Identifying Acidity in Wine Tasting

Video Transcript

"One of the major taste components of any wine; whether it's white, red, bubbly, pink, I don't care, is going to be acidity. Acidity is a very localized taste. Most people; I could probably even say all people are best able to taste acidity by drawing their attention to the sides of their tongue. We all have some very specialized taste receptors on the sides of our tongue that taste acidity. Acidity comes on strong, and it also lasts a while, so what you want to do is take a nice sip of wine, move it around in your mouth a little bit, draw your attention to the side of your tongue, swallow, and exhale; kind of like this. You will definitely taste and feel acidity. If it's a highly acidic wine, you'll feel a little physiological reaction right here of your glands kind of going heee. Another thing you can do when you notice the acidity in a wine, is ask yourself which of the following flavors the acidity reminds you of. It will remind you of one or all of the following flavors:lemon-lime, lemon peel, citrus peel, green apple, red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar, rotten grapes, biting down on an aspirin pill, a vitamin c pill, or sour cream. That may sound a little bit crazy, but actually each of those flavors represent different acids in wine, and you can notice which flavors come across in your wine, and know a little bit about your wine. For instance, the green apple flavor is malic acid; the most common flavor in wines. You'll probably notice it in all of your white wines, and many of your red wines. Give it a try. "