When I taste a wine I'm not bothered about what style it is not it's chemical composition nor method used but:
* the strength of it's bouquet and whether I like it
* does the taste match the bouquet and again whether I liked it
* the length and strength of the finish .
If I'm at a tasting I'll try to taste them all without swallowing them. The ones I rate as excellent on all counts I'll try them at towards the end of the tasting and drink the best 3 or 4 ones that I liked.
I'd then get a couple of bottles if they're less than £16 to try with food at home and then buy some more if I still really liked them.
In the 510 tasting notes I have from the last 22 years only 39 got my highest approval. In the last 6 years most were under £10 a bottle.
What I would like to know is why don’t the food ingredient regulations apply to wine? Once your supermarket trolley reaches the wine section a veil of secrecy descends. Yes, there maybe a reference to ‘sulphites’ but no mention of the amount added so we can contrast and compare. So do we generally assume no colouring, stabilisers, flavouring , flavour enhancers, water, acidity regulators, sweeteners and other various E-Numbers are not included and if not why not say so?
It seem to me that the silence of the wine producers/trade buyers/journalists says it’s worth shining a bright light to answer the question - just what are we drinking?.
We subscribe to Naked wines which I love as feel we’re also supporting small wineries that wouldn’t always get noticed and have been so happy with the quality of wine we receive.
Other the obvious suggestions of an indicator or taste and what it would be vest paired with is love for the best time to drink range to be included, as know some wines are better to be left, although never know for how long and don’t want to then open a bottle which has been left “too long” which in fairness is unlikely to happen too often!
I “suspect” many of us do not have sufficiently trained taste buds to get much of the flavours (hint of gooseberry with peach and twiglets kind of thing), so I like to get a sense of the winemaker, I want to know if it is powerful with a good finish. I like to know where is was bottled and the vineyard concerned.
And is it good value, we are all looking for that special under the wire wine.
Everything you’ve mentioned is important but I also like a bit of back story about the winemaker and location of the vineyard etc. This is why I love to visit vineyards (in France mainly) and have the chance to talk to the people making the wine. I think that’s my favourite thing about wine - the sense of people, place and meaning. I guess I mean the terroir!
I’ve enjoyed the wine society tastings because they give some of this kind of information in their tasting notes.
Hi Fiona - enjoying your blog and very interested on the information that is (and especially what is not included !) on a wine label when buying a bottle.
All labels say 'contains sulphites' (but not how much as in ppm) and as all wines, I believe, contain sulphites it's meaningless. Also what about declaring any artificial additives (i.e industrial chemicals) that may have been added to the wine to enhance it's taste, nose and texture.
When I taste a wine I'm not bothered about what style it is not it's chemical composition nor method used but:
* the strength of it's bouquet and whether I like it
* does the taste match the bouquet and again whether I liked it
* the length and strength of the finish .
If I'm at a tasting I'll try to taste them all without swallowing them. The ones I rate as excellent on all counts I'll try them at towards the end of the tasting and drink the best 3 or 4 ones that I liked.
I'd then get a couple of bottles if they're less than £16 to try with food at home and then buy some more if I still really liked them.
In the 510 tasting notes I have from the last 22 years only 39 got my highest approval. In the last 6 years most were under £10 a bottle.
Non of the above!
What I would like to know is why don’t the food ingredient regulations apply to wine? Once your supermarket trolley reaches the wine section a veil of secrecy descends. Yes, there maybe a reference to ‘sulphites’ but no mention of the amount added so we can contrast and compare. So do we generally assume no colouring, stabilisers, flavouring , flavour enhancers, water, acidity regulators, sweeteners and other various E-Numbers are not included and if not why not say so?
It seem to me that the silence of the wine producers/trade buyers/journalists says it’s worth shining a bright light to answer the question - just what are we drinking?.
Christopher Pearson, Llandeilo,West Wales.
We subscribe to Naked wines which I love as feel we’re also supporting small wineries that wouldn’t always get noticed and have been so happy with the quality of wine we receive.
Other the obvious suggestions of an indicator or taste and what it would be vest paired with is love for the best time to drink range to be included, as know some wines are better to be left, although never know for how long and don’t want to then open a bottle which has been left “too long” which in fairness is unlikely to happen too often!
I “suspect” many of us do not have sufficiently trained taste buds to get much of the flavours (hint of gooseberry with peach and twiglets kind of thing), so I like to get a sense of the winemaker, I want to know if it is powerful with a good finish. I like to know where is was bottled and the vineyard concerned.
And is it good value, we are all looking for that special under the wire wine.
Everything you’ve mentioned is important but I also like a bit of back story about the winemaker and location of the vineyard etc. This is why I love to visit vineyards (in France mainly) and have the chance to talk to the people making the wine. I think that’s my favourite thing about wine - the sense of people, place and meaning. I guess I mean the terroir!
I’ve enjoyed the wine society tastings because they give some of this kind of information in their tasting notes.
Hi Fiona - enjoying your blog and very interested on the information that is (and especially what is not included !) on a wine label when buying a bottle.
All labels say 'contains sulphites' (but not how much as in ppm) and as all wines, I believe, contain sulphites it's meaningless. Also what about declaring any artificial additives (i.e industrial chemicals) that may have been added to the wine to enhance it's taste, nose and texture.
How long to keep it ie is it better to drink now or leave it for a while.
An actual dryness scale would be useful too. 1-5 with 1 being the driest.