At 8 o'clock in the morning most people would consider the smell of horse, cauliflower, sherry, wet cardboard, rotting fruit, ethanol, vinegar, and sulfur some interesting breakfast components, but yesterday morning we had it all! We were lucky enough to have a guest, Patrick, from Chemeketa Community College in Salem, visit Domaine Serene to teach a very educational class about wine faults and important wine components.
The tasting started with simple water samples containing concentrations of tannin, malic, citric, tartaric acids, bitterness, and mineral components. These were then followed by comparative tastings with a control wine and doctored samples including sugar, sulfur, vinegar, tannin, and alcohol. The various concentrations of each element had the team fine-tuning their senses to detecting various elements important in creating a perfectly balanced wine (as well as recognizing one that is not in balance).In addition to our flights, we had a nasty selection of flawed samples to remind us just how awry wine can go without due diligence by those of us in the cellar. Examples presented included: brettanomyces, ethyl acetate, volatile acidity, oxidation, mercaptans, dimethyl sulfide, and ...TCA (cork taint!!)
While some of the senses stimulated were not the most desirable, I think each one of us developed a new appreciation for the attention to detail, commitment to quality and the fabulous wine we are in the process of creating here at Domaine Serene. - Written by Ameila Hildebrand, Harvest Intern.
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