HADM 4300: Introduction to Wines Tasting Activity: Wine Components Tasting Sheet Instructions: Once a wine is made, it is sent into the world to be experienced and enjoyed. In this tasting activity, you will practice skills that will help optimize your understanding of and appreciation for many types of wine. You will complete a series of non-wine tasting activities to help you identify and assess different attributes of a wine. In class we will perform a series of tasting activities with common household food and beverage items in order to explore and experience common attributes in food and beverage products. Each of these are related to either the grape or the winemaking process. Instructions: Step 1: Collect Tasting Items Step 2: Complete Tasting Activities in class Step 3: Reflect on Your Results Step 1: Collect Tasting Items Before Class Gather the following items. Hot water Sugar, white granulated is preferred. Brown and other sugars are okay but please no sugar alternatives, like Equal or Sweet’N Low. Two lemons One black tea bag, English Breakfast or a generic black is preferred. Skim/Non-fat milk or a thin non-dairy alternative, like almond milk or a think broth. Heavy cream (can substitute whipping cream or half and half, but only if necessary). For a non-dairy alternative, oat milk or a thicker textured non-dairy product will work. A reduced thick broth can also be used as a dairy substitute. HADM 4300: Introduction to Wines School of Hotel Administration Cornell SC Johnson College of Business © 2019 eCornell, Cornell University, and Cheryl S. Stanley. All rights reserved. All other copyrights, trademarks, trade names, and logos are the sole property of their respective owners. 1 HADM 4300: Introduction to Wines Step 2: Complete Tasting Activities in Class As a class, we will be going through these five attributes below. If you are doing this on your own, please follow the directions in the “Instructions” box to complete the corresponding activity. Then record your observations in the “Notes” box. 1. Sweetness and Sugar/Acid Balance How this relates to wine: Sweetness is the sugar in the grape juice or residual sugar left in the wine from the winemaking process. The sense you have in your mouth after this recipe is similar to the sweetness in a wine that has residual sugar or that has been sweetened back with sweet grape juice. Instructions Notes 1. Mix 2 ounces/44 ml hot water with 1 teaspoon/4 grams white sugar. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Allow water to come down to room temperature before tasting. Leaving at least one sip of the mixture in the cup, taste the mixture, being sure to swish it around your entire mouth. You can spit the sugar mixture out if you are sensitive to sugar. 2. Suck on a small lemon triangle and evaluate how the sugar water is perceived in the mouth after the acidity from the lemon. Then take the last sip of the sugar water and evaluate whether you perceive it any differently than before you sucked on the lemon. 2. Acidity How this relates to wine: Acid is found in wine and the acidity in the wine will cause your mouth to salivate. Instructions Notes Mix 3 ounces/87.5 ml room temperature water with 1 ounce lemon juice. If lemon juice is not available, lime juice could be substituted. Swish the water mixture in your mouth and then swallow or spit it out. Pay attention to how fast your mouth fills up with saliva. HADM 4300: Introduction to Wines School of Hotel Administration Cornell SC Johnson College of Business © 2019 eCornell, Cornell University, and Cheryl S. Stanley. All rights reserved. All other copyrights, trademarks, trade names, and logos are the sole property of their respective owners. 2 HADM 4300: Introduction to Wines 3. Aroma/Taste How this relates to wine: A wine has aromas and flavors. The aroma will be the essence of the grape and then there will be bouquet, which is influenced by the winemaking process. Flavors will be found once the wine is in your mouth. Flavor equals taste plus the aroma. Instructions Notes Heat 8 ounces/240 ml of water to 160˚F/71˚C with the lemon peels used to provide the lemon juice. Smell the water liquid and note the aroma from the glass. Then let the mixture steep for five minutes, and smell and taste it again. 4. Tannin How this relates to wine: Tannin is astringency and gives texture to a wine. Understanding how tannin interacts in your mouth is important when evaluating wine. If the wine has high acidity, the tannin counteracts the acid. Instructions Notes Using 6 ounces/175 ml of water at 212˚F/100˚C, brew a cup of tea with one black tea bag, either generic black tea or English Breakfast, for 5 minutes. Remove the tea bag after the mixture has finished steeping, then allow the liquid to come down to room temperature. Put a small amount in your mouth and swish it around, making sure to coat your entire mouth, including up into the gum lines. Observe what sensations you can feel on the palate. 5. Body How this relates to wine: The body in the wine references the overall texture and weight in your mouth. Instructions Notes 1. Pour 3 ounces/87.5 ml of skim/non-fat milk/nondairy/thin broth substitute into a glass. Take a small sip and swish around your mouth and pay attention to the weight and texture in your mouth. Skim milk is an example of thin body. 2. Pour 3 ounces/87.5 ml of heavy cream/thick non-dairy substitute/reduced heavy broth into a HADM 4300: Introduction to Wines School of Hotel Administration Cornell SC Johnson College of Business © 2019 eCornell, Cornell University, and Cheryl S. Stanley. All rights reserved. All other copyrights, trademarks, trade names, and logos are the sole property of their respective owners. 3 HADM 4300: Introduction to Wines glass. (Half and Half or whipping cream can be used, but they have much less milk fat, so they will not be perceived in the mouth the same way as the heavy cream.) Take a small sip and swish around your mouth and pay attention to the weight and texture in your mouth. Heavy cream is an example of full body. How does the feeling of the liquid compare to the feeling of previous think liquid? Reflect on Your Results Now that you’ve had the chance to experience many of the common attributes associated with wine, answer the following questions to better understand what you will experience when you taste and evaluate wine: 1. Consider each of the five attributes that you experimented with above. For each one, identify one food or beverage that you consume regularly and describe how it exhibits that attribute. You may use the same food or beverage more than once, but do not reference the foods that you tasted previously. Attribute Food/Beverage and Description of Attribute Example: Body Hot Chocolate: This drink is full-bodied because it coats the mouth when sipped and feels heavy on the tongue. Sweetness Acidity Aroma Tannin Body 2. Think about the items you just experienced. Are there attributes (Sweetness, Acidity, Aroma, Tannin, or Body) in these food/beverages that you enjoy? Are the preferences the ones that you expected? Answer… HADM 4300: Introduction to Wines School of Hotel Administration Cornell SC Johnson College of Business © 2019 eCornell, Cornell University, and Cheryl S. Stanley. All rights reserved. All other copyrights, trademarks, trade names, and logos are the sole property of their respective owners. 4
