Overview of today
Wine Appreciation from Grapes
to Glass, Lecture 2: Sensory
Aspects of Wine & Wine Tasting
Dennis Swaney
• Handing out glasses
• Sensory appreciation of wine
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Smell (“olfaction”)
Taste (“gustation”)
Feel (body, astringency)
Appearance
Vineyard outside of St Emilion, France, Fall, 2006
Some words used to describe the aromas of wines
Nez du Vin exercise
• Form groups (~6-8 people)
• Assess the smell of the samples given you
(for each sample numbered 1-24, write
down what you think its fragrance is)
• When everyone is finished, we’ll reveal the
“correct” interpretation & tabulate results
• Such exercises are used by some tasting
groups to evaluate their olfactory acuity
Anise
Aniseed
Apple
Apricot
Artichoke
Asparagus
Bacon fat
Balsamic
Banana
Barnyard
Bath salts
Beetroot
Biscuit
Black olive
Black pepper
Blackberry
Blackcurrant
Blackcurrant bud
Boiled sweets
Boxwood
Bramble
Briar
Broom
Brown sugar
Bubblegum
Burnt toffee
Camphor
Caper
Capsicum
Cats urine
Celery
Cherry
Cherry stone
Chestnut
Chocolate
Citrus
Citrus blossom
Cola
Cold cream
Cold tea
Cologne
Confectionery
Cranberry
Cucumber
Cut grass
Damson
Dill
Dried fruits
Dried rose
Dusty
Earthy
Elderflower
Eucalyptus
Farmyard
Fig
Flint
Floral
Forest floor
Fruit salad
Fruitcake
Fungal
Gamey
Gooseberry
Grapefruit
Grapey
Green apple
Green bean
Green tea
Grilled meat
Guava
Gunpowder
Hay
Hazelnut
Herbal
Honey
Honeysuckle
Iris
Jammy
Jasmine
Kerosene
Lanolin
Lantana
Lavender
Leafy
Leather
Lemon
Lemongrass
Licorice
Lime
Loganberry
Lychee
Mango
Marmalade
Meaty
Melon
Menthol
Mineral
Mint
Mocha
Moss
Mulberry
Musk
Nectarine
Nettle
Nutty
Orange blossom
Orange peel
Passionfruit
Pea Pod
Peach
Pear
Pencil shaves
Peonies
Pepper
Perfumed
Pickle
Pineapple
Plum
Potpourri
Prune
Quince
Raisin
Raspberry
Redcurrant
Rhubarb
Roast lamb
Rose
Rose petal
Sage
Salami
Sappy
Seaweed
Smoke
Sour cherry
Soy
Spice
Stalky
Strawberry
Sweaty
Tar
Tarragon
Tea leaf
Toast
Tobacco
Tomato
Tomato bush
Tomato leaf
Tree bark
Tropical fruit
Truffle
Vegetal
Violet
Walnut
White melon
White peach
White pepper
Ylang ylang
White wine descriptors
Red wine descriptors
Applied to both red and white wine
Note: the list is not comprehensive, nor does it necessarily include all of the aromas
in today’s exercise…It is just to get you thinking about the range of aromas…
http://www.aromadictionary.com/winearomas.html
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The aromas in today’s exercise
The Nose: Wine fragrance, aroma and bouquet
Describing the smell of wine requires the same types of terminology and
discrimination used in describing perfume or cologne
1 Lemon
2 Grapefruit
3 Oak
4 Pineapple
5 Smoke
6 Lychee
7 Musk
8 Muscat
9 Green Pepper
10 Pear
11 Truffle
12 Violet
13 Black Currant
14 Raspberry
15 Clove
16 Pepper
17 Rose
18 Vanilla
19 Hawthorn
20 Honey
21 Blackcurrant Bud
22 Butter
23 Toast
24 Roasted
Hazelnut
The big problem is associating verbal descriptors with olfactory
sensations (the reason for so many seemingly odd or funny
characterizations)
There is no definitive association, partly because it is inherently
subjective (individual variation in sensitivity to various smells and
tastes)
According to Jackson, 2002: Wine fragrance is the term that describes
the composite of olfactory sensations from a wine…Wine aroma is
the component of smells associated with the fruity characters of the
wine (ie aspects of the particular grape varietal, its ripeness, and
condition for the vintage). Wine bouquet comprises other smells in
the wine resulting from its production (chemical transformations in
fermentation and aging, oak barrels, etc)
(This does sound a bit pretentious, and there is no general agreement on
terminology… Other authors often use these terms interchangeably…)
Olfactory patches behind and above the base of the nose send signals to the
olfactory bulb at the base of the brain.
Unlike other sensory systems (e.g. vision) the olfactory system is “ipsilateral”,
meaning there is no crossover from right to left and vice versa. The right
olfactory bulb processes information from the right nasal cavity, etc.
There is some evidence that the right hemisphere of olfactory bulb may have
more discrimination than the left…thus the right nostril may seem more
discriminating in some people…
About 5-10% of air inhaled in normal breathing reaches these patches
Wine fragrance chart (Jackson, 2002)
Jackson, 2002; Drobnick, 2006
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Wine aroma wheel
(Noble, 1990)
Jackson, 2002
Jackson, 2002
(Jackson, 2002)
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Fundamental tastes
The taste: aspects of wine flavors
Intensity/concentration/”extraction”
Sweetness/Dryness
Acidity
Fruitiness
Balance/”Structure”
“Off flavors” (corkiness, oxidation,
madeirization, etc)
5 fundamental flavors perceived by the
tongue & soft palate:
• Salt
• Sweet
• Sour
• Bitter
• “Umami” (savory flavor associated with
meat, MSG, etc…think bacon or seitan)
The sense of taste
The sense of taste
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The figure shows the taste papillae (on the left).
Taste buds are situated on the taste papillae (middle section).
[Papillae: Fungiform (mushroom), foliate (leaf like), circumvallate (encircle by a wall)]
Taste buds: too small to be seen with the naked eye
http://www.cf.ac.uk/biosi/staffinfo/jacob/teaching/sensory/taste.html
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Taste papillae can be seen on the tongue as little red dots,
or raised bumps, particularly at the front of the tongue.
Humans detect taste with taste receptor cells, clustered in
taste buds which can detect all 5 taste sensations.
Each taste bud has a pore that opens out to the surface of
the tongue enabling molecules and ions taken into the
mouth to reach the receptor cells inside.
Each of the 50–100 taste cells have receptors specific to
one of the 5 basic tastes (ions or proteins).
Taste receptor cells are connected, through an ATPreleasing synapse, to a sensory neuron leading back to the
brain.
(taste buds also occur in the throat and soft palate)
http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/T/Taste.html
http://www.cf.ac.uk/biosi/staffinfo/jacob/teaching/sensory/taste.html
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The sense of taste
Flavors are due to the effect of combinations of the
5 fundamental “tastes” plus olfactory sensations
(retronasal olfaction – up the back of the throat and orthonasal olfaction – through the nostrils)
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The classic textbook pictures showing strictly separate taste areas
on the tongue are incorrect – taste buds detect all 5 tastes. Taste
sensitivity depends on the density of taste buds and type of
receptors, which do vary from place to place on the tongue.
http://www.aromadictionary.com/articles/tonguemap_article.html
The appearance
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Clarity
Hue (color)
Intensity (concentration or “extraction”)
Legs and other physical features
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Density of taste buds varies
widely (averaging several
thousand on the tongue,
and ~2000 on the soft
palate and throat)
Women tend to have more
than men
“Supertasters” may have 23x the “normal” numbers)
(Jackson, 2002)
Bartoshuk, L. M., Duffy, V. B., and Miller, I. J., 1994.
PTC/PROP tasting: Anatomy,Psychophysics and
sex effects. Physiol. Behavior 56,1165–1171.
The appearance
• Clarity (absence of “cloudiness”)
• Cloudiness can occur if sediments are
stirred up…should settle before drinking
• Decanting
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The appearance
• Hue (color) and intensity
• Deepness of color reflects grape varietal,
extraction, etc
• Wine color over time due to changes in
tannins and other components
• White wine browns with age
http://www.nicks.com.au
http://www.nicks.com.au/index.aspx?link_id=76.1346
The appearance
• Red wine typically becomes more “brick
colored” with age
• It may also lighten somewhat due to loss
of tannins in sediment
http://www.nicks.com.au
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The appearance
• “Legs”, aka “tears”, “arches”, “cathedral
windows”, “les cuisses”, “kirchenfenster”,
“lagrimas”
• Are these a measure of wine quality, sugar
content, or glycerol?
NO
• Are these a measure of alcohol content?
YES (though why not look at the label?)
The appearance
Aka “arches of Marangoni”…caused by the
Gibbs-Marangoni effect, first correctly explained
by J. Thomson: "On certain curious motions
observable on the surfaces of wine and other
alcoholic liquors," Philosophical Magazine, 10,
330 (1855).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tears_of_wine
The appearance
Wine Legs: "Briefly, because the alcohol (in the wine) is
more volatile than water, a thin layer of more aqueous liquid
forms on the surface of the wine and on the sides of the
glass moistened by the wine; this fine film has a higher
surface tension.
Capillary action causes the liquid to rise up the sides of the
glass, and the increase in surface tension tends to form tears
which eventually flow back down into the wine.
The higher the alcohol content of the wine, the more tears
there are, and they are generally colorless."
-Emile Peynaud, The Taste of Wine
The appearance
Other phenomena: crystals and sediments
Crystals: typically seen on the bottom
of wine corks
Crystals: Are salts of tartaric acid (potassium
bitartrate, sodium tartrate, calcium tartrate)…
Tartaric acid naturally occurs in grapes; the salts
are natural products of wine production and are
harmless
Sediments: composed of crystals and polymerized
tannins that form as wine ages and gradually
deposit on the bottom or side of bottle
Sediments: Natural product of aging,
especially red wines
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The feel
• “Body” is usually considered a relatively minor
aspect of sensory evaluation (but see NYT
article by Asimov)…mostly associated with a
wine’s “thickness” or viscosity (in turn related in
part to alcohol content)
• Astringency (dryness or “puckeriness” on the
tongue) – associated with presence of some
tannins…characteristic of many young red
wines…often diminishes with wine age.
The feel
• “The burn” –heat sensation on the tongue
(more commonly associated with liquor) is
due to alcohol or phenolic components
• “Prickliness” and “spritz” – especially true
of sparkling wines, but not limited to them
(due to high CO2 content in some wines, and
may be a defect)
How does taste/aroma relate to
wine cost?
Gawel, R. Oberholster, A. and Francis, I.L (2000) A 'Mouth-feel wheel': terminology
for communicating the mouth-feel characteristics of red wine. Australian Journal of
Grape and Wine Research 6 203-207
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Part of the basis for the relationship between how good a wine is
and its cost: intensity of taste and smell decreases with grape yield
(degree of selectivity is a related factor)
References
Drobnick, J. 2006. The Smell Culture Reader. Berg
publishing, Oxford UK. 442 pp.
Jackson, R.S. 2002. Wine Tasting: A Professional
Handbook. Elsevier Academic Press. 295 pp.
Thomson, J. 1855. "On certain curious motions
observable on the surfaces of wine and other
alcoholic liquors," Philosophical Magazine, 10,
330.
Jackson, 2002
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