News & views

In praise of mindful wine tasting

Posted by Fiona Beckett on March 26 2020 at 06:17

A post from the archives that still holds good today ...

The other day I spent a good hour thinking about just four wines I was going to feature in a tasting*. I went back to them several times then re-tried them the next day to get the best sense I could of what they had to offer and how they’d pair with food.

That’s the absolute antithesis of the way professional wine tasters normally proceed. Huge line-up of wines. Pick up a glass, swirl, nose, slurp, spit. Repeat 150-odd times.

If you’re an experienced taster it reveals what the standout wines are and which are the ones not worth bothering about it but it in no way replicates the way the people we’re writing for would drink those wines, sipping (or - OK - gulping) them over a period of time, usually with a meal. There’s absolutely no joy in it.

Round about the same time I also tried - and re-tried - a case of six Beaujolais which changed massively in the 48 hours I had them open. The showier ones didn’t always stay showy. The more retiring ones that had tasted a bit one-dimensional often blossomed with a particular food (I tried them with different types of charcuterie and cheeses).

The way wines reveal themselves once the bottle is open gives you an insight to the way they will age. Tasting over a period of time also evens out the particular circumstances of the moment: the conditions in the room, the state of mind you’re in - even whether you’re tasting on a fruit or root day**, The mere act of swallowing rather than spitting is a more relaxed, less aggressive process that allows you to appreciate flavours and textures in the wine that might otherwise go undetected.

In an ideal world one would always taste wines over a certain price level - say £10 - like this. Why not cheaper wines too? Because they’re less complex, WISIWYG (What you See is What you Get) wines, designed for immediate consumption. But a more expensive wine will evolve in the glass and in the bottle as air interacts with it.

Until we all became overly concerned about putting people off wine the art of tasting was referred to as wine appreciation, a more accurate description of trying to understand what a wine is all about. Maybe we should use a more on-trend description these days - mindful wine tasting - for thinking more deeply about wine. I plan to do more of it.

* the wines, if you're interested, were a Bruno Giacosa Roero Arneis, an Askos Verdeca, a Tiefenbrunner Lagrein and a Querciabella Chianti Classico, all from Armit Wines

** the term comes from the biodynamic calendar which divides the year up into four types of day - fruit and flower days (better for tasting) and leaf and root days (less good). Sounds like a lot of mumbo-jumbo but it’s surprising how often I find when I’m disappointed in a wine it turns out to be a leaf or a root day. Read more about biodynamics here.

You might also enjoy this longer post on the variables of wine tasting

Tags: biodynamics mindful tasting wine tasting
Comments: 3

A day in the life of a wine writer

Posted by Fiona Beckett on May 13 2015 at 08:16

I wouldn’t say that yesterday was a typical day in the life of this particular wine writer but it was certainly an eclectic one, starting with one huge supermarket tasting (Asda), going on to a Dom Pérignon lunch and finishing with another one (Morrisons).

Few would regard that as anything like work but it takes its toll on the tastebuds so I thought I might pose myself the kind of questions my friends and relatives tend to ask:

So how many wines did you taste?

Hmmm, about 180 I’d guess

How could you possibly taste anything by the end of it?

Good question. The fact is that you’re not going to taste as well at the end of the day as you do at the beginning, particularly after a *cough* Dom Perignon lunch at which not much (actually no) spitting was done. But you get enough of an idea to tell whether it’s a cracking wine or ... er....crap

But don’t your personal preferences come into that?

Yes and no. I must say 20-odd young sauvignon blancs become quite wearisome as does a line-up of huge, overripe 14.5% reds but you try and look at them from the perspective of readers who like those styles. You can still tell which are the stars

Doesn’t it make you drunk?

Not drunk precisely but you do inevitably absorb some alcohol through the lining of your mouth. I wouldn’t want to drive after a tasting

What’s Dom Pérignon like?

Pretty extraordinary. In the case of the 2005 which was being released yesterday, exotically rich, honeyed and vinous - i.e. it’s not just for quaffing at a party. We also ‘tasted’ - i.e. drank - the 1998 and 1971 which costs a cool £1801 at Hedonism

Blimey! So how much is the 2005?

£130.

That seems a bargain by comparison. But is it worth four times the average champagne?

Oooo, tricky one. For most people the answer's obviously no but it’s not about value for money, it’s about style, theatre, entertainment .... Think of the fashion industry. You can get cheaper shoes than Jimmy Choos but if you want them and can afford them you buy them. DP is an experience not just a drink. (Makes note to self to use that line somewhere)

Would you buy it?

If money were no object, yes. Given the current state of my bank balance, no.

So what did you eat?

An elegant little crab, raw asparagus and samphire salad. A simply gorgeous dish of guineafowl with broad beans and lashings of tarragon butter and gariguette strawberries with set cream (panna cotta to you and me) and brown butter and rye shortbreads. Cooked by Skye Gyngell of Spring (to which you should go by the way. Particularly at this time of year)

OK, let’s get back to the real world shall we? What about the supermarket tastings? Which was better - Asda or Morrisons?

If you like crisp Italian whites the 2014 M Signature Verdicchio is a real bargain from Morrisons at £5.49. And Asda’s Extra Special Douro 2013 - a big dense spicy red made from the same varieties as port - is a steal at £5. Look out for these vintages though. I can’t vouch for the earlier ones