Angela Aiello: So Laura and are going to go through a red wine tasting and help you discover what you can learn about in your red wine tasting?

Laura Ruffolo: Okay, so what red wines, it’s basically the same thing but there are few things that are a bit different that you’re looking for in terms of the color again. You want to look at your wine and we’re going to hold it an angle again just like we did with the white.

Angela Aiello: Up against the white background?

Laura Ruffolo: Exactly. And with the red wine what you’re looking for with the aging, you’ll find that as wines age they go from a purple color to a ruby and often into a tawnier brick color.

Angela Aiello: Something that gets lighter with the age.

Laura Ruffolo: They do and with the red wine also, you’re also looking at the hue on the top part here which will indicate the age as well because it starts to get lighter on the rim here before it gets lighter anywhere else.

So that’s where you really want to look at when you are tilting it like this. Again, you’re looking for clarity, no hazy dull spots on your wine, no debris in there. You’re also looking at how deep it is because different varietals or different kinds of wines will actually have different colors.

Like the Pinot Noir is not as deep as a cabernet sauvignon and this in fact is a cabernet sauvignon. We can see how deep it is.

Angela Aiello: A nice deep plum color to it.

Laura Ruffolo: That’s right and it’s opaque whereas the Pinot Noir has a little bit more of a transparent color to it.

Angela Aiello: Because it’s the thinner wine. It has full body.

Laura Ruffolo: Exactly. So once we’re done looking at our wine, again you want to nose it. It smells good.

Angela Aiello: It sounds like very good.

Laura Ruffolo: And then you want to swirl.

Angela Aiello: You’re ventriculating the esters, it’s a nice word to use and nose again.

Laura Ruffolo: And we nose again.

Angela Aiello: And you definitely get some deep purple, some nice plum notes here and some dark cherry.

Laura Ruffolo: Some cedar.

Angela Aiello: Some cedar yet.

Laura Ruffolo: There are a lot of different aromas here and we can pick them all out. Now, what’s interesting too is that my memory bank is going to be different than your memory bank and all the different aromas that are in here, you might pick up on something that you are familiar with just from your past where as I might not or I might think of something different. So that was interesting and that’s what the fun part of talking about wine.

Angela Aiello: There is no right or wrong answers.

Laura Ruffolo: Exactly.

Angela Aiello: I get a little bit of dark chocolate too. So, it go very nice with some dark chocolate.

Laura Ruffolo: Very typical for cabernet sauvignon.

Angela Aiello: Okay, let’s taste.

Laura Ruffolo: We want to taste. This time we speed out our wine which is if you are doing a wine tasting and you got several different wines to taste you would want to use this because by the time you get to your last few wines you may not have the same kind of judgment once you did the first time for the first one that you tried.

Angela Aiello: Well, especially for any competitions, too.

Laura Ruffolo: Exactly, it’s a good tool here. So, when you’re tasting the red wine, there are a few different things that you’re looking for. One main difference between the red and the whites are what are known as tannins. Red wines will have tannins, a non-stop most drying feeling that you get from the red wine. It’s just crazy, that fuzzy feeling on the tongue and just on the gums and what you’re looking for with that is the level of the tannins.

How high are they? Something that’s quite a lot of tannins in it, you might want to serve that with lots of lambs or beef or anything that’s high in protein will go very well with the tannins.

You are also looking for same as the whites; you’re looking for the level of acidity. Is it dry? Is it sweet? You’re looking for again the persistence of the finish. How long is this finish?

Angela Aiello: The balance and mouth feel and all that.

Laura Ruffolo: And you’re looking for the level of alcohol. Sometimes, wines that have higher alcohol you’ll feel the heat on the finish and you can decide whether the alcohol is out of balance or whether it’s totally balanced.

Angela Aiello: That’s great. What about more of fuller bodied wine? I found it has more tannins and drying the mouth and we’ll go really nice with that, you know, nice New York state and some pepper corns.

Laura Ruffolo: That will be delicious.

Angela Aiello: There are definitely great ways to match food and wine but stay tune to Le Gourmet TV and I’m sure we will be doing some great food and wine matches coming up. So thanks, Laura.

Laura Ruffolo: Thank you. Cheers.