Visual Cues - What To Look For In The Glass

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September 3, 9:50 PM

by Kasey Carpenter, Wine Examiner

 

 

White paper, adequate light, and a clear glass...

But what about even before that? What of the appearance of the wine itself? Let's consider some things to look for that apply to all wines and then characteristics you will want and some you will not, as they pertain to a given varietal.

Our eyes need light to see, so when wanting to examine a glass of wine, good lighting is a necessity. But good light does you no good if you are looking through that opaque glass of wine over your dark granite counter top. You need a neutral white non-reflective material as a background. Period. A white tablecloth is perfect or even simply a piece of white typing paper.

Those are pretty much all the tools you'll need. We've made the assumption you will not be trying this with tinted glassware...

So, the stage is set so to speak, lets pour some wine. First thing you will want to see in a Prosecco, Champagne, Cava, etc is bubbles. If you see no active bubbling of the gasses that are supposed to be present in these wines, then you know immediately that is really no need to go any further. Conversely with a still wine, white or red, if you see bubbles or a small frothy foam, you can expect trouble as you are more than likely the victim of secondhand fermentation that occurred after the wine was bottled. This is bad and you can bet the wine is ruined even beyond being turned into Sangria.

So let assume your still wine has no bubbles. Great. But is the wine cloudy? Are there little crystals in the bottom of the glass? What about that fine silt that you see in some wines? These are some of your first clues about the wine in question. The small crystals, almost sea salt sized things in the bottom of your glass that are probably also attached to the bottom of the cork are called tartaric crystals and are totally inert and harmless. They affect the wine's flavor and profile in no particular way. They are tasteless and represent no threat if ingested. They are more commonly recognized in white wines where some have called them "diamonds."

A cloudy wine, especially in a white wine is generally not a good thing and can be a sign of some winemaking and/or storage issues. This too can pretty much be a stop sign to any further enjoyment of this particular bottle. In red wines it isn't always a bad thing. It is particularly common in pinot noir that was unfined and unfiltered, meaning the winemaker chose to leave a certain amount of the actual solids from the grape to remain in the wine. Many believe, as this writer does, that fining and filtering out every last particle robs the wine of added contact with the very thing that give it flavor and the important preservative tannin that resides in the grape.

This leads to the actual sighting of small solids in the wine that can range in size to imperceptible fine silt to something akin to used coffee grounds. These are normal and to expected in more powerful, ageworthy wines like the Bordeaux varietals. And sediment is all but demanded in vintage port. You pop a bottle of '63 Fonseca, and you better have sludge at the bottom of it. So seeing these solids can tell you that most likely this was an intentionally unfined and unfiltered wine, one designed to impart huge flavor profiles and the ability to age for some time.

So moving along from physical extras in the glass, lets focus on the color. And lets start with white wines.

Clarity is definitely a factor in judging a white wine. Deep golden colors are to be expected in mature Chardonnay, especially from Burgundy. But when the brown tones show up, you can expect a materized or oxidized wine that may leave you tasting a lot of has-been characteristics. Some exceptions are older German TBA's some older Rhone whites, and of course Sauternes, Barsacs, and some other dessert style wines.

Certain varietals should look a certain way. A light and crisp new world sauvignon blanc should be clear light and anywhere from a green apple hue to a light straw color. Riesling should pick up where sauvignon blanc left off with light straw on younger ones to deep syrupy gold on aged examples.

Chardonnay should exhibit those straw tones all the way down to some deep thick golden colors with no cloudiness or brown notes present.

Reds do not change their color as dramatically with age as whites do. But they will still change. Especially when you look at the edge of the wine in the glass. When a wine goes from ruby to brick to brown, especially on the edge, this usually is an indication of age.

So we've talked about the color as well as sediment and clarity, but there is one more aspect, the viscosity. The legs of a wine. When a person swirls a wine and then looks at it intently as it settles back down, he is looking at the viscosity level in the wine. Viscosity tells alot about a wine, particularly the alcohol content. The "legs" of wine that run down the inside of a clean glass, the more the legs the greater the viscosity. This makes a wine stay with you longer, like drinking a glass of water that disappears off your palate rather quickly versus say, a teaspoon of olive oil that you will taste several minutes after you swallowed it. This viscosity, this "hang-time" is referred to as the "finish." You see legs, you know this will be a heavier wine, with some staying power. Less legs usually means a crisper and quicker finish - again these are guidelines, not hard and fast rules.

So before you dip your nose or even kick back the glass, stop and hold the glass over that white table cloth and really look into the glass, see what you can find and then see if those visual clues don't translate into aromas and tastes.

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