speach

Kelsi Stoltenow

Informative Outline EXAMPLE OF INFORMATIVE SPEECH OUTLINE

Dr. Wendy Papa

CRN: 22130359

Topic: Wine tasting (grape juice will be used for demonstration)

General Purpose: To inform

Specific Purpose: To demonstrate to my audience the three steps to tasting and analyzing a glass of

wine.

Thesis: Wine is properly tasted and best enjoyed in three steps – swirling,

smelling and sipping.

I. Introduction

A. Attention Getter: Wine is a tremendous beverage. It’s amazing because,

unlike anything else we drink, wine is alive. As wine bottles sit in

those tidy store-shelf rows, the sugar, yeast and grape juice inside

of them is constantly at work, forever evolving the wines. For that

reason, Kevin Zraly says in his 2010 book Windows on the World:

A Complete Wine Course, when a bottle is brought home, and

opened with a pop of a cork, it will taste different than it would

have on any other day of its life.

B. Reason to Listen: Wine is the sophisticated person’s drink of choice

the world over, and while most gulp it greedily, greeting each glass

with curiosity and know-how will help make the most of every

drop.

C. Thesis Statement: Wine is properly tasted and best enjoyed in three

steps.

D. Credibility Statement:

1. My mom has been a wine-drinker for years, and taught me all she knows.

2. Since turning 21-years-old I have gone on wine excursions throughout the United

States, honing my tasting skills and devouring all the literature and personal

tutelage I can find.

E. Preview of Main Points:

1. First, I will explain how to swirl a glass of wine.

2. Second, I will describe how to smell a glass of wine.

3. Finally, I will discuss how to correctly taste a glass of wine.

II. Wine is properly tasted and best enjoyed in these three steps – swirling, smelling and

sipping.

A. Wine must be swirled in its glass, as the action releases the wine’s aroma,

or bouquet, as it is called among experienced wine tasters.

1. Swirling the wine allows oxygen to mix with the wine, which

releases the bouquet, says Zraly, as previously cited.

2. The type of wine you are drinking dictates how you swirl.

a. No matter the wine type you are tasting, always begin with a glass that is

no more than two-thirds full to prevent spilling and to provide yourself

ample swirling room.

b. White wine is typically served chilled, so to avoid warming it while

swirling, place one hand at the bottom of the glass and proceed to make

small, quick circles on a flat surface.

c. Red wine is typically served at room temperature, so you can place one

hand on any part of the glass to swirl it.

i. Placing one hand on the body of the glass gives you the best

control, allowing you to swirl red wine with small, quick circles.

ii. Red wine, Zraly says, should be swirled for approximately 15 to 20

seconds, while white wine needs only 10 seconds (2010).

3. While swirling, you should also determine the wine’s age and grape variety by

tipping the glass on its side and examining the wine’s color.

a. In his 1994 book Wines of Italy, Burton Anderson explains that white

wines begin their lives emitting a light yellow color, and as they age turn

gold, and eventually brown.

b. Red wines, Anderson says, start with a purple hue, turn red, and eventually

adopt a maroon or brown color.

c. Popular grape varieties can be recognized by the color of wine they

produce.

i. For example, the popular white wine Riesling is typically a light,

almost translucent, yellow, while Chardonnay, the darkest white

wine, is often marigold or light brown.

ii. Pinot Noir, a middle-of-the-road red-wine grape, is often dons a

straightforward shade of red.

Transition: Now that I talked about how to swirl a glass of wine and release its bouquet, I will

explain how to properly smell the wine.

B. Smelling a glass of wine is the most important step in the process of wine tasting, as

doing so tells you what flavors to expect before placing it in your mouth.

1. According to the National Science Teachers Association article Got Smell?

(2010), our sense of smell and sense of taste are wired to work as one, so when

we do not smell, like when we have colds, we cannot taste either.

a. Additionally, as stated in his article The Human Sense of Smell (2004),

Gordon M. Shepherd recently discovered that humans smell just as well or

better than all other mammals, including dogs.

b. Zraly mentions that humans can detect only four tastes — salty, sweet,

sour and bitter — but are capable of identifying more than 2,000 smells,

so smelling, not tasting, is the key step to fully enjoying a glass of wine

(2010).

2. To smell wine properly and pick up on those scents, directly after swirling place

your nose inside the wine glass and inhale deeply for three to five seconds.

a. Repeat this process at least two additional times.

b. If you are unable to detect any vivid aroma, swirl the wine again.

3. While smelling, try to identify scents and share them with fellow tasters.

a. Many white wines may smell like grapefruit, green apple, pineapple, nuts,

butter, vanilla or even marshmallows.

b. Common red wine scents include oak, berry, chocolate, coffee, smoke,

pepper and cheese.

c. In their article Psychology of Novice and Expert Wine Talk (1990), Gregg

Eric and Arn Solomon explain that it takes practice to accurately identify

the scents in a wine’s bouquet, but once learned, the ability will build on

itself.

i. Eric and Solomon point out that humans retain 70 percent of the

information we gather from our sense of smell, so with time wine

tasters will be able to remember and distinguish among hundreds

of wine aromas (1990).

ii. Having control over one’s aroma vocabulary is what separates

rookie wine tasters from experts.

Transition: Now that we have learned the importance of smelling a glass of wine and how to do it

properly, I will detail how a glass of wine should be tasted.

C. Tasting, the final step of exploring a glass of wine, should be done slowly and

thoughtfully.

1. To taste a glass of wine, put the glass to your mouth and take a sizable sip.

a. Hold the wine in your mouth for five to eight seconds before swallowing,

allowing it wash over every part of your tongue.

b. Because smelling the wine already gave you a solid sense of what flavors

the wine has, focus now on the tactile sensations you are experiencing in

your mouth.

c. Richard Gawel, author of A Mouth-feel Wheel (2000), says the following

are the most common sensations experienced while tasting wine: soft,

supple, sappy, grippy, drying, smooth and sugary.

d. The darker the wine, the more apparent the sensations will be.

2. A tell-tale sign of a quality wine is how long its taste lingers after you have

swallowed; the longer it lingers the better it is.

a. Ultimately, the only person who can declare a wine good or not is the

taster.

i. If you do not like green apple, you will not like Chardonnay.

ii. If you are not into smoky flavors, you won’t like Pinot Noir.

b. Most novice tasters favor sweet wines like Riesling and eventually acquire

a taste for dry or bitter wines.

III. Conclusion

A. Review of Main Points:

1. Today I first discussed how to swirl a glass of wine.

2. Second, I explained how to smell a glass of wine.

3. Finally, I talked about tasting a glass of wine.

B. Restate Thesis: Wine is properly tasted and best enjoyed in these three

steps — swirling, smelling and sipping.

C. Closure: If you greet each glass with patience and curiosity it will

tell you the story of its life; and like any good storyteller, it

will entertain you until the last drop.

References

Anderson, B. (1994). Wines of Italy. New York, New York: Italian Institute for Foreign Trade.

Eric, G., & Solomon, A. (1990). Psychology of Novice and Expert Wine Talk. The American

Journal of Psychology, 103(4), 495-517.

Gawel, R., Oberholster, A., & Francis L. (2000). A ‘Mouth-feel Wheel’: Terminology for

Communicating the mouth-feel characteristics of wine. Australian Journal of Grape &

Wine Research, 6, 203-207. doi: 10.1111/j.1755-0238.2000.tb00180.x

Got Smell? Retrieved from http://www.nsta.org/publications/article

Shepherd, G. M., (2004). The Human Sense of Smell: Are We Better Than We Think? PLoS

Biology, 2, 572-575. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0020146

Zraly, K. (2010). Windows on the World: A Complete Wine Course. New York, New York:

Sterling Publishing.