Each Wine Wednesday we share words of advice from your favourite winos, oenophiles and beyond . . .
How to Taste Wine: Inspecting the Wine
Colour: The colour of a red wine will give a clue as to the age of the wine. Many red wines start life as a deep purple colour, sometimes almost opaque. With time, however, the wines lose this youthful intensity, and begin to take on a paler, tawny, brick red hue. Initially this appears at the rim of the wine, but as the years go by the whole wine will take on this colour, fading to a brick red or brown. The colour of a red wine may give a clue not only to the age of the wine, however, but also to the grapes which have been used. This is because different grapes produce wines of differing intensities of colour. Pinot Noir tends to be pale, for instance, whereas many other red grapes, particularly in their youth, would be expected to be an inky purple-black.
Question of the week
THE QUESTION: The cork leaked on a fine wine – what’s to blame?
THE ANSWER: A car trunk can quickly turn into a sauna in the heat of a southern French summer. It’s easy to underestimate the phenomenon when you’re riding in air-conditioned comfort sipping a cool Evian.
Happy Wine Wednesday everyone!
