Skills: Understanding Wine
Understanding, enjoying and balancing wines against a dish's flavours is a necessary skill for any chef. Many people find wines a daunting challenge but with a little reading and a little wine drinking practice you can swiftly push your skills forward.

To fully appreciate wine you need to not only know how wine is made but you will need to know a little of its history and more importantly how to taste it correctly.

Lastly and perhaps most importantly, remember that there are no rules when it comes to drinking wine, it is only important to be aware of how wine is enjoyed and how it can increase the pleasure of a meal in its entirety. What wines you enjoy and what you don't is purely up to you

How to taste wine:
Firstly, learn a little about your sense of taste. Most of your taste buds are located around the edge and back of your tongue, you have very little taste receptors in the middle of your mouth. Sweet flavours are sensed on the tip of your tongue. Just back from the tip of your tongue and on the sides is where you'll taste saltiness, a little further back from this are the receptors for sour flavours and right at the back of your tongue, receptors for bitter flavours. Astringency is technically not a taste but a sensation, you will detect astringency along your gums which can be felt as a dry, clinging, almost puckering sensation. (When drinking reds you will detect this puckering around your gums which is a result of tannins found in the wine. Tannins are a vital characteristic for many wines) Aromas are detected at the back of our mouth and through the nasal passage where we have receptors that are capable of deciphering complex molecule chains (or tastes).

The tasting procedure:
If ordering in a restaurant, check the bottle's label to make sure the waiter or sommelier hasn't 'accidently' brought the wrong bottle to the table.
When tasting at home pour a little wine into your glass. For tasting I would suggest filling no more than a 1/3 of the glass.

Appearance:
Hold the glass to the light and preferably against a white background, this will allow you a clearer view of the wine's colour and state.
I would encourage you to check the appearance of the wine to ensure there are no faults. If the wine is cloudy or a white wine is overly brown in colour this is a strong indication that it has over oxidised or that sediment has mixed with the wine, in which case the wine is likely to be no good and should be returned.
Furthermore the colour of the wine can also tell you something about the nature of its origins. A deep, golden yellow white wine has likely been grown in warmer climates, whereas a paler white wine is likely to have been grown in a cooler climate.
The little rivulets of wine that stick to the glass as you swirl it around is an indication of alcohol. The more defined these 'rivulets' are the more alcohol is likely to be contained within the wine.
As you become more familiar with wines you can expect to learn alot about the wine simply from it appearance

Smell and aroma:
Ha-Ha! You're still not ready to put the wine in your mouth! Check the scent of the wine before going any further. To do this lightly swirl the glass around, this allows the wine to oxidise slightly and encourages the release of its hidden scents. (Practice this at home before doing this in the restaurant. Its too embarrassing to spill the wine everywhere when you're trying to look cool and knowledgeable!)
Exhale , hold the glass up to your nose then inhale deeply and enjoy the scents. Again, as you become familiar with wine and its different varieties you will begin to recognise the different aromas associated with different wines; the blackcurrant and forest fruits of cabernet-sauvignon, the plumminess of merlot and the fruitiness of sauvignon. However for the beginner the most important scent to watch out for is musty, 'damp basement' and woody-like smell of a 'corked' bottle of wine. This is an important fault to watch out for, it is a result of the cork being mishandled, incorrectly sterilised or a simple result of the wine containing a chemical compound known as 'TCA' and is only liable to occur with wines that are bottled with real cork or aged in damp casks. (Many new vineyards produce wines with screw top or rubber corks in which case the wine is unlikely to be corked.) If you believe the wine to be corked, inform the waiter in which case he will check and replace your bottle of wine. Do not be afraid to voice your opinion on this!
(There is a fashion of smelling the actual cork to check if the wine is 'corked'. This has to be one of the dumbest things I've come across; a cork is more than likely to smell of....well cork. So many people get confused over the scent of a 'corked' wine and the actual smell of the cork itself which results in a large quantity of undamaged wines being returned. Check the wine not the cork, chump.)

Taste:
The bit you've been waiting for! No mystery to this simply put the wine in your mouth, swirl it around to make sure it reaches all your taste receptors, then swallow. Ha! Too easy huh? So now that you've tasted it all you've got to do is work out what the tastes were, how the tastes make you react and most importantly of all...decide whether or not you enjoyed it.

Each brand of wine will have different characteristics according to its; variety of grape, method of growing, harvesting and fermenting and location in the world. However the sign of a truly good wine is balance, the opening, middle and final flavours should all combine to form a harmonious chord, most importantly a good wine should have a beautiful finish. The 'finish' is the aftertaste, even after you have swallowed your mouthful of wine the flavours should still linger and even develop. If you have a good 'finish' to a wine you know you're onto a winner


How wine is made:
Wine is quite simply the produce of grapes. When warmed the sugar content of grapes mixed with the natural yeasts found on the skins form alcohol.

The manufacture process of wine is this:
Grapes are placed in a crusher to extract their juices
The first crush releases juices from the pulp. This is known as the 'free run'
As more pressure is applied to the grapes further juices are released. These juices are known as 'the must' and contain more colour and taste than the 'free run'
The juice is then fermented in large vats at temperatures ranging between 15°C-27°C depending on the grape. The fermentation can take up to two weeks. During the fermentation stage the sugars are converted to alcohol and carbon dioxide
After fermenting the wine is then drawn from the vats and then left to mature.
The maturation stage is done in either vats or barrels. The wine is left to settle, sediments are filtered off and over time flavours and colours develop. This stage is known as 'racking'
The wine is then bottled, in some cases it is left for further maturation or packaged and ready for sale

The difference between red and white wines:
Both red and white wines come from red grapes. White wines are made from the 'free run' juices which produces a clear colour whereas red wines use not only the 'free run' but the 'must' and are also fermented with the grape pips and skin which results in the red colour and pronounced, different flavours.
Rose wines can be produced by two methods: the first is similar to white wine, however the grape juice is allowed longer contact with the grape skin which gives it its pink colour. The second is achieved through blending of red and white wines.

The difference between grape varieties:
Everyone knows that there are different types of red and white wines. The reds you get are known by such names as 'malbec, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, zinfandel' and the whites as 'sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, chenin blanc'. What these names are referring to are not differences in production techniques or branded names but a difference in the grape variety or strain of grape. Different types of grapes have different characteristics and tastes that result in different flavoured wines.
Some of the more familiar grape varieties and their flavours:

Reds:
Cabernet-sauvignon: Fruits of the forest, blackcurrant, berries. Contains tannins and a degree of acidity. When aged with oak adapts well with vanilla flavours

Merlot: Plums, blueberry, mild chocolate, soft tannins, very smooth almost velvet on the palate

Pinot Noir: Raspberry, strawberry, mulberry, blueberry, liquorice, soft leather or truffles

Syrah and Shiraz: Spicy, peppery, raspberry,blueberry, gamey, chocolate leather, strong tannins

Zinfandel: Raspberry, brambles, fruity, soft spices and tannin

Whites:
Chardonnay: Melon, grapefruit, buttery, can produce strong levels of alcohol and unlike other whites adapts well to ageing in oak where it takes on vanilla flavours

Chenin Blanc: Apple, honey can also adopt sweet flavours

Muscat: Exotic fruit flavours, grape, roses

Pinot Blanc: Smoky, grape

Sauvignon Blanc: Pungent flavours, zest, grass, gooseberry, fresh notes, tropical and exotic fruit flavours

Please note that although these are the traditional flavours associated to each grape the flavours of each wine will differ according to climate, country, soil type, fermenting, bottling and ageing style. A chardonnay made in chile can taste vastly different from a chardonnay made in france. This is perhaps one of the more exciting attributes to tasting wine, the broad range and variety of wine is a true pleasure to explore and taste....
....so get drinking chump.

Chef Tip :
I always catch people fumbling with bottle openers or breaking a cork whilst trying to open a fresh bottle of wine.
Simply ensure that you insert the opener tip into the centre of the cork then screw the spiral all the way down to its last ring. Inserting the spiral all the way into the cork ensures that you have enough leverage to pull the cork out in one smooth movement.