How Do All Those Flavors Get Into Wine?

Last time we took a quick run through how wine is made. And you may have noticed that there are only two ingredients in wine: grapes and yeast.  Yet, white wines can be described as having flavors that include lemon, lime, grapefruit, apple, peach, pear and orange.  And red wines can be described as having flavors of cherry, raspberry, strawberry, blackberry, blueberry, plum and fig.  And then there are descriptions of vanilla, butterscotch, caramel, chocolate, tobacco, leather, and even tar, just to name a few.  But, if wine is only made from grapes and yeast, how do wines get all those other flavors? 

To answer this, we need to review taste, smell and flavor. First, let's start with taste.  If you recall, the taste buds on your tongue are able to distinguish sweet, sour, bitter, and salty. You also have nerves in your mouth that give you additional senses such as temperature and texture or feel.  These nerves can yield sensations of smooth, creamy, or dry, for example.  So these are the senses inside your mouth.  

Then secondly, and most importantly, is smell or aroma. Aroma is what is detected in your nose and nasal passages.  As you eat or drink, aromas pass up through your nasal passages where you get additional information about what you are consuming.

And finally flavor is how the brain puts together the senses of taste and smell.

So then back to wine. When you sip a wine you are getting information from your tongue, nose and nasal passages. And while there are only the four tastes being detected by your tongue there are a multitude of aromas being detected by your nose and nasal passages. The aromas get released by the wine through the alcohol, which is lighter than air, and evaporates easily from your glass.  Your brain then puts together the information on the tastes and smells of the wine and equates them with tastes and smells that you already know. Thus, those amazing little grapes are able to cause your brain to sense additional fruit flavors without even a trace of the fruits actually being in the wine.

Aging wine in oak barrels also adds many other dimensions to the flavors in wines. And we'll discuss those next time.

But for now, remember the four S's of wine tasting (1) Swirl your wine in the glass to release all the aromas, (2) Smell the wine's bouquet, (3) Sip the wine and leave it in your mouth briefly, and then (4) Swallow (or Spit) and experience the wine's lingering 'finish.'  Then try to name all the wonderful fruit flavors that you experience. All just from grapes! Cheers!

What is Tannin?

Last time, the topic of dry wines was addressed. It was discussed that 'dry' wines are technically those with no residual sugar. But, more often than not, wine can cause a drying sensation in the mouth that people associate with 'dry' wine. This sensation, generally with red wines, has little to do with residual sugar and is usually associated with tannins.

So, what is tannin?  Without getting too technical, tannin is a chemical compound (polyphenol) that occurs naturally in the skin, seeds and stems of grapes. It can also be found in tea leaves, nuts with skins (e.g., almonds and walnuts) and dark chocolate, just to name a few. 

Red wines are generally the ones that are highly tannic. This is because the process of making red wine involves leaving the grape skins, seeds and stems in contact with the juice of the grape during fermentation.  While most wine makers remove the stems before fermentation, there is still plenty of tannin in the skin and seeds of grapes.

And, tannic compounds also come from wood.  So, barrel aging of wines introduces yet another source of tannin.

But wait.  With all this talk about tannin, you'd think it's a bad thing.  No. Tannin is what gives a wine its complexity and depth of character. Without tannin, the wine would be 'watery,' 'thin' or 'flabby.'  And, tannin is a great defender of oxidation. So it defends against the small amounts of oxygen that get introduced in the barrel or bottle that could otherwise spoil the wine.

Finally, and most importantly, tannins don't always produce the dry astringent sensation in the mouth. Tannins are also responsible for producing that wonderful silky smooth sensation in wines. Cabernet Sauvignon is the king of tannin and, when young, can have big tannins that can be described as 'rough' or 'dusty.'  But, wines such as Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Zinfandel just naturally have softer, smoother tannins from the start.

To summarize, tannins are a good thing. They have no smell or taste and are responsible for the tremendous complexity and character in red wines. And remember, in wine lingo, a dry wine is one with no residual sugar. But, wines that produce the sensation of dryness in the mouth are due to strong tannins.  Cheers!

Why Do People Swirl Their Wine Glass?

Ever wonder why people swirl their glass of wine?  Is this just something that wine snobs do? Or is it a kind of nervous habit?  Are they doing it so they can examine the 'legs' of the wine?  Or, are they doing it just to look cool? What's the point?

Well, there are two basic reasons to swirl a glass of wine; aeration and aromas.

First, aeration.  This is simply adding air to the wine.  This seem odd at first. Why does wine need air? After all, it's been intentionally stored in an air-tight bottle for some time. Well, with most red wines (typically the younger wines), adding air helps improve the flavor of the wine. Some of the improvement is due to the fact that evaporation occurs when you swirl which releases some of the stronger, less appealing compounds in the wine. But, overall, swirling allows the wine to get exposure to air which helps improve the flavor.  The act of swirling the wine in the glass allows the wine to coat the inside of the glass, giving the wine more surface area and hence, more exposure to air.

Second, while you are swirling the wine and coating the inside of the glass, you are filling your glass with the wine's aromas - all those wonderful scents associated with the particular wine.  This allows you to sniff the wine and to fully enjoy the wine experience on your tongue and in your nose.  Both of which are very important to enjoying any flavorful food or drink.

But you don't want to swirl all wines.  Sparkling wines (or 'Champagne') should not be swirled. This will quickly release all those wonderful bubbles and lead to a less-sparkling experience.  

As to swirling a glass of wine to examine its legs (those tear drops that slide down the inside of a wine glass), it may be fun to watch, but it really doesn't tell you anything about the quality of the wine, just that it has alcohol in it.

So, go ahead and carefully swirl your wine.  Yes, it may look cool, but it is actually helping the wine and improving your experience of the wine.  Cheers!

Leather in Your Wine?

You may have read about a wine, or checked the back label, or heard people speak of wines with flavors of apple, grapefruit, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries.  Or, leather, tobacco, chocolate, and coffee. Or my all-time favorite, from the back label of a bottle of red wine, "fresh road tar."  

So, you may be asking yourself "Do they really put those things in my wine?"  The answer is simple -- No.  Wine is made from grapes and grapes alone.  But how can a wine have a flavor like leather?  Well, it comes from many things including the type of grape used to make the wine, the soil the grapes were grown in, and the type of vessel the wine is aged in.

The growing environment for wine grapes is often referred to as the 'terrior' (pronounced Te-war) which is a term describing the interaction of soil, climate, topography and grape variety in a specific site. The word is derived from the French word for earth, "terre."  As the grape grows on the vine, it is drawing up minerals from the soil that it's growing in. And, these minerals can give wines distinctive flavors.

Also, the type of vessel that wine is aged in can significantly contribute to additional flavors. French oak is used in both white wines and red wines. Along with the natural flavors that come from the wood, the oak barrels are 'toasted' by literally heating the inside of the barrel with an open flame to a generate the desired level of char on the wood.

In white wines, an oak barrel can impart flavors of vanilla, butterscotch, caramel or burnt sugar. In reds, the oak gives flavors of smoke, tobacco, leather and chocolate.  On the other hand, stainless steel tanks allow the fruit flavors to shine through without adding additional flavors that come along with oak barrels. And, concrete tanks are also being used. The concrete actually “breathes” much like oak, but leaves no flavor behind.

So, rest assured that your bottle of wine does not have leather, tobacco or fresh road tar added to it.  But, these subtile flavors that come from the grapes, the soils and the aging vessels certainly add wonderful nuances to a bottle of wine.  Cheers!