How to judge the quality of red wine

How to judge the quality of red wine? You may not know that inferior wine is "wine" that is a mixture of water + pigments + alcohol + essence. Drinking it will not only cause headaches, abnormal heart rate and even cause cancer, it is extremely harmful. So how to judge the quality of red wine? How to judge the quality of red wine 1

Judging the quality of red wine mainly depends on the color of the red wine. The color of a red wine can judge the quality of the red wine. Generally, the color of red wine is very translucent and shiny. If a bottle of wine If the color is very dull and lackluster, then the red wine is contaminated or excessively oxidized.

Six ways to check the quality of red wine

Look at the packaging

Good wines are often packaged in dark bottles, such as green and brown bottles. The advantage is that it can filter out light waves that affect the quality of the wine, which is beneficial to the preservation of the wine. The darker the bottle color (brown-red), the better the effect. The quality of the wine bottle should be uniform in thickness and color, and there should be no patterns, cracks, or blisters on the surface.

Bottle caps are mostly made of wooden stoppers or metal screw caps, and the bottle caps are tightly sealed. The trademark is clear and complete, and the wine name is prominent. Consumers can check the logo, alcohol content, sugar content, etc. when purchasing. High-end wines are usually bottled with a layer of transparent paper to protect the cleanliness of the bottle surface and the integrity of the trademark.

Look at the wine label

Wine labels cover a lot of information. You can basically judge the basic information of the wine from the wine label, especially the history of French wine. It has a long history and has a very standardized wine certification system.

Red wine is divided into 4 levels, legal production area wine (AOC), fine production area wine (VDQS), regional table wine (VDP), and daily table wine (VDT). Through the wine label, you can know the name, place of origin, year, grape variety and grade of the wine. Through this basic information, you can roughly judge whether the quality of this wine is good or bad.

Look at the place of origin

The smaller the place of origin, the higher the quality. Generally, the quality of village-level wines is higher than that of regional wines, and the quality of regional-level wines is higher than that of large district wines.

If it is the same AOC level, but the marked origins are Bordeaux, Medoc and Pauillac, then the village level Pauillac wine has the highest quality, while the large wine District-level Bordeaux wines are of the most average quality.

Look at the year

The quality of wine depends on three-thirds of its craftsmanship and seventy-percent of its raw materials. The annual climate, light and rainfall will have a great impact on the quality of grapes. Therefore, the quality of the vintage is directly related to the quality of the wine, especially a fine wine.

For example, good vintages in Bordeaux include 2010, 2009, 2005, 2000, 1996, 1990 and 1982. A bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild from 2010 will be superior to a bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild from 2011.

Check whether there is sediment in the wine

Turn the red wine bottle upside down, tilt it at a certain angle, and look at the sun or light to see if there is more sediment and residue at the bottom of the bottle. If it is too It means there is something wrong with this wine. If there is no or a small amount of transparent sediment, it is normal (red wine produces tartaric acid during long-term fermentation, which will lead to tartar precipitation).

Look at the color

To judge the quality of red wine, color identification can only be used as a reference. For example, new wine is brighter in color, and wine that is 3-5 years old has a bit of blue and light purple. 5-8 years old is brick red, 8-10 years old and above is amber, etc. How to judge the quality of red wine 2

1. First, distinguish between domestic wine and imported wine: the back label (pictured) begins with the country of origin code, for example, domestic filling begins with 69, the United States and Canada begin with 0, and France 3 It starts with Italy with 8, Australia with 9 and so on.

My friend previously spent a high price to buy a bottle of domestic bottled wine starting with 69. The actual value of this bottle of wine is only a few dozen yuan

2. The measurement unit of wine: such as red wine produced in France , the measurement unit is cl instead of ml

3. Wine labels on the front and back: The front of the imported wine is the text label of the importing country, and the back is the Chinese back label

4. The tightness of the wine seal: The wine seal on the wine stopper of the original imported wine can be rotated

5. Wine liquid color: The color is unnatural, turbid and has unknown suspended matter, which is inferior quality Wine

6. Wine cork label: After opening the wine, observe whether the text on the wine cork is consistent with the text on the bottle label

7. Odor: inferior wine or spoiled wine. It has a pungent smell like nail polish

8. Taste: After a sip of high-quality wine, your throat will feel smooth and refreshing. On the other hand, low-quality wine can cause throat irritation and have a chemical smell and odor.

9. Edible alkali: Add edible alkali to wine, high-quality wine will change color, but inferior wine will not change color

10. Paper towel identification: The first drop of wine is in the center of the paper towel, and the wine is evenly dispersed If there are no water stains spread out, it is a real wine; otherwise, it is not evenly spread and the water stains spread out, it is a low-quality wine. How to judge the quality of red wine 3

1. Observation: the color of the wine

First of all, the color of the wine should match the year and grape variety. Different grape varieties will definitely produce different colors of red wine. In addition, the older the vintage, the lighter the color of the red wine, from the earliest purple-red to orange-yellow. The full score for this module is 5 points. Due to the application of modern technology, ordinary wines can get 4 or even 5 points.

The quality of a wine can be preliminarily judged by its color. A wine with a deep color is generally not bad, but a wine with a pale color is definitely not a good wine. In addition, observing the color of the wine is currently the most effective way to judge the vintage.

For example, if a red wine that is more than 3 years old is still very bright in color, then there is a problem. In summary, remember that the older the vintage, the darker the color and the more prominent the yellow tones.

From left to right, the age is getting older and older

In addition, drop the wine on a paper towel and observe the diffusion of pigment to determine the authenticity of the wine. Don’t use it again in the future. Apart from exposing your identity as a red wine novice, it really does nothing but make others more calm and deceive you! Think about it, if it was so easy to tell whether it was true or false, there wouldn’t be so many fake wines!

2. Smell: the aroma of wine

The aroma of red wine must be pure, fragrant and long-lasting. For this module, Parker set a full score of 15 points. Pure aroma means that the aroma of red wine must match the characteristics of the grape variety, such as the green flavor of New World Cabernet Sauvignon and the gasoline flavor of Riesling.

In other words, this red wine is made from Cabernet Sauvignon, so it must have the aroma that Cabernet Sauvignon should have, otherwise the aroma will not be pure. During a blind tasting, the grape variety of the red wine is also judged by its aroma.

Smell

Purity is just the basic requirement for aroma. Fragrance (rich and pleasant aroma), long-lasting and varied aroma are what a good wine must have. For a novice red wine connoisseur, it can be really difficult to remember the special aroma of each grape. So how to judge?

In fact, it can be simplified. Just remember that no matter what kind of aroma the red wine has, at least it should make you have the desire to smell it, and wine with unpleasant smell and pungent taste does not mean that it is of poor quality. , it’s just broken.

3. Taste: Flavor and Aftertaste

After seeing and smelling, the next step is to drink. After all, wine is for drinking. Parker set this module The full score is 20 points. It is evaluated from the four dimensions of taste balance, complexity, layering and length of aftertaste.

Balance refers to the perfect blend of acid, tannin, alcohol, and sugar. If you taste it carefully, you can taste the sourness, sweetness, astringency, and alcohol stimulation, but not the stimulation of alcohol. Feel that a certain flavor is particularly prominent, thereby achieving a balance in taste.

Complexity refers to the richness of a red wine’s taste and blend of flavors. Especially red wine aged in oak barrels will develop flavors such as vanilla, cigar, smoke, coffee, leather, etc.

A good wine must have a sense of layering. A new wine for toasting does not need to have a sense of layering, but a good aged wine must have a rich sense of layering. So what is layering?

For example, when you open a bottle of Lafite, it gives you a rich berry taste at first. As time goes by, the flavors of tobacco and cedar slowly emerge, and finally the taste gradually matures, creamy and The smell of coffee hits your nostrils. Just like an onion, peel off layer after layer, this is the layering of red wine!

4. Aging potential

As the saying goes, wine gets better as it ages. Red wine is no exception. Although its alcohol content is only about ten degrees, there are many old red wines that are more than 20 or 30 years old. Only aged red wine will have a rich and mellow taste. For the aging potential module, Parker set a perfect score of 10 points.

The so-called aging potential does not just mean how long the red wine can be stored without going bad, but the time it takes for the red wine to reach its best condition. For example, if a certain red wine reaches its best drinking period when it is aged for 10-15 years, and after this time, the quality of the wine will decline, so the aging potential of this wine is 10-15 years.

Most red wines on the market have no aging potential, which is the exclusive preserve of high-end red wines. Most red wines priced at 100 yuan can only get 2-4 points in the aging potential module.

Scoring

According to Parker's scoring system, all red wines have a basic score of 50 points. Adding the scores of the above four modules is the total score of this wine. Red wine is divided into five levels based on the total score.

AAA: 96-100 points---Extraordinary

AA: 90-95 points--Outstanding

A: 80-89 points---Above Average

B: 70-79 points---Average

C: 60-69 points ---Below Average

D: 50-59 points ---Unacceptable

Quantify the quality of red wine through scores. The wine tasting, which was originally quite mysterious, became less empty. For beginners, it is indeed a bit difficult to accurately evaluate the score of a red wine, but at least you have a method of how to evaluate it.

For red wine lovers and related people, this is indeed an effective method, at least it allows you to systematically judge a red wine!