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Video sum up: Was wine discovered or invented?

Jeremy guess that wine was accidently discovered. Somebody left some fruits in a bucket or in a jar and when they went back they said “Damn that’s good fruit! There is something going on here”.

Then people learn to manage the process, evolve the process and make wine the experience wine that it is today.

Keep sending your questions!

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Video sum up: Can we offer a second chance to a corked wines?

The answer is NO. Once a wine is corked it is forever gone.

There is nothing you can do about it and with it. Corked wine is a wine which has been contamined by a vegetal component called TCA.

There is a rule with wine in cooking which is: never cook with a wine you would not drink yourself because it will convey negative flavors.

It is the same thing for vinegar. You should not do vinegar with corked wine.

The best wines can be corked even if you store them properly.

To go further:

• A more accurate definition of what a corked wine is on http://www.cellarnotes.net
  

  A ‘Corked’ wine is a wine that has been bottled with a cork that is contaminated with TCA (2,4,6-Trichloroanisole). TCA contamination usually comes from corks but can also come from barrels, other cooperage or even, apparently, from wood within the cellar including walls or beams. The term ‘corked wine’ is applied to all wines with TCA contamination because corks are the souce of most of the problems. The wine industry estimates that as many as 3% to 7% of all wines have TCA contamination at levels that can be detected by consumers. Because most people are not trained to recognize the smell and taste of TCA, only a very small fraction of these bad bottles are ever returned to stores or sent back at a restaurant.
  [...]
  TCA does not pose a health risk (at least in the levels found in wines). It just imparts the aromas and flavors that are objectionable when found in sufficient quantity. Many wines have levels of TCA that are below the threshold of perception. Wine is not the only place you can find TCA. It is also found in some municipal water supplies as well as in some teas.

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Video sum up: What are the differences between Pinot Noir, Cabernet and Merlot?

This question is very difficult to answer because these grapes are growing in a lot of different regions and will behave differently based on the winemaker preferences, on how the wine is stored, on terroir…

Pinot Noir, Cabernet and Merlot are the three major grapes called the noble grapes.

Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir is a very popular grape partly thanks to the movie Sideways. It’s an extraordinary grape which makes extraordinary wines in the right hands.
Pinot Noir is very difficult to grow: the skin is thin, the grapes are fragile, the wine once produced is also fragile. Pinot Noir comes from Burgundy (France).

In general Pinot Noir has a light color, lighter notes on the nose when it’s young (fresh berries, floral notes) and shows some earthiness.

Cabernet

Cabernet is a bigger grape, full of tannins, sometimes difficult to drink when it is young. The primary grape of Bordeaux.

The Australian Carbernet (Thorpe Rsv Cabernet) is much bigger on the nose (glycerin, eucalyptus). Cabernet are darker than Pinot Noir.

Merlot

Merlot is also a very popular grape. Merlot is a little easier to grow than Cabernet and Pinot Noir. Merlot is the primary grape used in Chateau Petrus (one of the most famous and expensive wine in the world).

Finally always keep in mind that any grape can be managed to do different things.

Wines tasted:

• Ellen d’Angeac Pinot Noir, Burgundy, France
• Thorpe Cabernet Sauvignon, Australia
• Castello Carboncine Merlot, Italy

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Video sum up: What is terroir and how does it influence wine?

Terroir is a very broad term:From Jeremy’s point of view terroir means place, ie:

• where does the wine / the grapes comes from
• the soil and what is in the soil (litteraly from french terroir means earth).
  For example in the episode 10 we were talking about Chablis and its very specific soil made of sea beds which gave it a mineraly taste
• the location of the vineyard itself: is the vineyard exposed a lot to the sun? how well is a vineyard is irrigated? what is the slope of the vineyard?

All these things contribute to the concept of place and the notion of terroir.

With a well trained palate and nose you will certainly be able to determine exactly where the wine was produced. Otherwise you might be able to say if the wine was grown in hot weather or maybe what was in the soil (minerality for example)…

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Video sum up

The first difference is from a geographic point of view:

• Old World wine comes from Old World, ie Europe (France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria…)
• New World wine comes from New World, ie America, South Africa, Australia, the USA…

Historically, wine has been produced for hundreds of years in Europe whereas in the USA and other regions it has been for a shorter period of time.

Finally, as far as the taste is concerned:

• New World wine are more exotic, have more alcohol and are typically grown in hot weather (which result in a higher concentration of fruit)
• Old world wine are perhaps more refined and delicate

Most often when people speak about new world wine they think about flashier, bigger and more flamboyant than old world wine.

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Video sum up: How many aromas and flavors can we really distinguish through our nose and palate?

Basically there are four flavors that we can taste:

• bitterness
• saltiness
• sourness
• sweetness

Everything else is about your nose and your ability to memorize specific odors or aromas

If you read wine description you will see everything from fruits (pineapple, blackberry, cherry,…) to peppers or even to more man made smells like asphalt, milk chocolate ice cream…

Jeremy recommands you to spend time smelling wine and smelling the things around you like wood, your car or a baby diaper (!). Also use tasting notes to discover the nomenclature of terms used to describe wine.

Finally you can smell hundreds of things in wine, it is really up to you and your experience.

To go further

• The Wine Aroma Wheel
• Unleash your inner wine geek and scoop up the Aromaster

Send us your questions!

Send us your question and we will do our best to answer them: http://www.tellmewinetv.com/send-us-your-questions/

Video sum up Can we distinguish white wines from red wines when you are blindfolded?

Jeremy’s challenge is to find a white wine from a red wine.

Vision is one of the sense used to judge and appreciate a wine. Jeremy found the white wine mostly thanks tannins.

If you are still not convinced have a look at these two videos:

• Where the hell is the white wine? Jeremy’s challenge is to find a white wine among a total of four wines (3 reds and 1 white). Did he manage to find the white wine while blindfolded?
• Wine Challenge: White VS Red Blindtasting: same challenge but this time Jeremy had to find the red wine

Send us your question and we will do our best to answer them: http://www.tellmewinetv.com/send-us-your-questions/