Taste

The next stage is to taste the wine. Take a decent sized gulp then swish around the mouth, ideally sucking some air through it. Your tongue can detect only 4 taste sensations - sweet, bitter, acid and salt. Of these, sweet and acid are present in wine, and occasionally a little bitterness.

It is important for a wine to be well balanced. For a white wine, this involves a play off between body and acidity, whilst for a red wine there is a third factor to take into the equation, which is the tannins.

Generally the sunny climate of the Languedoc produces rich, full-bodied white wines with low acidity, which we have generally classified as apéritif wines, however it is also possible to find lighter wines with notes of citrus fruit, which work well with seafood or with white meat. Sweet dessert wines are also an interesting case, as we find that the best sweet wines also have quite a pronounced and refreshing element of acidity, which stops them from becoming too heavy.

Whilst acidity is not something one normally associates with red wines, there can be pronounced differences. Try one of our St-Georges d'Orques wines, which frequently display a pleasing verve, and contrast with a Faugères, which will be smooth and supple. In general however, the Languedoc wines display an even balance between acidity, tannins and body.

Tannins provide red wine with its structure and enable the wine to age. Too much tannin causes the proteins in saliva to coagulate, leaving the mucous membranes of the mouth unlubricated, and results in a drying and astringent sensation. With age the tannins become chemically modified, losing this astringent quality. Tannins are an important aspect of red wine, without which the wine can seem flat and lifeless, they can give a clean tingle in the mouth and an aftertaste of liquorice or black pepper.

On tasting, some warmed wine aromas diffuse up to the smell-sensitive part inside the nose via the throat - this is called retro-olfaction. Retro-olfaction can give rise to some aromas that were not detectable when you sniffed the wine in the glass. This is because some aromatic chemicals are modified by the heat and enzymes in the mouth.

One finale attribute of a wine that can be considered after swallowing is its 'length', how long in seconds does the flavour and aroma linger unaltered in the mouth? A decent quality wine should linger for at least 4 seconds, whilst 8 and upwards indicates a 'grand vin'.

Last word

Remember that there is no right and wrong in wine tasting - we are all sensitive to different things or can be "blind" to certain smells. Outside smells and tastes can interfere with a tasting, as can your mood. The most important is to keep practising and to enjoy the wines!