We’re taking a little break from the series of articles on the winemaking process.  I have put together a list of ten great dead giveaways to help you in any blind tastings you might put together for fun.  Usually, when people who do not regularly taste wine decide to put together a blind tasting, the number one thing they try to guess is the varietal.  Here are ten tips to help you guess more accurately.

1)  Aromas of Blueberry or Blueberry Juice almost invariably indicate a syrah or a Rhone Blend.

2)  Full-bodied wines with jammy raspberry or jammy dark fruit, like black plum, cassis or blackberry are likely to be zinfandel.  The jammiest ones are from Dry Creek Valley.

3)  A tea-like taste, accompanied by an astringency that leaves the mouth feeling dry is likely to indicate a Merlot or some Bordeaux.

4)  Bell pepper is a quality found in older and poorly made young Cabernet Sauvignons, Bordeaux and cuvees (blends) of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and/or Cabernet Franc.

5)  Tart cherries, accompanied by black or white pepper, is often indicative of pinot noir from the Russian River Valley.  If it is pinot noir, most of the bitterness will come from the barrels, so the bitterness will correlate to the taste of wood, toast and/or vanilla.

6)  California Chardonnay:  California chardonnays are characterized by heavy barreling and malolactic fermentation.  They will taste of wood, vanilla, toast, cream and butter.  A buttery aroma is a near 100% guarantee.  More expensive chards will have a balance of these flavors and fruit; less expensive chards will have little apparent fruit and taste woody.

7)  Other Oak-y Whites:  Some other whites are oaked, including fume blanc, which is an oaked sauvignon blanc, so watch out.  If the wine is highly acidic, which will taste tart and cause the sides of your mouth to fill with saliva, then you are not tasting a chardonnay and sauvignon blanc is a good guess.

8)  Tropical fruit flavors, high acid and grassy or other green notes indicate a sauvignon blanc, likely from the Marlborough region of New Zealand.

9)  Gewurtztraminer is highly aromatic and known as a spicy white.  The flavors can vary but common ones include litchi, pepper, gingerbread, vanilla and honeysuckle.

10)  Light gasoline, tar and other petroleum product smells from a white wine is almost certain to be a Riesling.

Bonus Tips:  Alcohol tastes sweet, so you can’t taste it in wine.  If you want to guess the level of alcohol in a wine, inhale deeply through your nose.  You can sense it at the top and back of your nose, right your you feel ice cream headaches.  Poorly made wines will seem like they have more alcohol than they actually have.

Acidity provokes salivation in the corners of your mouth.  The most common acidic red is probably Barbera, which will have little bitterness or woody/oaky flavors.

Bitterness is a function of tannin.  It can come from barrels or from grape skins.  The most tannic wines are generally cabernet sauvignon and petite sirah.

Posted under Wine Tasting