I spent two mornings last week doing blind tastings to help choose wines for le Chai in Homps. It was really interesting! Especially trying to describe the flavors and my general impression of each wine in French. I should have done some studying beforehand.
At each tasting there were about 10 of us, split into pairs, tasting 12 to 13 wines each. The wines were grouped by price and type - vin de pays, AOC Minervois or AOC Minervois la Livinière.
One morning I tasted 12 Minervois white wines and the next morning I tasted 13 AOC Minervois reds priced between €5-7.
I learned a lot.
Like teeth brushing just before wine tasting is counterproductive. Good thing there was some French bread to help clean my palate!
A bit of French wine tasting terminology:
expressif
boisé
fruité
très vanillé
notes de miel
bien équilibré
léger mais très agréable
encore bien jeune mais déjà agréable
arômes de fruits
exubérant
élégant
harmonieuse
complexe
souple
rond
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6 comments:
thanks for sending the french terms. I could have used them yesterday! Yummy wine here btw. The Pouzols wine is pretty good btw.
Were the la Livinière wines good?
Wine tasting is so fun -- I've been in several different groups. The latest is a woman's group -- we just meet four times a year over dinner but are guided by an oenologist.
I wish I had a little more time to pursue this hobby.
colleen,
You'll be able to use them the next time you head on over. Pouzols had a nice cave and good wine! You've bought a house smack dab in the middle of wine heaven.
john
Yes, very good! It is a great AOC.
betty,
That group sounds great! My good friend here is a Master of Wine so I go tasting with her sometimes and love learning what I can from her. It is a hobby that could take much more of my time, if I let it.
It was very interesting to read the French terms. I've had the opportunity to do a lot of wine tasting while working in restaurants and a wine retailer. From your post, it seems like the language used in your tasting were very sensual and descriptive. Sometimes, people miss the experience of the wine because they're wrapped up in identifying the scent components (e.g., violet, damp leaves, black cherry). That kind of description is so academic and isolating! Your tasting sounds much more fun! Cheers!
danielle,
I also used terms such as cerise (cherry), miel (honey) and fraise (strawberry) but wine needs more expressive terms.
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