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New articles every week. Whether you're looking to understand a specific wine term, discover a grape variety you've never heard of, or find an affordable bottle worth trying, the EverWonderWine blog has been tackling those questions one article at a time for over a decade.
You'll find two types of posts here. The educational articles cover everything from the basics — acidity, tannin, sweetness, body — to deeper dives into specific grapes, regions, and winemaking techniques, including the ongoing Tour of Wine Grapes series. The Behind the Cork™ posts are honest, no-nonsense reviews of affordable, everyday wines: what they taste like, where they come from, and whether they're worth your money. There's always something new to explore.
Last time we explored how terroir (the soil, terrain and climate) can affect how a single varietal of wine tastes. But, there are a host of other things that can also affect a single varietal’s taste, aroma and overall flavor.
Blending of Grapes in a Single Varietal
This is just a brief outline of some of the factors that can affect a single varietal’s flavor. But, there are even more! And we’ll explore those in future blogs. Cheers!
Opening a bottle of wine and drinking a glass will give you the opportunity to taste that one varietal produced by that one winery. For those with some wine tasting experience, drinking that one wine will give them an opportunity to assess the pros and cons of the wine. But, to truly experience differences in wines, you need to sample two or more wines at a time. That’s why doing wine tastings is so important in learning about wine.
The ultimate way to do wine tastings is at a winery or a wine bar that serves tasting flights. In these settings, you get the opportunity to have a couple sips of a variety of wines. And often, it can be eye opening.
At a winery, you usually start with white wines unless they produce rosés or sparkling wines which are a great place to start. White wines are lighter and more delicate in their flavors so that’s why you start there. Then, you’ll move into the red wines that have the bigger and bolder flavors.
But, the most important part of any wine tasting, whether it’s two wines or more, is the side-by-side comparisons and the opportunity to go back and “revisit” a wine. Even those with little or no wine experience will find doing side-by-side tasting interesting. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve had multiple bottles opened and served a person one wine and then a second wine. And, the responses are usually the same - “Wow! I like the first one but this second one is really different!” Yes, indeed, they always are!
So, whether it’s a visit to a winery, trying a flight of samplers at a wine bar, or just opening a couple of bottles at home with friends and family, ensure that you take the time to sample the wines, one after the other, to truly understand differences in the wines and to better understand your personal wine preferences. Cheers!
When I first became interested in wines, I remember asking if other fruits were used in the production of wines. After all, so many wines smell and taste like a lot of fruits other than grapes. So, if grapes are the only fruits used in wine making, how do all those other aromas and flavors get into the wine?
Well, it turns out that there’s a lot going on during fermentation, not just the yeast converting the grape’s natural sugar to alcohol. There are also chemical reactions going on that create hundreds of aroma and flavor compounds. Wow!
These “compounds” are identical to the compounds that we already associate with smells and tastes. So, when you smell a fruit aroma in wine you are smelling the same aroma compounds that also naturally occur in those fruits. The same is true with flavors.
Other aromas such as vanilla, tobacco, leather, coffee, caramel and toast come from the oak aging of the wines. Depending on the amount of ‘toasting’ the barrel undergoes affects the range and depth of these aromas.
So next time you have a glass of wine take time to smell it in the glass before you sip. You’ll be amazed to discover the aromas of dark fruits in red wines such as berries and plums while white wines can have aromas of apples, pears, melons and citrus. And then sip the wine and enjoy all the fruit flavors it has to offer. Cheers!
I recently read a piece in Wine Spectator (March 31, 2018) by Matt Kramer. It was titled "It's Really Very Simple." He started off by stating "The temptation for all wine evangelists...is to somehow make wine simple." He then goes on to say "Although the reality is that wine, fine wine anyway, is anything but simple, the temptation to simplify is irresistible."
And, yes, I started EverWonderWine.com and my weekly blogs in order to make wine more understandable and simple. So, I guess I too have fallen into the temptation. But, I really think there is good reason to try to simplify wine, although I admit it's sometimes difficult.
As I started out writing blogs for my EverWonderWine.com website, one of the requests I got was "Just tell me what wine I should buy." I have regularly struggled with this request. It's a simple one. Yet, I have always found it to be a difficult one to address.
The problem with this simple request is that everyone's palate for wine is different. There have been plenty of times that I've said "Oh, wow! This wine is really nice!" and had someone else try it, make an ugly face and shake their head and exclaim "No! I don't like that at all."
So, what I have continually tried to explain (in simple terms!) is that wine appreciation is a journey. You shouldn't expect to start with exceptional quality wines and immediately like them. But, if you truly want to try to understand and appreciate wine, you have to start somewhere; anywhere. And, because our brains are wired to like sweeter things, it's often sweeter wines or bubbly that people with start with. Or, a very fruity rosé wine that maybe isn't that sweet but has lots of bright fruit flavors. But, you have to jump in somewhere. And, give it time.
It's so simple! Right? Well, at least I'll keep trying. Cheers!