Sunset 44 Bistro

There are three aspects of a wine that will enable anyone to make a qualified professional statement, in terms of describing any wine accurately. These are:

1. Body
2. Sweetness range (sweet to dry)
3. Flavor Intensity

It is around these three aspects that you will form your own wine language. When you are able to describe a wine’s body, sweetness range and its flavor intensity, you will be well on your way to begin making wine a major profit center.

• Body

The term “body” refers to how the wine feels in the mouth or how it “fills” the mouth. In all wines, we find sugars, alcohol, glycerin, acids, tannins, etc. Some wines, we say, are better endowed than others because they have more of these particular substances. When you describe a wine’s feeling in the mouth, you say it is either light-bodied, medium-bodied, or full-bodied.

Light-bodied wines are easy to drink. Medium-bodied wines have more substance to them; they seem to weigh more on the palate. They fill the mouth with a richer, more velvety quality. Full-bodied wines make their presence known in the mouth.

They are assertive, they can coat the tongue. A wine’s body is an important concept in matching wines with food.

• Sweetness Range

The relative amounts of sugar and alcohol in a wine are what render it sweet, slightly sweet, or dry. The word “dry” implies absence of sugar. Novice wine drinkers usually start out enjoying wines that are on the slightly sweet side. The more experienced wine drinkers gradually develops a taste for dry wines.

• Flavor Intensity

Certain wines possess a greater flavor intensity than do others. This can be due to any number of factors: the grape varieties used, the wine-making techniques, etc. Because everyone’s tastes are different, you must know whether a wine is subtle and delicately flavored or, as with some intensely flavored reds, if it has a certain amount of bitterness, these differences must be learned. Flavor intensity can be thought in terms of its concentration.

By knowing how to utilize these three aspects of body sweetness, and intensity, in describing the wines you carry on your list, you will be able to recommend and discuss the wine which most perfectly complements any entrée item carried on your menu.