Drinking wine is a prosaic act. However, there are a set of precepts that, when observed, help us get the greatest enjoyment from it. This means that, to fully appreciate a wine, one should identify its different characteristics (colour, aroma and taste), as well as any defects it may have. At the same time, there is the question of matching wine with food, so that each meal boasts the best combination of tastes and nutrition.
The same can be said for olive oil. This natural oil extracted from olive pulp is used to highlight aromas and flavours in meat and fish dishes, salads and even desserts. The number of olive oils on the market is huge, but consumers often do not know how to choose the most suitable product for their culinary needs. This is because, much like wine, olive oils boast a range of different qualities and, therefore, match better with certain foods than others. It is worth adding that, although this is an extremely versatile ingredient, certain advice should be heeded to maximise the culinary benefits of olive oil.
For all of these reasons, the Esporão group gives wine and gastronomy courses. Our intention is to convey information to consumers in general (and not just to gourmets) about how to appreciate a wine or olive oil, particularly if combined with our gastronomy.
To this end, we organise wine tastings and beginner wine appreciation courses at Herdade do Esporão, as well as team building activities and wine-food pairings. All of this is done using our wines and olive oils.

We need to consider a number of aspects when analysing a wine. Sight provides information in relation to its colour, brightness, clarity, depth and viscosity.

Starting with its colour. To assess it, you needs to look at it against a white backdrop – a wall, cloth or piece of paper – and tilt it away from your body.
The analysis varies according to the type of wine. With white wines, a pale, watery yellow tone, with golden or greenish tints, indicates that the wine is young. With age, the yellowish tone becomes stronger and the tints become more golden or amber-like.
Young rosé wines have a pinkish hue with watery white or grey tints. Older rosés are darker, sometimes with an orangey or “onion-skin” colour.

With red wines, it is more difficult to assess age based on colour, as the diversity of grape varieties and different levels of grape ripeness give a range of different results. However, generally speaking, young reds are more intense in colour, with a ruby hue and violet tints. Crimson and brownish tones normally indicate an older wine.

Assessing the clarity of a wine, as the name indicates, means checking to see if there are impurities in the wine or suspended matter. A clear wine is generally a healthy one. Certain sediments, like white crystals concentrated on the bottom of the cork in bottles that have been stored on their side, are natural.

Assessing the brightness tells us something about the wine’s acidity. Generally speaking, the brighter the wine, the higher its acidity level.

In addition to other characteristics, the identification of carbon dioxide bubbles means that the gas used in fermentation was not eliminated before bottling and the wine finished its fermentation in the bottle. 

Using smell to assess a wine means perceiving its different aromas - aroma and bouquet. Over five hundred aromatic substances have been identified in wine and these are divided into families or series. To distinguish between them, they can be classified according to the following types:

- Primary Aromas – Also called varietals, these are the aromas that come from the grape varieties that make up the wine. They are very distinct and, as such, easy to identify. They include, floral, fruity, mineral and, less commonly, spicy aromas.

- Secondary Aromas – These come predominantly from alcoholic and malolactic fermentation. The most common secondary aromas are floral, fruity, spicy, vegetal, etc.

- Tertiary Aromas – These are aromas that develop during the time the wine is in wooden barrels or in the bottle. This is why they are known as maturation aromas or bouquet. The most commonly observed of these aromas are floral, fruity, honey-jam, oak and balsamic, empyreumatic, spicy, animal and chemical.

For a more precise identification of a wine’s aromas, the analysis of smell should be done with odourless glasses. Firstly, the glass should not be moved, because the first inhalation should be done before swirling the wine. The more delicate smells are detected in this first phase. These are the ones that become more volatile more quickly. This is called the wine’s “first nose”.

In the second phase, the glass is moved in a circular motion, the wine opens up and the stronger aromas, which make up the “second nose”, evaporate.

As is common knowledge, there are different areas of the tongue that correspond to different sensations. The flavour from each wine is a mixture of different tastes, which can go unnoticed when we drink, but which are perfectly identifiable when we savour attentively, in different phases with different parts of the tongue. The first phase is the attack, the second the development and the third the aftertaste or finish.

To taste, put a reasonable amount of wine into your mouth and work it around so it reaches all your taste-buds. With the wine in your mouth, breathe in through your mouth to aerate the wine to release the wine’s aromas, breathing out through your nose. These aromas are called "mouth aromas", the palate is made up of the sensations from the mouth and retro-nasal passage.

- SWEETNESS

This comes from the sugars and some alcohols that the wine may still contain. This taste is a smooth sensation on the tip of the tongue.

- ACIDITY

After sweetness and saltiness, this is the taste most common in wines. It comes from mineral and organic acids present in the wine.

- SALTINESS

Normally comes from chlorides added to the wine to increase dryness. By law, the proportion of chlorides can attain 1g/Lt, although natural wines rarely reach 0.5g/Lt levels.

- BITTERNESS

This taste is uncommon in most wines. An exception is found in Vermouths, which are made with the addition of a number of herbs that give them this kind of taste. In chalky wines, the formation of a high percentage of potassium sulphate demonstrates the bitterness of this salt. Certain organic compounds can also contribute to giving a more bitter taste to wine.

- EXCESSIVE OAK

Overlong maturation can give wine a resinous, woody taste with burnt notes that mask its natural aromas. This fault can be detected to a greater or lesser degree, depending on the taste of the person trying the wine.

- SULPHUR DIOXIDE (SULPHUROUS)

This fault gives the wine a piquant aroma of burnt match and is caused by the excessive addition of antioxidant.

- HYDROGEN SULPHIDE

This is a volatile gas produced by yeasts in musts with low levels of nitrogen. Gives wine a smell of bad eggs or burning rubber.

- HORSE SWEAT

This aroma is caused by bacteria in unhygienic environments, which can be found at the winery or in barrels.

- OXIDISATION

The colour of oxidised wine changes slightly and as a result the wine loses much of its fruit. Oxidisation happens when a wine is too old or it has a faulty cork, allowing excessive contact with oxygen.

- CORKED (TCA)

When wine tastes like its cork. It has a mouldy, musty, damp, dusty aroma, and is the result of the contact between bacteria and the cork.

- SOURNESS

An aggressive taste, like vinegar. Caused by bacteria called acetobacter and gives the wine a sour aroma and flavour.

- FOAM

If the wine has fermented after being bottled, it can form on the sides of the glass.

WHAT LOOKS LIKE A DEFECT BUT IS NOT

- PIECES OF CORK

This fault is not in the wine but in how it was opened. The result of a bad corkscrew or a crumbly cork. Can be easily removed with a spoon.

- CLOUDY WINE

This cloudiness is due to sediment at the bottom of the bottle, or if the wine has been shaken. Although, generally speaking, not considered a fault, there are sediments that are not acceptable in certain types of wine and which are the result of some form of adulteration.