Arnie Millan / Wine Thoughts

I’m often asked how wines attain their varied aromas and flavors. When we smell or taste lemon citrus, vanilla, blueberry, anise, pepper, tobacco and myriad other delights (some not so delightful!), are they present because the winemaker has added a dash of lemon or blackberry to the wine? How do they happen?

The short answer is that these aromas and flavors occur naturally in wine. The process of fermentation creates a complex stew of organic compounds and some of them are volatile. It is these volatile compounds which are chiefly responsible for wine’s scents and tastes. There are many groups of these naturally-occurring compounds but we’ll just cover a few of them; I’m not writing a textbook!

Esters: These are a form of organic acids responsible for many of wine’s flavors and aromas. They can be analyzed and replicated, which is one reason why we have the multi-billion dollar artificial flavor and aroma industries developing new food dishes and perfumes. For example, the scent of banana is the ester amyl acetate. If you could analyze and chart all the esters in a wine, some might be similar to the lemon citrus or blueberry notes wafting from the wine glass.

Aldehydes: Acetaldehydes give you that tang you find in many fino style sherries. Those vanilla notes you might observe in oak-treated wines are a type of benzaldehyde.

Terpenes: These are highly aromatic compounds. Those lovely smells of lychee and Alpine mountain flowers in Gewürztraminer result from terpenes.

Methoxypyrazines: A mouthful to say but this class of compound, found in Cabernet and Sauvignon Blanc, can give a wine herbaceous aromas; the grassiness of some Sauvignon Blancs or the green bell pepper scents of some Cabernets.

Sulfur compounds: In high concentrations they can be nasty and responsible for unpleasant compounds like mercaptans, which result from the presence of hydrogen sulfide in the wine. They can smell like a burnt match, cooked cabbage or geraniums – yecch!

This is just a brief, simple discussion of where wine’s aromas and flavors come from. There are many more important compounds I didn’t mention but you get the idea. These scents and tastes, in the right circumstances, give us the magic in wine.

If you’d like to explore this further, check out the book, “The Science of Wine from Vine to Glass” by Jamie Goode. It is an excellent primer on wine science and inspired this posting.

First thing, you will not see the words “must” or “should” or the phrase -it is essential.  I don’t believe there are any absolutes regarding the way to hold a wine glass.

The main rule to properly holding the wine glass, is that you hold it comfortably for you. I’d suggest holding the glass by the stem, not the bowl, in order to keep your warm hand away from the wine in the bowl. Some people prefer to hold the glass near the base with the thumb and forefinger grasping the stem and the remaining fingers supporting the glass beneath the base; this keeps the hand farthest from the bowl.

If the wine is too cold, by all means feel free to hold the glass with the palms around the bowl in order to warm the wine until it reaches a more acceptable temperature.

Don’t stress if you need to hold the glass by the bowl or near it. It takes quite a few minutes of constant contact before the wine begins to warm. Often you’ll set the glass down so, normally, you’ll not hold onto a glass for an extended period.

I’m not a fan of stemless wine glasses; I prefer stems but this is matter of personal taste. The main idea is to enjoy the wine! A glass can enhance or reduce the enjoyment of wine but good wine will always speak out regardless of the vessel containing it.

For more on wine glasses, please see my post from last August Wine Glasses and Tasting Wine.

My recommendation is to choose a thin-walled stemmed glass or crystal glass – avoid a rolled lip on the edge. The bowl should be at least 5 inches high with a moderate 2.5 inch throat. This ensures enough air space in the glass to swirl the wine vigorously and thoroughly assess the wine’s variety of aromas and flavors. The thin wall and thin lip assure you are as close to the wine as possible.

Premium glass manufacturers like Riedel, Schott, Eisch and others make many different kinds of glass; in the extreme, Riedel makes one for nearly every type of wine! As a wine guy, I have four different types of glassware: a Riesling, a Riesling/Zinfandel all-purpose, a red Bordeaux and a red Burgundy glass – oh, and Champagne flutes! That’s probably more than anyone needs. For most occasions, a good all-purpose glass is fine. Look for a Riesling/Zinfandel/Sangiovese glass – it’s great for reds and whites.

Use the stem and its base to hold the glass, avoiding holding the bowl. Holding the bowl adversely affects the temperature of the wine due to glass contact with your body heat. Swirl the wine while holding the glass on a firm base, like a table, in order to avoid spilling the wine.

To evaluate the wine’s color, hold the glass away from you at a 45 degree angle, preferable tilting the glass against a white table cloth or paper, in a well-lit room. This way, you can see all the wine at once in the glass allowing you to better assess the density of color and saturation of hue and the clarity of the wine. A clear wine is well-made (white wines can show bright stars of light below it) while a cloudy wine is a red flag; the wine may be unstable or have undergone an unintended secondary fermentation in the bottle.

Examine the color, or lack of it, of the rim of the wine or where it touches the glass. A clear rim indicates a young wine while, conversely, an orange, amber or brown rim may indicate stages of possible oxidation.

Do you worry about how best to rinse your fine glassware? Do you need to rinse if you serve more than one wine in the same glass. Well fret no more!

Let’s look at two types of rinsing: 1) Rinsing glasses after use and 2) rinsing glassware in order to serve more than one wine per glass.

1. Rinsing after use

For thin walled crystal or thin walled glass, it is best to rinse by hand. I recommend using a glass brush and minimal diluted detergent, using lukewarm water. Obviously, you’ll want to brush gently. Make sure all of the detergent is rinsed out. Let the glasses dry on a clean, dry cloth. To best polish glassware, steam over boiling water, then use a clean polishing cloth. To polish the bowl, cradle the bowl in one hand while polishing with the other hand. Never twist the bowl against the stem -something will break! To polish the stem or base, hold by the stem or base.

The problem with using a dishwasher is two-fold. You are more likely to break fine glassware and the glasses are more likely to contain detergent residue. If you must use a dishwasher, use only a tiny amount of detergent (gels or fine grain, preferably with glass guard like Cascade (with Shine Shield) and use cool water. Only wash glass with glass – never with plates or silverware.

Even a small amount of detergent residue can have a big impact on the wine therein. For still wine, residue can affect aroma and taste. Detergent residue can render sparkling wine, like Champagne, flat. The smooth surfaces of glassware absorb odors easily so smell the glasses before use, when they’re dry, for off-odors like soap, chlorine, etc. If detected, wash again!

By the way, lead leaches out of crystal when the glass is in contact with hot or even warm water. So no soaking and no hot water!

2. Rinsing for multiple wines

Sometimes, you are hosting a dinner or tasting and you don’t have enough glasses to provide one for every wine. What to do?

I do not recommend rinsing with water between wines; rather use wine to rinse. I believe that water residues can affect the taste of the wine, especially if the water is even slightly chlorinated. I also believe that there is a slight dilution factor and there might be a slight change in surface tension and mouth-feel of the wine. To be safe, rinse with wine. Use a tiny amount of the next wine to be served to rinse. This is also called “priming” the glass.

If you carefully order the wines to be tasted, you can minimize your rinsing. Go from white to red, from light body to fuller body, from dry to sweet. If you follow this order, you may not need to rinse at all. If you go from a hearty red with dinner to a white dessert wine, I recommend rinsing with a dry white or, if not available, then using water, providing a cloth to dry the bowl.

Priming Glassware

By the way, a small but growing number of high-end restaurants are having their sommeliers “prime” glassware by rinsing with a very small amount (half an ounce or less) of the wine to be served. They believe this improves the tasting experience by ridding the glass of impurities or possible off-odors. But I wonder if this is necessary if you properly clean and polish your glassware. Sometimes they leave the priming wine in the glass and then pour the serving over it. Why? Doesn’t this defeat the purpose of “priming”?