Lesson 1: Mouthfeel

Hey everybody, happy Saturday and welcome back for another installment.  Hope we are all ready to change it up a little bit and do a little bit of a different focus today.  Lets learn about wine today instead of reading about a tasting of wine.  I recently had to put together a food and wine pairing and it got me to thinking about how to teach people about wine in an enjoyable manner.  To keep it simple and easy, lesson 1 will be focusing on recognizing mouthfeel from certain wines.  Some wines are natrually lighter in body and some wines are naturally fuller bodied in the mouth.  Being able to recognize this quality in the beginning will help you down the road with figuring out the kinds of wines you like.  And that's what its all about, finding wines that you like!

Here's what we are going to do.  You will need 4 wines to do this, so I recommend going to your favorite local wine bar or getting a few friends together and doing a BYOB.  You will need 2 whites and 2 reds.

White #1= Sauvignon Blanc.  New Zealand is best for this experiment.  Avoid California SB to be safe, you want an un-oaked version/style
White #2= Chardonnay.  California works well.  You want an oaked version here.  La Crema or Chateau St Jean are good inexpensive examples
Red #1=Pinot Noir.  Go for a value version here, avoid spending a lot on a single vineyard-reserve bottling.  A by Acacia works here
Red #2=Cabernet Sauvignon.  Its okay so spend a little money here, but go for a well known producer.  The Martin Ray 3 Counties from the by the glass tasting blog would fit right in

Now we have the wines selected.  Of course still taste in the same manner as you would before, but when you are physically tasting the wine focus on noticing how the wine feels on your palate.  For the whites, the Sauv Blanc will be lighter and racier with higher acidity where the Chardonnay will feel thicker and more oily-richer across the mouth.  The same should happen for the reds, but it won't be oily so much.  The Cabernet will be higher in tannin and will feel differently than the light bodied high acid pinot noir.

I hope we all get the chance to try this out very soon and it helps you to find the style of wine that fits you best.  Remember to have fun with it, after all you are drinking good wine aren't you?  Life is too short to drink bad wine.  Salute!