On Episode 1 of Somm School Insider, we unveil the four secrets of tasting wine like a pro. Before digging into specific regions and styles, it helps to have a solid foundation of what to look for by sight, smell, and taste. Rüdi Eilers, Director of Education at the Sommelier Society of America, creates a wine lab to teach our host and somm student Carole Mac the four components of wine.
You can try this at home! Start with a neutral base wine. Then add sugar, vodka, lemon juice and black tea to ramp up the levels of sugar, alcohol, acidity and tannins in your glass. Close your eyes (don’t cheat!) and see if you can detect which is which. When discerning wine, it’s always a safe bet to start with these factors:
- Sweetness: How sweet or dry is the wine?
- Acidity: How tart is the wine? Does it make you salivate?
- Tannins: How astringent or bitter is the wine? Does it dry out your mouth?
- Alcohol: How “hot” is the wine? Does it warm your throat?
Bring your blindfolds. On Somm School Insider Episode 2 we’ll learn all about tasting blind. Sign up here to get notified when it comes out! We will be releasing all seven episodes over the next few months.
If you liked this video and want to see more fun content about food and wine, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram. And if you want to see behind-the-scenes scoop on this series, follow @Carole.Mac.
Series glassware provided by Stölzle Lausitz.
