Drink This Now Experiment 1
Hooray! This Saturday evening I had the chance to do a wine experiment with my friend Evan and my bf CJ (sorry if you're tired of hearing about these people, I have like 5 friends total).
First, we had to pick out some aromatic wines. I let Evan take the lead on the red because I still haven't gotten used to it, and I set off for the white. I wasn't sure just how aromatic riesling was (since that's honestly what I wanted to go for) so I asked the staff and they told me they recommended a pinot grigio for something really smelly (sigh..... I had a bad time with pinot last time, but okay). They led me to a fairly inexpensive half bottle since I let them in on what the experiment was.
Evan was directed to the zinfandels, and he went ahead and bought a whole bottle since he figured he'd finish it off.
(Side note: I live in a sorority house, so I can't do ANY of these things at home, I have to go to friends' places and also store any leftovers there. That's why I tend to either get half bottles or make sure to finish what I purchase in one sitting.)
My pick was a 2016 Cavit pinot grigio from Trenta, Italy. It was about $7.
Evan picked out a 2016 Cline red zinfandel (old vine apparently!) from Sonoma, California. He said it was about $13.
First, we chilled the white wine for about half an hour while we watched Cutthroat Kitchen. Then, we poured it into a number of sizable glasses.
(Note: they are not pictured from smallest to largest, but I did test them out from smallest to largest.)
We had a shot glass, an interesting glass similar to a rocks glass, a wine glass, a bowl, and a water cup. They don't own any water glasses, so we used a plastic water cup from O'Connell's, which I imagine affected how that portion went. Naan is pictured in the background as our simple grain.
First, let's start with the white wine. I poured a shot's worth of the white into each container, only spilling a minimal amount. Then, it was sniff/taste time.
Shot glass sniff: You could kind of get a whiff of "hard pee," but it was difficult to get any big smells out of it. I assume this is because it's kind of pushed into one spot with a tiny opening at the top. There's not enough blank surface area to hold the aromas.
Taste: The shot gave me a sudden spurt of taste, probably because it's all shoved into one tiny opening. I was kind of overwhelmed with the amount, you're almost forced to take a shot.
Rocks sniff: This worked out alright! I could swirl it a bit, and I got some peach and lime smells. It was concentrated in a smaller area than normal, but I could easily get an idea of the wine.
Taste: Easy to drink, but felt more like I was trying to drink a soda or hard liquor (maybe just the connotation of the glass). I was less inclined to try and taste the wine and more to just drink it.
Water cup sniff: It felt like I was smelling the wine from afar (which, in a way, I was). There was a ways for the scent to travel, and even swirling it didn't get it to go much further. This glass is just too tall.
Taste: This was strange. There was a long way for the wine to travel so I got nervous and only got a small sip. It also smelled slightly plasticky as I had my nose shoved into the glass to take a drink.
Wine glass sniff: There's a reason this is the standard shape. I could easily catch the scents of peach and lime, but also the white grape and pear notes and more of the pinot pee smell. Swirling was easy!
Taste: Needless to say, this worked the best. I didn't necessarily like the wine, but I got a great sense of its acidic, fruity notes as I drank.
Bowl sniff: Very difficult to smell anything but the alcohol. Swirling didn't help much at all since it's just a huge dome.
Taste: First off, it's hard to drink out of a bowl. I spilled a little bit. Difficult to taste as well, since I'm just sipping from the lip of a big bowl with a looooot of surface area.
Next, I did the same with the red wine. Since a lot of my comments are about the same in terms of how well I could smell the substance, I will only note the differences I found with the red.
Shot glass sniff: Got a general sense of some deep red fruit.
Taste: Too much at once, the dryness was a shock to my system.
Rocks sniff: Got a much better sense of some cinnamon and narrowed my fruit idea down to "plum." It just seemed about right.
Taste: Tasted about as expected. Did get to try the dryness at a much better level.
Water cup sniff: This is a lost cause. All I smelled was alcohol.
Taste: Dryyyyy. Tiny sips.
Wine glass sniff: Again, perfect. Got the warmth and Christmasy smell of the wine.
Taste: Learned that zinfandel has a strange herby aftertaste to me.
Bowl sniff: Are you KIDDING me. This sucks. It smells like rubbing alcohol from here.
Taste: Not really much there. Could tell it was jammy.
After all that I've learned in this class, I know the wine glass is shaped the way it is for a clear reason. It doesn't shove all of the liquid into a tiny area with an even tinier lip to sniff from (shot glass). You have room to swirl the liquid where it coats the sides, but with a lip shape that funnels the aromas towards you (unlike the rocks glass and bowl). Finally, the glass is tall, but only for you to hold it. The liquid stays in an area that is not going to be like a long, dark tunnel for the wine to travel in (like the water cup). It's the perfect shape for tasting and sniffing, which go hand in hand when you're wanting to get a great sense of the body of the wine.
First, we had to pick out some aromatic wines. I let Evan take the lead on the red because I still haven't gotten used to it, and I set off for the white. I wasn't sure just how aromatic riesling was (since that's honestly what I wanted to go for) so I asked the staff and they told me they recommended a pinot grigio for something really smelly (sigh..... I had a bad time with pinot last time, but okay). They led me to a fairly inexpensive half bottle since I let them in on what the experiment was.
Evan was directed to the zinfandels, and he went ahead and bought a whole bottle since he figured he'd finish it off.
(Side note: I live in a sorority house, so I can't do ANY of these things at home, I have to go to friends' places and also store any leftovers there. That's why I tend to either get half bottles or make sure to finish what I purchase in one sitting.)
My pick was a 2016 Cavit pinot grigio from Trenta, Italy. It was about $7.
Evan picked out a 2016 Cline red zinfandel (old vine apparently!) from Sonoma, California. He said it was about $13.
First, we chilled the white wine for about half an hour while we watched Cutthroat Kitchen. Then, we poured it into a number of sizable glasses.
(Note: they are not pictured from smallest to largest, but I did test them out from smallest to largest.)
We had a shot glass, an interesting glass similar to a rocks glass, a wine glass, a bowl, and a water cup. They don't own any water glasses, so we used a plastic water cup from O'Connell's, which I imagine affected how that portion went. Naan is pictured in the background as our simple grain.
First, let's start with the white wine. I poured a shot's worth of the white into each container, only spilling a minimal amount. Then, it was sniff/taste time.
Shot glass sniff: You could kind of get a whiff of "hard pee," but it was difficult to get any big smells out of it. I assume this is because it's kind of pushed into one spot with a tiny opening at the top. There's not enough blank surface area to hold the aromas.
Taste: The shot gave me a sudden spurt of taste, probably because it's all shoved into one tiny opening. I was kind of overwhelmed with the amount, you're almost forced to take a shot.
Rocks sniff: This worked out alright! I could swirl it a bit, and I got some peach and lime smells. It was concentrated in a smaller area than normal, but I could easily get an idea of the wine.
Taste: Easy to drink, but felt more like I was trying to drink a soda or hard liquor (maybe just the connotation of the glass). I was less inclined to try and taste the wine and more to just drink it.
Water cup sniff: It felt like I was smelling the wine from afar (which, in a way, I was). There was a ways for the scent to travel, and even swirling it didn't get it to go much further. This glass is just too tall.
Taste: This was strange. There was a long way for the wine to travel so I got nervous and only got a small sip. It also smelled slightly plasticky as I had my nose shoved into the glass to take a drink.
Wine glass sniff: There's a reason this is the standard shape. I could easily catch the scents of peach and lime, but also the white grape and pear notes and more of the pinot pee smell. Swirling was easy!
Taste: Needless to say, this worked the best. I didn't necessarily like the wine, but I got a great sense of its acidic, fruity notes as I drank.
Bowl sniff: Very difficult to smell anything but the alcohol. Swirling didn't help much at all since it's just a huge dome.
Taste: First off, it's hard to drink out of a bowl. I spilled a little bit. Difficult to taste as well, since I'm just sipping from the lip of a big bowl with a looooot of surface area.
Next, I did the same with the red wine. Since a lot of my comments are about the same in terms of how well I could smell the substance, I will only note the differences I found with the red.
Shot glass sniff: Got a general sense of some deep red fruit.
Taste: Too much at once, the dryness was a shock to my system.
Rocks sniff: Got a much better sense of some cinnamon and narrowed my fruit idea down to "plum." It just seemed about right.
Taste: Tasted about as expected. Did get to try the dryness at a much better level.
Water cup sniff: This is a lost cause. All I smelled was alcohol.
Taste: Dryyyyy. Tiny sips.
Wine glass sniff: Again, perfect. Got the warmth and Christmasy smell of the wine.
Taste: Learned that zinfandel has a strange herby aftertaste to me.
Bowl sniff: Are you KIDDING me. This sucks. It smells like rubbing alcohol from here.
Taste: Not really much there. Could tell it was jammy.
After all that I've learned in this class, I know the wine glass is shaped the way it is for a clear reason. It doesn't shove all of the liquid into a tiny area with an even tinier lip to sniff from (shot glass). You have room to swirl the liquid where it coats the sides, but with a lip shape that funnels the aromas towards you (unlike the rocks glass and bowl). Finally, the glass is tall, but only for you to hold it. The liquid stays in an area that is not going to be like a long, dark tunnel for the wine to travel in (like the water cup). It's the perfect shape for tasting and sniffing, which go hand in hand when you're wanting to get a great sense of the body of the wine.
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