We already know what effect can be achieved, using the right ingredients and keeping an eye on the course of all processes. Most will probably start with the production of the so-called. domestic wines. Progress will depend mainly on this, what interest will awaken in you the craft of winemaking. To achieve real success, two more abilities need to be mastered.
Flavor making
The first is to exercise the palate, to which knowledge of branded wines may be useful. Why branded? Because only they set a certain standard, to which we can compare other drinks. To some extent, the price of a brand wine is an indicator of its quality. Unfortunately, for the most part, we only know cheaper wines, but still, it's worth getting to know the flavors of good wines, to compare home products with liquor of measurable quality.
At first, we may have concerns, that our palate is not sensitive enough, to sense the subtle differences in taste.
However, do not be discouraged – experience will come with time, and we'll get it much faster, if we get in touch with other enthusiasts and in a group we will discuss our impressions.
First, let's answer the question – what is the palate? They consist of three elements – Tongue, throat and nose, which allow you to feel the different tastes. First of all, we must ignore the clearest factors, and to capture the subtle notes of a bouquet of wine. The sweetness of wine is the hardest to deal with, which effectively masks other flavors. We need to develop such a palate sensitivity, to sense the taste imperfections of our wine and to know, how to eliminate them. My advice is to try the must just before adding the yeast. Over time, we will learn to judge the correct acidity and future aroma of a wine.
The language distinguishes between four tastes – bitter, sweet, sour and salty. Its surface is covered with approx 9000 taste buds; each of them consists of 15 cells resembling orange particles. Certain areas of the tongue are specialized in sensing specific tastes: front – sweet left and right side – salty back and rear brims – sour back – bitter.
It follows, that the tongue can tell a lot about the taste of wine. But distinguishing between flavors is not enough – you also need to evaluate the intensity of each of them.
To do this, prepare a glass narrowed at the top – which ensures the intensity of the bouquet of the drink in it. It can be a sherry glass or a professional tulip-shaped glass, what do the tippers use. Fill the glass with wine to the level, on which the glass is the widest. We take a large sip of wine and hold it for a while in the front of the mouth – this is how we evaluate sweetness. Then we let the wine melt through the mouth (professionally we call it "tasting") and when the fluid reaches the edges of the tongue, we will feel its acidity. Salty taste is unlikely to apply to this type of drinks. When the wine is on the back of the tongue, we will recognize his bitterness. If it is negligible, we can feel it only after swallowing a small amount of liquor.
At the top of the nasal cavity there is the so-called. olfactory area, which picks up smells and transmits stimuli to the brain. It is not known exactly, how many smells can the human nose distinguish, but certainly enough, to tell us, whether the smell of the wine is appropriate. For example, the smell of acetic acid (which causes, that the wine turns sour) it is felt much earlier than its taste. To determine the smell of wine, we bring our nose close to the glass and take a deep breath. The first impression is the most important. The sense of smell also allows us to judge the sweetness of the wine, its quality and proportions. Practice makes perfect – after a short time we will be able to establish the less obvious features of our wine and define its nobility.
Remembering the value of wine
Although kneading the flavor is very important, personally I think, that the latter aspect is equally important. Namely, all winemakers (on any scale) they should remember its taste. If we don't train our taste and smell memory, any tasting of quality wines and attempts to copy them will fail. This requires quite a lot of training, but the effort will pay off. If we remember the value of wine, we can combine products like this, that we get flavor, we are striving for. Let's not worry, if the effects are weak at the beginning; let's remember, that even the best tutors learned everything from scratch.