bigger tannins). This wine is from the 2003 vintage, making it 3 years old. Appellation There are two appellations from France on our list, Pommard and Volnay, both located in Pinot Noir's traditional home in the region of Burgundy. The towns of Pommard and Volnay are only about a mile apart, but their surrounding vineyards produce dramatically different wines. Pommards are typically full-bodied, with a muscular structure and noticeable tannins. Comparatively, Volnays are Pommard's foil, usually very elegant and lighter in style, with an amazingly silky texture. This wine is from Pommard. Wine It's the Camille Giroud Pommard Les Épenots 2003, which rated 90 points in our May 31, 2006, issue. It retails for $67, and 145 cases were made. For more information on 2003 red Burgundy, see Bruce Sanderson's tasting report.

Q.9 Which Spanish winery was designed by Bordeaux architect Philippe Mazieres and built in 2006?

Viña Real

How to understand wine

What makes a satisfying glass of wine? Berry Brothers & Rudd's new book explains six key factors which keeps a wine in balance. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2015/08/Berry-Brothers-climate-630x416.jpg Understand wine, Berry Br The diagram demonstrates how climates affects the flavour of wine. Credit: Berry Brothers & Rudd; Exploring & Tasting Wine A wine needs balance between all the factors that contribute to the taste and character. Read the guide below to know how to better understand wine. ACIDITY image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2015/08/Berry-Brothers-key.jpg Berry Brothers book key Acidity is a positive in wine - it preserves the wine, gives it backbone, keeps it fresh. Detect acidity through its mouthwatering effect, a tingling sharpness on the tongue. Try tasting one glass of plain water, then a second with some lemon juice added: you'll notice the effect of the acidity in your mouth. Any fruit needs some acidity to be enjoyable, and wine - the juice of the grape, at heart - is no exception. Too little acidity, and the wine will taste flabby and over-sweet. Too much, and it will be tart, astringent and sour. In general, the cooler the climate, the higher the acidity. For examples of high- and lowacidity wines, compare a Sauvignon Blanc wine with a Gewurztraminer. FRUIT RIPENESS Grapes in different climates, with more or less sunshine, ripen to different degrees - think of a green apple compared to a tropical fruit. Or compare a ripe, juicy peach with a hard, unripe one. Fruit ripeness can be a good clue to whether the wine comes from a cool climate, or a warmer one. (See the above diagram). Ripe, fruity wines can be more immediately attractive than austere, mineral ones. But both sorts have their charms - and their uses. You will find that acidity and fruit ripeness have an inverse relationship with each other. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2015/08/Chilean-grapes-630x416.jpg Understand wine, grapes ALCOHOL The warming, weighty sensation in the back of the throat as you swallow is how you detect alcohol - apart, that is, from looking at the label. That label will show that alcohol may be anything from 5 to 17 per cent of the wine, though most fall around 12-14 per cent. The amount of alcohol makes a big difference to the taste, the flavour, the entire sensation of a wine. It can add weight and body to the wine. To comprehend weight, imagine drinking a glass of water, then imagine drinking olive oil (imagine it, don't try it...). The oil is weightier in the mouth. The alcohol is natural. In essence, the sun on the vine creates sugar in the grapes. Yeasts (micro-organisms) found on the grape skins, or added to the vat by the winemaker, convert this sugar into alcohol. So the more sun, the more alcohol, and often the lower the acidity. As with acidity, the place the wine is made has a big influence on alcohol level. Warmer climates lead to riper grapes with more sugar: thus higher alcohol. Alcohol also tastes sweet: high-alcohol red wines show this. See also: Can colour influence our taste? TANNIN Think of tea: drink a strong tea, and you feel a drying sensation, furring on gums and across the tongue. This is tannin, a group of compounds found in tea - and in the skins of grapes. Lots of them are found in red grapes - and, as generally only red winemaking uses the skins, it's predominantly found in red wines. Tannin adds body to wine and is an antioxidant preservative: thus it also aids its longevity. Red wines to be cellared benefit from tannin: it helps wine to age gracefully. Wines made to be drunk young need lower tannins, and winemakers will steer the process to extract less tannin. Such wines may need, and get, more acidity to confer balance. To see this, compare a Beaujolais (Gamay grape) and a Barbaresco (Nebbiolo grape). How can you detect tannin? Swirl the wine around your mouth, and tannin will give a sensation of dryness to your gums and cheeks. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2015/08/Oak-barrels-630x416.jpg Oak barrels Use of oak influences taste. OAK Oak in winemaking is a choice: plenty of grapes get to be wine without it. Essentially, it is a choice of containers. The key is air, not just oak: an oak cask lets the young wine 'breathe', and this changes its development. Oak casks, especially new ones, also confer some flavours on the wine: when you smell or taste vanilla, or toast, that's oak. You will find oak notes in many red and in some white wines. Fresh, brisk wine, on the other hand, will generally indicate the absence of oak. A useful comparison is between a Chablis (all are made from Chardonnay, and most are unoaked) and an oaked Australian Chardonnay. See also: Cooperage: The art of oak ageing COMPLEXITY Not all wines are intended to mature in bottle: most wine, in fact, is made to be drunk young and fresh. Those wines that are made to 'age' (as winespeak has it) gain complexity and interest in bottle. This complexity is expressed via more interesting, persistent and nuanced scents and a broader and longer-lasting spectrum of flavours. Red wines will lose harshness and tannin, and develop softer, rounder, more savoury flavours. The acidity in whites will seem less apparent, and complex aromas and tastes will develop. These factors stem from chemical reactions that go on beneath the cork. As these reactions proceed, the scents and flavours will subtly alter. After a point, these reactions will slow and change, and the wine will fade, become less interesting, then go past its peak and will eventually turn to vinegar. It is pointless to seek complexity in a simple wine: sadly, mere age will not make a very basic bottle into a classic. Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/how-to/how-to-understand-wine-272320/#Z5JZ7PIM5trtv4hk.99

Know your Port

With the onset of winter and various festive celebrations looming, now's the time most wine lovers turn their attention to Port. But it's not just a wine for Christmas, says Decanter's expert Richard Mayson, who reviews the main styles and latest trends image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2014/08/port-630x417.jpg Port guide TAGS: Port can be enjoyed in multiple ways depending on the character of the wine. There is a pyramid of different styles of Port extending from venerable vintage to vibrant ruby. It is often considered a macho wine, perhaps ever since essayist Samuel Johnson expressed the opinion 'Claret for boys, Port for men'. But aged tawnies, colheitas and mature vintage Ports can be supremely elegant and refined. These wines have never been more in demand. This style guide surveys the latest trends and will point you to the right Port for any occasion. image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2015/11/Vintage-port.jpg Vintage Port Vintage Port Vintage Port The pinnacle of the Port pyramid: many shippers have built (and occasionally destroyed) their international reputation on the... image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2016/12/Understanding-Tawny-Port.jpg Understanding Tawny Port Understanding Tawny Port Find out the key elements to understanding tawny Port - Richard Mayson talks ageing, careful selection and finely-tuned blending... image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2015/11/Dows-Port-1980.jpg Dows-Port-1980 Cheese and Port matching guide Cheese and Port go hand-in-hand at many Christmas dinners, and this time of year accounts for much of the Port... View all of Decanter's Port tasting notes Crusted Port So-called because of the deposit that the wine throws in bottle, crusted Ports are a blend of wines from two or three harvests aged in large oak vats for up two years and bottled, like a vintage Port, without any fining or filtration. The only significant date on the label is the year of bottling. Most crusted Ports are ready to drink with five or six years of bottle age and will last for another decade. The British houses make a speciality of this style. Excellent value: crusted is poor man's vintage Port! Colheita Meaning 'harvest' in Portuguese, colheita is a wine from a single year, aged in wood for a minimum of seven years before bottling, by which time the wine begins to take on the characteristics of a tawny. Most colheitas are aged for much longer and, with careful management, may be bottled after 50 or 100 years. Two dates appear on the label: the year of harvest and the year of bottling. The latter is significant as the wine won't generally improve in bottle (although after prolonged ageing in wood it won't deteriorate quickly either). Once the preserve of a select group of so called 'Portuguese shippers' (Barros, Buremster Cálem, Kopke, Krohn) colheitas have been taken up enthusiastically by the British shippers in recent years, sometimes bottled under the name 'single harvest'. Serve cellar-cool, like a tawny. Simpler styles Reserve A blend of premium-quality wines often aged for slightly longer than a basic ruby before bottling: giving a rich, satisfying Port. A reserve tawny is a blended wine that has spent about seven years in wood and is often excellent value compared to wines bottled with an indication of age. Ruby Named after its youthful colour, a ruby Port will be a blend of wines from more than one year, aged in bulk for up to three years and bottled young to capture its strong, fiery personality. White Made from white grapes. Most are bottled young but some whites are capable of wood age and may now be bottled with the same age indications as tawny Ports or as a colheita. Pink Pioneered by Croft and adopted, not without controversy, by most shippers. Made by cooling fermenting grape must, which has had minimal skin contact. Serve over ice or use as a mixer. Read more at https://www.decanter.com/features/know-your-port-245665/#bYKDO1LUJw3SeQsU.99

How to choose a wine glass

You've found the right bottle, but what wine glass do you need to make the most of your wine? image: https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2010/08/Wine-glasses-630x417.jpg Wine-glasses Marilyn in a glass Glasses must have their curves in all the right places. The bowl must be round to help aerate the wine and let its aroma develop. It must also taper inwards towards the top, to stop its precious essence escaping. Crystal clear Keep glasses plain, simple and colourless - you don't want to hide a prized claret, you want to enjoy it in every sense. A slight pattern or fluting can make Champagne more intriguing, but leave it at that. Easily lead The brilliance of a wine is further highlighted by good quality lead crystal. You can tell the quality by the number of facets that are reflected and how thin the glass is. Upholding standards One size can fit all when it comes to wine tasting and smaller glasses are usually favoured. There is one style of glass recognised as the benchmark, the ISO (international Standards Organisation) glass. The stem is about 5cm tall and the bowl 10cm (at its broadest 6.5cm wide). One size does not fit all Austrian glassmakers Riedel would agree. They live to reinvent the glass. They maintain that you need a different glass for every grape, style and, even region. Form most definitely follows function, and their glasses are also very pretty. Living it large The larger the glass, the more exposure the wine has to air, thus awakening the hidden aromatic depths and balancing the tannic power and the fruit. The younger (and more closed) the wine, the bigger the bowl that is required. Tongue service First impressions are lasting especially where wine is concerned. Give your wine a head start by putting it in the right receptacle - the distinctive curve on the lip of a Riedel Riesling or Pinot Noir glass guides the wine to the tip of the tongue, where fruit and sweetness is picked up, balancing the varieties' naturally crisp acidity. Central administration Again from the gospel according to Riedel, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon glasses should encourage the flow of the wine to the centre of the tongue, to balance the fruit and acidity. Magic flutes Chuck out your Champagne coupes: they make wine lose its fizz and let the aromas wane. The flute - a tall bowl, tapered in at the top - is the only way to drink fizz. And lead crystal glass not only looks good but encourages bubbles - a wide, tapered bowl keeps them small and in several streams, released slowly. Plastic fantastic Principles can be relaxed when the setting calls for it. Let the glass match the occasion: plastic flutes at Henley and Badminton will do nicely. Just get the wine right: persistent aromas and some sweetness help keep the character from fading as the wine warms and aromas are lost from outsized cups. Read more at https://www.decanter.com/learn/how-to/how-to-choose-a-wine-glass-52773/#FpvSsWy9AMuFflSl.99

Q.8 What were total estimated retail sales of English wine in 2014?

£78m