Build Your Palate Part 2

About this episode

Keith Wallace hosts a discussion on palate elements, focusing on sweetness, acidity, and tannins, along with tasting exercises and sensitivity tests.

Know Your Palate (Part 2): Sweetness vs Ripeness, Acidity, Tannins & Sensitive Tasters Keith Wallace hosts an After Wine School episode focused on "Know Your Palate" (Part 2), shifting from smell to what happens on the palate. He clarifies the difference between aromas (smelled) and flavors and taste sensations (tasted/felt), then breaks down three core palate elements: sweetness, acidity, and bitterness/tannin. The episode explains perceived sweetness from alcohol and oak-derived baking-spice flavors versus real sugar, with a home tasting exercise using off-dry Riesling, Chablis, and high-alcohol Zinfandel/Petite Syrah. It covers how acidity underpins fruit flavors, highlights tartaric acid as unique to wine and linked to aging and microbial stability, and offers an at-home comparison of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc with unoaked Chardonnay (or alternatives like Marsanne/Roussanne or Albariño). For bitterness, it explains wine’s condensed tannins, how skin/seed contact affects tannin extraction, and suggests tasting Pinot Noir/Gamay against high-tannin wines like Aglianico or Nebbiolo. The hosts advise students not to rely on personal “algorithms” and to build tasting skills…

People in this episode

Host: Keith Wallace

Topics covered

• palate elements
• tasting skills
• sweetness vs ripeness
• acidity
• tannins
• sensitivity in tasting

Keywords

• palate
• sweetness
• acidity
• tannins
• tasting exercises
• sensitivity
• wine education

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Wine School USA

Products: Riesling, Chablis, Zinfandel, Petite Syrah, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Marsanne, Roussanne, Albariño, Pinot Noir

More episodes of After Wine School

• We Were Just Named A Top Trade School! · May 19, 2026 · 20 min
• Sustainability · February 17, 2026 · 25 min
• The Future of Wine Marketing & Branding · February 10, 2026 · 21 min
• The Art of the Seal: Corks & Other Enclosures · February 3, 2026 · 22 min
• Wine & Health · January 27, 2026 · 20 min
• Palate Prep · January 20, 2026 · 30 min