WSET 2 QURESTIONS AND ANSWERS

WSET 2 Ideal tasting room should be: - odor free, good natural light, white surface WSET Level 2 approach to tasting - Appearance, Nose, Palate, Conclusion Tasting palate should be - clean and unaffected by flavors you can clean your palate by - chewing a piece of bread out of condition means - wine is too old, stored poorly, or cork seapage most common fault that shows in appearance - dull in appearance, hint of brown ruby color - purpley -red a tolerant taster - likes strong flavored food and drinks; powerful concentrated wines sensitive taster - likes a range of foods and drinks, sensitive to bitterness; likes ripe red wines (shiraz) full flavored whites (sauv blanc) very sensitive taster - very sensitive to bitterness and astringency; delicate wines, slight sweetness lower tannin garnet color - orangey - red appearance sequence in white wine - lemon -gold -amber (Let's Go Atascadero) appearance sequence in red wine - purple -ruby -garnet -tawny (Paso Robles Great Town) color of youthful red - purple age indicator for red wines - orange, amber brown color Lemon - yellow with a hint of green gold - yellow with a hint of orange age indicator for white wines - green = youth; orange/brown = age age indicator for Rose' wines - purple/pink = youth orange/brown = age most common fault discovered on nose - cork taint out of condition wines will smell - dull and stale; oxidative aromas (toffee, caramel) purpose of tasting notes - help describe wine to someone who hasn't tasted it when assessing wine on palate you use - sense of taste and smell sweetness is mostly detected on - tip of tongue acidity is most easily detected on - the sides of your tongue bitterness is most easily detected on - the back of your tongue sweetness is the - indication of how much sugar is in the wine ripe grapes can provide - the illusion of sweetness acidity makes the wine - taste vibrant and refreshing cool climate effects acidity - increases acidity warm climates effects acidity - decreases acidity tannin levels in thick skinned grapes - high (cab sauv. syrah) thin skinned grapes have what tannins - lower (grenache, pinot) warm climate effects tannins - increases (think WIT) tannins provides what on the palate - bitter (back of tongue) astringency (gums) tannins contribute to - viscosity and body body is the combination of - effects of alcohol, tannins, sugars and flavor compounds how do we detect flavor - retronasaly. flavors evaporate off the tongue and rise great wines express - characteristics of their grape variety and their region the purpose of food pairings is to - provide more pleasure than just the wine or food alone pairings should take into account - the preferences of the individual and the basic interactions between food and wine two components in food that tend to make wines harsher (higher astringency, bitter; lower sweetness, fruit) - sweetness and umami (sugar and umamai harden wine) two components in food that make wine taste softer (less astringent, bitter, acidic; more sweet and fruit) - salt and acid (salt and acid soften wine) which has more impact than the other - food has more impact on wine than other way sweetness in food - increases bitterness, acidity and alcohol decreases body, sweetness and fruitiness general rule for pairing with sugar - select a wine with a higher level of sugar umami in food - increases bitterness, acidity and alcohol decreases body, sweetness, and fruitiness pairing tip for umami - find food with high salt acidity in food - increases body, sweetness and fruitiness decreases bitterness and acidity bitterness in food - increases bitterness (bitter adds to bitter) fatty/oily food - decreases acidity chili heat in food - increases bitterness, acidity, and alcohol