Drink this Now Lesson 5

 

Lesson 5: Dry vs Sweet: A Sugar Showdown

1. First, before you even chill it, open both bottles immediately and pour a glass of each. Don't drink it yet! Just set those glasses on the table for now, and it might be wise to label each glass accordingly (sweet and dry). Take the rest of both bottles and stick them in the fridge for 45-60 minutes. Once they have received a good chill, you are ready to go. Take them out and pour two more glasses, one of each of course. Now you should have and pour two more glasses, one of each of course. Now you should have four glasses on the table: one warm dry, one warm sweet, one cold dry, and one cold sweet.

2. Start with the chilled wines: Assess the chilled dry Riesling first for color, aroma, and taste. Record all impressioins. Then do the same for the chilled sweet Riesling. You will easily detect a huge difeerence in flavors... and perhaps even different aromas as well. Include as many descriptors as possible to define each wine, even if some may be a stretch. Here is a bit of vocabulary to choose from:

    Riesling descriptors: Apple, apricot, citrus, honey, honeydew, honeysuckle, lemon, lime, peach, tropical fruit, rose petal, flower, floral, berry diesel, lanolin, petrol, kerosene, gunmetal, geranium, rose, orange blossom, jasmine, grapefruit.

3. Now let's have some fun with the warm wines. Pay attention to the DON'T compare the warm ones to each other! Compare them side by side with their cool counterpart. In other words: Try the warm dry Riesling, then do the cool dry Riesling. Next, try the warm sweet Riesling, then the cool sweet Riesling. Record all impressions. Hopefully you will detect a difference in the perception of sweetness/ dryness as you go back and forth between these two sets. Be sure to taste the dry before sweet (always a good idea in any exercise) and if you want to go back to reassess the dry ones again, be sure to cleanse your palate as much as possible with bread and water. Sweetness can "hang out" on your palate very easily, and if you go straight back to a dry wine after just having a sweet one, it creates the perception of outrageous dryness in the mouth. 

4. As cited above, go back and forth from one wine to the next a few times, be sure to cleanse your palate with a bit of bread or plan crackers. Sip some water as well, if you absolutely must. But don't do any other food- it will easily alter the results of your descriptions. Don't worry: you can finish the bottles with dinner later.

5. So what happened? Could you pick out some of the same fruit hints from both bottles, regardless of temperature? And obviously you picked out some taste differences. Right? But what changed with change in temperatures, for both wines? What's going on here? 

My Review/ Analysis of the Wines: 

Page 158: Riesling

Based on the text, Riesling has a light body, is extremely sweet, low tannin, is acidic, and low alcohol content. They can be bone dry or very sweet. It is mentioned that, "Germany is the world's most important producer of Riesling." 

Dry Riesling: 

Chilled:

- Color:

- Smell:

- Taste:

- Body (heavy, light)

- Other comments:

Warm:

- Smell:

- Taste:

- Body (heavy, light):

- Other comments:

Sweet Riesling:

Chilled:

- Color:

- Smell:

- Taste:

- Body (heavy, light)

Warm:

- Smell:

- Taste:

- Body (heavy, light):

- Other comments: