Identifying Balance in Wines

Video Transcript

"One of the most important things in a wines flavor is balance. Another way of saying balance is saying harmony. In other words whatever the wine is made up of should be in a nice easy balance or form a nice harmonious whole. If we talk about the elements of wine flavor, we're usually talking about its scent or its aromas, we're talking about its sweetness or its level of dryness, we're talking about its acidity, its weight, its body, the tannin if there is any and the alcohol. What balance means is that all of those form together nicely. And a wine can be very acidic and still be balanced, a wine can be sweet and still be balanced, a wine can be heavy or light, or dry or tannic and still be balanced. But if you've ever taste a wine and all you notice is one thing, and you're walking around saying, "I don't know, I think this wine is out of balance", it just actually might be. We have so much wine making technology these days, that most wines are in very good balance. And with a little bit of wine tasting experience, you will notice that most wines are in balance. So after a little bit of experience, if the wine screams at you and you have to ask yourself, is this wine out of balance, you might want to take a moment and pause, because it's kind of like when you take a swig from the milk container and you have to think, hmm, is this wine bad. The fact is, if you have to ask yourself the question, the answer is probably yes. So always look for balance, and if you think it's out of balance, it might be. "