Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
From August through October, you'll probably see every available hand in the
Wine Country harvesting the grapes. For a single vineyard it takes only a day—
perhaps just a few hours—to pick the grapes, since they need to be as fresh and
cool as possible. After the grapes are harvested, the vines hopefully have the
chance to grow for a few more weeks, storing energy in the form of carbohydrates
that will sustain them to the next spring.
After cold nights in November and December, the first winter rains knock the
vibrant-colored leaves off the vines, which then go dormant until March and
April, when they start the cycle again.
HOW TO TASTE WINE
Sampling the goods, otherwise known as
wine tasting,
ranks as the primary ritual
in Wine Country touring. There are literally 200 or so tasting rooms, both stand-
alone and within wineries, and the virtues in wine take time to notice. Most of
the attendants in tasting rooms know that, generally speaking, Americans drink
very little wine (10% of the population drinks more than 85% of the wine con-
sumed), so they're used to helping people notice the flavors that their wineries are
most proud of. If you encounter a staffer with attitude (unfortunately, it hap-
pens), don't buy
any
of that wine and simply move on to the next stop.
The time-honored techniques for tasting wine involve three steps: a good look,
a good smell, and a good sip of each wine. You'll learn about wine most quickly
if you compare samples, ideally side by side. Tasting rooms in Napa and Sonoma
have their own regimens, usually offering a series of wines in what's called a
flight.
When it seems appropriate, and when the tasting room is not too busy, ask your
host if you can do some comparisons.
Color can be a sign of a wine's condition, of its health, even of its age. White
wines that show any browning might be going “over the hill” and have a musty,
baked smell. Red wines that show a lot of rusty red might also be past their prime,
and reds that show a lot of purple are probably young.
Next comes smelling. Why does the waiter in a restaurant ask the head of the
table to sniff wine before pouring full glasses? Not really to see if they like it, but
to make sure that bottle has fermented properly and isn't mere vinegar better
suited to salad dressing. Wine can be tainted, usually by harmless contaminants
in the cork or the barrels, a bit too easily. That's one reason bottles are usually
stored on their side—to keep the cork moist and the seal strong.
Assuming your wine is fine, a decently shaped wineglass will direct a lot of aro-
mas to your nose. Swirling the glass helps excite the fragrances. Comparing the
“noses” of two or three wines can be very revealing, but possibly a bit frustrating,
too: You “see” differences with your nose but might stumble when you try to
describe them. It's not easy to describe the fragrances and flavors in wine. We're
mostly reduced to similes and metaphors, to comparing wines with more familiar
substances. A lot of wine writing is inadvertently humorous; some of it qualifies
as bad poetry. Don't fret over the inadequacies of language to describe wine. Call
us philistines or call us populists, but we think the enjoyment of wine is about
you,
and what
you
discover you like.
Despite all the ambiguity in wine descriptors, the words
aroma
and
bouquet
do
possess separate meanings (though on the street we use them almost interchange-
ably).
Aroma
points to the characteristic smell of the various grape varieties, which
