This document provides an overview of wine tasting and evaluation. It discusses the major components of wine tasting including appearance, smell, taste, and final impressions. Specific aromas and flavors for different grape varieties and wine styles are outlined. The document also covers wine production methods for white, red, and rose wines. Basic wine information such as top wine producing countries and the ideal climate for grape growing are reviewed.

1. WINE 101

2. WINE TASTING & CATERING
ANTHIMOS GEORGIOU
Gastronomy Lover & Wine Connoisseur
Citizen of the World. Limassol, New York, Thessaloniki,
Luzern! Teaching Hospitality and Food & Beverage
Management in a Swiss Hotel School in Luzern!
I am offering Wine Tastings with wines of your choice
but also with wines that I will carefully select to match
your taste and budget. I also cater with cheese,
charcuterie and finger food to pair the wines and bring
the most out of them.
Become a member of my Gastronomy Network to learn
more about Wines and Gastronomy.
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3. Basic wine information
•a significant proportion of the total revenue from
alcoholic beverage.
•Wine is the product obtained from the total or
partial alcoholic fermentation of fresh grapes,
whether or not crushed, or of grape must –
European Community
Beverages

4. Basic wine information
There are two types of grapes:
•white and black/red grapes
•Black grapes have coloring in the skin and are
used in the production of both red, white & rosé
wines
Beverages

5. Wine Styles
Color
•Red, White, or Pink (Rosẻ)
Sweetness
•Dry, Medium or Sweet
Beverages

6. Major Wine Producing Nations
1. Italy and France
2. Spain and Portugal
3. Greece and Cyprus
4. Germany and Switzerland
5. United States and Canada
6. Argentina and Chile
7. Australia and New Zealand
8. South Africa
9. Lebanon and Israel
Beverages

7. Beverages
PRODUCING WINE
The quality of wine depends on
•the grape variety
•the climate
•annual weather conditions
•the type of soil
•Viticulture (method of growing the vine)
•Vinification (method of turning grapes into
wine)

8. Grape Varieties

9. Beverages
CLIMATE
The main wine producing regions of the world lie between latitudes 30
and 50 degrees north and south of the equator

10. Beverages
THE IDEAL CLIMATE
Sufficient moisture and warmth to
enable vines to grow and the
grapes to ripen
The right weather conditions must
prevail during the various stages
of the growth cycle of the vines

11. Beverages
THE PERFECT CLIMATE
•A cold winter to inhibit growth and rest the vine. Frosts to
kill diseases, but not to severly kill the vine. Enough rain to
build moisture reserves in the soil
•A mild warm spring with gentle rain to encourage the vine‘s
growth
•A warm settled period during the vine‘s flowering, followed
by a hot sunny summer with a little rain to swell the
developing fruit
•A long, fine, dry autumn to complete the ripening of the
grape, and for the vintage

12. Beverages
MAIN CLIMATIC DANGERS
•Frost can destroy growing shoots in the spring and
is particularly dangerous at the time of the budding
•Hail can break and damage young growth and
espescially during late summer, burst developing
grapes allowing rot to set it
•Wind is disastrous at flowering preventing
pollination. It can also break young shoots

13. Beverages
SOIL
Grape vines often thrive where other plants fail
POOR SOIL – LOW YIELDS OF FINE QUALITY
WINE
RICH SOIL – HIGHER YIELDS OF LESS GOOD
QUALITY WINE
THE BEST SOILS PROVIDE GOOD DRAINAGE NATURALLY

14. Beverages
Guyot Style

15. Beverages
Gobelet Style

16. Beverages
VINIFICATION – Wine making Process
Vinification – the conversion of grape juice into wine
The most essential part of vinification is FERMENTATION
One of the greatest French scientists of the 19th century,
Louis Pasteur discovered that
FERMENTATION OCCURS WHEN YEAST FEEDS ON
SUGARS, CONVERTING THEM TO ALCOHOL AND
CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2)
YEAST + SUGAR = ALCOHOL + CO2

17. Beverages
VINIFICATION
THE GRAPE

18. Beverages
METHODS OF PRODUCTION – WHITE WINE
Grape juice is colorless. Thus if the skins of black grapes
are removed at an early stage, white wine can be
produced from black grapes too.
1. Grapes are crushed and then pressed
2. Skins are discarded
3. During pressing, yeasts are washed off the grape skins
into the must. (Yeast can be added if necessary)
4. Must is pumped into a vat
5. Fermentation takes place at a low temperature and can
last between two to four weeks

19. Beverages
METHODS OF PRODUCTION – RED WINE
Made from the juice and the skins of black grapes. The
colour comes from the pigments of the grape
1. Grapes are crushed and then pressed
2. Skins are also used
3. During pressing, yeasts are washed off the grape skins
into the must. (Yeast can be added if necessary)
4. Must is pumped into a vat
5. Fermentation takes place at temperature between 25 and
30º C.
6. As fermentation creates alcohol, the alcohol itself extracts
first color and then tannin from the skins

20. Beverages
METHODS OF PRODUCTION
– RED WINE
• The amount of color and tannin
in the finished wine depends on
how long the new wine is kept
in contact with the skins
• As little as five days for light
wines (Beaujolais)
• About two weeks for full bodied
wines (Bordeaux)
• Rose wines – 14 to 24 hours

21. Beverages
METHODS OF PRODUCTION – RED WINE
1. When colour and tannin are sufficient, the free run wine is
drawn from the skins in a clean vat.
2. Skins are then pressed, yielding a further quantitiy of wine
(known as press wine).
3. Press wine contains higher level of tannin, and is blended
with the original wine. The amount depends on the
character the winemaker wants to achieve.

22. Beverages
METHODS OF PRODUCTION – RED WINE
• Racking: the sediment accumulated at the end of the
vessel (lees) is removed
• Fining: Bentonite, gelatine of white of egg are used to
push to the bottom of the vessel certain natural hazardous
substances
• Maturation – wine is allowed to rest, and flavor to develop.
This occurs during storage in large stainless steel vessels
or in oak casks
• Before bottling most wines will be chilled to form a
sediment which is removed

23. How To Taste And Evaluate Wine
• Appearance
• Smell
• Taste
• Final Impressions

24. Appearance
• Clarity: Is the wine bright and healthy looking or is it
hazy or cloudy? If a wine is cloudy, it may be due to
disturbed sediment in older wines or it may be the result
of refermentation in the bottle—a big problem!!
• Intensity: Is the color deep or pale?
• Color: Helps Identify
– Age
– Grape Varieties
– Aged in Wood?
• Other: When a glass is swirled, little ‘rivulets’ may form
on the side of the glass. These are known as “tears” or
“legs” and are an indicator of higher alcohol.

25. Smell “The Nose”
• Average person can identify over 2000
scents, wine has over 200.
• Aroma=Smell of the grapes
• Bouquet=Total smell of wine
• Smell helps identify
– Age
– Faults
– Varietal

26. Nose – Aromas
Characteristic Aromas of Wines
 Chardonnay
 Vanilla / citrus / wood
 Chenin Blanc
 Ripe melon / honey
 Sauvignon Blanc
 grass / green apple /
grapefruit
 Riesling
 ripe fruits / lemon
 Gewurztraminer
 ripe fruits / exotic
spices / perfume
 Carbernet Sauvignon
 dark fruits / wood / leather
 Zindandel
 red or dark fruits / pepper
 Merlot
 ripe grapes / plums
 Grenache
 dark fruits / pepper
 Pinot Noir
 red fruits / wood /

28. Taste “The Palette”
The five tastes:
• Sweet
• Sour
• Bitter
• Salty and
• Unami - Savory

29. Flavors in White Wines
 Examples of white wine flavors are:
 Toast - new oak or bottle aged
Chardonnay or Semillion.
 Vanilla - Wines aged in oak
 Pineapple / Clove spices -
Gewurztraminer
 Gooseberries / Citrus - Sauvignon
Blanc
 Lime / Lemon - Semillion
 Peaches / Apricots - Riesling or
Muscat
 Honey - Sweet dessert wines
subject to botrytis cinerea - Noble
Rot
Mouth - Taste

30. Flavors in Red Wines
 Examples of Red Wine
Flavors are:
 Bananas / Pears - Beaujolais
 Black pepper - Zinfandel
 Strawberries / cherries -
Pinot Noir
 Green peppers - young
Cabernet Sauvignon
 Chocolate - Pinotage
 Raspberries / plums - Syrah
Mouth - Taste

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