The fascinating process of tasting a wine begins with its visual assessment. This is particularly important for the information it gives us about the state of health of the wine, the way it has been stored, its evolution, structure and the type of wine.
In order to carry out this test , fill a glass a third full, holding it by the stem or foot between your thumb and index finger, then bring it to eye level and tilt it to 45° against a white background. In this way you can examine:
- its clarity, or in other words the absence of particles in suspension, of haze or cloudiness and therefore the cleanness of the wine; the clearer a wine is the more stable and healthy it is;
- its shade of color (the chromatic quality of the color), which in white wines varies from water white through greenish yellow to straw yellow, gold and amber; in rosés from pale pink through “clairet” to cherry-red; and in reds, from purplish red through ruby red to garnet and even brick-red/orange;
- its intensity or saturation, i.e. the degree of concentration of the specific shade (weak, pale, light, medium-deep, deep, dark, dense, opaque, impenetrable), which is linked especially to the ripeness of the grapes and the vinification techniques used (maceration, pumping-over/délestage, etc.);
- its highlights or reflections, for which we use the same terms as for the shades themselves (greenish, straw-like, golden, amber, purplish, garnet, etc.) but referring to the nuances that can be observed towards the rim of the liquid when the glass is tilted. These reveal the age and degree of maturity of the wine;
- its vivacity, in the sense of brightness of the color (wan, dull, bright, lively, brilliant), linked to the wine’s pH (acidity): the lower this value is (and therefore the higher the acidity) the greater – all other conditions being equal – the vivacity of the color.
By observing the wine while it is being poured and by swirling the glass slowly, you will be able to judge:
- its viscosity, which gives an idea of its probable texture (you will be able to evaluate this better on the palate): the more runny it is, the lighter it is; the denser it is, the greater (presumably) will be its level of extract;
- the presence of “legs” or “cathedral windows” that form on the sides of the glass due to the level of alcohol: the denser the “legs” and the slower they fall, the greater the ethyl alcohol (and glycerin) content.
Finally, for semi-sparkling and sparkling wines, you have to evaluate the effervescence due to the carbon dioxide that is liberated when the wine is poured, causing the foam and the bubbles (or perlage). In assessing the effervescence you will pay attention to:
- the foam or mousse, which should be abundant and crisp (almost crackling);
- the intensity of the perlage, better if there are a large number of bubbles;
- the grain of the perlage, ideally not coarse but fine;
- the persistence of the perlage, not evanescent but continuous.
In still wines, effervescence – if not desired as a a light and inviting pétillance – is, on the other hand, symptomatic of a fault and is the sign that refermentation has taken place inside the bottle: this is also easy to spot on the nose.
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