Wine Facts: Choose Your Wine

"How do you know if it is a "good year" if you don't follow wine growing news?
Or is the year even important when you are tasting wine?"

Dr Mic: The truth is, even if you follow wine news they will tell you that every year is a great
vintage! It is easy to understand that no one in the industry is ready to say: "This is a bad year, stop
drinking!". It ususally takes a few years before the truth about a vintage emerges, by which time 90% of
that vintage will have been drunk. But really, for most wines in most regions, modern day technology will erase the
differences, mask the imperfections and put out of the market the non marketable wines. Since there is way
more wine produced than consumed so you can be sure that only the best survive! The vintage is a factor
when you start buying wines that are probably out of the common man's range and where it can make the
difference between a good wine and a fabulous wine. This is the case essentially in Bordeaux where the
weather can vastly differ from one year to the other. It is true nevertheless that for a given wine each
vintage will have its own characteristics and flavors. And this is probably more so with organic wines
which will reflect more closely their natural conditions.

"What does a wine trailing in a glass, I believe known as legs, have anything to do with its quality? Does it mean anything, does it
tip you off to age, flavor, etc?"

Dr Mic: Legs or tears are traces of wine sticking to the glass when one swirls it around the glass. Glycerol, one of the alcohols present in wine, is responsible for that effect (you know about glycerine, don't you?). A wine rich in that alcohol will probably
be smooth and round on the palate. Since it is a solvant for a number of volatile compounds, it will also harbor a richness of flavors. Beyond that....!

"Does sniffing first affect the "taste" in the mouth? I suspect it does, but perhaps you can advise the sensitivity transmission."
Dr Mic:
The 4 or 5 savors felt through the tongue (sweet and salty, acid and sour, savory being a recent discovery) go through a different neural pathway. The nerve endings in the upper part of the nose go directly to the brain and can discern thousands of different
chemical compounds. In other words the nose will be responsible for the biggest part of your sensory evaluation of the wine.