Wine Lessons: How To Differentiate Good From Bad Wine (Part 3/3)

LESSON #3: What Is The Correct Temperature For Wine? (Part 3/3)
Is serving red wine at room temperature just a cute way of asking what's the right temperature for wine to get drunk?

Click here to read Part 2

The Finish
The "finish" is a wine jargon referring to the length of time the aftertaste lingers on after we have swallowed (or spat) the wine. You can easily measure it yourself in number of seconds. A long finish of over 10 seconds is a sign of quality. It is an excellent way to verify your assessment on the concentration and overall quality of a wine. Some great wines linger on for 30 to 60 seconds.

Length is not the only thing to watch in the finish although a long finish is always a desirable thing. The finish has to also retain the qualities manifested by the wine while it was still in the mouth. It should neither turn sour for example nor should the astringency of bitter tannins start to dominate.

Sometimes all that is left in the finish is a dry ugly woodsy taste. A long extension of a lovely flavor well after spitting or swallowing really separates the good from the ordinary. In other words, the finish should be just as well-balanced as the flavors while the wine was still in the mouth. What does well-balanced mean? Please read on.

Well-Balanced
This is the quintessential condition for greatness. A wine has poor balance if anything sticks out at all, even if that particular feature appeals to you. The major flavor components of wine are: tannins, acidity, (fruity) sweetness, alcohol and wood. They have to function in harmony coming at you like one single wall of flavors. None of these components should dominate. There is no solo performance just one tightly knit symphony of well-proportioned flavors.

Balance is the hardest virtue to achieve in wine. To deliver perfect balance, everything has to be done to perfection in the making of the wine. A thousand things can go wrong to upset the balance. For example if the grapes are unripe - not enough sun in the summer - the resulting wine will taste green.

It will lack the concentration of fruit flavors to counter the green acidity of unripe grapes in the wine. A heat wave like what happened in 2003 could cause the sugar content of the grape escalate to excessive levels resulting in a wine that is extremely high in alcohol.

Acidity comes from the cold which is in abundance in most parts of Europe. For regions like Australia and certain parts of America, with less drastic climates a lot of wines starve for acidity
Good balance is absolutely essential for a wine to improve and achieve greatness with age.

Balance doesn't come with age. Poor balance aggravates in time because the component(s) that sticks out will do so in more daring fashion as the wine gathers age.

Knowing how to taste wines in a systematic and consistent manner rectify our incapacity to choose because of confusion.

After a few more dozens of bottles, all of us should be able to evaluate a wine to determine its real economic value and judge for ourselves in an objective manner if for example a $20 bottle is indeed worth more than a $30 bottle.

Lastly, before we write out a big check to buy a few cases of just-released expensive wines to add to our cellars, we can use this ability to form our own opinions instead of relying totally on ratings and notes that are based on a stranger's palate.

Oh, one more thing: please do not confuse your like or dislike of a wine for its quality. Like or dislike is a matter of personal preference. Quality is not.

Source: How To Differentiate Good From Bad Wine