DTN Lesson 2 - Glasswear

 To get the wines me and my roommates went into the wine lab and asked the hostess if they had any good wines that would fit the criteria of this lesson. We got Spring Seed Wine Co.'s Scarlet Runner Shiraz and Airfield Estates' Viognier. These meet the criteria for this lesson of an aromatic white like a Viognier and an aromatic red like Shiraz. We didn't have these wines with any foods and used a shot glass, 'rocks' glass, pint glass, stemless wine glass, and curved rim 'rocks' glass. The Shiraz was served at room temperature and the Viognier was slightly chilled

The procedure that I used for each wine was...

1. Pour the wine into the shot glass

2. Smell the wine and write a few thoughts

3. Taste the wine and write a few thoughts

4. Transfer the wine into the next glass (went from shot glass to rocks glass to pint glass to stemless wine glass to curved rim rocks glass)

These steps were first done for the Viognier and then the same steps were repeated for the Shiraz.

For the shot glass these were my notes:

• Viognier
• Smell
• Weak, acidic/astringent, dulled
• Taste
• Not much complexity, tastes like bland wine
• Shiraz
• Smell
• Light berry scent, very dull
• Taste
• Very earthy, not much complexity, tastes dirty/leathery

For the rocks glass:

• Viognier
• Smell
• Brighter than the shot glass, less acidic/astringent
• Taste
• Less powerful, more watered down, still not complex
• Shiraz
• Smell
• More vibrant and less dull than the shot glass, but less berry scent
• Taste
• Lighter, less earthy, still not much complexity

For the pint glass

• Viognier
• Smell
• Hard to smell, likely because it is far from my nose
• Taste
• Just tastes like alcohol, least pleasant so far
• Shiraz
• Smell
• Very dulled scent, not dirty, less vibrant but more vibrant than the shot glass
• Taste
• Bland, acidic, unpleasant

For the stemless wine glass:

• Viognier
• Smell
• Brighter, acidic, floral/fruity
• Taste
• More flavorful, less generally astringent/plain alcohol flavor, most pleasant so far
• Shiraz
• Smell
• Vibrant, berry smell, complex, acidic, not dull
• Taste
• Smoother, more rounded, light berry flavor, less earthy (but still some notes of leather/dirt)

For the curved rim rocks glass:

• Viognier
• Smell
• Similar to other whiskey glass, maybe a little brighter
• Taste
• Not much difference from the other whiskey glass, not much complexity
• Shiraz
• Smell
• Similar to other whiskey glass, but a little more earthy
• Taste
• Not much going on, watery

From this its very clear that using the proper glass wear is important when tasting wine. For both wines I found the wine glass to improve the flavor and make it a more pleasant experience, with the aromatics being more apparent and the flavor being more rounded out.