Wine, Sight and Sound

So much of our tasting energy is spent assessing a particular’s wines aromas and flavours using our sense of smell and what we can detect with our indvidual palates. We rarely discuss the role of appearance, how the wine presents itself, the clues that we can derive from examining intently the liquid in a glass. Emily, Jamie and Doug talk about various aspects of visual appreciation, from the quality of light we taste in (daylight versus artificial, for example), to how appearances can sometimes be deceptive, as well as what find appetising when we look at a wine. They touch on the pros and cons of blind tasting and remark how easily we can be influenced by colour, our brains deceived by false perceptions. We broach a bottle of 2023 Soca-Rel Manto Negro from the island of Mallorca and comment on its remarkable pale red colour. Appearances are not deceptive! The wine is pretty, floral, red-fruited, and even ethereal. We then move to a Chinon of indeterminate age from Patrick Corbineau (RIP). Without a vintage on the label or the cork to guide us, we surmise - from the colour of the wine – that it is between15-30 years old. The wine is astonishingly fine and vibrant. In the second part of the podcast, the three examine how sound affects our assessment and enjoyment of wine. Sound can be music or conversation; they agree that it can establish our moods and thus affect our respective responses to wine. Noise, however, is always intrusive and the energy required to screen it out, impacts our enjoyment of wine and the very ability to taste. Restaurants have become increasingly noisy environments, perhaps less than ideal milieux to truly appreciate good wine in.