Wine tasting

October 11, 2009

There are two basic approaches to tasting wine.

Anne Noble, emeritus Oenology professor from the University of California, is credited with the contribution of the `aroma wheel`, in 1990.

She patented a consensual terminology to define the scents identifiable in a wine. Texture and `mouth feel` were not included in the pie chart.

The wheel brakes down wine aromas into 12 categories, which in turn break down even deeper into several sub categories.

Chemical – Includes aromas like sulfur and petroleum

Pungent – Aromas like alcohol

Oxidized – Aromas like acetaldehyde

Microbiological – Aromas like yeast and lactic acid

Floral – Aromas like Pelargonium geraniums and linalool

Spicy – Aromas like licorice and anise

Fruity – Aromas like blackcurrant and apricot

Vegetative – Aromas like eucalyptus and artichoke

Nutty – Aromas like walnut and hazelnut

Caramelized – Aromas like butterscotch and molasses

Woody – Aromas often imparted by oak like vanilla and coffee

Earthy – Aromas such as mushroom and mildew

Up untill Noble, several wine glossaries would compete in equal terms to introduce the uninitiated into the lingua franca of the vino.

To me, the fun thing about wine, and that what actually differentiates wine from beer (which I drink much more casually and not to mention way more often), is the whole process of de-constructing the clues.

I cant go deeper than the first or the first two scents in my glass. I mean the ones on the surface. But Thats the beauty of wine! Its sampling is in fact available to all! Regardless of expertise, sensibility… on any social occasion, drinking wine, people are prone (even expected), at one point or the other, to comment on the wine they hold in their hands. A food dish is different, there s never a big surprise. For food the eyes almost always screen and the brain breakes the code before the actual tasting, even the best disguised design dish.

True, that in wine there are hints too: color, smell, the label, but those often work more like a trap, at least to the non-expert. Actually those relate more to the second approach to wine tasting (that i mention at the beginning)

So, in other words, wine tasting, comes down to a conversation topic with great potential. We talk about ou ability to code braking. I think the juvenile equivalent is to join a bunch of children with building blocks.

Taste is a quint essential human sense. And tanins and grapes are as old as civilization. Maybe the correlation between the significance of survival through the senses, symbolized on the grapes, as represented in major part of classic literature, the wine comes out as a synthesis between the devine and the profane.

Because wine is a celebration of the evolution of our senses through the taste buds, Its important that such experience had been made simpler to translate better, more often and by more people. Therefore my sincere recognition to Dr. Anne Noble!

A bit more complex is the second way of categorizing wine. This one outside the scope of the `aroma wheel`. Its not as intuitive as the first. While possibly also accessible to the uninitiated (I’m out for sure), this second approach to wine is less objective and surely poses a bigger challenge to terminology benchmarking.

While probably the aroma tasting is more linked to chemistry, this second part is probably more biology oriented.

Where wine (a liquid) can be labeled as `dry`, tactile reporting from the inner mouththis regards what Clinton MacSherry called

This part of the wine sampling is more technical and often left to the experts in the labs (its about what the mouth feels and not what it tastes).

An example of what is addressed in this area is Acidity, sensed mostly in the front part of the mouth, tip and sides of the tongue, and Tannins that act on the back of the cheeks, gum and front of the throat, with a dry quality like a heavily steeped tea

The balance between acidity and tannins relative to flavor components determines its degree of astringency. The ideal is the perfect equilibrium, the combination is often said to give wine its backbone.

Posted in Tastings & Reviews | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Anne Noble, Aroma Wheel, Clinton Macsherry, Oenology, Terminology, Wine Tasting

Tour Del Gelato

October 2, 2009

This is a challenge launched by a bloger

We copy her url to our blog and send her a link with info on our favorite gelati parlour in the world. The goal is to determine which gelati maker is actually the best. Im not yet sure who gets to vote..

My point is i propose to offer a comlptely different `candidate`. This one made history and has the papers to prove it!

I lived in Rome, Italy and traveled all around the country for a year. I also live in the US currently. It is said these two countries, even because of their close affiliation, make and made the best gelati in thw world..

Regardless, the best gelati house ever to exist is in Portugal, not far away from where I used to live actually.

Thats right! Funny as it might sound, sometimes things are not as they seem..

I used the web site biography to copy and translate in a free way to illustrate some of the most important moments in this Gelati making Dinasty, who ended up in my home country by chance of destiny. This way I hope to enhance its name by showing enough material to faithfully display the historic moments that made this parlour what I say it is.

“CASA SANTINI“

Loja de S. João do Estoril

Rua Nova da Estação,

n.º 52765 S. João do Estoril

Loja de Cascais

Av. Valbom,

28 F2750 Cascais

Attilio Santini Mosena, born in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Udine, son of Arcangelo Santini and Maria Mosena. His ancestors originally from the Dolomites, north of Venice. Gelato factoring tradition in the family starts with his Great-great Grandfather, who owned a gelato parlour in Viena of Austria with brevetto issued by the imperial house, given buy the Emperor Francis Joseph. His father too, in Italy, will be awarded a brevetto from king Vittorio Emanuelle.

1917/18 Attilio leaves Italy with his father and in 1922 settles in Metz, France wher he meets one of the Romanov (Russian Imperial family) members.
In 1937returns to Italy working at the Sommariva Gellataria in Milano.
in 1938 opens a Gellataria in S. Sebastian, Spain.
in 1940 moves to Barcelona, calle Vergara, opening Gellataria Capri, which will shut down over the competition with Frigo.

Letter of Recommendation from Gelatti Sommariva of Milano, where Attilio Santini worked in 1937

Detail of one of his guest books.

In 1944 Santini moves to Valencia, opening Café Santpol, where he will meet his wife Isabel Catalan Saez. He will also meet the Portuguese Consul João Moraes, who will challenge Santini to relocate to Portugal .

Attilio Santini in the 1940’s, picture taken in Valência.

Social card of the Portuguese consul daughter, who invited Santini to relocate to Portugal.

Letter of Recommendation from the Milk Industry of Valencia, dated from 1946.

Libretto of the Concerto performed by the Symphonic Orchestra of Madrid, in December 1948 at the Coliseu dos Recreios in Lisbon, under the direction of Maestro Pierino Gamba, with special dedication to Santini