Turning Whining into Wine

It started during COVID-19. The whining. And the wine. 

During quarantine, we decided to create a day during the week that we could look forward to - a day that was different from all the rest. We decided that each of us, taking a turn a week, would create a spectacular meal and pair it with a wine. We invented a game. The wine bottle was kept secret and as we ate and drank, we would guess the wine’s country or region of origin, tasting notes, type, and cost. And we would rate it using a scale of one to ten.

And so, Wine Wednesday was born.

We know the wines we like and don’t like, but we wanted to find out why. Not one of us could ever be considered a wine connoisseur, so Wine Wednesday opened a whole new world of learning. And boy, there is a lot to learn. 

First, reds and wines are consumed at different temperatures, which affect the flavor. Whites should be between 40℉ and 55℉ and reds should be between 55℉ and 70℉. We never got out a thermometer and checked. Instead, we ended up taking the whites out of the refrigerator and putting the reds in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before drinking them. That seemed to work just fine. For a prosecco or a rosé, drinking them chilled right from the refrigerator is perfect. Convenient. No waiting.

Here are the things we looked for when evaluating the wine.

Color: We first talked about the color of the wine after it was poured. If a white wine, was it pale yellow or a more deep gold? If a red, was it a light red or was it more burgundy? When we swirled the wine in the glass or even tipped the wine to the side before leveling the glass, we watched for how the wine behaved falling back down from the sides of the glass, called the “legs.” If there were lots of lines on the side of the glass, we knew there was a higher alcohol or sugar content. 

Smell: We put our noses into the glass to smell it before tasting it. After taking a sniff of the wine, we’d try to isolate if it was fruity or savory. Did we smell apples, plums, or melon? Did we smell notes of pepper, tobacco, or oak? Were the smells intense or barely noticeable? Called the nose, the aromas detected helped our brains process how the wine would taste.

Time to sip. That’s a sip, not a gulp, keeping the wine in our mouths and letting it move over all areas of the tongue. 

Tannins & Acidity: The first thing we always remarked on was the level of tannins in and the amount of acidity of the wine. We could tell that there were lots of tannins if the wine seemed to dry out our tongue and gums. It’s the same kind of feeling after eating rhubarb or walnuts. We found that wine high in tannins tasted much better if we had meat or something fatty and rich. When the wine seemed high in acids, it was like eating a lemon. They were almost tangy. We found that wines that are highly acidic pair nicely with salty foods or fried food. 

We found out that wines from cooler climates are more acidic than those grown in warmer climates. Also, grapes picked when they are not as ripe are more acidic. The longer the grape stays on the vine, the more sugar is developed. Makes sense.

Sweetness: This was a hard one because each of us has a different idea of what sweet is. There is a good article on the Total Wine blog site about sweetness. The sweetness of the wine is measured by the residual sugar in the wine, and the amount of acidity can sometimes affect how sweet you believe the wine to be. Remember, the legs? After swirling the wine, if there are lots of thick legs on the inside of the glass, that is a clue that the wine is sweet. 

Body: Did the wine feel thick or light? Kind of like the difference between drinking half and half and skim milk, wine can be full bodied or light bodied. The more full bodied, the more tannins.

Taste: We needed more than one sip to start to identify the particular flavor profiles. Most of the time when we were drinking red wines, we tasted flavors of blackberries, raspberries, cherry, plum, and cranberry. We also tasted pepper, chocolate, vanilla, baking spices, oak, and tobacco. When we drank white wine, there were often flavors of apple, pear, peach, melon, or citrus flavors. We could sometimes detect vanilla, grass, oak, herbs, floral notes, and minerals. 

We’ve kept a running list of those wines that we rated a 9 or a 10. Interestingly, most of those have been red wines. One would think that red wines are made from red grapes and white wines are made from white grapes. And for the most part, that would be correct. More accurately, red wines are made when the skins are part of the fermenting process, since it is the skin and seeds that cause the red color. Red wines are typically aged in oak barrels, and white wines are typically aged in steel vats, but not always. 

There are over ten thousand different types of wine grapes. Amazing! Learning about all of those varieties would be quite overwhelming. Luckily, a handy guide on vinepair.com identifies the most popular grapes - under 35 of them - making it much easier to learn.

For our purposes, we wanted to not only understand why we liked a particular wine, but how to pair it with food. As novice wine drinkers, we relied on reading articles and talking to folks at the wine store when choosing a wine to go with the meal we were making. This article from a wine club has an easy-to-understand quick list of food and wine pairings, but other articles such as these from Wine Tourism and Wine School may help to guide your choices. There is even a website called Wine and Food Matcher that makes it easy for you to put in either a recipe or a wine and find the match. Here is a great book on all things wine, Wine Simple: A Totally Approachable Guide.

What started out as a way to find enjoyment one day of the week during COVID-19 has turned out to be one of the more positive outcomes of a bleak time. Wine Wednesday has become a tradition in our house. There is still so much to learn.