How to talk like a WINE PRO!

[@NatashaBelyishak]

12:37 I love this moment!!🤣🤣 it is real!!!!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

All my tasting reactions are 100% genuine but yesssss I love Sangiovese!

[@NatashaBelyishak]

@@drmatthewhorkey Yes you are. I love Sangiovese too and have the same reaction as you. 😄

[@AHG1347]

This is a video I can show to friends who are new to wine. There were two good takeaways from this: 1. Matthew has watched Sideways 2. Start wearing a scarf in all future wine tastings (especially if you are by yourself).

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Definitely have watched sideways… 😬

[@davidehorn2035]

The sideways reference was great - too bad he wasn't chewing gum XD

[@drmatthewhorkey]

LOLOL

[@GilreathDental]

Matt, this is why you’re so cool. Self deprecating, honest to a fault and bringing wine appreciation to everyone.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

🙏🙏🙏😬

[@jacob9540]

I found it confusing as a novice to decipher the tannin descriptions in wine critic reviews: velvety tannins, ripe tannin, unripe tannin, dusty tannins, coarse tannins, etc.. to me the tannins were either soft or strong, didn’t understand the intricacies beyond that. But now I’m starting to understand the difference in tannin type

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Totally agree when you start out... I did a few older videos on tannin quality. It's difficult to decipher when first starting... It is subjective to me too

[@Matt_Bykowski]

Your enthusiasm can't be beat. Great video, thanks for the education.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Thank you!

[@garrett3441]

This was very helpful. Thank you!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

🙏🙏😬

[@sommvibes]

Bravo! Excellent commentary 🍷

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Ahhhh thanks!

[@stroopwafel6141]

Yes, it's all about personal preference. I used to like wines with quite a bit of tannins, but I notice I tend to go more for rounded, velvety wines with not too much tannins. Say a VP Ripasso vs Nebbiolo. At the same time a bit of acidity is needed to keep a wine interesting and fresh. Like a nice balanced Sangiovese based wine, without a ton a of tannins. And for white, as you say, a balanced Riesling (or Grüner Veltliner).

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Yay for team Riesling and team Sangio!!!

[@westgarthwines]

This is a fantastic video, just saying what pops into your head is the BEST way to gain confidence with tasting notes, although a nice scarf also helps. On a related note, we were interviewing Tracy Dobbin MW at Ducru-Beaucaillou, and (sadly off-camera) she suggested that by just saying what you taste you strengthen the neural pathways, making the whole process more natural. I think there's a lot of truth in that!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

There is A LOT of truth in that from what I’ve found

[@snowstyle08]

Genuinely the best video I have seen on this topic, good job!!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Wowww thanks!

[@paintspot1509]

The saint cosme is a great wine for the price for sure. I am curious if you ever tried the Pizzini sangiovese? Never had a sangiovese outside of italy before but was impressed by it, particularly with its price.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Haven't tried it! I am typically pretty skeptical of Sangio outside Italy

[@GarthScholtz]

Nice video Matthew. I've been waiting for this one. You covered all of the terms I offered up. Thank you! 🥂

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Wow thanks!

[@joshpalo1325]

Great video! Well done trying to explain tasting wine!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Thank you

[@danielplainview4778]

Excellent video

[@drmatthewhorkey]

🙏

[@burtonic2641]

random question --- do you have some suggestions for wines for cinco de mayo-----white or red - something to go with rich carnitas and spicey salsas? thanks!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Riesling or Chenin Blanc

[@peterwolf8092]

What a cool episode. I watch a lot of wine videos. But even after that I always stumble upon lingo I don’t understand 😄 (‚linear‘ ‚angular‘)

[@drmatthewhorkey]

There are countless terms and descriptors... I had a ton written down but widdled them down to these in the video (still I worried it was too long)...

[@solomonmengeu1003]

Cool video, with Professor Horkey vs. Matt Horkey. 😂This was helpful and very informative. I generally only speak wine speak around fellow wine geeks/nerds or winemakers and industry insiders. Absolutely valid point that we need to make wine more fun and approachable for everyone. I know minerality is a touchy subject in the wine circle, but we have to trust our own palate. I remembered my WSET L2 class in Taiwan, where my classmates were using herbs and plants used in traditional Chinese medicine to describe tastes, flavors and aromas. Once, someone described an overly oaky, sweet red as having a durian taste. But what they were referring to wasn't the strong aroma, but the very creamy, rich, and smooth mouthfeel of durian. So we have to be open-minded and curious as everyone experiences it differently. My pet peeves are when wine critics use pretentious and pompous vocabulary. When simple words would suffice; like saying ash(es) instead of smoke, or other stuff like that. Cheers!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Hahahah everyone tries to be Parker with descriptors because he was the first in America to be more poetic when describing wine. I think that now, simplicity wins… I have DEFINITELY smelled durian in wine before (I love high quality durians)…

[@solomonmengeu1003]

@@drmatthewhorkey Durian is definitely a love or hate relationship. There are no in-betweens. 🤣

[@karlinggard]

Wow, I think this could be one of the best videos you've ever done! Great topic, and you make it easy to follow all the way through. Totally agree that wine lingo can be difficult to get a grip on, but your examples are excellent. Also happy to see the high score for Krebs Honigsack! 🤩

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Thanks for introducing me to them! Fantastic Riesling, GG quality at less than half the price!

[@aaronchan2942]

I think people can learn these basic concepts, and the rest just comes with more tasting experience and learning. Sometimes since you know what the typical characteristics of a variety, region vintage or producer are, your expectations lead you to imagine those things in the wine when it's not necessarily there or it allows you to fake it among other wine geeks with better palates. Sometimes you just need the right descriptors for what you're sensing so you need help from wine experts especially at first. OR as you said, since there are so many variables in the environment, your personal experience and DNA, and in the wine itself, you should not be embarrassed just to go with whatever descriptor helps you identify qualities you like in wine or don't like to help you enjoy wine more and make better decisions in terms of purchases and pairings. Lastly, I don't find it necessarily useful when experts or wine snobs (aka Miles) give super detailed descriptions like "edam cheese" because it can throw beginners off and intimidate them when all those specific notes might be specific to your reference points. Yes, there should be general universal categories and descriptions like light vs full, ripe vs acidic, tannic, red vs dark fruit, etc. but the rest should be personal. FYI I wrote a piece about Biblical grape varieties in which I go over Bittun from the same producer: winediplomats.com/holygrail/

[@drmatthewhorkey]

That article was very helpful! Very good points in your comment. I do think that even experienced tasters are often at a loss of words for certain descriptors too. When tasting with other geeks, flavor descriptors can sometimes become monotonous.

[@connorwinton4343]

matthew's gotta be the only person I've seen who stans sangiovese like I do

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Team Sangio!

[@dantheman8279]

I often wonder what exactly some of these descriptors mean, thank you for breaking down some of the most common ones.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

🙏🙏🙏

[@TheWoodworkerwhopaints]

Hi Matt, love the video. Keep up tge g great work. One term that I have heard alot in Australia of late is to describe a wine as being 'reductive'. Sometimes I get bad overtones from the description and sometimes not so bad ? Sometimes they also say that the 'reductiveness' can 'blow off ' over time ? Can you please help with these descriptions?

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Sometimes it works with wines and other times it mutes the flavors. Well done flinty notes from reduction can be pleasant at times IMO.

[@VektrumSimulacrum]

More so than the wine terminology my favorite question is "How did they make it?" In stainless steel? In a qvevri? Skin contact time? Harvest day or night? Teeellll meeeee all the things! (tugs on vineyard's shirt sleeve) for me those things can be nearly as descriptive as the wine terminology.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Hahahahha yes these things do give a lot of information about wine but they also can be misleading too!

[@noahcap]

Great video. The term that I don't really understand is "detailed". It's not super common, but I see it from time to time. Is it the same as complex? Does it mean something different? Help!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

I’ve never heard someone using that before!

[@itsmederek1]

I would argue that structured when used as an adjective is mostly in reference to tannins, and the relation between acid, tannin, body and concentration is balance. Body is the texture of a wine which can be impacted by sugar, alcohol and skin contact. Saying this because its possible to have a full bodied, structured wine that's unbalanced if that makes sense, could happen to California cab or Shiraz. Or a balanced wine that's full bodied but not structured like some Burgundy styles.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

yes I agree

[@FleshertonGallery]

My Wife refers to tanic wines as "squeaky", a perfect description I think.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

That’s a first time hearing that one for me

[@markforman2768]

Recently I got very confused by one my favorite wine countrys so far: Chile. I tasted a 2015 Carmenere Gran Reserva with 14% alkohol. This wine was so closed. Almost like a surprise box to me what kind of aromas he would offer. Maybe I need to decant him for hours. With time I got some black cherries, leather and forest floor. That's it. Normally the Carmeneres are more complex. Why do I have these big differences between the wines? Normally a Gran Reserva is the highest quality you get. This one wasn't bad at all but a little bit one dimensional to me. Do you have any experience with the grape Carmenere pure without be part of a Bordeaux Blend?

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Yes, you'll see a video about the grape coming up on the channel ;)

[@markforman2768]

@@drmatthewhorkey cool thank you very much. I will looking forward to watch this video. One question do offer curses of sensoric in wine and all the aromas? It would be great if I could start my study of wine. I'm a beginner right now and I think the most complicated part is the sensoric thems

[@drmatthewhorkey]

It’s ok to simply get what you get in terms of wine aromas! Go out to the market and smell and taste lots of fruit

[@robdielemans9189]

If I'm coaching friends who just started their wine journey I tell them to see if they can explain why they like a wine and why they don't like a wine and use their own adjectives.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Winespeak for casual drinkers is MUCH different than those of pros and geeks for sure!

[@LadyAceRoxy]

I’ve never understood what flavor “bramble” is supposed to be as a tasting note?

[@drmatthewhorkey]

It is Blackberry or black raspberry to me

[@LadyAceRoxy]

@@drmatthewhorkey that is very helpful, thank you!

[@mattestilo8841]

I kinda understand when the wine tastes reductive but don't fully understand why and how it becomes reductive.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Sometimes (not always) it's about SO2 added to preserve the wine. Some varieties are very reductive during fermentation too. There are A LOT of factors.

[@mariojunior5915]

Have you ever tried Brazilian wine?

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Yep and some older videos on them

[@mariojunior5915]

I'll watch it, thanks a lot, I really like your videos, I live in Brazil and we also have great wines.

[@diegogodinhorocha9448]

And when you get all of that, define your taste, change the way you taste and enjoy wine and start looking for specific types of wine, that's when you're never enjoying cheap wine again...that's when you start seeing bargains in Chateauneuf du Pape or Montalcino. That's when your normie spouse and friends give up on you.😅

[@drmatthewhorkey]

That last line… 😂🤣😅

[@jasonkrick1614]

Wine is the furthest thing from ‘intimidating’. Overly descriptive terminology just shows how insecure and pretentious the person drinking and then describing it. You know…a douche.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Many people feel like they can’t enjoy wine if they don’t know anything about. Which we all know isn’t true.

[@WalterWild2]

Are you a Dr of medicine 💊💉 or of booze

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Hahhaha neither of those two