Wine Tasting - The Sense of Taste
After observing your wine using the sense of sight and smell, it is then time to use your palate to identify tastes. This is far more detailed than simply tasting as we would any other beverage. We must remember to note the characteristics of the wine on all sensory areas of the tongue. Sweetness is detected on the very tip of the tongue, while bitter tastes are sensed in the extreme rear. Saltiness is sensed on the front, upper sides of the tongue, and the acidity-sour taste is sensed mainly on the sides. Some suggest focusing your attention on one sensation at a time in order to be more efficient in your taste. Try taking a sip of wine and swallowing immediately. Then try another sip, this time letting the wine work well around the palate into these sensory areas before swallowing. You will recognize a noticeable difference in the intensity of flavors!
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Gewürztraminer (pronounced Guh-VERTZ-tra-meener)
“Gewürz” means “spicy” in German. Traminer is the original name of the grape that produces this flamboyantly aromatic, full-bodied, spicy white wine, which is vinified to perfection in the Alsace region of eastern France and is also produced elsewhere in central Europe, as well as in California, Washington, Oregon and New York.
Gewürztraminer is a pink-skinned, small-clustered grape variety that sets a modest crop and ripens fully in propitious, cool-climate conditions, producing heady, alcoholic, dry table wines, at least in Alsace. (It also makes marvelous, late-harvest dessert wines there.) In California, winemakers tend to vinify Gewürztraminer as a lighter-bodied, slightly sweet wine, apparently for fear their customers will object to the slight bitterness that characterizes the wine when it is fermented to dryness.
Gewürztraminer is justly famed for its wonderfully exotic, complex aroma, which is reminiscent of roses, lychee fruit, allspice, peaches, and grapefruit. Its rich, spicy flavors makes it a wonderful accompaniment to spicy Asian cuisines, as well as rich, Germanic-inspired entrees such as schnitzel, sausage, and pork and ham dishes.
