The Beginner's Guide to Writing a TN

[Glenn E.]

This topic arose from a question Roy asked in the TN forum about what it would take to get people to write more tasting notes.

I'm still new to writing TNs and I struggle with them every time. It's not for lack of an opinion - I always have an opinion as my friends can tell you - it's that I often have a difficult time describing the colors, aromas, and flavors of Port. I'm just not well-versed in the "lingo" of tasting notes. I also frequently have a tough time identifying aromas and flavors unless I think through a mental checklist... without that checklist, Port just tastes like Port to me.

So... let's write a beginner's guide!

Lets start with color in the glass. Once we've batted this around for a while we'll move on to aromas on the nose, and then once that is complete we'll discuss flavor profiles.

Tawny Ports can usually be divided loosely into "tawny" and "tan" color groups, where the distinction (at least for me) is whether or not there is any red left in the coloring. Young Tawny Ports can still be a brilliant red in color, and they'll work their way through red, orange, amber, tan, rust, and almost all the way to brown as they age. The color at the rim of the glass is generally lighter than the body, and can sometimes take on a yellow or green tinge.

Vintage Ports typically start much darker - young and powerful VPs can be an almost opaque inky-black purple - but progress on through the same colors as Tawny Ports. You'll see descriptions such as "brick red", "ruby", and "purple" added to the list. Vintage Ports can also take on pink tones as they age.

Anything else we should note about colors for a beginner's TN guide?

[Andy Velebil]

Glenn,

I think this post is a wonderful idea. I'll make it a sticky until we figure out what to do with it later.

[Ray Barnes]

Glenn, I think this is helpful too. :) Now what about writing madeira TNs?

[Brian C.]

I appreciate this idea, also. Besides not knowing all the lingo associated with such notes, I'd be interested in how people assign ratings. I have not tried a bunch of ports of various ratings before, so it's hard for me to give any meaningful rating for a particular port. I can offer observations here and there, but it's a bit intimidating to formally rate and critique ports at this stage for me.

[Ray Barnes]

Since I still don't fully get it, would anyone like to explain how this forum uses the 100-point scoring system?

[Eric Ifune]

I like to break down notes into their components.
First, details about the wine. Ullage, condition of cork, any other info I'd like to add.
Second, the appearence. Color, brightness, ect.
Next, the aromas. This is where a good imagination and taste experience comes in. The more notes you read and the more you write, the easier this gets.
Now for the palate. Palate feel, weight, richness. Flavors, tannins, acidity, ect.
Length and aftertaste next.
Lastly overall opinions, quality, whether it needs more age or it's too old, ect.

[Carlos Rodriguez]

I do like this posts. More ideas about the taste?

[Glenn E.]

Ray, I don't think we really have a standard rating system in use here. The 100 point system is the most famous, but some here use a 20 point system, some use 5 stars, and one inventive individual uses a custom system of his own creation. And those are just the ones I'm familiar with.

I don't use any system - yet - because I'm not comfortable rating Port. I don't feel like I have enough experience to know what a perfect Port, which is what 100 points means, should be like. And if I don't know what a 100 point Port is like, how can I know what a 99 point Port is like? (Iterate until thoroughly confused.)

I'm even less experienced with Madeira, a situation which is not likely to change. I'm not all that fond of Madeira, so I'm really not the right person to write the Beginner's Guide to Writing a Madeira TN. Perhaps you could take on that mantle?

So... no one has volunteered any further ideas about how to describe the way a Port looks? Come on, I can't possibly have described everything.

Like for example, I neglected to mention viscosity. Or is that not important to Port?

(poke, poke)

[Ray Barnes]

Glenn I would agree that viscosity is very relevant to port and any other wine you could mention. As for madeira, I have not had enough experience with it to take on that responsibility, yet given the substantial amount of writing I have done outside of this forum (this is not an attempt at self promotion), I would say when the time is ripe, I will do it for sure.

Ray

[Morten]

Thumbs up for the thread Glen, I've been searching for a beginners guide to TN for a bit now - we almost go "yum!" or "hmm that is an odd smell" or when we're really making an effort "very fruity eh?", so getting the vision, nose and palates tuned is probably a good idea.

[Andy Velebil]

Great info, please keep it coming!

Morten,
Don't worry about writing some elaborate TN. Just write what you felt about it, even if it's only a couple lines.

[Luc Gauthier]

There was an article today in our french daily asking : Is it useful to rate wines ?
Of course a picture of Hugh Johnson was in there .
I can honestly say , after sharing a few bottles of Port with Fred and asking him to share his Port wisdom on the subject , the 20 pt system has more appeal .
For the simple fact that I haven't seen any wines rated below 80 . So why use the 100 pt system If the first 80 pts have become redundant .

[Andy Velebil]

[quote="Luc Gauthier"]For the simple fact that I haven't seen any wines rated below 80 . [quote] If you search there are a some that I've rated below 80.

[Glenn E.]

For the simple fact that I haven't seen any wines rated below 80 . So why use the 100 pt system If the first 80 pts have become redundant .

Luc, you will find that when using the "20 point" system that wines almost never get rated below 10 points.

And when using the "5 star" system they almost never get rated below 3 stars. (And we'll just ignore the fact that most "5 star" systems reward half stars, so they're effectively 10 point systems anyway.)

It's a function of psychology - everyone wants to be above average, and so also view most things around them as above average.

[Eric Ifune]

The 20 point scale often uses half points so it's really a 40 point system. I've even seen reviews with graduation between the halves, i.e. 16.0-16.5; which is in reality an 80 point scale!
I don't believe anyone who states they never rate wines.

[Luc Gauthier]

For me , 20 pts turn my crank .
But hey , you're reading a guy who once visited a porcelain god during an Offline in Boston :wall:
But has since been shown the light !!

[Andy Velebil]

But hey , you're reading a guy who once visited a porcelain god during an Offline in Boston :wall:
But has since been shown the light !!

But I heard you were very gracious in your dealings with the "PT"

[Glenn E.]

Well since no one has any additional tidbits to add regarding color and the look in the glass, let's move on to aroma, aka "the nose."

I'll start with tawny Port, since that's the Port I like the most. I'll leave ruby Port open for the time being so that someone with more experience can chime in, but if no one else has posted after a week or so I'll see what I can write up.

Tawny Port is aged in wood, which allows for a considerable amount of oxidation to take place before the Port is bottled. That oxidation affects the color, but it also affects the aroma and the flavor.

I think the most common descriptor for the aroma of tawny Port has to be "dried apricots," followed closely by figs, dates, and prunes, dried or not, in no particular order. Another very common aroma that people detect in tawny Port is citrus, but it is sometimes difficult to pin down. You'll often see exotic orange fruits (tangerines, blood oranges, etc) mentioned, and sometimes plainer citrus fruits like lemons and limes. I've even seen people simply say that it smells like a Vitamin C tablet.

Some people can smell the oak that the Port was aged in, while others detect it as various nuts. Almonds and pecans are fairly common, but walnuts sometimes make an appearance in a TN as well. From there a TN will often move into more subtle smells like vanilla, cinnamon, and Christmas spices (allspice, clove, nutmeg, anise, et al).

It's also reasonably common to be able to smell the alcohol in Port (all Port, not just tawnies). A strong smell of alcohol probably isn't good, but remember that Port is typically 20% alcohol so if you look for it you should be able to smell it in one form or another. Alcohol in the flavor of the Port is often described as "heat," and so that description is also sometimes used for the smell as well. "Medicinal" is also sometimes used, as the alcohol in the Port can take on the odor of rubbing alcohol.

Two more smells need mentioning, though neither is good.

The first is volatile acidity, usually simply referred to as VA. Some degree of VA is reasonably common in tawny Port, and its presence is not necessarily a bad thing, but in flawed bottles it can be overpowering. VA shows up most frequently as nail polish remover, but it is also often described as shoe polish (among other things).

The second smell that's never good is TCA, aka a "corked" bottle. Some people are more sensitive to TCA than others, and describe it as a musty or skunky odor. I've never encountered a corked bottle (at least never one that was actually showing as corked at the time of consumption), so others will have to chime in with better descriptions of the odor. For some reason, TCA seems to be a bigger problem with vintage port than it is with tawny, but it can happen to either.

Okay, what'd I miss? Anything else of note that needs adding?

[Eric Menchen]

Just to throw in my beer perspective: In the US, beers at the homebrew level are graded on a 50 point scale, but unlike all the wine scores I've seen, there is a breakdown of those 50 points:
Aroma: 12 pts; Appearance: 3 pts; Flavor: 20 pts; Mouthfeel: 5pts; Overall Impression: 10 pts
There is actually a score sheet and an organization that regulates this:
http://www.bjcp.org/docs/SCP_BeerScoreSheet.pdf
http://www.bjcp.org/ (Beer Judge Certification Program)
I've seen beers score below 20, but can't recall ever seeing something below 10.

At the professional level, the strict score sheets and point system isn't used in competition (that I'm aware of). However, I think I've seen commercial beers judged in literature with the 50 point scale.

Beer competitions are more like dog shows in that adherence to and representation of a style is the goal.

-Eric

[Carlos Rodriguez]

a 50 point scale, but unlike all the wine scores I've seen, there is a breakdown of those 50 points:
Aroma: 12 pts; Appearance: 3 pts; Flavor: 20 pts; Mouthfeel: 5pts; Overall Impression: 10 pts

Eric, isn't it to complicated to score so many things?