 what is a vertical tasting learn more about that and how it can make you look smart in this video welcome back to exotic wine travel i am your host Matthew Horkey today we are going to talk about vertical tasting you know in the wine world you'll hear fancy terms like horizontal tasting vertical tasting what does all that stuff mean in the first place well today we're going to talk about it vertical tasting is when you taste the same grape or the same cuvet from the same producer but different vintages different years different harvest so you can see how the weather the climate of each year the winemaking or the winemaker changed the style of wine when you have horizontal tasting you have the same vintage same grape variety but maybe a few different producers to see how that grape variety performs across the specific vintage it's a very useful tool when it comes to wine professionals how they understand wines for a general consumer it's just flat out fun it also can make you look really smart when you do a lot of vertical tasting you can say things like oh wow it seems like 2003 was a fantastic vintage for Cabernet Sauvignon then you sound cool and impress your friends but anyways we are going to do a vertical tasting today of Etna Biancos from this producer Feudo Cavallieri this is the millimetre because it's growing at a thousand meters Etna Bianco I have 2010 all the way to 2015 made from the grape Caricante Caricante is a high acid grape variety some people believe it's been grown on Etna for over a thousand years really high acidity come some people compared to Riesling if you get the chance to go to Mount Etna it's in Sicily humongous mountain sticks up about I think over 3000 meters so 10,000 11,000 feet above sea level towers over the city of Catania when you're there tasting at the wineries it's so awesome you're sitting there tasting wine and you can see the volcano constantly smoking which is really cool so let's taste through these wines this is a grape that this is a great variety that many professionals believe has a bright future in the south of Italy I'm a big fan of it you know Etna is a volcano so you have these smoky mineral notes that you get from grapes grown in volcanic soil so let's taste through these babies okay so we've tasted through these I've actually tasted through these several times even prior to this recording so I get an idea of what's going on here you know the wines you know I think of the 2015 the 2013 2011 or in the 90-point type of range unfortunately the 2010 was corked so it had some kind of offer almost for those of you don't know what corked wine tastes like doesn't mean that there's little pieces of cork in it it means that there it's got this wet cardboard type of basement smell it's very unpleasant it's unfortunate because the 2010 was unctuous in the mouth layered and everything like that the grape caraconte I have experience with it I don't have a vast vast experience from it from what I've seen in this vertical tasting what are some useful things that you can take away you learn that caraconte is a wine that it maybe doesn't unfurl and gain tons of complexity but it it is long live thanks to its high acidity grapes like riesling as they age they they garner complexity Bordeaux as it ages it it just gains all this complexity this kind of stays good it doesn't really age that much it just puts on a little bit weight you know I prefer the 2015 really really nice wine with caraconte you're going to get these lemony flay a lot of lemus lemon citrus peel white peach maybe even some unripe pineapple high mineral notes high acidity I really like the 2015 13 and 11 it seemed like 14 there was something a little bit different and the seller maybe it was a different winemaker I don't know I met this producer at at the Go Volcanic Summit in Hungary but it was really interested to do this tasting I'll actually have a full tasting article coming up about this really cool you know in the past when I when I just started getting into the wine industry I thought oh wow you know scoring wine so easy you swish it around you evaluate it and you just you just say your opinion what I didn't realize is the further you get into it I have more and more respect for critics professional critics guys have been doing it for a long long long time because they're often doing vertical tastings or they've experienced with these wines throughout the years throughout many vintages and well the way the way the prices of wine are going especially for premium wines that's very cost-prohibited to many people here today especially many just wine writers in general so vertical tasting really cool useful tip I learned that I you know I like Caraconte a lot a little bit on the younger side when it's too young sometimes it can be too sharp too acidic and as it as it goes on throughout the years I think people that like age whites like things to put that put on weight want things to go with shellfish crustaceans these wines kind of remind me almost of like how crew muscaday ages from France just with a little bit more Italian flair so tell me do you do vertical tasting do you enjoy it you like it you find it useful do you have fun with it put it in the comments below and guys if you like this video please subscribe to our youtube channel exotic wine travel I will see you in the next episode