Description

Discover how three key parameters can significantly shape the tasting experience.

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Transcription

• Speaker #0

  Welcome to Wine in 5, the podcast to discover the world of wine and to develop your knowledge. Hello, my name is Beatrice Domini, I'm the Enologist for Divine. Very happy to share this moment with Alistair Cooper, Master of Wine. Good morning, Ali.

• Speaker #1

  Good morning, Beatrice. Lovely to be here.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah, and again, welcome to Wine in 5.

• Speaker #1

  Thank you very much. So what's today's topic?

• Speaker #0

  Today's topic is about tasting. I think there are elements that are influencing our way of tasting wine. I would call it the three pillars of tasting.

• Speaker #1

  Which would be?

• Speaker #0

  The glassware. Okay. The temperature. Yep. and aeration.

• Speaker #1

  Three very important factors, I believe, when it comes to properly enjoying a wine, yeah.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah, I think the glass is just almost the most important thing in a sense that sometimes you have like a very, very basic glass and you're just thinking, it's funny this wine doesn't taste like, you know, it used to.

• Speaker #1

  Absolutely. I think glassware... It's one of those things that you can fall down a rabbit hole, as we say in the UK, and you can get so into different types of glassware. But undoubtedly, there are certain rules, I think, with glassware. You know, and to urge anyone out there, if you think it may not be true, pour a glass of wine into a coffee mug and then pour it into a nice glass, a nice Riedel glass or whatever it may be, and taste the difference. There's absolutely no way that the wines will taste the same. so I think there's certain things aren't there bitches with a wine glass that make a difference. So the shape of the glass being one, the thinness of the glass perhaps being another, possibly the two most important things. And certain companies, you know, Riedel is possibly the most famous glass company and they have developed, they have a scientific approach, don't they, where every particular style of wine has its own glass that enables the wine to hit your palate in a certain way that is suitable for that particular wine.

• Speaker #0

  It's quite a nice experience. I did it actually once and I was surprised. And even the first time I did it with water and I was thinking as being a scientific, well, that's, I won't say the word, but I think, you know, you know what I mean? And no, actually I tasted differently. And that's an amazing thing, but not everybody can have sort of 10 different glasses for tasting. And I think one glass sometimes is quite convenient and can have the most qualities that we are expecting. to do a proper tasting.

• Speaker #1

  Absolutely. And I think that you can take it, just with any subject, you can take it really deep and have all of this. But the reality is several things that you need. You need possibly a tulip-shaped glass so you can concentrate the aromas. You need a large-ish bowl. But again, it depends on the grape variety. But for a red, perhaps a slightly larger bowl and then a thinner thing. And thin-ish glass as well, because I think if you have a thick rim, it can interrupt the flow of the wine into your mouth as well. So yeah, I think glassware, is a fascinating topic. But I think equally the second one, temperature.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah, because I said it's most important. And at the same time, we're thinking, no, we definitely don't have to forget about temperature.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah, temperature is a really, really important one. And I know, I don't know if it's the same in France, but certainly in the UK, there is a tendency for people to drink their white wines too cold and their red wines actually too warm.

• Speaker #0

  I think that's universal.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah, it is, isn't it? And I think that, you know, there was the old adage in that you drink your red wines at room temperature. But room temperature 50, 60, 70 years ago, there was no central heating. It was slightly different. So now, you know, most people's houses now are 22, 23 degrees. That's too warm for a red wine. It should be probably 15 to 18 degrees, in my opinion. Again, there's no right or wrong. If you like it warm, go for it. But I think between 15 and 18 degrees is important. And with a white wine, if it's too cold, you don't get any of the nuance in the wine.

• Speaker #0

  No, you're right. You know, at dvine, it's actually what we recommend. Our wines are served between, I think the coolest will be 11, but most of them are between 12 and maybe up to 14, depending on, you know, the quality and the structure of the wine. And for reds, from 16 to 18, I think. So we definitely match what you're saying. Yeah, absolutely. And last thing we were talking about was aeration. Someone needs...

• Speaker #1

  to breathe they if they're too young they might not show all their potential no i think aeration is a really really important one and decanting a wine you can either decanter wine you can pour it into a decanter or you can use an aeration device obviously divine is a different thing it has it built into the machine which is an incredible piece of technology to sort of accelerate that aeration process but young red wines tend to need aeration oxygen exposing it to oxygen accelerates the process of oxidation essentially oxygen is the enemy of wine in the long term you know if you leave a glass of wine out it turns to vinegar and older wines possibly need less aeration because they're fragile but a younger red wine and even a younger white wine can really benefit from aeration to open up and allow those flavors to develop more quickly

• Speaker #0

  It's very interesting that you mentioned white as well, because most people will definitely think of decanting a red wine, but not for white. And actually it will benefit any, I would say, very young wine will benefit a minimum of aeration.

• Speaker #1

  I totally agree. I totally agree. But yeah, it's not common wisdom to do that. So, yeah, hopefully people will try it now.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah, I hope so. Thank you very much, Ali. A very interesting conversation about this. a few elements that will actually influence on your next day's.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah, and hopefully allow people to enjoy them just that little bit more.

• Speaker #0

  Okay, bye-bye. Bye-bye.