Temperature and Tasting
When blind tasting wines, serving temperature can radically alter your impressions; when too hot or too cold, even great wines may show poorly
Posted: Aug 16, 2010 3:00pm ET
I completely misjudged a wine in a blind tasting recently. I'm blaming my mistake on the temperature.
I was visiting friends, and we were eating outside on a lovely summer evening. The host, who has an enviable cellar, brought out a red wine in a decanter and, telling me nothing at all about the bottle, asked for my opinion.
Incidentally, I find this kind of casual blind tasting both fun and frustrating. Fun because it's a challenge to my sensory acuity and taste memories and an opportunity to be a hero, even if I just get close. But frustrating too, because wines are so complex that without some kind of context, it's really hard to make sense of those indistinct sensory inputs.
To continue reading this page, become a WineSpectator.com member today!
Do you have a Wine Spectator magazine subscription? Save 50% on your Online Membership right now!
Log In If You're Already a WineSpectator.com Member
