Date: Aug 15, 2011
Today we have Dr. Tay Hong Soon as a guest lecture. He is teaching us the Character and Quality of Wine.
And because he is the lecterer that looks after the lab, so we get to use the lab for the night.
Today class was very technical in the first half, but the lab sessions gets very interesting.
We learned almost everything about Fermentations.
We get to taste 6 Acids. And try to differentiate which is which. This is very hard. I got 4 wrong in this one.
Tartaric Acid - Grapes: hardness
Malic Acid - Green Apple: sour
Citric Acid - Lemon: sharp
Acetic Acid - vinegar: arid
Lactic Acid - milk: tartness
Secret X Acid - guess which one.
By the time we guessing the last acid, our tongue alredy numb.
Then, we taste the Wine Wine, with 1 glass the normal one, and 4 others adding sugar and acid. This is better, at least I guess the normal one correctly. The rest simply taste funny, too sweet, too acidic, etc.
The last test, is to taste the red wine, for tannins and acids. Try to find the balanced one.
It was fun!
They basically uses the same wine, with sugar and acid added in. :)
Then, we get to smell some aromas from the spieces and fruits...
All these aromas can be added in after the fermentation stage. And it is all chemical.
There is no such things that they added Red berry into the wine. It is all chemical, and it has a note of Red berry.
So, when you say a wine is fruity, has a note of lemon, does not mean that they added lemon, the real thing into the fermentation. They simply add the Citric acid into the wine during the fermentation stage.
Here are some more example of fruity.
Floral...
And spice. Usually in Shiraz, you have all these diff spices.
Well, we have a lot of fun tonight, and we also decided that our group will get to present our presentation next week. :)
Uh, one more thing... Umami. It is said to be the fifth taste from the tongue, beside sweet, salty, sour and bitter. This is the fifth sense.
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