It’s time to get “fizzical” with today’s effervescent Wine Wednesday Wordologie vocabulary lesson. Class is now in session!
This week we’re talking wine tasting–a specific king of tasting called a “horizontal tasting.” Why should you know about {and certainly participate in!} a horizontal wine tasting? You always ask the most wonderful questions!
A horizontal tasting is comprised of wines of the same style or vintage that come from multiple vineyards, producers, and/or vintners. The lovely thing about tasting wines horizontally is that it’s an excellent way to both refine and expand your palate because sipping wines of a similar style side-by-side allows you to begin to distinguish the wine making styles a winery or vintner is known for.
Once you start detecting the differences between wine making styles you get a better idea of what qualities you like–and don’t like–in sparkling wines and champagnes. How do you do this? By applying the 4 basic elements of wine tasting.
In case you need a quick review/primer for “Wine Tasting 101,” here are the 4 basic elements of tasting wine are:
- appearance
- aroma
- flavors
- finish
When you consider and apply these 4 elements of tasting during your horizontal tasting experience, it will help you develop your personal tasting preferences because you’re comparing style to style, and vintage to vintage. The best way to learn what you like is to try as much as you can, and a horizontal tasting is an excellent excuse way to do that.
Would you participate in horizontal tasting? I’d love to hear what you think. Who knows, The Bubbleista just might be cooking up something tasty of her own in the “fizz lab” soon, so stay tuned!