the TASTE THAT MAKES YOUR MOUTH WATER...

After sweet, sour, salty and bitter comes the fifth taste: umami.

This is a Japanese term made up of umai (delicious) and mi (taste) which is used to say " that's good ", or " that's what makes you salivate "!

The English translation of umami is savory or sometimes referred to as the meaty taste of foods.

Unlike other tastes, umami is not a flavour in itself, but a taste enhancer that stimulates the sensors in the mouth.

Mainly associated with glutamate (an amino acid in animal and vegetable proteins and certain fruits and vegetables), this flavour reveals itself fully when a food is transformed by fermentation, drying or long cooking.

Umami and wine

In wine, umami is revealed by the presence of glutamic acids, which add suppleness. Four factors favour the presence of such acids: berry ripeness, skin maceration, wine ageing and malolactic fermentation.

Which wines are umami

There are three types of wine that are especially umami.

Red wines produced from very ripe grapes, white wines produced in the Burgundian tradition, champagnes and sparkling wines vinified according to the méthode champenoise.

Come to think of it - the word 'umami' is just one letter away from being an anagram of 'miam', and that's probably no coincidence!