If flat water is a zero and liquid electricity is a ten, we're looking for a five to seven in the mouth, depending on the wine. A wine with an acidity of less than five will seem flabby or watery in the mouth. White wines, which generally come from cooler climates and have an acidity rating of five to nine, are usually sharper than reds, which need sun and warmer climates to ripen the grapes (and typically rate between five and seven). Next, note whether the wine is dry to the taste, off-dry (exhibiting a slight sweetness), or perceptibly sweet in style (like a dessert wine). Is that acidity level appropriate for the wine? Is a dry wine too sharp? Is a dessert wine cloyingly sweet? Either of those impressions could well be perceived in an out-of-balance wine: one is too acidic and the other not acidic enough.
A wine's body or texture is directly related to the amount of alcohol it contains. Lighter-bodied wines are less alcoholic (7 to 10 percent alcohol), while a fuller-bodied wine will have ample alcohol (13 to 16 percent). Again, is there enough acidity to balance the alcohol? Too little, and the wine will come off in your mouth as clunky and heavy, like a Christmas tree drooping under the weight of too many ornaments. Texture, too, is important. We can speak of a wine as having a silky or smooth mouthfeel (especially if it's been in oak and has slightly more alcohol), or being lean or austere, or somewhere in between.
The flavors will generally be consistent with what you picked up in your nose, though you may discover a few additional flavors in the mouth. Last, measure the finish or persistence of the wine. How long do the flavors linger in the mouth after you swallow? The longer the finish, the better the wine is said to be. Good wines have a ten- to thirty-second finish, the best wines linger even longer. Acidity is again critical, as it “pushes” through the finish as a big wave brings a bodysurfer in to shore. Wines that are deficient in acidity are often described as short or thin.
OVERALL EVALUATION
Once you have swirled, looked, sniffed, and tasted, you are in a position to make a judgment on the wine. It's empowering, as you become more experienced, to decide that a wine is bad or simply not to your taste. There are plenty of wonderful bottles out there that may not please you. By the same token, as you become more seasoned and comfortable with your palate and judgment, you become less dependent on the opinions of others. This should be your long-term goal, for wine, like art, is a personal taste. After all, you have the right to walk into the Louvre and give the Mona Lisa an 89- or even a 75-point score. Why not?
STORAGE, SERVING TEMPERATURE, AND GLASSWARE
A number of my winemaker friends lament that once their wine has left the winery, it may travel a rough road to the mouth of the consumer. Three things can compromise the quality of any wine after it has left the winery: storage, serving temperature, and choice of glassware.
STORAGE
Proper storage is essential for any wine, both for its long-term aging and its near-term enjoyment and pleasure. Try to store your wine in a place that is cool (55 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit), dark (free from any direct sunlight or regular incandescent light), free of vibration (no shaking on top of the refrigerator), and moderately humid (approximately 50 percent humidity). A classic wine cellar isn't obligatory; any cool, dark area of your home will do, as long as it is not subject to the extremes of temperature that can prematurely age any wine. More and more people are opting for readily available, self-contained home wine-storage units that allow you to control temperature and humidity.
SERVING TEMPERATURE
White wines are best served chilled but not glacially cold—which, alas, is often their fate. Although warm white wines certainly do little for one's enjoyment, no bottle should be showing icicles! The ideal range is somewhere between 45 and 57 degrees Fahrenheit. A slightly warmer temperature, closer to 60 degrees, is actually better for showing off more complex, dry whites, especially Chardonnay, whereas rosés and light- to medium-bodied aromatic whites, such as Riesling and Pinot Gris, should be served somewhere between 45 and 50 degrees, dessert wines around 41 to 46 degrees, and Champagne and sparkling wines at about 50 degrees.
Refrigerate white or sparkling wines just before you are ready to enjoy them. Wines left sitting in cold storage for more than a few days will taste noticeably duller than wines that have been just chilled; this is especially true of sparkling wines. If necessary, pull the wine out of the fridge and let it come back to room temperature before chilling it down again.
Red wines present themselves best when served at a cool cellar temperature, not room temperature. Served warm, red wines show poorly, with the fruit understated and the tannins and alcohol screaming. In fact, slight chilling (to between 53 and 57 degrees) works wonders for red wines with high concentrations of fruit and lower levels of tannins—wines like Pinot Noir, fruit forward Merlot, some Sangioveses, and even a soft, juicy Cabernet Sauvignon. The ideal serving temperature varies with the weight and structure of the wine. If a full-bodied wine is served too cold, the tannins will accentuate the wine's bitterness, so more classic reds (like Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, and Syrah), ample in tannins, are best enjoyed between 56 and 65 degrees. Lighter- to medium-bodied wines should be served at the cooler end of the scale.
CHOOSING WINES FOR LONG-TERM STORAGE
There's a wine adage that states that thirty minutes in the glass is worth six months in the bottle. So if a wine continues to improve as it sits in your glass, chances are it's worth cellaring. If it tastes still better a few hours later, you can safely invest in several bottles and forget about them in your cellar for a few years.
A word about decanting, or the process of pouring wine from the bottle into a larger, carafe-like vessel. We decant wines for one of two primary reasons:
• To leave behind the sedimentary deposit that builds up in most full-bodied red wines after five to eight years. If you are decanting for this reason, do so in front of a light source, such as a candle or small flashlight. As you pour the wine from the bottle into the decanter or carafe, stop pouring when the sediment begins to be visible at the neck of the bottle.
• To aerate a young wine. This is the more frequent rationale for decanting red wines, and it can enhance your enjoyment of any young, full-flavored red (or even white) wine. In this case a rough decanting (no worries about sediment), just glugging it into a carafe, suffices.
If decanting makes sense for the wine you are serving, ensure you do it far enough ahead of time to enjoy its benefits, generally fifteen to thirty minutes prior to drinking.
GLASSWARE
The average person doesn't need and can't store ninety different types of glasses matched to each and every kind of wine. But the style of glassware does affect the enjoyment of wine, and, if you can, you should have a small assortment: white wine glasses, different glasses for older and younger reds, and smaller glasses for dessert wine. If you are truly pressed for space, choose one very good all-purpose glass: it should have a reasonably long stem, a bowl of about five to six fingers' height and tapering toward the rim (which should be sheer rather than beaded), and a capacity of eleven to fifteen ounces. If you can, select a ten- to fifteen-ounce all-purpose glass for whites and a high-quality glass with a capacity of fifteen to twenty-three ounces for reds. Champagne flutes are a great addition: choose glasses that are tall, with a slightly tapered sheer rim and a capacity of six to nine ounces. If you can add glasses for dessert wines, choose a smaller all-purpose glass with a tapered, sheer rim and a capacity of approximately eight ounces. Lead crystal is lovely, of course, but if that's too expensive or too fragile for your style, choose blown glass in preference to molded glass. Reputable and widely available, Riedel, Spiegelau, and Schott-Zwiesel glasses come in a range of styles.
THE 20/20 RULE
