Drink This Now: Lesson 2

 

Step1. Throw the bottle of white wine into the fridge for 30 to 45 minutes, until it has a good chill on it. While you wait, get out your glasses, and go ahead and pull the cork on the bottle of red. Line up your glasses as listed above. Got more shapes and sizes? Stick them in the line-up at your discretion but roughly going smallest to biggest. 

During the first step, we filled the containers with a shot each of white wine. We lined up our glasses, chilled the white wine, and put a shot of wine into each container. I choose Bay Bridge Pinot Grigio White Wine.

Step2. Pull out the white wine and use the shot glass as a measure. Put one shot of the white wine in each of your glasses. Fill the shot glass when you are done, and put it at the head of your line. Now you are ready to go. 

We add a shot of wine to a standard shot glass. And put one shot of wine to each glass.

Step3. Time for a sniff-a-rama. Pick up each container, one at a time of course, and give it a good sniff. Start with the shot glass itself. Get it as close to your nose as you dare, take just one good deep sniff, and then put the glass back on the table. Record any and all of your impressions of the nose on that wine. Take at least a minute break, and then repeat the same process for all your other glasses.

Shot Glass: Nose of citrus with notes of pear. These flavors are present but not very complex and I really have to think about finding them. 

Rocks Glass: Compared to the shot glass, I feel the aroma is more mellow. More odor, but really not too powerful.

Water Glass: Bit of a fruity smell. I smelled some alcohol, but it wasn't very strong.

Small Wine glass: I think the smells are the most apparent here. The smell is concentrated and pleasant. 

Big Wine glass: I felt a little less sweetness in the glass.  It doesn't feel like the balance is right. I smell a very sour smell.

Step4. After recording all impressions of the nose of that white wine in each glass, its time to drink it. But not in the same order! This time, sniff and then drink the wine in the shot glass first, and record your impressions. Next, go straight to the flared smaller wine glass, sniff and then drink it down. Now go to the biggest flared wineglass/fishbowl and give it a whirl. As always, record impressions of the nose. Are you able to detect some differences yet? Is the same wine more/less pungent in different containers? Can you taste/smell new flavors according to the vessel? 

Drinking out of a shot glass, I expected it to be strong. A little bit sour. For wine glass, it is more intensity, better flavor. I found the wine glass to be a perfect vessel revealing subtle flavors and layers of fruit, acid, crispness, and sweetness.

Step5. Time to hit up the red wine. Drink the rest of your white wine, or just chuck it out, and set up same scenario as Step #2. Line up the glasses and put a shot of your red wine in each. Repeat the tasting exercise steps #3-4. Take good notes on your tasting sheet along the way. 

I used the same procedure for red wine.

Shot Glass: It is so weak.  The taste is sharp and very oaky. I don't like it! It was absolutely no layers. 

Rocks Glass: Still the same woody scent but with a little berry smell. 

Water Glass: Smell still weak. It has a little bit blueberry smell.

Small Wine glass: Concentrated smell.  Berry definitely apparent here. Smells so much more complex this time. 

Big Wine glass: A bit stronger. I can fell acid and alcohol this time. 

Step6. Before we finish, let’s do one more thing. Take the red wine left over in your other glasses/bottle, and pour some of it into your small, flared wine glass and the rest into your large, flared wine glass, or your fishbowl if you have one. Leave the small glass on the table, but pick up this big flared wine glass. Cup the bowl of the glass in both hands, bringing as much surface area of your hands in contact with the glass as possible…and preferably right where the wine is inside the glass. Gently slosh the liquid around the inside of the glass, making every effort to ‘coat’ or ‘paint’ the inside of the glass with wine. Do this for several minutes. Now set that big glass down and pick up the smaller glass. Do your smell assessment on it, wait a minute, and then immediately pick up the big glass and repeat the smell assessment on it as well. Has anything changed? Does the exact same wine in these two different glasses smell any different? Now go ahead and do the taste assessment between the two glasses. Any difference there? How can the same wine in different vessels present so much more smell…and possibly even more taste?

In the bigger glass, with more surface area, there is certainly more to smell. We will have a lot of wine molecules with huge surface area. It has more alcohol and acidic with bigger glass. I think the smells are the most apparent for wine glass. The smell is concentrated and pleasant for it.