Basic wine training pdf

Wine with a rich mouthfeel that is creamy or velvety. Can leave a coating on the tongue. Wines that go through malolactic fermentation will have this characteristic. Many oak-aged chardonnays will be described as buttery. A wine that has a distinct, but not overwhelming presence of tannins.

This can be a good thing for some wine drinkers. Acid is present but not overwhelming, leaves the palate feeling refreshed and cleansed. Wine that consists of very little to know sugars. It may also have noticeable tannins, which can leave your mouth feeling tight after tasting a dry wine. A term for wines with "forest floor" flavors. Indicative of flavors like mushroom, that can leave a dry feeling in the mouth. This is one is harder to describe but is a sensation that can be readily identified when experienced.

The aftertaste and mouthfeel left by a wine once it's swallowed. Wines will often be described as having a short or long finish. A vegetal component of wine that is reminiscent of freshly cut grass or stalk flavors found in lemon grass and the stems of some leafy vegetables. When the vegetal elements of wines profile are too strong, and can indicate wine produced from unripe grapes.

A wine that has a high fruity presence, often of dark fruits, that isn't cut by tannic flavors. This can be good or bad depending on the drinker. A lean wine has acidity but is unbalanced by fruit or other sweetness like sugar and alcohol. A term exclusive to red wines, generally heavier with a high tannins. Tannins are also used in the process of making leathery, so the term has merit.

A mold like taste. The negative cousin of earthy. Can also indicate poor storage conditions. The presence of oak in a wine that is aged. Oaky flavors can be dry and woody, but can also be sweet like vanilla and butterscotch, or have spices like nutmeg and clove.

Wines with noticable spice notes like black pepper. Often used when describing Malbec from South America. Wine can come in various levels of sweetness and it all depends on how the wine was made. The sweeter the wine the more sugar. Knowing the sweetness of a wine can play an important role in successfully pairing wine. Wine with vegetable flavors, that are distinct from fruity or floral notes. Often used with green vegetables. Tasting Notes : Dark, ripe fruits, black cherry, plum, spice, vanilla, cedar or oak from barrel-aging.

Tasting notes : Red fruits, bright cherries, strawberry, some spice, vanilla,. Food Pairings : Light, flavorful meats - duck, pork, chicken thighs; mushrooms; salmon and heavy flavored fish. Mimic the style of Bordeaux reds from the Bordeaux region of France. This blend is generally dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, but also utilize other grapes like Cab Franc, Merlot, Malbec.

Tasting Notes : Big, bold, dark fruits,; savory flavors; mineral flavors; tannic drying ; cedar, oak, vanilla. Tasting Notes : Wide range depending on stye; lemon, apple, pear, bright fruits; mango, pineapple, peach, tropical fruits; vanilla, butter, baked goods, coconut.

Tasting Notes : Green fruits, lime, green bell pepper, pear; stonefruit, kiwi, peach; oaked, vanilla, coconut, butter. Food Pairings : White meats, chicken, pork; white fish, shell fish, lobster, clams; soft, sour cheese. Tasting Notes : Italian, lime, pear, sour apple; France, lemon, honey, honeysuckle; U. Tasting Notes : Varying styles; Light, rose petal, underripe strawberry, limestone; Medium, strawberry, summer fruits; Heavy, ripe fruits, floral, spice hints.

Can't remember which wine pairs well with salmon or your restaurant's chef special? Well these tips cover all the basics on what you should and should not do when pairing wine with food. These tips will help broaden your horizons on the impact wine can have on the dinning experience. One of the most basic tips that is easy to remember and will help you make quick recommendations. The reason that red wine pairs well with red meats, such as steak, is because of its ability to soften the proteins in the meat and help enhances the flavors of the fat.

The softening of the meat occurs because of the tannin, a chemical compound found, found in red wine. White wines pair well with fish because the acids in the wine enhance the taste of the fish, making it taste fresher. Similar to how lemon is squeezed over fish to enhance the taste, white wine can have the same impact because of it acidity.

If the same adjective can be used to describe the food and wine it is likely a pairing that will work. For instance, sweet wines go great with sweet food. A great example is fruit based desserts or tarts and sweet wines. There are a few exceptions and we discuss them in detail below. Sometimes it can be tricky to pair wines with meats or fishes that have a heavy sauce.

The best way to approach a dish like this is to pair the wine with the sauce and not the meat. This allows for a better experience because some sauces can have bad interactions with wine. For instance you want to avoid pairing bitter sauces with bitter taste because of the bitterness will build, creating an unfavorable taste. There are various ways to approach wine and food pairings, but every pairing falls within two categories. The first are congruent pairings and the second are complementary pairings.

In a congruent pairing the food and wine chosen will share several compounds or flavors. This can be a sweet wine paired with a sweet dish, a red wine with a buttery aftertaste paired with a buttery pasta dish.

The important tip when creating congruent pairings is to ensure that the wine is not overwhelmed by the flavors of the food. When this occurs it can make the taste of the wine become bland. The benefits of a congruent pairing is to allow the wine and the food to enhance the flavor of the other. Red wines are a great go to when looking to create congruent pairings. With aromas and flavors ranging from cherry to smoky, red wines are very diverse and easy to match with like food pairings.

Take a glass of a Syrah wine that is a full bodied and it will have a similar flavor profile of some of your favorite grilled meats, making it a great congruent pairing. On the other hand complementary pairings are based on food and wine combinations that share no compounds or flavors, but instead complement each other. The flavors in each are balanced by their contrasting elements. A sweet white wine paired with a spicy dish will allow the sugar in the wine to cool down and balance out the spiciness in the dish.

Another common complementary pairing is white wine with salty dishes. The saltiness from the food actually decreases the sweetness of the wine and brings out the wines fruity taste and aromas. A glass of Chardonnay or Pinot Grigio will pair perfectly with salty popcorn and specially well with fried dishes.

That means there are hundreds if not thousands of different ways to explore the different pairing possibilities of dry white wines to bold red wines. Here we will explore the various tips and tricks when creating pairings for specific kinds of wine. While the specific tastes and aromas of Chardonnay can change depending on the brand, the wine generally has strong fruity flavors.

With hints of green apple, pear, melon, creamy lemon, and rounded out with vanilla it pairs well with a variety of food options. It serves as a great choice for shellfish, grilled lobster, tilapia, vegetables, and dishes with rich sauces. Its bold body, lack of acidity, rich and creamy texture make it an excellent option for the above choices. This delicate white wine holds flavors of white peach, green apple, and lime. Its light sweetness makes it a perfect complementary pairing for spicy dishes.

Its semi-sweet taste has the ability to tame the heat of spicy dishes. Off-Dry Riesling also pairs well with shellfish, pork, ham, and salads. Its lack of tannins and therefore bitterness make it a great pairing for salads with vinaigrettes. This is the case because bitter vinaigrettes paired with bitter wine will only enhance the bitterness of both the food and wine.

As a light bodied white wine, Sauvignon Blanc tends to be high in acidity and offer a crisp white taste. This allows for it to pair well with tart dressings and sauces, cheese, oysters, fresh herbs and delicate fish. The pairing options here demonstrate how high acidity wine and food compliments one another well. The acidity of the food and wine won't compete with each other and instead they will allow you to notice the natural flavors.

With a light and crisp taste, Pinot Grigio is the perfect option for light seafood. Its crisp and delicate taste is perfect in enhancing in the flavors of a dish. With hints of pears, lemons, melons, and sweet spice, it creates a delicious white wine. It's important to pair delicate fish with delicate wines, because the wrong choice in food or wine can overpower the taste of the other. As a result you can end up with a great wine tasting bland because of the overpowering flavors of the food choice.

Along with fish, Pinot Grigio also pairs well with pasta, grilled chicken and dishes with fresh herbs. As a crisp pink wine it offers a refreshing taste with low amounts of tannin and therefore little bitterness. This allows for it to pair well with grilled chicken and spicy seafood. As a full body red wine, Cabernet Sauvignon is high with tannins, plum, blackberry, and black currant flavors. This gives it its dark fruity taste that even becomes more mature with time.

The strong tannins make it a great choice for steak or lamb chops because of its ability to refresh your palate after each bite. Pinot Noir is known for its light body and earthy flavors. These flavors consist of dark berries, cherries, plums, violets, and warm spices. This red wine stands apart from others, with very few tannins it pairs perfectly with fatty fish. This includes salmon and tuna among others. Along with fish, it pairs well with lamb, venison, and pork chops.

This red wine is the perfect congruent pairing for spicy dishes. With a spicy flavor profile itself, it pairs well with barbeque, lamb and grilled meats. The important thing to consider when pairing Syrah wines is the spice level of both the food and the wine. If the food is significantly spicer than the wine it will overpower it and cause the wine to lose its spicy profile and taste flavorless. Sparkling wine is commonly associated with celebratory occasions. However, sparkling wines pair well with a variety of different foods.

Especially salty foods and even fried ones. This is the case because the carbonation in sparkling wine cuts through the saltiness and perfectly balances out the meal.

Sparkling wine also pairs well with roasted vegetables and fish. Another popular method to pair wine and food is by placing them into one of 6 food flavor profiles. This includes salt, acid, fat, bitter, sweet, and spicy. Below we breakdown each flavor and the important aspects to consider when pairing them with wine. Salt is common in a variety of different foods but is common in fried foods, pasta sauce, and potatoes among others. Salty foods can really have an impact on the taste profile of a wine.

As a result the best pairings for salty foods include sparkling wines and acidic wines. Acidic wines serve as a great complementary pairing and will have the ability to balance the flavors within a dish. Acidity is a common in both food and wine making complementary and congruent pairings possible. Acidity can add freshness to both wine and food. When creating a pairing, the acidity of the wine should be at least equal to the food or the wine will taste bland.

So the rule of thumb is for your wine to be more acidic than your food. Salad dressings are very high in acidity, so when pairing salads its important to base the pairing off of the dressing and not the salad contents itself.

A great pairing for acidic dressings is Sauvignon Blanc. Fat is one of the few flavor profiles that can not be found in wine. As a result, when pairing fatty foods with wine the key is to create complementary pairings. One key aspect in wine that pairs well with fatty foods are tannins. The bitterness created by tannins in wine have the ability to soften the fat within meat and enhance the flavors. A great suggestion is a cabernet based wine. This is the case because the fruit and berry flavors of the wine will complement the smoky flavors within the meat.

With the existence of bitter food and bitter wine there is one key rule to follow. Avoid congruent pairings, so pairing bitter foods with bitter wine. Pairing to bitter elements will only enhance the bitterness in both the food and wine making it an unpleasant pairing experience.

One suggestion is to try more complementary pairings such as acidic wines, off-dry Riesling, and Zinfandels. Old World wine producers are slowly realizing that in order to compete on the global market, they need to make it easy on the consumer.

But as much as times may change, a deep understanding of how to read a wine label will always be a useful skill. There are a few important components of a wine label. We live in an age in which sourcing wine has never been easier. Looking for a wine from Crete? The wine shop in your town will likely carry it, and if not, you can easily find a wine retailer online. Savvy shoppers will stay on top of ever-changing wine shipping l aws based on interstate policies.

Some states cannot have wine shipped to them, while others have more relaxed laws. When dining out with friends or at a party, be open minded! A rich Cabernet Sauvignon might woo you initially, but you may also take a liking to exotic Rieslings depending on your mood.

There is no better way to discover wine than by tasting everything. For starters, make sure that your wine is being served at its absolute best. To do that, pay attention to these three tenets of wine service: Glassware , temperature and preservation.

Glassware Each wine has something unique to offer your senses. Most wine glasses are specifically shaped to accentuate those defining characteristics, directing wine to key areas of the tongue and nose, where they can be fully enjoyed.

While wine can be savored in any glass, a glass designed for a specific wine type helps you to better experience its nuances. Outfit your house with a nice set of stems you will reap the rewards. Temperature All wine is stored at the same temperature, regardless of its color.

But reds and whites are consumed at quite different temperatures. Too often people drink white wines too cold and red wines too warm, limiting how much you can enjoy the wine. Here is a key to ideal wine service temperatures:. While this is a helpful guide, not everyone has a thermometer on hand. A good rule of thumb is to note that white wines should be chilled before drinking and red wines should be have time to rise in temperature.

This allows time for your whites to chill and your reds to warm up. Put your reds in the refrigerator for half an hour and take your whites out of the refrigerator for half an hour. Food Pairings : White meats, chicken, pork; white fish, shell fish, lobster, clams; soft, sour cheese. Tasting Notes : Italian, lime, pear, sour apple; France, lemon, honey, honeysuckle; U.

Tasting Notes : Varying styles; Light, rose petal, underripe strawberry, limestone; Medium, strawberry, summer fruits; Heavy, ripe fruits, floral, spice hints. In the above descriptors, we used a good number of references to actual items like strawberry, lime, red cherry, cedar, etc. As you become more comfortable with wines, you will be able to pick these flavors our for yourself and then use them when selling wine to guests, but to start here are 5 basic wine descriptors to know. Dry : This is pretty self explanatory.

A dry wine will leave your tongue tingling, with the feeling of cotton mouth. Dryness, and the sensation of a tingling tongue, often comes from an organic substance in wine called tannins.

Sweet : This term is more useful for dessert wines or cheap wines. It's a bit broad, more often than sweet, you will want to use the following term. Fruity : Red wines will can be generally categorized as having red fruits or dark fruits. White wines will generally have green, or tart fruits, or tropical and stone fruits if they are sweeter and more rounded wines. Buttery : Used to describe Chardonnays that are aged in oak barrels, a style generally associated with California-style Chardonnay wines.

Earthy : Generally reserved for red wines. Earth implies a certain mustiness. Think of damp, musky flavors. Body: This refers to the weight of the wine. Also used in conjunction with mouthfeel. Kyle is the Marketing Director for Backbar. Before helping Backbar connect with the restaurant industry, he managed multiple bars in Chicago, with a love of whiskey and cocktails.

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