Food Talk Experts advise on how to select good wine
By Yun Suh-young
Guests taste award winning wines at the 2017 Korea Wine & Spirits Awards Thursday at The Westin Chosun Seoul. Courtesy of Korea Wine & Spirits Awards
The 2017 Korea Wine & Spirits Awards were held Thursday, presenting awards to 85 brands of wine available in Korea, including the seven "Best of the Best.” They were Caliterra Tributo Chardonnay, Badia di Morrona I Sodi del Paretaio, Quinta do Valdoeiro White, The Grape Grinder Pinotage, Champagne Philizot & Fils Numero 3, Moscatel de Setubal and Domaine Lafage Amour.
The evaluation criteria for the best wines were aroma, flavor, balance, aftertaste and value for money. The latter was added this year to cater for consumers who want to enjoy wine at a reasonable price. It is an effort to erase the common perception that expensive wines are the best wines.
But as consumers, we don't simply want to be presented with wines that are shining with glory, with award-winning stickers or two-digit scores evaluating how awesome they are. As consumers, we want to be able to choose wines that match our preferences, palates, occasions and food. To be able to know what we're drinking and buying takes an extensive learning, requiring time and money. Nothing can be achieved with a snap of the finger. But that's why experts are there to help guide people like us.
Below are of tips on choosing, tasting, and enjoying wine suggested by Alberto You, one of the 16 judges of the Korea Wine & Spirits Awards this year, who has a Level 3 Advanced Spirit Education Trust (WSET) certificate, a British qualification for wine and spirits, and Kim Tae-won, sommelier at restaurant Mong Ro in Gwangwhamun.
Q: What are some tips on purchasing a good wine?
A: You: First of all, when buying at the supermarket, don't trust the salespeople. They're likely to recommend the brands they're direct distributors of. Think first of the food that you will be pairing it with. Rather than getting recommendations of the wine itself, receive recommendations from experts on the grape variety. It takes about three failures to finally figure out the wine of your preference, so be ready to take a risk at least three times. The taste of the wines may vary depending on regions, even if they are produced with the same grape variety. So buy at least three wines of the same grape variety from three different regions. Then you'll know what the differences are.
If you have no idea as a beginner, French wines with an AOC rating are a safe bet as well as wines that have received awards. At least they're above average.
Q: How do we determine the quality of a wine?
A: You: A good wine will show its color slowly. Take it easy and slowly when drinking wine. Drink it for at least two hours with your meal. Every 30 minutes, the wine will taste differently. Good wine shows different layers of aroma as time passes. The more you expose the wine to air, the aroma will be more plentiful. To discover this will take time, so drink it slowly and see how it changes on your palate.
Kim: A good wine is one that doesn't give you a bad impression at the first smell. Overall it will need to have a balanced set of acidity, aroma and savor.
Q: Any tips on choosing from a wine list if there isn't a sommelier to help us out?
A: You: The generally safe options are merlot for red wines and chardonnay for white wines. Chardonnay is warm and bountiful in flavor. It doesn't go well with sour tastes, but is generally well matched with most food. Merlot is well-rounded, so it may taste a bit bland, but that makes it go well with any food.
Kim: The safe bets are chardonnay and pinot noir. Chardonnay is savory and pinot noir is fruity. The latter is a favorite of female customers. It's a red wine with the lightest body.
Q: Why do people swirl wine in their mouths, making gargling sounds?
A: Kim: Since wine is a fermented beverage, it becomes softer when contacting air. When you swirl the wine around your mouth, like you're gargling, the temperature of the wine changes and the aroma is released when it makes contact with the air in the mouth, so you can discover the hidden aromas of the wine.
Q: Does decanting help bring out the flavor of wine?
A: You: There is significance in using a decanter for old wines because it can separate the sediments settled at the bottom of the wine bottle. But there's a debate about whether exposing wine to the air forcibly by pouring it into a decanter will actually boost the flavor. It could help bring out some flavors but it could also lose some flavors. It brings out the flavor quickly but it can never be compared to the subtle flavors that naturally come out when leaving the bottle open.
Q: Are old wines always considered good wines?
A: Kim: Just because a wine is old doesn't mean it's necessarily good. It depends on how the wine is preserved. It is much affected by temperature and light. The same applies to the level bestowed to wines. Just because it is certified with a DOC or DOCG (for Italian wines) doesn't mean they're always good.
Q: How do we determine when to open a wine?
A: Kim: Each wine has its own suitable time for opening. When it passes that period, the wine can taste like vinegar. But it's hard for laypeople to determine when is the best time to open a wine. That's why people like us, sommeliers, exist to give recommendations.
You: It's safe to follow recommendations from wine gurus like Robert Parker or James Suckling on when to open a wine. Usually wines have a tasting note recorded on the label recommending when the best time is to open that bottle.
Q: Any tips on pairing wine with food?
A: You: Other than the typical knowledge of white wine with fish and red wine with meat, another tip is to match the ingredients of the region with the wine of the region. Because they're grown in the same terroir (land), they are destined to go together. For instance, with Italian pizza, Italian wine Chianti goes well and with escargot from Bourgogne, a white wine from the region will be a good match.
Q: Any tips on selecting vintages?
A: Kim: There are two don'ts I'd secretly recommend. Don't buy a Californian wine of 2014 vintage because there was a huge earthquake that year. Same goes with the 2015 vintage of Chilean wine. There was also an earthquake there that year. It's always risky to buy wines of a vintage when there were natural disasters, because the wineries suffer from huge damage. When wines are shaken, the flavor is scattered and affects the balance. You'd think that they'd sell these wines at a cheaper price, but they don't because once they lower the price, it can never recover. Since not many people know about vintages, they'll keep the price as it is. It's something insiders know but keep to themselves.