Today's video is strictly for my over-18 audience, which I know is most of the people that watch
The reason being is that I'm going to be talking about wine, and I need to put it out there
that I don't condone underaged drinking.
This is a video for people who are going to be, maybe being entertained in English.
If you go and do business in an English-speaking country, it's very likely that you'll be offered
So, this is to help you make informed decisions about what type of wine you might want to
drink and to also give you a bank of phrases that you can use to comment on your appreciation
The idea from this lesson came from me going into an independent wine shop a couple of
I went into the shop and I said, "I'd like a bottle of red wine, please."
And the lady looked at me like I was half-mad and said, "Well, this is a wine shop."
So, this is partly from my desire to educate myself about the world of wines and I'm by
I'm very much at the beginning of this journey, and you may know more than me about wine and
there are things that you notice in this video, drop me a comment and you'll be good, so I
If you're not interested in wine, then just treat this as a listening comprehension and
test yourself with the quiz at the end.
So, to begin with, I'm going to talk about the different types of wines, both white and
red.
I'll be talking about where they are grown.
We'll be looking at when you are tasting a wine, what kind of comments you might be looking
So, starting with white wines.
A Riesling, this is traditionally from Germany.
It's a dry - can be slightly sweet wine.
So, we've got adjectives here.
It goes well with - it accompanies fish, chicken, and pork.
The aromas, that's the smell that you get when you put your nose to the glass, can be
So, it makes me think of summer, this.
It sounds really quite refreshing.
Next white wine, a Chardonnay.
At its best, it is velvety with citrus tones.
Tone, that's a good word to use when talking about wine.
Chardonnay goes well with fish and chicken, and it's best grown in France, but it is also
grown in other parts of the world.
Our next one: Sauvignon Blanc.
I'm sure some French listeners will probably say, "Not quite right", but it's about that.
Sauvignon Blanc goes well with seafood, poultry, salads.
Just a note on the pronunciation, so if you're coming to an English-speaking country, you'll
have to make yourself understood by someone who is, presumably, English behind the bar
And they might not have beautiful French pronunciation.
Okay, so what is Sauvignon Blanc like?
Well, it's quite a light white wine, hint of herb, some can be quite fruity, and it's
grown in France and New Zealand to good effect.
Okay?
I always find it quite confusing because we've got Sauvignon Blanc and then we've got Cabernet
So, Cab Sav is red and Sav Blanc, blanc, French word for "white" is white.
We've got Shiraz, sometimes known as Syrah.
The flavors you should get when you drink this wine are a sort of wild, black fruit.
So, this is more a sort of a winter drink.
Best grown in France, California, and Australia.
Some of these wines can be quite average, so if you're getting a Shiraz, try to get
I don't know much about Merlot; other than it's a pretty easy drinking wine and you can
So, if you've got any more knowledge about Merlot, then write a comment below and let's
So, you know, it's good to sort of savor this.
It's not - all wine should be savored, really.
Malbec can be a very good value.
Does have a medium level of tannins.
I will be explaining what tannins mean in a moment, but it's to do with sort of the
lightness and heaviness of a wine.
And Malbec is best grown in France and Argentina.
Okay?
So, we've had Shiraz - hearty, spicy.
Merlot, quite an easy drinking wine.
Malbec - dark fruit with a smoky finish.
And Cabernet Sauvignon - by the way, these are not all of the wines in the world, yep.
I've just pulled out some of the most well-known wines.
Cabernet Sauvignon - a full bodied, so that means it's quite - it's not light.
It feels quite sort of substantial, yep.
You don't want to sort of take a big sip, it's more like a little sip, okay?
Grown well in France, Australia, California, and Chile.
Okay, we're going to learn in a moment what to say when you are tasting a wine for the
Now, it's sometimes said that a great teacher is a really good student.
And with this subject, I am a student, not a teacher.
I told you earlier that tannins meant that a wine is full bodied.
Now, that's not quite correct.
Tannins mean that the wine has a bitter taste.
The tannins come from the skins and the stems - that's the kind of the pokey, knobby bits,
and the seeds, the slightly kind of nasty bit of the grape.
And you can notice that there's lots of tannins because it actually sort of dries your mouth
So, when I went into the wine shop to ask for a bottle of red wine, the lady recommended
a bottle of red that was low in tannins, and it was very nice and it actually felt quite
So, what we're looking at here is different things that you could say about wine when
I want to make you aware of the classification of Old World vs. New World.
Probably used more in Europe than anywhere else, but an Old World wine, you're looking
at Spain, France, Italy, all the kind of traditional wine growing areas.
Whereas the New World is more your sort of Chile, California, Australia, New Zealand.
And there used to be a sort of preconception that Old World wines were better than New
World wines, but that's kind of no longer the case anymore, and there's excellent wines
One thing you don't want is a corked bottle.
A corked bottle - I don't know how it happens.
I had a corked bottle back in the summer and you pour it and immediately you can tell there's
something wrong with the wine.
It tasted like vinegar or something.
So, you definitely don't want a corked bottle.
I think it's the sort of air pressure, the air gets in through the cork or something
If you know, do let us know in a comment.
Now, this is quite an amusing comment you can make.
So, you're swirling the wine around in the glass and you're looking at whether the liquid
kind of comes down quickly, or leaves a sort of trail.
It's like kind of the trails that a slug might make.
Now, what that is is the speed at which the wine is evaporating back off the inside of
But, so, if it's got good legs, then you get these little lines, little trails where the
So, it's got good legs, those, you know, if the wine takes some time to evaporate off
But actually, it doesn't show that the wine is good.
It just shows that the alcohol content is high or that it's a sweeter wine, okay?
But it does sound quite cool if you can say "Oh, it's got great legs, this wine."
The taste here is sort of zesty lemon, and rather than drying your mouth out, it actually,
the moisture remains in your mouth.
So, you can also talk about the tension in a wine.
The tension between acidity and sweetness.
Is it a light wine or is it a full-bodied wine?
Yep.
Does it make you want to savor the taste, or is it easy drinking?
Always good to talk about the kind of flavors you are getting from a wine.
You could say that it has shades of blackcurrant or, you know, really, really try to taste
it.
What can you - what's it make you sort of - what taste is it sort of bringing up in
your taste imagination, should we say?
It's got hints of elderberries.
It's got a fantastic aroma, this wine.
Okay?
If the wine is energetic, then you have a sip and it's like woah.
Gives you some energy, makes you feel awake.
So, resonate - it's a bit like, kind of, echo.
So, if you go into a cathedral and sing, then the sound resonates around the building.
If a wine has good depth, then it's like the flavor is resonating in your mouth.
That's, you know, what's the effect of the flavors.
Is it like, a strong, powerful effect?
Also relates to the alcoholic content.
If a wine has a lot of life, quite similar to it being energetic, yep.
And finally, we have some wine idioms.
So, a little hint for you guys out there: Girls like to be "wined and dined".
So, taking them out to a restaurant and making sure that there's a nice bottle of wine and
"Wined and dined": given a nice meal with wine.
So, days of wine and roses are carefree, happy days, yeah?
A really kind of, a golden time.
So, when you've had enough of the bottle of wine, you put the cork back in so that the
wine stays good for a couple of more days.
But, if you say, "Put a cork in it" to someone, you're saying yeah, enough.
Shh!
Okay?
So, I hope you might have learned something.
I hope you might have kind of thought about this topic a little bit more.
It is now time to do the quiz.
Those of you who have been listening for the listening comprehension skills, but thank
you for watching my video today.
Thank you to my loyal subscribers, yep.
Really grateful for you guys watching video after video, and I hope you're getting what
If there is any kind of content that you want me to make for you guys, then, you know, ask
It may take me a while to make because I live in England and the channel is in Canada, but