Column: Wine Tasting in Loire Valley, France

When someone thinks of France, the most likely beverage that comes to mind is wine.

I mean, let’s face it. If you went into old-fashioned clip art, I bet the word “France” would pick up cheesy images of wine bottles, wine glasses and a good old beret.

Before hunkering down for classes next week, my international school took us to the Loire Valley for a bonding trip. Known for it’s scenic views of castles and countryside,
the Loire is a mecca for all things beautiful.

My school’s staff delved deeper into the Loire’s
history.

I was overjoyed when I heard the words “dégustation de vin.” Everyone in the tour bus paused for a minute as we all internally translated it into “wine tasting” and burst into giddy chatter.

Imagine that. My first wine tasting was not only in France, but it was also in a castle.
After being guided through the castle and its grounds, we settled into Chateau de
Nitray’s wine room.  

Most of us in the room had not varied our wine tastes too far from Franzia, so we were curious to see how to properly taste wine.

You always see on the glass bottle things like “notes of grapefruit” or a “subtle smokiness,” but I always wondered if that was actually true.

The proprietor at Nitray simplified the process. He said to look for four qualities.
“First, use your eyes,” he said. “What color is it.” If it’s red, it is mostly because they left the peel on the grape before fermentation. White grapes were skinned before processing.

Then he went down the list.

Smell the wine. Swirl the glass, he said. Give the wine air to mature. In other words, balance out the flavors by bringing out those more buried in the drink.
I noted that this worked. Especially for the fourth wine he opened. After swirling my glass, it lost some of its sweetness and became a bit earthy. Almost reaching a
subtle smokiness.

Next, taste the wine and determine if there is saltiness or acidity.

And last, ask yourself if there is an aftertaste. This was especially the case for the fourth wine. As weird as it sounds, the smoke really solidified in this step.

Smoke in wine — what a weird idea. Maybe the wood in the wine barrels was smoked.

Part of me wonders if the finer aspects of wine tasting are all internal. Regardless of what I taste, I cannot forget there is only one main ingredient in wine — grapes.

However, it does make me eager to see what makes this one ingredient so complex it invokes these different tastes. I have yet to find out, but I hope to learn soon.

Follow columnist Audrey Perkins on Twitter @AudreyNLP.