Wine Fundamentals Part 6: The Feel of Wine

(Parade) - Now that you know how to evaluate wine by sight, smell, and taste, the last piece of the puzzle is to evaluate it by how it feels in your mouth. The “feel” of a wine is what we call its structure, which we break down into the following components: body, sugar, alcohol, acid, tannin (in red wine), and finish.

But before we get into the specifics of these components, let’s first talk about tastes.

TASTES

In the mid-1800s, a Frenchman by the name of Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote about four tastes that our tongues perceive: sweet, salty, sour and bitter. While most of you are probably familiar with these four tastes, did you know that there are actually two more?

In the early 1900s, Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda discovered a fifth taste called umami. While it is difficult to define, umami generally refers to a savory taste, which is present in foods like soy, fish, mushrooms, and cheese. Umami tends to make your mouth water and serves to enhance and balance the flavors of food. It is the taste that many simply refer to asdeliciousness.

Then in 2010, Japanese researchers discovered an unofficial sixth taste called kokumi, which is best described as minerality, calcium, or chalkiness. Unlike the other five tastes, the tongue actually detects kokumi as more of a mouthfeel than a taste. But like umami, it serves to enhance flavors, particularly sweet, salty and umami flavors.

Although umami and kokumi aren’t necessarily tastes you find and describe in wine itself, they are worth mentioning because both are considered wine-friendly tastes and are important considerations when it comes to food and wine pairings.