Wine Tasting in Germany

"Wine is bottled poetry" .. Someone has said it truely.

During my trip to Heidelberg Germany, I was lucky to get an opportunity to go wine-tasting. Initially I thought its no big deal, we will just go and sip through some wine varieties. Later I realized, wine tasting is an art and there is a formal way to doing it. There was an instructor guiding us through our journey of experiencing wine and I will share my learning here.
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Wine should never be considered as just another drink. It has a soul and body just like a living creature and weather it opens up its flavor to its drinker or keeps it to itself depends on how loved and cared it was.. Funny isn't it.. Our instructor treated wine like a person.
The temperature, exposure to light, proximity to certain foods all these things impact its complexity and character.
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There are 5 steps of wine-tasting -
1. Color: Notice the color, transparency from side of the glass vs top of the glass
2. Swirl : Swirl it around your glass so that the wine opens up its flavors to you
3. Smell: Smell the aroma for fruitiness or tanniness
4. Taste: Take a sip and judge its tanginess or acidity
5. Savor: Enjoy the after-taste or mouth feel of the wine
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After tasting the first one, have a piece of bread and water as a palette cleanser before trying the next one
Generally wine-tasting is either horizontal (same vintage, different wineries) or vertical (Different vintages, same winery). But ours was mixed - there were 5 different varieties of wine on the menu. I am not a wine connoisseur, so putting down here my reviews and feelings.
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Riesling Wine
 Riesling Wine - This is made with white grapes grown in Germany Rhine region. It has a fruity aroma, smells like lemon or apple-ish. When you swirl it around your glass, you will be able to identify more aromas apart from fruity, something of petrol/gas. This is strange and I think that makes this wine a very popular drink apt for wine-tasting. The taste is also very acidic - this must be served chilled to enjoy its best flavor. 
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Burgunder Wine

Grauer Burgunder - Another white wine variety but very different in smell and taste from the Riesling. The grape Grauburgunder or Pinot gris originated in France and comes from the Burgundy region. The color is pale, aroma is of a citrus fruit and taste is less acidic than the Reisling. I felt that this white wine melted in the mouth, much lighter and sutler than the first one.

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Rosé wine

Rosé wine - I had always heard about White and Red wines, but Rose was first time. This is the type of wine, which incorporates some color from its grapes but not that much to qualify as a Red wine. This is also served chilled, and by the looks of it, this is the most beautiful looking wine. After the juice is extracted from red grapes, it is left to soak in its skin which gives it its special Rose color.
It is transparent and I felt it has a pineapple-ish aroma. Melt in the mouth feeling and I loved it.


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Frühburgunder wine
Frühburgunder wine - The Fruhburgunder is a dark blue-black grape, which is known for its early ripening and is difficult to grow. Our instructor told us that this wine should be stored at room temperature and at a quiet place, since it has a complex character. If it is stored where there are too many people and noises around, it hides its aroma in itself and doesn't really show its true behavior.. strange...
All in all, I kind of liked this wine, it had a warm taste which remained long after it went down the throat.
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Chianti Wine
Chianti Wine - This was an Italian wine variety, which came from Tuscany region in Italy. This was a dark-red wine, aroma smelt of cherry-like. It is said that this wine is felt at the mid-palete to the finish rather than at the front of the mouth. I think that is one reason why the after taste of red-wines stays much longer as compared to the white ones.
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Corks of Wine bottle
All in all, this was an amazing experience of trying out so many wines and learning the process of tasting and judging wine. I wanted to write more, about the different type of glasses used for different wines and the food-pairings. Would cover that may be in my next post...
P.S - All the photos are taken from my iPhone 6

12 comments

  1. Alok singhalJune 13, 2016 at 4:24 PM

    Oh my, there is so much to it. We did test it on one of our vacations to NewPort, but not with so much knowledge.

    Thanks for adding this here.

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  2. AmitaJune 14, 2016 at 11:24 AM

    that was quite informative...
    Lucky you...

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  3. UnknownJune 14, 2016 at 7:03 PM

    This is so much fun! It was quite a regular affair for us while we were studying at INSEAD in France. Can be fun but the only thing is I don't like the cheese tasting session with it too much!
    Glad you had fun Sneh :)!

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  4. RajeshJune 15, 2016 at 9:43 AM

    Great experience. I had particpated one such event in Bangalore.

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  5. Dr. Priyanka Shanbhag ShroffJune 15, 2016 at 9:11 PM

    I have never been able to differentiate the taste, but this activity looks and sounds so interesting. Did you fill your experience in a wine tasting journal?

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  6. Famous TripJune 16, 2016 at 9:22 AM

    Love to visit again and again to this blog, this is my first time to visit here. I find it excellent.

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  7. KalpanaJune 21, 2016 at 5:54 PM

    Sounds wonderful. I'm just a teeny tiny bit jealous because I would love to do wine tasting right now.

    ReplyDelete