The Good Stuff

Vocab- Grape Must and Pomace!

8/22/2013

OK, so this one's a bit of a twofer.
Grape Must is what winemakers and people in the biz call crushed up grapes at the beginning of the winemaking process. It’s the juice, skins, and seeds, all mashed up together.
Pomace (pronounced more like pumice- like the stone) is what’s left after the juice is pressed out. It is the solid stuff left over- skins, seeds, and pressed out fleshy bits. Mmm. It is considered a waste product though sometimes the seeds are used for grapeseed oil (I have a chapstick made from wine grape seeds,) or the whole thing is put back onto the vineyard floor as compost. Sometimes farmers will feed it to their livestock (it has lots of sugar left over, so it’s a good fattener…) And, I just learned that some people are grinding it up and using it as a gluten free flour option! Cabernet Sauvignon Brownies? Sign me up!

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How to ask for what you want (and no, this is not a self-help seminar.)

7/18/2013

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I’ve run into linguistic snafus with several people tasting lately, so here I decided to try to parse out some wine tasting vocab I find important and useful...

In asking someone to help you pick a bottle of wine, it’s helpful to have some solid knowledge of tasting terms- especially when it comes to flavors and mouthfeels. For instance, I meet a lot of people who tell me they like a “dry wine,” yet, in discussing a little more what it is they’re looking for, I figure out what they really want is a wine that makes their mouth FEEL dry- in other words, a wine with a lot of tannins. Were I to point them in the direction of a light Zweigelt (a fresh, light, tart red,) they might not actually like it- it’s too light, acidic, and low in bitter tannins-yet technically, it is VERY dry and exactly what they asked for. So what do they want, and what does it mean when a wine is dry, tannic, off-dry, fruity, jammy, ect?

Dryness is essentially a lack of sugar. It means the wine was allowed to ferment until the yeast had used up all the sugars from the grapes. White wines can be dry, as can roses and reds. Seldom will you find a red wine that ISN’T dry (and if it isn’t, it’ll usually explicitly say “sweet red” or “off dry” on the bottle.) Usually wines (reds in particular) are fermented until there is virtually no residual sugar left. This is not only for taste and style, but also for stability in the bottle. (As a winemaker, if you plan to leave any sugar behind, you better filter the hell out of that wine- one little microbe can go to TOWN on all that leftover sugar and you’ll wind up with something funky in the bottle- or worse, cases of exploding wine bottles.) Whites and roses are more likely to have residual sugar, as in moscato, and some rieslings or gewurztraminers. If you don’t like crisp acidity in your white wines and prefer something with a touch of sweetness, it’s important to emphasize that you don’t want something too dry.

On the other hand, you may really like a crisp, acidic white, but prefer something with more fruit. Although you may not like actual sugar sweetness in a white wine you still may want something with more fruity or floral flavors. This is good to explain to whoever is helping you. Or, if you don’t like fruitier or floral aromas and flavors, that’s good to be able to distinguish as well. I have had people taste a wine and say “no, I don’t like that, it is too sweet,” when in reality, there is no residual sugar left. It is completely dry and very non-sugar sweet. But sometimes those floral aromas will trick your brain into thinking it tastes “sweet.” Try to identify these distinctions because it will make it easier to explain what you do and don’t like in wines- especially whites and roses.

Similarly when tasting reds, try to differentiate between “fruitiness” and “sweetness.” A red can be totally dry, but still have a fruity, jammy berry flavor. You may like this or not like it. But if you walk into a wine store saying you want a sweeter red, when what you really want is a fruitier dry red, you’ll probably walk out with something sugar-laden that you don’t love.

Similarly, if you don’t love the parched flavor you get in your mouth from tannins, don’t walk into a wine store and say “I want a red, but nothing too dry.” Someone will hand you something sweet and you’ll quite possibly be unhappy. You can say “I want something not too tannic, or something not too astringent. Something smoother with less spice.” And you’ll be likelier to get something closer to what you had in mind.

You definitely don’t have to be a snob about your verbage where wine is concerned. No airs necessary, just know how to ask for what you want. It’ll be easier to find all the tasty gems your local wine store has to offer!
Feel free to ask any questions in the comments.

Go forth! Shop, taste, enjoy!

Did you know?
Tannins make your mouth feel parched because they actually bind to your saliva proteins. So they are drying! Oof! Or should I say “smack, smack, smack?”

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Vocab- Ampelography!

4/7/2013

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Ampelography:
This word was printed in a description on the back of a bottle at one of our recent Wines of the World meetups, and most of us didn't know what it meant. My cursory response was “basically, it is grapevine genetics. The study of the vine.” That’s pretty much it, in the abridged version. Before we had genetic sequencing, Ampelography started as the study of different physical characteristics from vine to vine, usually focusing on the shape and texture of the plant’s leaves, berry color, etc. In some cases, the vines really do have very differently shaped leaves (I, a novice, after spending about 20 minutes in WSUs research plots was able to recognize that what was labeled on my map as Chardonnay, was in fact, not. Just based on the shape of the leaves.) However, in other cases, the leaves look pretty darn similar and aren’t useful enough to determine the difference between cultivars (or what we drinkers call “varietals.”)

Today, ampelography encompasses more than just looking at the shape of the vine and its parts and has broadened to include genetic studies as well. Just as with people, genetic sequencing and DNA has solved a lot of grapevine mysteries! (What is known as Primitivo turned out to be what Californians have been calling Zinfandel all along!)

And, now you know! Hopefully this will be on your (or my) next pub trivia questionnaire!

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Vocab- Terroir!

3/1/2013

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Terroir (crudely pronounced “tehr- wah”) is a word that I’ve heard thrown around a lot in the wine world. It’s also become something of a controversy. And the worst part? It’s kind of difficult to explain- like a word that doesn’t translate well from one language to another… I’m not a philosopher, but I’ll do my best to explain terroir as I understand it.

On a basic, technical level, the word encompasses the characteristics imparted on wine from the immediate environment in which the grapes are grown and the wine is made. The soil, water, sun, slope of the vineyard, moisture in the air, etc. can all be considered part of a wine’s terroir. And, on the one hand, yes. The soil content, nutrients in the water, sun, moisture, etc. all DO affect the health of the vine and the composition of the berries that grow on it. That is true. Science!

However, a sort of mystical shroud has also been pulled over the word, and it has come to represent different winemaking ideologies and philosophies. Large, mass producing wineries are often criticized for eliminating terroir in their wines- for ignoring the characteristics imparted by the specific vineyard and purposefully creating uniform, predictable wines from vintage to vintage (year to year) and batch to batch. For instance, a Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay from 2009 is going to taste pretty much exactly the same as a 2011, which will taste the same as the 2015. Grapes grown from one of their vineyard plots will ideally taste just the same as grapes grown in another vineyard. This is intentional. The winery has branded itself so that you know what to expect when you drink one of their wines. Their viticultural strategy will be aimed at obtaining a higher fruit load on the vines (maximum quantity of juice,) just the right nutrient level (especially nitrogen as it is metabolized by the yeast) and just the right sugar levels at harvest. They want no variation from vineyard to vineyard (they have acres and acres and acres and acres- sometimes from vastly different locations) or year to year. Variation is bad.

In contrast, smaller craft winemakers often appreciate and accept the characteristics that soil, water (drought or abundant rain,) sun exposure, cover crops (other plants growing on the vineyard floor,) etc. can impart into the winemaking process, recognizing terroir down to the individual row or even individual plant in a vineyard. They, like the large scale wineries, want plants to grow well and have the right fruit load, but it tends to be less fruit per vine with these guys- they want the plants to concentrate their energy and nutrients on fewer berries. They too want nutrient levels in a proper range, and will harvest when sugars are right. However, they accept and appreciate the differences that different locales may offer. These wineries may experiment with different yeast strains from year to year. They may play with oak contact or eliminate it altogether, or they may decide to not filter their wines. They tend to not have a perfect "recipe" that they use from year to year. They are more interested in high-quality, interesting, complex wines. In this way, terroir has also come to include the winemaker and the care and influence that they exert during the winemaking process.

Ultimately, in the global wine market, you can compare wines where terroir is to be present in the bottle (small, handcrafted productions) with large-scale wineries whose brand is more important than the uniqueness of their product. This concept is of importance to many European winemakers- especially the French, who want to distinguish themselves in an increasingly global market.

If I sound mildly hesitant about the terroir hype, it is because I am... And unsettlingly, I can't quite pinpoint why... It may be because the scientific evidence seems to say that while soil, weather, etc. DO play a part in the eventual composition of the berry, and the subsequent fermentation, it does not affect the finished product in such a mystical, spiritual way. Consequently, I'm just not quite ready to bow down at the altar of terroir.

However, I must admit that it is precisely such a romantic notion that attracted me to wine and winemaking in the first place. I vividly remember a winemaker in Walla Walla pointing out into their estate vineyard and showing us two different hills, each growing the same varietal. They explained that the grapes on one hill tasted extremely different and made vastly different wines because there was more lime in the soil and that they took that into account in the cellar when fermenting and blending. It's fascinating stuff, and to ignore those nuances the way the mass produced wines do seems a real shame. What a waste to ignore the gifts that nature has given you, whether you want to call them terroir or not!

That muddled explanation is the best I can do to try to nail down the slippery meaning of the word. And I'm sorry I can't give you a hard and fast opinion on the subject either. But hopefully, the next time someone sips a white wine with a slight calcium flavor and comments on its "terroir," you’ll be able to keep up in the conversation!

Cheers!
And remember, (friendly and constructive) thoughts and opinions on the subject are always welcome!

Did you know?
You can keep sparkling wines bubbly for a day or so by putting them back in the fridge. If you have a cork or some other closure, it can’t hurt to use it (and will keep the flavor fresher,) but if not, just stick it back in there and keep it cold. It’ll stay bubbly through at least the next day’s dinner… or dessert.

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Vocab- Grape Must and Pomace!

How to ask for what you want (and no, this is not a self-help seminar.)

Vocab- Ampelography!

Vocab- Terroir!

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