Learn How To Taste Wine

Welcome to Constable Estate Vineyards!

Learn how to taste and smell wine

Learning how to taste wines is a straightforward adventure that will deepen your appreciation for both wines and winemakers. Look, smell, taste - starting with your basic senses and expanding from there you will learn how to taste wines like the pros in no time! Keep in mind that you can smell thousands of unique scents, but your taste perception is limited to salty, sweet, sour and bitter. It is the combination of smell and taste that allows you to discern flavor.

Pay attention to the way the wine changes as you hold it in the mouth. First impressions on taking the wine into the mouth may be referred to as the forepalate, followed by the mid and endpalate, leading up to the finish.

Here are some easy steps for learning how to wine taste:

1. Note the wine’s viscosity - how slowly it runs back down the side of the glass - while you’re swirling. More viscous wines are said to have “legs,” and are likely to be more alcoholic. Outside of looking pretty, this has no relation to a wine’s quality.
2. Sniff the wine. Initially you should hold the glass a few inches from your nose. Then let your nose go into the glass. What do you smell?
3. Take a sip of wine, but do not swallow yet. Roll the wine around in your mouth exposing it to all of your taste buds. You will only be able to detect sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami (think: meaty or savory). Pay attention to the texture and other tactile sensations such as an apparent sense of weight or body.
4. Aspirate through the wine: With your lips pursed as if you were to whistle, draw some air into your mouth and exhale through your nose. This liberates the aromas for the wine and allows them to reach your nose where they can be detected. The nose is the only place where you can detect a wine’s aromas. However, the enzymes and other compounds in your mouth and saliva alter some of a wine’s aromatic compounds. By aspirating through the wine, you are looking for any new aromas liberated by the wine’s interaction with the environment of your mouth.
5. Take another sip of the wine, but this time (especially if you are drinking a red wine) introduce air with it. In other words, slurp the wine (without making a loud slurping noise, of course). Note the subtle differences in flavor and texture.
6. Note the aftertaste when you swallow. How long does the finish last? Do you like the taste?

Happy wine tasting!


Constable Estate Vineyards

David Constable's Vegetable Garden

In September 2006, I decided to build a walled, semi-commercial organic vegetable garden. Measuring 28 x 14 metres, it was in two parts.

The first part was designated for soft fruit such as raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and gooseberries. The second, larger area was shaped like the spokes of a wheel with the centrepiece being a sundial dating from about 1780 and bought in the UK. As this sundial was made for the northern hemisphere, it does not work in the south. However, it adds a lot of character to the garden. At the end of the spokes of the wheel I planted 4 bay trees “laurus nobilis”. There are nine beds for seasonal vegetables, including uncommon varieties. One of the beds contains asparagus which produces spears annually.

On the inside wall. I espaliered persimmon “ebenaceae diospsyros”, cherry “prunus cerasus”, pomegranate “prunica eramatum”, peach “prunus
persica”, and apricot “prunus armeniaca”.

The outside wall is covered by climbing roses with beautiful, perfumed white and pink flowers: 4 x Mme Alfred Carriere and 4 x desprez
a fleur jaune.

In addition there are 3 mulberry “morus rubra” trees and 3 quince “cydonia oblonga” planted outside the garden as they would grow too large for the inside.













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Want to learn more about wine? 1. How to smell

1 # How to smell the wine


First smell the wine when it is still — before you swirl it in the glass — then swirl it around and smell it again immediately after swirling, as the wine settles. There is usually a difference between these two states, especially with finer, more mature wines.

Wines made from noble grape varieties have particularly distinct smells: Cabernet Sauvignon, for example, reminds most people of blackcurrants, Gewurztraminer of lychees and Turkish delight. Grape variety is the first thing to try to identify when "nosing" a wine.
The most frequently found non-grape smells are those of the wood in which the wine has been aged — particularly those associated with new oak: cedar, vanilla and caramel for example.

Winetasters, when smelling, use a combination of short and deeper sniffs, very gentle and also much sharper sniffs.

Think about what the smells remind you of.

Carley Woods

Constable Estate Vineyards - food matching

Lemon grass prawn skewers with mango mayonnaise

It's summer time and the eating should be easy, and it certainly will be if you put a few of these prawn skewers on the barbie!

Preparation Time

30 minutes

Cooking Time

10 minutes

Equipment

You will need to soak 40 bamboo skewers in cold water for 15 minutes for this recipe.

Ingredients (serves 8)

• 40 (about 1.2kg) green prawns, peeled leaving tails intact, deveined
• 1 stem lemon grass, pale section only, finely chopped
• 2 kaffir lime leaves, centre veins removed, finely shredded
• 1 tbs palm sugar
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tbs finely grated fresh ginger

• Mango mayonnaise

• 1/2 ripe mango, peeled, coarsely chopped
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 tbs fresh lime juice
• 1 tsp mustard powder
• 250ml (1 cup) peanut oil
• Salt & freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. To make the mango mayonnaise, place the mango, egg yolks, lime juice and mustard powder in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth. With the motor running, gradually add the oil in a thin steady stream, stopping occasionally to scrape down the side of the bowl, until mixture is pale and creamy. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Transfer mango mayonnaise to an airtight container and store in the fridge until required.
2. Combine the prawns, lemon grass, lime leaves, sugar, garlic and ginger in a large glass or ceramic bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 3 hours to develop the flavours.
3. Thread the prawns, tail-end first, onto bamboo skewers. Preheat a barbecue grill or chargrill pan on medium. Cook half the prawns on the grill for 1-2 minutes each side or until they change colour. Transfer prawns to a large serving platter. Repeat with the remaining prawns.
4. Transfer the mango mayonnaise to a serving bowl and serve immediately with the prawn skewers.

Notes & tips

• Note: You can serve this recipe with the pumpkin & cashew couscous salad (see related recipe).

Serve with Constable Estate Vineyards Unwooded Chardonnay






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Chocolate Hazelnut Cake - with Constable Estate Vineyards Botrytis

Chocolate hazelnut cake

Ingredients (serves 12)

• 200g dark chocolate, chopped
• 200g butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 3/4 cups self-raising flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 cup choc-hazelnut spread (such as Nutella)
• 80 small solid chocolate Easter eggs

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Grease and line a 20cm (base) round cake pan. Place chocolate into a heatproof, microwave-safe bowl. Heat on MEDIUM (50%) power for 2 minutes, stirring every minute with a metal spoon, or until smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and vanilla essence until creamy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Add cooled chocolate. Mix well.
3. Sift flour and cocoa powder together. Fold half the flour mixture into chocolate mixture. Fold half the milk into chocolate mixture. Repeat with remaining flour mixture and milk.
4. Spoon cake batter into cake pan. Smooth surface. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Stand for 15 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.
5. Spread choc-hazelnut spread over cake. Top with Easter eggs.
   Serve with a delicious glass of Botrytis ......mmmmmm.....
   

Easter Feast Recipe!!!! Prawn salad with avocado cream

Prawn salad with avocado cream

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 3 limes
• 1/2 telegraph cucumber, finely sliced
• 2 avocados
• 5 tbs (100ml) coconut cream
• 2 cups baby salad leaves
• 1/4 cup (60ml) olive oil
• 16 cooked prawns, peeled, deveined, leaving tails intact
• 2 tbs chilli oil*, to drizzle

Method

1. Squeeze juice from 1 lime and set aside. Peel and segment remaining 2 limes and place in a bowl with cucumber. Blend avocado flesh in a blender with coconut cream and lime juice until smooth, then season.
2. Add salad leaves to bowl with lime segments and cucumber, then toss with olive oil and season. Spread avocado cream in the centre of 4 serving plates, top with some salad. Place 4 prawns on top of each plate. Drizzle with chilli oil to serve.

Serve with:

Constable Vineyards Estate Semillon or an Unwooded chardonnay.