To decant or not to decant?

To decant or not to decant?

How the decanting of a wine influences its organoleptic qualities. According to the dictionary of the RAE (Royal Spanish Academy), decanting is the action of separating a liquid from the sediment it contains, pouring it gently into another container. If we consult the definition in Volume IV of El Bulli's Wine Sapiens, on Sommelier, it defines the term decanting as the operation carried out to favour the contact of the wine with the air and/or eliminate the presence of impurities and undesirable substances with the aim of increasing its aromatic charge as much…Read more
Does the serving temperature of a wine influence in its sensorial perception?

Does the serving temperature of a wine influence in its sensorial perception?

At Vila Viniteca we have a Wine Tasting Panel — a private and unique initiative in the wine world — formed of 16 professionals of our team, who we have trained for two years, in order to become expert wine tasters. The goal of the Project is to offer an answer in an objective and faithful way to inquiries and doubts related to the sensorial perception in the wine world As a result of an exigent training of 30 sessions, a total of 60 hours, our Panel was prepared to carry out the…Read more
How do you cool a bottle of wine?

How do you cool a bottle of wine?

We decided to carry out a study using three traditional cooling methods as the fridge, the freezer and the ice bucket with water and ice, in the light of the general perception that white wines and sparkling wines suffer from sudden heat shocks. . Is it better to cool a wine in the fridge, freezer or using ice bucket? Does the perception of a wine change if it cools in the fridge or ice bucket? Does the effervescence of a sparkling wine change if it cools in the freezer? Introduction At Vila Viniteca…Read more
One day as a Panellist

One day as a Panellist

The Tasting Panel of Vila Viniteca— is a private and unique initiative in the wine world — formed of 16 professionals of our team, who we trained for two years, in order to become expert wine tasting. In May 2017, we started to train them so as to answer in an objective and faithful way to inquiries and doubts related to the sensorial perception, which are risen around a glass of wine. Which qualities are required to be part of a Tasting Panel? What does it implies being a Panellist? How the people…Read more
The tactile sensations a wine can produce

The tactile sensations a wine can produce

What is astringency? When do we say a wine is stringent? How is it perceived the grease sensation of a wine? When can we say that a wine has weight or is voluminous? And fluid? Introduction In the sensorial perception of a wine apart from sight, smell and taste, it also participates another of the fifth senses, the touch. When the wine enters into our mouth cavity provoques us a bif quantity of different sensations, some of them caused by chemical reactions, as for instance that which takes place between our saliva (and…Read more
Flavours in a wine

Flavours in a wine

Training on Olfactory characteristics of a wine in Tasting Panel of Vila Viniteca What are flavours in a wine? Where do they come from? How can we learn to identify them? How are they classified and how can we reproduce them on a wine base? These and many other doubts came out during the training of the olfactory characteristics of our Tasting Panel. Our Tasting Panel evaluates the flavours found in a wine according to different trials, which consist in answering the question about if the analysed sample contains or not a specific…Read more
Acidity sensation in a wine

Acidity sensation in a wine

Training on detecting the Acid Flavour at the Tasting Panel of Vila Viniteca How do we evaluate and quantify the acid elemental taste in a wine? Before and during the training of the Tasting Panel, we had many doubts about how to correctly evaluate the sensation of acidity in a wine. What role does sweetness play in the perception of acidity in a wine? And astringency? What about alcohol? Our Tasting Panel evaluates the acidity of a wine according to its intensity through a linear scale. In order to train them, reference patterns…Read more
When can we say a wine is sweet? What is sweetness in a wine?

When can we say a wine is sweet? What is sweetness in a wine?

Training on Detecting the Sweet Flavour at the Tasting Panel of Vila Viniteca When working on the basic “sweet” flavour with our panellists, we searched for the role of sweetness in the wine. During this process, many doubts came up: When can we say a wine is sweet? Where is the boundary between a sweet and a dry wine? What kind of paper shows the acidity in the perception of sweetness in a wine? And do the bouquets intervene in its perception? Our Tasting Panel evaluates wine sweetness according to its intensity by…Read more
The Vila Viniteca Tasting Panel, a pioneering project within the wine world

The Vila Viniteca Tasting Panel, a pioneering project within the wine world

The first company in the wine industry to create its own in-house Tasting Panel The Vila Viniteca Tasting Panel –a unique private initiative within the wine world– is made up of 15 professionals from our team who we have trained for two years to become expert tasters. How does the temperature of the wine influence our perceptions? How do we experience sugar and acidity? How can we best preserve a wine once opened? Should we decant the wine or not? Should we decant a champagne?  These are some of the matters that we…Read more
Simonit & Sirch, the pioneers of pruning for the well-being of the vine plant

Simonit & Sirch, the pioneers of pruning for the well-being of the vine plant

By Marco Simonit and Pierpaolo Sirch We know everything about the life of the soils and on which type of soil the vine plant prefers to develop, about the climate and climate change, about the management of fertilization and phytosanitary treatments ... but how much do we actually know about the health of vines? Wouldn't it be time to stop uprooting vines that are not even “of age” and to rethink proper pruning for their well-being? And if they are sick, why not treat them? They seem trivial questions, but not many (or…Read more