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wine tasting

OK, I'm a novice to wines, just beginning to learn about the whole process, history and business of wine. Wine enthusiasts use language to describe the taste of wine such as melon, pear, pineapple, blackberry etc etc etc, my question is ( and excuse my ignorance) how can a grape taste like a pear, or a strawberry or a peach or any other thing except a grape. A peach does not taste like a banana. So, whats up with this fruity language. Can a grape really taste like a pear? Am I to believe that a grape is so magical that it takes on as if by some mysteriuous transfiguration that flaver of other things for no apparent reason. Thanks

Reply to
Tom Orga
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Tom -

Have you actually tasted some wine yet? Did it taste just like grapes to you? Most people can tell the difference between wine and grape juice -- it isn't just that the sugars have been converted to alcohol, the flavors change during fermentation as well. This isn't "no apparent reason" -- it's fermentation, and part of what makes wine so interesting, and wine descriptions so tricky.

Wine writers do sometimes get carried away with wine descriptions, but some wines do exhibit flavors that are similar to those of other fruits, as well as other things. Wine aged in oak can pick up small amounts of vanillin, for example. Sometimes you have to concentrate while tasting a wine, to detect a particular flavor component. And sometimes you might not taste a particular flavor component that someone else does.

The short answer -- yes, grapes are magical. :-)

Doug

Reply to
Doug

Don't forget the wines that taste like leather or tobacco or .....just about anything else.

Usually this is just a hint of the stated flavour and is not always discernable by everybody.

Steve

Reply to
Steve

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