Great Wine Made Simple - Andrea Immer [20]
The Fourth Wine Pair—Tannic
This tasting will teach your tongue what tannin is—a texture, not a taste. Some people like wines with a lot of tannin, and some prefer wines where the tannin isn’t as prominent. Here we feature a Pinot Noir (low tannin) versus a Cabernet Sauvignon (high tannin) so you can see the difference. In later chapters we will explore the clues on the label (grapes, regions, etc.) that tip you off to wines that are especially tannic. Here is how the two wines compare:
Do you like the tannic wine? Many red wine fans like that style very much because it’s bold and intense. Although I love Pinot Noir, I enjoy the tannic Cabernet Sauvignon, too. It immediately makes me think of food—specifically, a great steak or a good piece of cheese. That is because tannin is very easily tamed by protein and fat, both of which coat your tongue, letting the tannin slide right past without drying it out. Now you see why these are two of the classic wine and food matches: red wine with steak, and red wine with cheese. Next time you head out to a steakhouse for red meat, you’ll know exactly what wine to order.
Speaking of knowing what to order, let’s do a progress report. You have learned the taste and style of the Big Six wine grapes, and equipped yourself with the Wine Buyer’s Toolbox of major wine style words—body (light, medium, full), dry, crisp, oaky, and tannic. In fact, just these two easy tasting lessons put you in about the ninety-fifth percentile for wine knowledge, which is way ahead of most restaurant waiters and wine shop clerks. But this isn’t about competition. It is about feeling comfortable choosing a wine that fits your taste. You are now equipped to do that.
But we’re only just beginning. You don’t need to learn everything there is to know about wine. But there is a lot more that I want to share with you that will make your wine-buying life easier and more economical, and your wining and dining life (whether at home or in a restaurant) immeasurably more exciting. It’s time to apply your wine knowledge to unlocking the simple secrets of the wine label.
CHAPTER THREE
News You Can Use on the Wine Label
Congratulations are in order. By now, you know how to ask for a wine that is light-, medium-, or full-bodied and (more important) what it will be like when you do. You know the taste and body style of the white grapes Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay; and the reds Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah—the Blue Chips of the wine grape world. And finally, you are equipped with the power tools in the Wine Buyer’s Toolbox—dry, crisp, oaky, and tannic. In short, when it comes to wine, you rule.
You could stop here, if you weren’t having so much fun cruising the wine shops, head high, exploring your new mastery of at least two-thirds of what’s there. You could hang up your tasting glass if you weren’t basking in the glow of your new status with restaurant waiters as you deftly handle most any wine list. But if you think that’s fun, let me tell you this: We’ve barely scratched the surface. No doubt about it, you have hit your stride, but this is also where the wine buyer’s equivalent of endorphins kicks in. It seems effortless to go on to new heights—and it is. I’ll show you how.
In this chapter we will do two things. First, we will look a bit more closely at three of the major elements in the Wine Buyer’s Toolbox—body style, oakiness, and tannin—because there are quite a few easy label cues that will help you pinpoint these styles. Second, we will go beyond the major grape varieties and toolbox terms to some other helpful label words, and our tasting lessons will explore the different styles and flavors that they reveal. What we’ll learn here is mainly designed for supermarket and wine shop situations,