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Tasting: Comparing Whites without Oak

Lesson 7 from: Become a Great Wine Taster

Richard Betts

Tasting: Comparing Whites without Oak

Lesson 7 from: Become a Great Wine Taster

Richard Betts

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Lesson Info

7. Tasting: Comparing Whites without Oak

Lesson Info

Tasting: Comparing Whites without Oak

I think we should do the reasoning. So pick it up. And what is it? Right in the middle? What color? This is the darkest of the three. Right? When we picked him up and compared all three of them, remember that? I thought Part me. I'm calling this on the darkest, but but I think that there's a different tinge. Insider? Yes, it's redder that you said Awesome. High five. That's I'm so glad you said that. It's gonna be great. So let's remember that it's kind of brassy. That's super super important. Super important. Okay, so what? How would we describe this? The reasoning. Yellow gold, yellow gold. Okay, great. And do you see any of the green stuff we saw in the last one? Okay. Cool. Then let's keep going. Um, how bright is it? Is this bright? I'm good with bright. Awesome. And is there any sediment? Uh, no. Is there any gas? Yes. Yes. Is the right answer. Who said Yes, You did. Exactly. So what's it doing? The bubbles? Yeah, they're just hanging out on the side. Right, But it's not rising. ...

So this is where you want to start to make that distinction is that? Yes, yes, there's some gas. Some co two, but it's not rising. As in, it would have Champaign, right? Everyone feel the difference. And it's just these little bits of co two and around the side, and it's just because it's a young wine. It's 2013 in fact, and it's just un absorb co two. That was part of winemaking process, and it hasn't all dissipated yet, and eventually that will go away. But, you know, if you remember on the initial conclusion when we're looking at the age ranges of 0 to 55 to 10 well, that little bit of UN absorbs CO two is gonna tell you it's a clue that this is young, right? Okay, so so good for you for catching that. That's awesome. You guys are getting good. And then how about viscosity? Hi. Why? Um, there's no tears there. No tears? Exactly. There are no tears opposite opposite. Yeah. Yep, it's low. And there no tears like it's just just falling straight back in. It is so low. There no tears. That's a trip. So what does that tell you? But the alcohol low alcohol is that this pretty cool even sooner. These yet? Have you? Yeah. So low alcohol via low viscosity. Good with that. What does that tell us? Low alcohol, The acid? No. It could tell us two things. What could tell the ace that it was not very ripe. Right? Or it could tell us that there's that we didn't fully ferment all the sugar. That's the sweetness. That so it wouldn't the alcohol be true. Or what? If you did for men all the sugar, then it wasn't his. Right? Okay. What? It and let's make an inference about where it's from. Then the old world. No, there. Lots of cold, cold. Exactly. So continuing. Connecting those dots cold climate. Right. So smell it. I'm actually surprised at how reserve it is. Just trip, but what do you smell? Apple? I think Apple good with that. Here. Awesome. What kind of hair? Right pair of green pear green. Here. I'm gonna talk. Yeah, definitely. Pardon. Bartlett Bartlett. Great. Nice. What else? I feel like a cherry cider element like cherry juice. So as the smell sort of slate like this was like wet river stones. You get that? Yeah. Flint. Awesome. OK, so we're all honing in on this. That's good. Maple syrup, maple syrup. That's kind of fun, but I don't know, but I like it. I'm maybe I'm I can't totally connect this until you taste it, but it sounds a little bit like you're smelling some things that remind you of something sweet, which is in turn in your mind. That right, that's cool. So now the fun part is like unraveling that figure out how you got there. That's awesome. But good for you for throwing out there. It's a now you know what? That's the best example we could hope for of using your own language. It is awesome. It is awesome. What else do we smell? I'm not sure where, exactly, but some of that caramel flavor. I mean, it has to do with the sugar, but something being toasted or so Do you think this is a joke? No, I almost want to say yes. Does it smell like the chardonnay smell in that capacity? Either of them? In fact, you do. OK, cool. All right, so let's say maybe that's that's the beauty of this is you just and good for you for saying it in you to Do you make honest, candid observations like Okay, maple syrup, caramel. What does it mean? What? We're not sure yet. And you say, Maybe it does smell like it could be evidence of oak. So there's That's why we say that's exactly why we say, OK, it smells like oak. No, we don't do that. We say, What is it? Smells like the evidence of oak. So make the conclusion. Just present the findings did I mean so good for you. So we have potentially some caramel, which may suggest something will find out what right? Anything else you want to say about what you smell? Pineapple. I love that good. Great. So a little exotic. Think that's important? What else? White peach, me, white peach. I'm definitely good with that. Also leaning on the exotic side over here. That's good. What else? Just anything else. Maybe a little lime. I'm good with that. That's that's very important thinking about the balance equation. You know, it's kind of interesting. Start thinking about that teeter totter in advance when Yep. So let's. Let's use Lyman. Let's taste it. Okay, it's again. Switch it all around, get some air through it. Yummy. Okay. But right now, what is your mouth doing? And what is your doing? Same thing that mine's doing watering. So do That's the teeter totter. That's the balance, right? You said it was really sweet. And now what are the It's really dry. So that's the balance, right? If you didn't have all that acid, you just be sitting over here in the sweet seat. It would suck, you know, and usually. All right, get it. And you have a glass. When are we done? But because it has all this acid, which we're gonna quantify in a minute, and that sort of sneaky piece brings it right back into balance. Then it works. That's pretty cool. Okay, so just talk to me. What do you taste? Ignore the slide for a second. Big right. Peach. Big right. Peach. Awesome. That white or orange in color. It's orange in color. Okay, cool. Good with that. You're gonna go with these guys? Cool. What else? Getting like a mixture of them, maybe Like a caramel apple. Okay. Caramel apple. Like an enhanced natural. Sweet. Yes. Okay. Enhanced app. So maybe like cooked apples? Yeah. As opposed. Annapolis dipped in caramel. Yeah, but you actually cook the fruit, right? That caramel. Exactly. Caramelization that happens. Yeah. Apple honey. Crisp apple. Cool. I like that. What else do you taste? Mangoes. Great. This might be a stretch, but you know, how long have you caramelized onions? It's take something that maybe is more dry or like savory and to the sweet. It's kind of like a good balance of that. It's not, like overly sweet. You know, there's a substance. I don't think that's a stretch. I think that's genius. That's really, really good and good for you. It does have substance. And it has, um, it's ah, you know. I mean, I think to me that then takes us into the minerality of it. It's like a little like savory, salty slate e something that you mommy thing, right, that fifth thing that we actually taste, it feels like it has some of that. Do you taste anything? You sort of that I don't know. Like you have a rock or maybe a pieces key in your mouth or something. I felt I mean, used to be a geologist, bite rocks all the time feels I mean, I feel that? Yeah, yeah. No, it does. Does your key And has that kind of 20. Anything that metal does, that's pretty cool. So what does that come from? Earth? That's amazing, right? What else? What else do we taste? Where the maple syrup go? I don't know. It's not there. It's not there, is it? What a trip. Super weird. So, like the caramelized thing? It could be the caramelized thing about that. That's triggering, maybe. Yeah. Yep. Ends caramelized fruit. But it's not caramel itself, right? Right. There's there's a separation there. What else do we taste like the pipe feeling? Yeah, exactly. What else do we taste? The weight compared? Certainly the last one. So much more weight, mid palate. And just there's a ton of weight. What does that come from? S u G A R. Yeah. Sugar. Sugar? Yeah, it's there's really sweetness to this. Or is a riel differently? There's a real residual sugar element to it, like there's a lot of sugar still in it, unfermented to your earlier point. But it's balanced by all that acid, right? Okay, so we have a great list of fruits that I think place is firmly again on this exotic side, Um, earthy. We've got the key. Got the rocks. The sort of slate, savory thing born out of the caramelized onions. And I think that's a really great thing is really smart. Really great distinction that yes, there are some sweet elements, but they have that savoury route. I think that's really smart. It keeps it from being just closing a sweet. Yeah, I feel I feel the tension there is. Good. Um, did we taste anything? Okay. No. Yeah. Okay, so that's a really cool moment. So where you like, you smell like Okay, maybe it's their awesome. Keep the possibility alive. That's why we always keep asking question. You ask. You didn't hear. It's like, you know what? I smelled something, but I don't taste it. And so therefore, there's actually no you would on this one at all. In fact, there's not. So that's good. Tannins again Don't matter alcohol. What's the level of alcohol here? Think about alcohol. Think about acid, does it that those are the two big questions here. Number just sheeted. Just like ran right back down the glass. Yeah. So? So low. 9%. He said. Like that it's actually 8.5, so that's a good guess. So it's really low right? That's pretty much as low as we'll see. Right, That's pretty low. 8.5%. So low alcohol, which means a lot of the for mental sugar was actually left in there. So when right, we need to taste that you like, Oh, it's so sweet. It has a lot of sugar, but is it a sweet wine? In balance? It's not right. Okay, so it has low alcohol. So what does the acid have to be by inference? If this thing, if it had all the sugar, what does he ask? It have to be to bring it back. The acid has to be high, has to sit on the teeter totter and bring it back in about so ripped and acid, probably the same as the Sauvignon Blanc. Except it has all that sugar. And to me, that's that's like the genius of that look right there. Is that OK? Yeah, it has exactly same acid like really high, but has all that sugar so you can play one way or the other is like, Oh, it's sweet. That's been balanced by acid. Or you could say it's really high acid that's been ameliorated by the residual sugar. So it's so it's again, not what you wear. It's how you wear it, right? You gotta have these things to balance him out. You got to feel good about that. Makes sense, doesn't it? Okay, um, length finishes forever. Finishes forever. Yeah. And what does it taste like? It keeps changing. I love the integration of the fruit between the apple in the pineapple in the peach. Just getting totally like I just I ate a jolly rancher. The apple jolly rancher. Yes, I love that. The same taste afterward. Awesome. That's so good. It's so good. Okay, so the length would be high or long, right? And then balance. Yeah, heck, yeah, Yeah, definitely my favorite. Yeah. Yeah, it's pretty. It's pretty lovable. Um, yeah, I'm and the guy who makes it's also pretty lovable. Josie lights is awesome. But any questions about this one? Yes. So when you're talking about balancing balancing the acidity and the sugar and the alcohol is that the three or alcohol? It's a side effect of the balance. No alcohol, alcohol can be played part of it, because it does. Give it, give it roundness, gives it volume. Um, and and it can for sure feel out of balance and or hot if there's just too much alcohol and doesn't wear it. Well, the alcohol needs stuffing around it, too. Um, to, actually, So you don't just perceive the alcohol, you perceive the other stuff. So that that plays a factor. It tends to sit over here with the fruit. I think sometimes sometimes there sometimes it takes its own seat with red wines. Tomorrow we'll see. We add yet another seat, and that's for the tannins, right? So they they start to contribute to this whole thing of balance. And so it's not just in two dimensions it actually it moves in many dimensions. Yeah. What else? I'm sorry. Was that Do they do that one in old oak barrels? Um, you know, I don't know if you are honest, Is this an old oak or stainless steel? But either way, the affected will be being neutral. Yeah, I just was curious. Yeah, what else? So now is it just coincidence? We had, um, earlier a sweet smelling line that was very acidic or not sweet and higher alcohol. And now, like this one, the reasoning didn't taste or smell too sweet. But then when you taste it, you got all that sugar. Is that always work out that way? It doesn't always work out that way. This this the grocery list here for the courses is by design meant to challenge all of these things. Isolate certain variable in certain moments. Challenge those perceptions. Okay, so let's let's go through the wise again. This is what older, older, new world. Why that's her wa the 20 nous the Stones Exactly. All the earthy stuff that we find exactly. Okay, the climate is cool. Cool, cool, temperate. I think it's fair. And why is that? This is a little tricky. I mean, there's a certain rightness here to get it to a place. We do have some regions residual sugar, but it's not. I mean, even if you look at it, it's not like it was with the Napa Valley Chardonnay. You couldn't have just, like stop fermenting that at a certain point and kept enough sugar to make it work right? The color is a great part. Great hint. I think the balance. It's important that you can actually get this much this much rightness. And I don't mean just sugar rightness, but actually phenolic ripeness where we get all the amazing things we described all the flavors that only comes with time. But if you waited that long and perhaps a warmer place, you would lose all the balance. Right? So it's this. It's attention, if you will, to make sense. Okay? Age range. We actually had a really good clue for the age range. Which was what? I guess, Yeah. The gas. Exactly. OK, so this could be reasoning. What else could it be to persevere? Could be diverse demeanor. Reason. Diverse meter. What's another one, like maybe Shannon belong. Could be another one. I mean, there's we could take the list in a lot of different directions. Could be pin agree. But the reason why this is reasoning. We're gonna come back to again once we do the last one. But again, just like going to keep harping on that. Why is why was that wine chardonnay? We're gonna get to that the very, very end. Okay. And then how about and the quality isn't Do we like it? or not? No. What's the quality of the line based on the length based on the balance? Based on all that stuff so grounded and balance, it seems Hi, I'm with you all the way. Super high quality. Yeah, it's good. It is good, isn't it? It's pretty thoughtful stuff, you know, like, you know, people say I don't drink sweet wines like I know I don't want to do that because, you know, here we're just starting to get a little sophistication in our country's wine drinkers. And we know that our folks drank white zin, whatever it was, and we never want to touch that stuff. Or they drank Mateus or lancers or even the Blue Nun. You know, all those things that are like taboo Now they really shouldn't be taboo. I mean, those could be taboo for their for what they are. But the sugar itself, the sweetness shouldn't make alone shouldn't make something taboo. It's really cool to like, Think about then. How does this wine Paris stuff? Well, remember the chili pepper I made you eat earlier? Remember that in two segments ago we were talking about how would how would this work? You know, if you did eat that chili pepper now, it would be pretty rough, probably with sauvignon blanc, but probably pretty great with the reason, because it would have sugar to help ameliorate the heat. Yeah, so it could be really versatile. Really smart. All right, let's do the last one in the Pino agree, and you got the big high five earlier for color. Let's talk about that. This does have a tent much like the 1st 1 had green tint. This has a certain tent, which is what did you call it? Certain red tint, I'd say. Brassy, brassy. And that's huge. So Pena agree, Or Pino Grigio, as it's in as this is, is just the same. It's in the same family as Pino Blanc, so white Pino Pino Grigio, Gray Pino or Pino Noir in Dark Pino. And in case we know what it makes red wine, this is the gray one, and so it should actually have a little like brassy or rosy tint to it, based on the grape. So if you were served this blind me, it's a pretty subtle thing to find, but you found it completely unsolicited. You find that and that only happens with certain things. So again, that's a great little, like negative knowledge. Just talking your pocket. High five. That's so cool. I thought I was gonna have to dig for that. Actually, this wine is darker. You said that the reason I think that's would surprise me, because with the readiness, it looks darker to me. Long color over to me, there's more saturation to the color of the reasoning. Like that feels like there's mawr. I'm looking through more material, so maybe that's a different tone. But to me, even if it's a different tone, it I feel like I'm looking through less material. It doesn't feel as saturated. Okay, right. So a darker yellow, as opposed to a lighter pink somehow feels more saturated. Okay, Okay, so we have the color and we know how that relates to varietal. That's very, very important. How great is it? Brights right there. You know, we keep doing that and you're not gonna You know, we're not seeing a whole lot of variation there, but in your life is a za wine drinker and lover and learner and consumer. You're gonna bump into things and you and because you always. Not that you do this every time you drink glass wine. But when you're thinking about learning, you're gonna pick something up. And because you're just trained now to look at it and think, Oh, my God, that's cloudy. Why, right? It's gonna happen. I mean, it happened to me having me last night. Actually, at a friend's house return, we pull that a wine and just like, Wow, that's totally unexpected things like Duggan. Like Why, that's pretty cool. So even though we keep hitting the bright spot today, you're going to find something and it will have meaning. So any sediment? Nope. Is that bubbling, or is there any any gas at all? Not really. Let's do viscosity. Not low, but medium, medium, medium minus Mamie. Medium, medium, medium. Yeah. I mean, I want to get it going. Minds really doing its thing. Pugnacity Feel good about that? Yeah, medium awesome. Right. Okay, So what does that tell us again? It's just conclude, conclude, conclude, conclude over and over again. Tells us a level of alcohol which is there for what medium medium, Which tells us this is from what kind of place Temperance, temperance, great right. See how it just keeps? Adding up just keeps adding up. Once you keep doing that, you find find the strings, the tendrils through it. It begins to make a lot of sense, and it's actually pretty easy stuff. Just tell me what you smell. Pizza dough is the first thing I smell before it's cooked when you're still working it. Yeah, the the yeast. That's exactly it. It's the East Side. When I first with June Sounds like I mean, it smells like pizza dough is like, Well, why does it smell like pizza dough? It will send the flour. It's the east the stem. We'll talk about that in a second. What else do we smell? Fine. Apples, pineapples. Pomegranate. Great. I bet what pomegranates do and you put it in your mouth. Um, the tardiness hard. Yeah, I would guess that you're smelling this in making association to something? Yes, our like I don't like pomegranate That so I took me a while to answer that. I'm like, I don't eat them out often, so that's perfect. That's great. You're getting something chocolatey. Okay, I don't know why Chocolate, Dark chocolate, white chocolate. Not that any of those air gonna leave me and you do anything different. I'm just curious. I think something darker, not white chocolate. Okay, maybe it has to do with the roasting. Like something feeling okay? Like almonds. Love that part sake. Or like dried clay. I'm totally down with both of those. Especially the clay. Yeah. So dried clay home. And what did you say? The person that Brazil nut. Not the worst nut. No, no, no. When it's in products, that smells great. Okay. Yeah, it smells good. Like eating that huge thing. I never understand. Okay, What else? Tangerine, Tangerine, three. To me, this is being like the over arching thing. Is this sort of like tide of from almond, the mud you talked about? It's kind of Basie and that the lease, like it doesn't leap out of the glass like either of the last two lines. But those were just like, you know, like like Levi's. So lease are the dead yeast cells that have fallen to the bottom of whatever the fermenting vessel is. And the reason it smells like this is because frequently with certain varietals like this one, pena agree, and sometimes less right Gruner 1,000,000,000. It happens with a lot of different wines, but in this case, Pena agree, doesn't have a lot to say on its own unless you get it, like extraordinarily ripe in a place like all sauce or something, it tends to make something that's pretty pretty easy. Pretty straightforward, kind of quiet. And Pino Grigio has become synonymous for white one in America. Why? Because it's easy to drink, right? Mean? And it's also synonymous for white wine and a lot of other places. But, um, one of the reasons that that it smells like the the lease or the yeast same thing is that they try toe, give it a little bit more, and you can either stick it in that very expensive new French oak barrel, which is probably not gonna wear very well could be pretty clunky. Or when all those yeast cells settle, stir him up right? So you so if once they settle, the um, contact area service areas limited to that single plane where the wind touches it when you stir it up, it's got a 1,000,000 planes now, so you've made it cloudy again, and so it extracts flavor again and then they settle back down. You stirred up again. It make increases the surface area of contacting in and it continues to flavour and makes it smell like the pizza dough, the lease, the East. So that's a riel, I think for me I was when I was going through the Masters, only a program I couldn't taste Pena grazier. It was just terrible at it. And before I would go take a test every time I like pound little bottles of it just like it in my head and then one day, just like like it's, like, taste like pizza dough. And then that became my little banker factory, starting with pockets like whenever I got pizza don't like Okay, that's Pino Grigio. That's pretty cool. So you agree? Well, depends. I mean, in all sauce. It's typically, you know, you're in the so even though you're much farther north in France, you're in the rain shadow of the votes mountains, and it can actually be the sunniest place in France. And so the grapes there tend to get a lot riper there. Then where this is from in northeastern Italy. Okay. Yeah, So you generally don't need it right. It's not the same. Okay, so we have some fruits. Um, to me, I think we agree that all together, this is much more subtle than the other two were good with that. I love the Omen to love the clay. Have we talked about any evidence of oak? No. So we would infer it. Has seen. Right. Okay. Cool. Anything else you wanna say about the nose? Nothing. Still something sweeter. Sweeter? Like what? No, it's strawberries. Are Mars a pan? Oh, yeah. It is kind of Mars A painting, isn't it? There's that. It's just there. Sweetness. Yeah. I love this peanut buttery thing is actually pretty interesting. Get served a deep, quiet Basie thing. You know, it's not just it's not simple. Let's keep going. Come on. No, there we go. Okay. The fun part again. Ready? Talk to me when he takes very tardy. So again, tart being acid. Is it as tart as this was the seven year blanc? Don't know. No, Definitely not. So what's the answer? That question right now while it's fresh, where's the acidity? Level was going Okay, Meaningful. So we're going. So remember the Napa Valley Chardonnay and wait and alcohol and richness, and I think we all called it medium acid. Does this have more or less than that? Okay, so, Ron, the more side And then this isn't that far off. It's right here in front of you. The sauvignon blanc does have more or less than that, so we've less than that. So there you are. So this, that this is what developing your context is all about his understanding. You know where the where the guardrails or the barriers? So medium plus you're just goes all over this. Awesome. What else do you taste? White cherry or white? Cherry? Awesome. I love it. Lemon, lime, lemon, lime. Citrus. Great. That's some of that. It does have, like a doughy nous. Yeah, pizza dough, please. East school, isn't it? To me, that's a really tight rope. Fine line. Easy to screw it up moment, particularly with think. I mean chardonnays. Maybe a little harder, cause there's so much else to the line. But here, where it's it's so so delicate or subtle, that'd be really easy to make it too yeasty. Or if the East are healthy, they're dirty, can taste really funky, and it doesn't override it or it overrides the whole wine. In this case, it doesn't. It's just like a nice supporting richness. Clay. Too little. Totally. So this sort of mix clay with the pizza. Awesome. Great. It's all in there together. Yeah, definitely. So its earthy check, Clay. It's awesome. What else do you taste? It's about 30 minutes from the ocean. But that Why were you thinking? I mean, it was under the ocean at one point, right? Like a lot of the planet. Not fishy. It's not fishy. Something that I'm is it? Is it like, salty? Yeah. I could feel that savory. Salty. Yeah, I like that, I think is great. Taste young tart, wild strawberries. Awesome. I know picking Strummer's when they're too young and their trial in the little ones on the way. It is exactly totally way really want to eat it and, you know, you should leave it. But you're not gonna take that hike again. Yeah, you're gonna get that. Well, yeah, definitely. What do you taste it? Um, when somebody sent salt, I totally tasted that didn't fund. So you guys are all supercharging each other's contacts. I mean, that's that's why it's worth doing this in a group. Actually, it's really important that we could be very, very additive. Okay, so let's go The top. The fruits we had were what? Lemon lime, unripe strawberry. Anything else? Tart. Cherry tart, cherry. Okay, great. I'm good with all of that Earth. Yes, it's clay, right? He's sticking by that absolutely good. Subtle, though. Terawatt in the wind so far to me. Yeah, I mean, it's okay. Awesome. That's important, though. You don't start to doubt yourself there. It's either there or it's not right. But it's much more subtle than it came through in the white Burgundy anymore. So I love it. That's fine. So but let's not forget. The first distinction is, Is it earthier, isn't it? And it is, and then we can qualify it. The fact that it is is the part that helped us make a judgment about where it's from. That's that's the meaningful part. If we say it's subtle and we start to forget that we even made it that a judgment that it had it, we're gonna end up in the wrong place, the wrong part of the world. So the firm pieces Yes, it is and then add on his yet subtle subtle. But it's it's definitely there. Cool. Any evidence of oak, cinnamon, vanilla toast now? No. Okay, great. Jump to alcohol. What do we think? Medium missed. Just always double checking it right. It's an important thing to do. You know, you always want to feel it doesn't feel hot. Doesn't feel low. Uh, right. It's gonna feel like it's right there in 12.5. Okay, how about we talked about? Acid is medium plus length is medium. Plus, I think I need him to medium plus high sided medium. It's still kind of pushing as I'm talking to you, especially like the clay and the salt and sort of savory thing. It's like ice cream assaulted. You stay when you have, like, ice cream salt. When you were turning yourself, that's what it's like. OK, that's so cool. But like, what is that? Salt. That's really unrefined. Salt, right? Gets it right out of the earth. So it has the muddy clay stuff with it. Like that's That's really cool. You guys air tapping into personal stuff here. That's great. It's huge. Okay, good. Is it balanced? Okay, great now the fun part, the initial and final of all these things. Why can, if we're always going to relate the tasting exercise back to the world of wine? How we learn about these things? Why can they be what they are? Um, I think that's I think we can let you guys do that, actually. So let's take this one away. Their Pino Grigio is this old world a new world mean? And you're gonna have to tell me why. Why is this old world why it's the again? The terroir likes the soldiers. That's ice cream grinder. Soul. Exactly. I'm all good with that. Absolutely. How about a climate? Where is this from? Temporary temperate. Yeah, Exactly. And why do we know that? Because it's not, um, high alcohol. I mean, exactly. Yeah, medium alcohol over right. Medium rightness. Just kind of like right in the middle. Um, age range your to five years. It's fine, but I could spend time with that today. Grapes or blends. What else could it be other than these two things, I mean, it could green could be Gruner veltliner. That's a great one. So Pino Grigio Gruner veltliner. No, it's not my good reverts. Sure, it was put giver. It's on the list. Why not? Right, you know, I mean, you're actually we can even use this thing if you want. So we would go subtle. Um, no would and yes, earthy. And so you're gonna end up There's Pino Grigio. There's Gruner Veltliner. There's Tokai. Few Olano. There's musk a day There's French sauvignon blanc, these air, all possibilities. Like what else could it be? And so, um, if you have to make a final conclusion like what is it? How do you decide the clues? The banker factor pieces? Um, you know, if it were grassy, you might think about sauvignon blanc to be say, grassy. No, we didn't, um, Gruner Veltliner. The other one you put on the list, I find always has, like a lentil or lettuce leaf or vegetable thing with it. We talk about any of that. Pino Grigio always has, or tends to always have a bronze eatin. Did we find that awesome? They tend to help embellish the body with lease. But stirring and stirring of the day, these cells do We find that if you start to feel like we understand exactly why this is what it is. You got comfortable that. Okay, great. So there it is. Scarpetta. Pingree Show. What do you We didn't talk about quality. Where's the quality Here? Medium plus totally. Yeah, I think it's a great, honest, super fair assessment. Like you could even say it's high quality. And so, for high quality Pino Grigio that might not be the same. Thing is saying high quality chardonnay chardonnay, maybe is a more noble grape likely mean? Whatever it's upto opinion. But in terms of you always have think about it within the context of what it is. I agree this meaning plus or high quality. Okay, so let's go back to the reasoning and in this case, old World and again because of the proponents of the soil on the earthy stuff that we taste in there. Right? Okay, great. And a climate for this. It was cold, temperate. And why this is you. I always want you to get wise. You always complete the loop and understand. OK, It's not enough to just say, you know, has alcohol. It's through that loop that you it was back in early on the color because okay, partly the color, Um and then probably the alcohol. Okay. And achieving that the complexity and having the residual sugar, but still having balance in the wine, not having it blown out. Like if we grew it in Modesto, California. Right? Okay, um, and this'll one actually had some gas on it. Which reminded us that it's what Young, Young. Exactly. And what else could it be? And this is a This is a great tool. So I think that we yes, we describe the fruits as more exotic. There's a lot of pineapple. So we went this direction and was there any oak? No oak. And was it earthy? Yeah. Yeah. So bring it on. So it could be diverse. Meaner Could be the reasoning that it is. Um, there's Gruner veltliner again. We've talked about Gruner a minute ago, So we I think we can fairly throw that off the list. Converts. Demeanor is always characterized by what? Leeching nuts. Roses, You know, again, it's floral. Exactly. And you'll know that because you're gonna do your homework and start building a context and takes all these things that's important. But also take the nugget. Now put it in your pocket like diverse manner has all that. And did you find all that? So therefore can only be one thing, which is, in this case, German Riesling. Um, importantly, this is a This is a huge now full of stuff. Um, it does say Riesling on it. I would say the Germans definitely are fighting an uphill battle trying to sell this stuff around the world. Rudesheim, er, Magdalene and quite spate laser. Um, so this refers to the town, the vineyard in the level of rightness. But, you know, that's not even what we're here to talk about today. It's not it. But I would say if you found this wine enjoyable. And that's the point of all these things that you're tasting through and relating them to a place. If you find something enjoyable, then take the deep dive into that place, right? I'm curious. Did you guys enjoy this? Yeah, me too. Very much. Okay. Um and then the last one, the Soviet bloc, Let's pick it up again. And if you've got a bit just tasted to refresh your memory, tell me about this. Why is this do the whole thing for me? Why is this what it is. This is, um, New World. Why? Because it I don't I don't smell any. I don't taste anything yet, but I don't smell on any earth Penis or, um, Tara Wall. Great. Awesome. And, um, it is sweet, but it's has high athan. Okay, It's probably not sweet. Well, the reason with sweet right, it's not sweet. Not sweet. Keep tasting to remind ourselves. Okay, I know I haven't. So it's dry wine with elevated acid, But let's talk about the climate than is therefore likely to be What? Cooler? Cooler? Okay, good cooler. And an age ranges younger. Older to say That would be younger. They would be younger. Exactly. There's still very primary fruits. Very fresh, right. And we're not. And the color is still very primary. Great young. Okay, So what else could it be? What else could be Yeah, what else could it be if if you didn't know it was something more, what could it be like? What could be like these things for sure, you know? Yeah. Okay. So how is how is it fundamentally different than that? The higher the acids way higher, you don't find that earthy element right? So these these air the little nuggets, we juxtapose these things. You start to see why it actually becomes quite easy. And it feels like I'm asking obvious questions, but and it is because I have deliberately stuck these things next to each other, and that's the genius of it. Do you have it on your own? You have to remember like Oh, yeah, you know, that kind of mind competing region. But why isn't it the peanut Grigio? Well, because it doesn't have the pizza dough thing, right? It doesn't have the bronze tent, right? So for all those reasons, it can only be what it is. So where else do they grow? Sauvignon blanc in the world as an example? So they grow it in the Loire Valley, where it's called police who may or censor, and they grow it in California. And they wrote in New Zealand and other places, too. But let's take those three as an example. I think it's a great way to wrap up, wrap up this this piece. If you grew it in France, it would be the old world. And what would you likely find? There you taste the earth exactly so there's no risk. So that's out. Okay. And if you grew it in California, what would you see there that you don't see here? More color, more color? And why the first? Exactly why you're You're right. Our Jason. Not subtle fruit, but they're exotic. For why? What is what? Warmer climate, warmer climate? Exactly. That's it. And so then therefore, you've triangulated another way that this can really only be New Zealand. So beyond block, does everybody feel that that's that. So it's this constant triangulation off of lots of different points, like Okay, we got Teoh Sauvignon Blanc because it isn't like this other stuff that we found in the Pino Grigio. Okay, so we sent a Soviet bloc Well, how do you know where it's from? And then we triangulate all off of the other stuff. So very quickly, you start tohave all of like the compass points, and you understand exactly what you are. And there's really only one answer. And if you're willing to, you know, do that work and recognize where the points are of triangulation, then you get there pretty cool, isn't it, Then then there's actually there. There the wine says something, right. So now you can pick this up, smell it, and take a trip to New Zealand without even getting on the 18 hour flight that makes sense through and feel good about this. What questions do you have? What about when you go to a vineyard in Sonoma and they and they have the different types of soil. And I'm trying to prove to you that terroir exists? Yes, it does exist here, but I don't think it exists to the same degree. Okay, um, you know, everyone can have their opinion about it. Are you about it? But I think generally speaking, we don't find it in the same way here. And so, for example, we could grow the reasoning here reasons Very transparent in terms of a grape expressing the soil. Um, in What would happen is that because the climate in Germany is is so continental, it's cool. And because it's cool, you can leave the grapes out for very, very long time. The time over which they get ripe is long enough. By the time you get to like Sugar X, you've had a great number of days for all these flavors to develop if if you're shooting roughly for that mark in California Sugar X occurs and I don't know what the right amount of time is, but it's sometime less. And so you haven't had the same amount of time for all those flavours to develop. And that's why it just doesn't work very well. There has an example. So yeah, you may pick it really early and keep it under ripe. Yeah, that's also subjective. What is rightness? Um, in search of that, that flavor. But you know, there again, it comes back to the synergy of grape in place, like it does really well in Germany because it could be out there for that long and achieve that phenolic ripeness that not just physiological, not just sugar, but actually all the flavors occur because you're able toe Let it have the appropriate number of days to ripen. Does that make sense? You have a tougher time labelling or determining what winds are new world. Then would you e don't think generally? No. I mean, it's sometimes about what's not there. So what is there? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. You in your world reason that's hard. Yeah, yeah, I know, but I mean, there's there's exceptions. People will make one in, actually all 50 states and all over the world. So, I mean, are there banker factors for every single of those winds? Absolutely not. There's tons of wine you can. You can find a wine that's made on the Tuscan coast that tastes like it was made in Bordeaux. That tastes like it was made in Australia. That tastes like it was made in Napa Valley because that's one of the unfortunate trends in wine. Is that and? And I think it's maybe changing a little bit. But one point there was one very powerful critic or one very powerful in a voice of authority, and everyone starts making wine for that person will. Then everyone's moving toe one direction and making things that look exactly the same regardless of where you are right there back to drinking margaritas again, right, because it all taste the same. I mean, that's that's the whole point. When it tastes the same, you only need white red rose a and sparkling because sense of place is lost. And then I'm doing something different. Like I retire margaritas. Yeah, right. Us. What else? I'm just curious, too few ever order house. Fine. All the time. In fact, when I'm in Italy, particularly south of Tuscany, I'm always vino Bianco Della casa of Una Rosa Della Della Casa, and its great still comes in a picture or craft or something. And it's perfect, you know? I mean, it's it's great to be in Rome, eating fried artichokes or braised artichokes and just have some some brisk, probably slightly oxidized because it wasn't handled very well. White wine from the area. And it's perfect. It's great. Yeah, all the time. And I'm also curious about people saving bottles of wine because, like for the one that had the bubbles in it, would the bubbles then go away? It will save it because it keeps processing in the bottle. Yes, exactly. Yes. And we're gonna address that tomorrow way, done some cool things and open something well in advance. And we're gonna let you taste them and decide for yourself. Yeah. Yeah. What else? Yes, Um, what else does brightness speak to? So if I taste one and I look at it, it's, like, very bright, both in color from looking and tasting it. Like, what is that really tastes Don't really late. No, no taste. I think at that point you're being influenced by the acidity, physiological response to cities and Oh, yeah, it feels break. Yeah, um, And in terms of the vernacular, which I've tried to tell you, there isn't one all day long there is when a little bit and say bright and we're talking about tasting. I think we're all gonna begin to, even if just from today associate that with acidity. Okay, right. And in terms of why is it breaking the glass? You know, it gets less and less and less bright as there's more and more and more sediment left in it, you know, could be lease if we start up the lease. The dead yeast cells to make the peanut Grigio have that flavor. But we didn't let it settle long enough before we bottled it. You're gonna have a little bit of that in there as one of many examples, um, again. And I think this is less common now. But there was a point in our history and fairly recently where, um and the cold stabilisation and filtration and finding three things that people processes people will do toe wine before they put it in a bottle to keep it ultra clear. We're really Those processes were really popular because, as the wandering community, ah, young wine drinking community didn't understand that it can actually be cloudy and be good or, if tart. Eric. There's three acidity. There's lots of acidity, types of a city and wine, but one of them being tart Eric that can actually precipitate out if it gets too cold. And so it looks like a little glass crystals in the bottom of your bottle. Well, I don't want somebody personally Teoh cold or permitting chilled wind down to a point where all that precipitates out. So then it's cleaner on the shelf, like you know, they're gonna protect my sensibility. Well, I think they also probably just took something out of my wine potentially, so it really speaks to the process of cleaning it up before it actually gets bottled. There's more about the process than it is telling me anything about. Well, you learn about the wine by virtue of understanding that they did run it through quite a process

Class Materials

bonus material

Richard Betts - Mapping Your Desires Wine Wheel.jpg
Richard Betts - Become a Great Wine Taster Presentation.pdf

bonus material

Richard Betts - Mapping Your Desires Shopping List.pdf
Richard Betts - Wines for Tasting Shopping List.pdf

Ratings and Reviews

a Creativelive Student
 

This course was amazing. As someone who felt really intimidated by wine before, I finished the course feeling a lot more confident and excited to try out my new wine knowledge. Great instructor with great content. Would definitely recommend!

user-ab792c
 

Good course, needs to identify wines to set up tasting. It was fun to do with friends. Perfect to watch in the segments.

Anne
 

Fabulous! I've passed the Introductory Exam for the Court of Master Sommeliers, but, never ginned up (pun intended) the deductive tasting. This did it. There are several of us who purchased this course and are doing out best to re-create the tastings and memorize the map. Thanks so much for the class and for Richard Betts.

Student Work

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