A Wine Primer
by Margaret Swaine

For several decades now, in any given month I am likely to be sampling hundreds of wines sometimes as part of glamorous multi-course dinners, other times as grueling early morning marathons of a hundred or more bottles. The setting can be as rudimentary as a bare bones lab in Toronto or as beautiful as a European castle set among the vineyards. It's my chosen profession and for it I must travel the world and taste.

I got my start in my early twenties, when I proved in one fell blind tasting competition that age and gender have nothing to do with ability to discern wines. I captured first prize in that Toronto event and with it the woman's prize. The event I entered as a lark, as a fresh faced journalism grad from Carleton U, launched my career. Up until that point all I knew about wine came from a student year spent in Aix-en-Provence drinking from liter size plastic containers which sold by the franc rather than by the brand. My training for the contest came from books, not bottles. Today thousands of wines and wineries later, I can truly say I've learned "on the job".

As I sit at my computer writing this, I am sipping a big-bodied red, opulent in the mouth and lingering in the finish. I love this style of wine but if you are new to wine terms, you probably think I'm being a wine snob by using such descriptors. I'm not. Despite the unrelated images this kind of wine parlance can conjure up, it is correct and specific. Let me help you learn it so you can speak your mind to sommeliers, winemakers and others in the biz.

There are at least 2,000 estimated chemical compounds in wine of which about 1,200 have been isolated and identified. The fruit and vegetable flavours we find in the wine actually come from the same molecular formula as is found in those products. We all have individual thesholds for aroma recognition which are further affected by our exposure to them. Scientific experiments have thus proven women can identify more smells than men, but it's not known if this may be through cooking, perfume use and the like rather than innate skill (men beat out the gals in identifying motor oil for example).

I'll feel lucky if I can clearly and constantly pick up 100 in my life time. Some are easy. Bell pepper (2-methoxyl-3 isobutyl pyrizine) is present in many reds, especially cool climate cabernets. It's a snap to pick out as a mere thimble full would turn an Olympic size pool of water into pure pepper juice. The smell of strawberry which whiffs from a glass of young pinot noir, indeed, comes from the same domineering molecules which give the berry its characteristic aroma. The ground breaking "aroma wheel" which was devised at the Davis Campus of California University divides such smells into fruity, vegetal, floral and so forth and then further defines them. Fruity could be tree fruits such as peaches or pears or alternatively berries such as raspberry or blackcurrant and floral could be violet, rose or orange blossom for example.

Along with aromas derivative of the grape, are odours of aging which appear as nutty, earthy or leathery. Then there is the effect of fermenting and aging in wood barrels which gives its own phenolic qualities. The taste of vanilla comes from vanillin in the staves. Charring the inside of a barrel can lend toasty, butterscotch flavours. Butteriness is often the result of malolactic fermentation (turns sharp malic acid into softer lactic acid) which takes place in the barrels.

Chemical faults and bacterial spoilage come out as real stinkers. Too much sulphides and odors of garlic, rotten eggs or onion appear. Mousey, vinegar and sauerkraut smells come from microbiological problems. Much can go wrong in a winery. Even if all is perfect, a contaminated cork can quickly give a musty, moldy smell to a wine. If you detect an off-putting aroma, dump the bottle or return it if you can.

The colour of a wine can also tell a tale. Whites might start out pale, deepening to gold with age or if high in sugar or extract. Reds often begin with a purple blush of youth, fading to mahogany then brown as they disintegrate. The deeper the colour at the start, the more the extract from the juice and skins, which even in the most opaque of wines, will eventually precipitate out.

The feel of the wine in the mouth is of similar importance. It's often a match between body and texture such that a thin wine is also watery or a thick full bodied wine is chewy. Let the wine roll about on your tongue sensing if it is soft or harsh, creamy or rough. Then try to summarize overall impressions such fragile or assertive, bold or bland. Wines that are built for aging have a structure to them and a sensation of tasting through layers of flavours. A dry puckering feeling (like sipping a tea which has seeped too long) comes from tannins, a natural substance in grape pits and skins which give the wine longevity. Bitter astringent tannins are obviously less desirable than the smoother versions.

If you have food with wine, the taste is changed. For instance, lemon juice will make a tart wine taste sweeter and cheese or rare meat will soften and round the edges of any hard red. So if you want to assess a wine, do so with a clean palate. If you want to enjoy wine, have it with a meal. I spit out most of what I taste. This brings tears to my eyes when it's dozens of great burgundies such as I had at Clos Vougeot this Spring. However swallowing is not a virtue among wine judges.

To do your own judging, tip the glass to admire the colour first. Sniff to assess the bouquet and then take the wine in your mouth and roll it about (sucking in air if you dare, to release more of the aromas to the back of the throat - the tongue only perceives sweet, sour, salty and bitter). Lastly, do swallow. Taste how the wine finishes (sweet, bitter, tangy) and if it lingers. Then find the words to let people know what you think.

Wine Terms (some of the most commonly used)

aromatic: a fragrant bouquet which may be spicy, fruity or floral but always very perceptible

balanced: when the natural elements found in a wine - sugars, acids, tannins and alcohol - are in harmony

barnyard: earthy, manure like smell actually highly regarded in small doses in burgundies and old bordeaux

body: the weight of the wine in the mouth, ranging from light to full

clean: no off odours or faults in flavour

closed: not showing much of anything, probably because of youth

complex: many aromas, tastes and textures in a wine

corked: a musty smelling wine spoiled by a tainted cork

crisp: perceptible but agreeable acidity

elegant: stylish, refined style of wine

extract: the solids in a wine including phenolics, sugars, minerals, glycerole

finish: the sensation left after the wine has been swallowed

flabby: too low in acidity

fleshy: low in acidity but full in body

lean: low in fruit but not in acid

grip: a firm, physical effect in the mouth

harsh: excessive, biting tannin

opulent: rich, high alcohol and concentrated with tannins that feel velvety on the tongue

refreshing: lightish body and pleasant acidity, hence thirst quenching

ripe: mature with tastes of sweetness and richness

robust: full bodied and obvious in the mouth, yet with rounded, not harsh tannins

subtle: low key complexity

supple: easy-on-the-palate tannins

tannic: aggressively puckering

tart: very acid