Monthly Archives: April 2008

Decanting

Decanting a wine may be done for several reasons. However, the most common are to remove sediment (filtration), aerate the wine and for presentation.

Aeration: A young tannic red tastes better once it has been given time to ‘breathe’ – the exposure to air softens the tannic bite allowing the wine’s complexity to show through. Although this can be done simply by removing the cork, the exposed surface area of wine is minimal so it may take several hours. The preferred method to improve the wine’s taste is to decant the wine into a wide decanter. The decanter’s shape exposes more of the wine to air, which reduces the need for aeratation (recommended times vary from 10 minutes to an hour).

Filtration: Aged wines, primarily reds, may have some sediment which should be removed before serving. The actual process here is the same, although some preparation is needed. First, the wine bottle itself should have been stored on its side, and not rotated or agitated for some time: this causes the sediment to collect along one side of the bottle. Then 24 hours before serving the bottle should be stood upright allowing the sediment to collect around the punt at the base of the bottle. Once opened the wine should be decanted (carefully) in the same method as above, stopping, however, the wine before any sediment drains into the decanter. It’s often useful to remove the entire capsule from the bottle before decanting and to do so under good light. This allows you to decant as much of the wine as possible by pouring until the sediment just reaches into the neck of the bottle. One caveat is that the wines that most need decanting (fine aged wines) are often also the most delicate and thus susceptible to rapid oxidation. In this case you should decant to remove the sediment, but you don’t want to let it stand (decant and serve immediately). An extremely delicate old wine may oxidize only 10 minutes after decanting.

Presentation: Put simply, wine looks more elegant when poured from a fine decanter!

Most whites do not need decanting as they don’t have the tannin of a young red nor do they undergo much bottle aging. However, certain whites may have sediment or wine making faults and could benefit from the aeration provided by decanting.

Grapes & Wine

The grape variety used to make wine is the single most important factor in how the wine ultimately tastes. After that, climatic factors and winemaking practices also impact the style of the finished wine, so a single grape variety can taste wildly different depending on where it’s grown and what happens to it in the winery. The choice of grape variety is inextricably linked to where it is grown, since different types of grapes have different needs. Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc, for example, prefer cool climates, therefore they can be grown successfully in Germany and Northern France. Syrah, on the other hand, likes the heat and, in fact, wouldn’t ripen at all in a cool, northerly climate. The following is a short list of some of the main grape varieties and the styles of wine you can expect from them.

Red Grape Varieties

Cabernet Sauvignon

Perhaps the noblest of them all, Cabernet Sauvignon makes big, dense, structured red wines capable of long aging. It forms the backbone of the top red wines of Bordeaux, where it is usually blended with Merlot and Cabernet Franc, among others. But Cabernet also travels well and great examples are found the world over, most notable in California, Australia and Chile. Both its aroma and taste are reminiscent of ripe blackcurrants with, often, a hint of chocolate, cedar or mint.

Merlot

Where Cabernet Sauvignon is structured and firm, Merlot is more fleshy and lush. Again, it produces wonderful wines in Bordeaux and the south of France, but also in California, Washington State, Australia, Chile and many others. It can taste of ripe plums and chocolate and feels like velvet.

Syrah/Shiraz

Wonderfully rich and spicy, Syrah is responsible for the great wines of the northern Rh?ne and many southern French wines. In Australia, where it known as Shiraz, it produces rich, ripe voluptuous wines. It seems very much at home in Washington State and parts of California. It can display a range of flavors from leather to pepper and from violets to chocolate. Always a crowd pleaser.

Pinot Noir

Smooth and silky Pinot Noir impresses with elegance rather than power. It’s the grape behind the great red wines of France’s Burgundy region. Flavors of strawberry, raspberry and cherry are common in young wines, becoming earthy and gamey as the wine matures. Outside of Burgundy, Pinot Noir does very well in cooler climate areas of New Zealand, Australia, California and Oregon.

Zinfandel

A native of California, Zinfandel is a big, heartwarming wine with full flavors of blackberry, blueberry and spice. The wines tend to be ripe and high in alcohol, but very easy to drink.

White Grape Varieties

Chardonnay

Chardonnay grows successfully practically everywhere wine is made, so it’s no surprise that it’s so abundant and popular. The grape itself is relatively neutral and takes on its individual character from the climatic conditions where it is grown and from winemaking techniques. In the cool, northerly region of Chablis in France, the white wine can be steely and lean. Here it traditionally sees no oak, but that has been changing in recent years. Further south, in Burgundy, Chardonnay makes some of the finest and longest-lived white wines in the world. Flavors range from light, floral and lemon through to hazelnut, butter and toast. Oak plays a large role in how chardonnay tastes as the grape has a particular affinity for it. Warmer climate Chardonnays from Australia and California can display lush, tropical fruit. How do you like your Chardonnay?

Sauvignon Blanc

A very distinctive grape variety giving very zesty, grassy, refreshing wines. Traditionally, the best examples have always come from the Loire region in France, where they are labeled by location (Sancerre and Pouilly Fume) rather than by grape variety, but in recent years New Zealand has earned quite a reputation with this grape. Here the wines are riper, more pungent and thoroughly irresistible. The above examples are pure, unoaked Sauvignon Blanc, but other areas use a little oak to soften the edges a little bit. California often does this, as does Bordeaux, where the Sauvignon Blanc is often blended with another variety: Semillon.

Riesling

An aromatic grape variety reminiscent of peaches and flowers in its youth, developing weight and an almost kerosene quality with age. Germany makes the variety in all styles from bone dry all the way through the spectrum to late harvest dessert wines. What the Germans do so well is achieve a delicate balance between sweetness and refreshing acidity. Australia produces wonderfully refreshing Rieslings bursting with lime-juice.

Pinot Grigio/Pinot Gris

A very popular grape variety known as Pinot Grigio in Italy and Pinot Gris elsewhere. Its popularity is due in part to its essentially neutral character, giving it wide appeal and making it easy to sip and match with food. In the Alsace region of France and in Oregon, Pinot Gris tends to be weightier with more smoke and spice than the simpler Italian versions.

Tasting Wine

You don’t need to analyze wine to enjoy it, but if you pay attention to what you’re tasting you’ll find that you’ll be better able to identify what you like or don’t like in a wine. It’s a bit like languages: You don’t have to speak Italian to visit Italy, but if you know a few words, your enjoyment can be greatly enhanced.

Before you taste make sure there are no distracting odors in the room, like cooking smells or perfume. The only thing you should smell is the wine in your glass.

Glasses should be clean and dry and filled with only a small sample of wine (about a quarter of the glass). Wines all have certain components and characteristics in common. When we taste, we use sight, smell and taste to recognize the above various components and to assess the quality and health of the wine. So let’s give it a go.

Appearance

A good look at the wine can tell us about the condition and even age of the wine.

Clarity: is the wine clear and bright (as it should be) or is it hazy or murky?

Intensity: is the color pale or deep?

Color: hold the glass at an angle against a white background (table cloth or sheet of paper) and assess the color in the middle of the bowl of the glass and at the rim. White wines start life pale and darken with age. Red wines out a deep, bright purple and gradually turn ruby, mahogany and eventually brown as they age.

Smell or “Nose”

Swirling the wine in the glass allows its aromas to be liberated into the air, so give your glass a whirl and then take a deep sniff. What are you looking for?

Condition: does it smell clean and attractive or is there any mustiness or off-odor?

Intensity: is the nose faint or pronounced?

Character: what does it smell like? This may seem difficult initially, but you can do it. Just as you can tell the difference between the smell of bacon and coffee, you can also identify some of the possible smells in wine. Here are some things you may smell: fruit, grapes, lemon, grass, peaches, raspberries, blackcurrants, flowers, apples, vanilla, oak, smoke, plums and many, many more. Remember that there are no right or wrong answers, here. It’s simply an exercise in thinking about what you’re drinking.

Taste or “palate”

Now the fun part — you actually get to drink the stuff! Take a sip of wine and swirl it around the mouth so that the wine is in contact with all parts of your mouth: tongue, gums, soft palate. Even better, tilt the head forward so that the wine is behind the front teeth and then slurp air into the mouth over the wine. This seems weird at first, and goes against everything your mother taught you to do at the table, but it’s worth it. You can taste much more of the wine if you aerate it in this way.

So what are you looking for?

Sweetness: an easy one. Sweetness is immediately noticeable on the tip of the tongue. If there’s no apparent sugar the wine is called “dry”.

Acidity: very important if the wine is to be refreshing and balanced. Lemon juice and vinegar are acidic. Too much and the wine tastes too tart; too little and the wine is known as “flabby”, tasting heavy and just not refreshing.

Alcohol: a vital component in wine, but one that shouldn’t stand apart from the other elements if the wine is to be balanced. When the alcohol is too high, there will be a bit of a burning sensation after the wine is swallowed.

Tannin: a natural preservative found in grape skins and stalks, tannin is the stuff that makes young red wines seem harsh and leaves the mouth feeling dry. If you want to know how tannin feels when it’s not in wine, brew some very strong black tea and you’ll soon know! Tannin’s role as preservative is extremely important in high quality red wines that are made to age for many years.

Body: an indicator of how the wine feels in the mouth. Pinot Noir or Beaujolais tend to feel quite light in the mouth while Bordeaux or Australian Shiraz tend to be full and dense. So, the progression for both reds and whites is light-bodied, to medium bodied, to full-bodied.

Fruit: the taste and intensity of the fruit in the mouth; generally, the better the wine, the more evident the fruit. Also, younger wines will often display more fruit than mature wine. Length: how long the taste of the wine lingers in the mouth after swallowing is a good indication of the wine’s quality: the longer the better.

Conclusions

Having considered the above elements, what did you think of the wine?

Quality: you might think it’s obvious to say that a $100 bottle of wine is likely to be high quality and a $5 wine low quality, but the assessment of quality goes beyond this. A wine that looks clear and bright, has a pronounced, intense nose, shows good fruit and balanced acid, sweetness and alcohol, and has a long finish might be an inexpensive wine. It would be classified as good quality, though, because it is a good example of its type. So as your tasting progresses, question the wine. Is it a good example of its type?

Maturity: this is a measure of the wine’s readiness to drink, which is not the same thing as its age. Many wines are made to be drunk as soon as they are bottled while others require years (or decades) of maturation in bottle to reach their optimum state. Simple wines, which are designed to be drunk young, will not improve with age. Rather they will deteriorate and be over the hill if kept too long.

Faults: Thankfully, modern winemaking practices have reduced most of the problems we used to commonly find in wine, but there’s still one which affects around a small percent of bottles: bad corks. “Corked”, the term used to describe the affliction, has nothing to do with cork floating in the wine, but rather (not to get too technical) a condition in which the wine has reacted with a substance in the cork, producing a musty, corky smell and taste, reminiscent of wet cardboard. The wine should always smell clean and appealing. The cork problem is the reason behind many wineries switching to synthetic closures or screw caps, which are now widely used with aromatic varietals like Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling. So don’t be put off is you see a screw cap on your wine. It doesn’t mean cheap wine, it means the winemaker is sick of cork problems and wants to preserve the freshness of the wine.

Wine Buying Tip

Wine Buying Tip

This is the only Wine Buying Tip you ever need to know!!!

1. Know your store

Every wine shop is different. Different focus, different selections, different pricing structures. Choose the one that works best for you. If you are new to the wine game and every bottle on the shelf is over $50 then you are probably in the wrong place. Look for stores that have either organized wine tastings or have wine available by the glass. What better way to know if you like a wine before buying than to taste it?

2. Have a plan

Have in mind what the wine is for before you are bogged down by numerous regions, prices, etc. Are you looking for a simple wine to serve with dinner or planning a party for twenty? Knowing what you are looking for before you are in the store will help you to make better selections than just walking in and browsing until something strikes your fancy.

3. Don’t be afraid to bring resources

There is a myriad of different sources of information on wine out there and bringing some with you to the store can only help in making an informed decision. Books, magazines, brochures and even, ahem, websites provide valuable information on producers and vintages that it is impossible to keep track of. The difference between a good vintage and a so-so vintage can be the difference in a wonderful wine and a so-so one. Resources such as The Wine Spectator and The Wine Advocate and even yours truly at winegeeks.com offer ratings of individual wines that can be extremely useful when selecting a wine, but remember: just because a wine isn’t rated or has a mediocre score doesn’t mean it is a bad wine. These are guidelines and someone else’s opinion.

4. Survey the land

Don’t get caught in one section of the wine store. While some locales are very well organized, many are not, and the best bargain of the day may be just around the aisle. A quick trip around the shop to gain your bearings might be a good way to make sure that nothing is missed.

5. Develop a relationship with the owner/salesperson

Never be afraid to ask for help or a recommendation. Running into the pushy salesperson may be inevitable, but usually anyone working in the store will share your enthusiasm for the grape and asking what they like may get you a great bottle of wine. Also any salesperson worth their salt can get a feel for what you enjoy after a few trips to the store or even after answering just a few well-placed questions. Return trips and evaluations of what you tried last week can help the salesperson to judge your tastes.

6. Price does not equal quality

While a monstrous price tag may be well deserved for that bottle of 20-year-old Bordeaux, wines today are increasingly priced according to start-up costs for the winery or even the level of investment from outside sources instead of quality or reputation. In fact, wines from the traditional wine growing regions are sure to be higher in price than something from a less known vineyard area regardless of how good the wine is. Use your resources!

7. Look for value regions and 2nd labels

Many wine regions are known for their ability to produce very nice wines at still reasonable prices. Spain, Australia, Argentina and Chile are just a few countries to try. Another option is to try wine from areas just outside of more well known wine growing regions. Instead of the pricey Pomerol in Bordeaux, try Lalande-de-Pomerol. Same grape (Merlot) from just down the road at a much lower price. Also, look for the 2nd labels of more established wineries. These are wines sold under a different label from a quality winery sold at a lower price, a practice quite common in Bordeaux and gaining steam in California.

8. Be willing to experiment

Trying something new can be a great way to learn about new wines and new countries. Try a recommendation from someone at the shop, sample a new region, or even go with the advice of the shelf talking card pinned next to a wine. It may be the best wine that you have ever had!

9. Buy discounted wine

Most shops offer a 10% discount on wine sold by the case, mixed or not. Look for any close-out specials or wines on sale. Because it is half-off doesn’t mean it is terrible. Wines are often sold at what the state dictates, and it may be more than what the market will bear. These may be marked down significantly before the next vintage arrives, and can offer significant savings to the consumer.

10. Buy wine online

There are numerous sites that offer online sales of wine. These sites can offer wines at considerably less than your local store or have hard to find rarities. Be forewarned: Many states do not allow point-to-point sales of wine or alcohol. Most sites will list which states they can ship to. This is a contentious issue soon to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, but until then make sure you read the fine print.

Well, there you have it. This is by no means all you need to know when buying wine but it will certainly help you along your way. Use these ten points and the trepidation of wine buying should fade to the bottom of your stomach like the tannins of an old port. It should be loved and looked forward to like shopping for any thing of beauty, like going to the car parts store for your ‘67 Chevy or to the jewelry store on Valentine’s Day. The best part is how much do they have at the jewelry store for less than ten dollars?

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Wine Guide: Tasting Wine

Tasting Wine

Before you taste make sure there are no distracting odors in the room, like cooking smells or perfume. The only thing you should smell is the wine in your glass.