Where in the world

CHRISTINE AUSTIN puts her tastebuds to the ultimate test and knuckles down to study to become a Master of Wine.

The moment of truth. “Who thinks this is a Sauvignon Blanc?” A few hands go up. “What about a Chardonnay?” a few more hands go up. “Did anyone think it was something else? Pinot Gris? Okay, will someone who thought it was a Pinot Gris read out their tasting note.”

A tentative voice from near the back of the room read out details of aroma, taste, intensity and balance, describing a wine that eventually turned out to be a New Zealand Pinot Gris. Meanwhile, a classroom full of mature students, including me, scribbled key words on to their tasting sheets – aromatic, a touch of spice, peachy, low acid, moderate alcohol, off-dry.

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A feeling of pure elation swept over me as I realised that I had identified this wine correctly, even down to the region of origin, but this feeling didn’t last long. Over the next hour or so I discovered that, of the dozen wines in front of me, I had got more wrong than right, and while I might have made a good stab at describing many of the wines, I had pigeon-holed several of them a hemisphere away from their real country of origin.

This was not some bizarre party game but a class of first year Master of Wine students, including me, trying to learn the elusive technique of blind tasting.

Everyone knows how to taste wine. Swirl the glass, stick your nose in and assess the aromas you find. Move on to the taste – slurp a little wine, and “chew” it around the mouth, suck in air and notice the various taste sensations as they register across the palate – acidity, sweetness and those flavours – are they green herbaceous notes, light pear flavours or heavier peachy tastes that will eventually lead you to grape variety and country of origin.

Bear in mind where these grapes are grown around the world then hunt through a databank of information trying to fit the taste to a particular hemisphere, country and region.

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No wonder the wine taster’s mantra keeps running through my head “a glance at the label is worth 20 years experience”. But there is no possibility of a glance at the label. My 12 expensive, handmade Riedel wine glasses each contain another anonymous liquid, the next one is pale, herbaceous with lively acidity. Could this be a Sauvignon Blanc, and if it is, where is it from? New Zealand, Chile, South Africa, or is it a Sancerre?

Blind tasting is a peculiarity of the wine trade, a need to be able to pick up a glass and breezily identify grape, hemisphere, country, region, vintage and quality with accuracy and confidence. Much more than a party trick, it is a skill I must master if I am to have any hope of gaining those magic MW (Master of Wine) letters after my name. Why I must learn how to do this is about as obvious as some of the wines. There are very few occasions in my working life when I must identify unknown wines. Much more likely is the job I have to do for this column, which is to look out for prime examples of particular wines, especially if they are at a particularly good price.

I also run a tasting panel at The International Wine Challenge when I have to assess hundreds of wines, identified usually by grape variety and country, then weed out the frankly dull examples and push forward the best ones.

But blind tasting is a requirement of the course, so I am frequently to be found at home, with glasses lined up, busy practising my technique. What blind tasting does is concentrate the mind wonderfully, allowing the taster to concentrate on the key elements of a wine, and while I have to do this for the job, it can also make a good wine tasting evening for a group of wine lovers who perhaps have moved on from the usual regional tastings.

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If you would like to arrange a blind tasting, the first thing you have to do is designate someone to set it up. They alone know the identity of the wines. Choose a theme, maybe a region or a variety and decide how many wines you want to taste. Then bottles should be bought and labels hidden. There are various ways of doing this. Old walking socks with the toes cut out make good bottle jackets. If you really want to make life difficult then decant the wines into other bottles. If this is a social evening then it is kinder to break up into groups rather than let everyone struggle to identify wines on their own, and while I am usually allowed two hours to identify 12 wines and write decent notes, a social evening should allow everyone to taste and assess the wines briefly.

Tasting sheets, a perfume-free environment and a good sense of humour are also required in any blind tasting situation. Most people are very sensitive about their ability to taste, so the period of what is commonly known as “egg-on-face time”, when tasters own up to what they think wines actually are should be accompanied by a fair amount of good humour and fair play.

Most wine merchants in our area would be happy to put together a few bottles to help a blind tasting exercise, with varietal or country by country themes. Talk to Harrogate Fine Wine, The Halifax Wine Company, Field and Fawcett or The Wright Wine Company, or head to Corks and Cases in Masham (01765 688810) who have a ready-made game “Guess the grape” which combines wine trivia questions and a blind wine tasting kit. This game (£49.95) has already won an award for innovation and is a good place to start.

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