Featured Article

Wine Tasting "A Unique Experience "
by Gary Thornberg - Owner Mission Winery

Do you simply drink wine, or do you taste wine?
Anyone can drink wine, but it takes practice to be able to recognize and distinguish a wine's characteristics.

Smell and Taste

Have you ever tried desperately to detect flavor from a food or beverage when you had a terrible cold? You probably tasted very little, if anything at all. Research indicates that 70 to 75% of what we taste is actually due to our sense of smell. Specialized "aroma" nerves in the nose are necessary to identify tastes more subtle than sweet, sour, bitter and salty. Smell and taste go hand-in-hand when wine tasting . . . without your sense of smell you would be unable to detect the delicate flavors of chocolate, herbs or smoke in your wine. The three steps in wine tasting are: Look, Smell, and Taste.

Look

You can tell much about a wine simply by studying its appearance. The wine should be poured into a clear glass and held in front of a white background (a tablecloth or piece of paper will serve nicely) so that you can examine the color.
Swirling: Swirling the wine serves many purposes, but visually it allows you to observe the body of the wine. "Good legs" may indicate a thicker body and a higher alcohol content and/or sweetness level.

Taste

The most important quality of a wine is its balance between sweetness and acidity. Aftertaste: The taste that remains in your mouth after you have swallowed the wine. How long did the taste last? Was it pleasant?

After tasting the wine, take a moment to value its overall flavour and balance. Is the taste appropriate for that type of wine? If the wine is very dry, is it supposed to be?

Wine Types

Looking at different wine styles

So many wines, so many styles to choose from . . . where do you begin? Easy. Look afresh at the whole wine scene. In recent years, it has improved beyond recognition, both in terms of quality and style.

Red:

Red wine is made from black grapes that are fermented with the skin and pips.

Cabernet Sauvignon - Arguably the king of red grapes, it has an intense blackcurrant flavor.

Merlot - A fashionable grape with soft, black cherry and blackcurrant flavors, often blended with Cabernet Sauvignon.

Syrah/Shiraz - A velvety grape that produces rich, full-bodied wines with fruity, spicy overtones.

Pinot Noir - Good young Pinots are light, silky and fruity. Mature Pinots often have an intense aroma of game and truffles. Occasionally, Pinots are unreliable and insipid.

Zinfandel - Also known as Primitivo, California's specialty grape is extremely adaptable and has a distinctive taste of ripe-berried fruits

White:

Surprisingly, white wine can be made from white or black grapes, as all grape juice is colorless, initially.

Chardonnay - The perfect introduction to white wine. Styles vary from light and fresh, to heavily-oaked, buttery, tropical-fruit-flavored wines.

Sauvignon Blanc - Also known as Fumé Blanc, it has a delightful fresh, tangy style with distinctive flavours of gooseberries, elderflower and asparagus

Viognier - Almost unheard of until recent years, Viognier is becoming increasingly fashionable. It produces dry wines with a rich apricot aroma.

Food and Wine

Unsalted water crackers or unflavored French bread should be provided for palate cleansing during the tasting. If you want to provide something more substantial, the rules of etiquette for wine drinking say that nothing stronger than a lightly salted mozzarella is appropriate. Save the stronger foods for after the wine tasting.

The Thornberg Family founded Mission Winery in 2001. The grapes are grown in the diverse soils, terrain, and microclimates of the Temecula Valley Wine Country. All of the wines are carefully nurtured to insure that the character of each variety is fully expressed. Great pride is taken in the wine process between the winemaker and Mission winery, from picking the grapes, blends, and the development of the rich flavor of each wine bottled by Mission Winery. So enjoy our wine and thank you for visiting our historic town.