The Flavors of Wine

People all over the world enjoy drinking wine because of the great taste.  Your taste buds can perceive four tastes: salty, sweet, sour, and bitter. Because wines do not contain salt, only three tastes come into play. When sampling wine, both your taste buds and sense of smell are involved, and each comes into play when deciding whether or not you enjoy a wine selection.

Sweetness is something that is found in almost every wine–but sweetness can vary considerably. Grapes naturally contain sugars. This natural sugar help gives the grapes its sweet flavor. During the fermenting process, this sugar will help break down the yeast into alcohol.  Some of the sugars remain, which gives the wine its sweet flavor.

Although alcohol is found in wine, the mouth doesn’t have a taste bud that can decipher the taste of alcohol. The alcohol in the wine does help enhance the flavors of the wine. It does so by intensifying all the flavors found in the wine.  However, after drinking a couple glass of wines, the alcohol level can easily have an effect on your taste buds, making it hard to distinguish subtle flavors.

Another flavor is acidity, which will effect the sugars in the wine.  The proper amount of acidity will add to the overall flavor of the wine. Too much acidity will leave a very sharp taste. With the proper amount, the acidity will bring the flavors of the grapes and fruits to a perfect taste. The perfect balance between acidity and sugar helps distinguish a fine wine from a poor one.

Tannin is another flavor that help gives the wine its taste.  Tannins are proteins found in the skins of grapes and other fruits.  If the wine has the right amount of tannin, it will give your tongue a great feel, and bring out the sensations of the other flavors.  Once the wine start to age, the tannins will begin to break down in the bottle, which will add a softer feel to the taste.

There are other flavors associated with the taste of the wine, but they aren’t as dominant as those listed above.  The above flavors are the most common in wines.  Before trying to taste wine or distinguish the flavors, you should learn as much as you can about the components responsible for the flavors.  Doing so will give you the chance about what you are tasting so you will be able to truly appreciate wine.