Sharing
Sight
Swirl
Smell
Continuing my series . . .
The Ten “S” of Wine
5. Sip
OK, the magic moment has sprung upon us, the one we have been waiting for, taking a sip of the wine in the glass.
When bringing the glass of wine to your mouth, draw in enough to cover your palate without gulping, of course. Hold the wine in your mouth for a moment, perhaps slosh it around gently but quickly.
If you are confident enough, allow a little air to get into your mouth with the wine by sucking in air softly and quietly. This is called trilling. Trilling can expand the flavors you are processing and discovering, opening them up quicker and making them seem a bit more succinct.
Trilling can be off-putting in public situations by some tasters. Don’t be that person that makes a show out of the trilling process by exaggerating or dramatizing the process by loudly sucking in air and making noise and distorted faces.
Just be soft with it, and slow, and allow your thoughts to focus on the wine for five or ten seconds. It helps you to focus if you close your eyes as well. Also, you may not be distracted or influenced by the reactions of another person tasting the same wine. What does it taste like? Are the descriptors from the nose (smell) following through on the palate. The answer is generally yes, to some degree, they should mirror each other. Many times, though, you may tasted something that wasn’t readily apparent from the initial aromatics you experienced.
At the end of the day, there is no such thing as a “right” or “wrong” way to taste wine, or even a way to characterize a wine. Instead, what is important is that you enjoy a wine, and look forward to tasting each new sip of that wine.
Enjoy Champagne from a Different Glass
Before opening The WineSellar & Brasserie thirty-five years ago, I was convinced that Champagne tasted better in certain white wine glasses than the Marie Antoinette or fluted style glasses the bubbly was traditionally served in.
So, I procured 16 different style of wine glasses and Champagne flutes, place them on a table and poured the same Champagne into all sixteen glasses. One by one, I was able to detect which glasses gave the most pronounced aromas, which glasses gave the best flavors, and which glasses allowed the bubbles to.
Remember, underneath every great bottle of sparkling wine, is a beautiful bottle of still wine; you want to be able to enjoy that in a great glass where you can smell it, give a little swirl and of course, enjoy everything that it has to offer.
Europe Drowns in Wine as EU Adopts 'Crisis' Measures to Rescue Producers
The European wine industry is being battered by sliding demand due to the current inflation storm on food and drink prices, in combination with a solid 2022 harvest, which has left wine cellars filled to the brim, according to a new European Commission report.
Wine production on the continent increased 4% last year compared with the previous year, while wine stocks were 2% higher versus a five-year average. The drop in wine demand was the most significant in Portugal, down 34%. Demand also tumbled 22% in Germany, 15% in France, 10% in Spain, and 7% in Italy.
And it gets worse for the producers, as the commission stated: "In parallel, EU wine exports for the period January to April 2023 have been 8,5% lower than the previous year, contributing to further increasing the stocks."
The perfect storm of factors is "translating into sales difficulties for EU wine growers and producers, reduction of market prices and consequently, a serious loss of income especially in certain regions mostly hit by these trends," the commission warned.
It continued:
"The situation is very fragmented across the EU, and the imbalance between the available supply and the demand is rather concentrated in certain regions and wines. The most affected are red and rosé wines from certain regions of France, Spain and Portugal, but other wines and/or Member States might encounter similar difficulties in certain production regions."
In response to the overflow of wine on the continent and the crisis on the producer level, the commission has "adopted temporary markets measures to avoid that the unsold wine weighs on the whole internal market and prevents producers to find sufficient storage capacity for the new harvest."
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This may take a couple/few newsletters to get through all ten of the “S’s”. Let me know if you are enjoying them; I am planning to make a video of this if things align.
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Cheers!
Gary Parker, Owner
The WineSellar & Brasserie
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