What is Residual Sugar in Wine?

One of the terms that gets thrown around in the wine world is 'Residual Sugar.' But it's not something you are going to read about on a wine's label. So, what is it and why should you care?

Let's take a quick step back and review the basics of the wine making process. Simply put, grapes are grown, picked, crushed and fermented into wine then aged and bottled. It's the fermentation process where sugar comes in. 

Grapes naturally contain various types of sugar. Glucose and Fructose are the two most common sugars, but there are others. Grapes also contain varying levels of sugar. Grapes that are allowed to fully ripen, in warm climates, will contain more sugar than grapes that struggle to ripen in cooler climates. And, wine makers will closely monitor the sugar levels (Brix) in grapes while still on the vine, and choose to pick their grapes when the sugar levels are 'just right' for the grape-type they are growing and their style of wine making.

During the fermentation process, yeast is added to the sugary grape juice. The yeast feeds on the sugar and produces alcohol. If there is any sugar remaining after fermentation, it is referred to as 'residual sugar' (usually noted as RS) and is typically recorded in grams per liter (g/L). This is somewhat of a technical term for a wines' resulting sweetness.

Residual sugar is one component that can contribute to a wine tasting sweet. Next time we'll further explore sweetness in wines.  Until then, Cheers!

Wine's Body - Comparable to Milk?

We've just completed a series on wines and body. We've addressed light, medium and full bodied white wines and red wines. And within this series, factors such as mouth feel, alcohol, tannin and residual sugar have been discussed. Fruit flavors also vary with lighter bodied red wines having red fruit flavors (e.g., cherry, raspberry) and full bodied reds having black fruit flavors (e.g., plum, black cherry, black currant, blackberry).  And let's not forget about tannin. Light bodied red wines will have little or no tannin from the grape skins, seeds, stems and oak barrels, while full bodied reds can have big "chewy" tannin that can make you pucker.

One of the analogies that gets widespread use when discussing a wine's body is milk.  The analogy states that light bodied wines are like skim milk, medium bodied wines are like 2% milk and full bodied wines are like whole milk.  This is meant to address the characteristic of mouth feel.  Skim milk is thin and watery while whole milk is thick and creamy.  The milk analogy may be okay for comparing watery versus creamy, but it really doesn't work for wine. 

Milk has fat solids that give it the mouth feel of creaminess. Wine doesn't. So maybe a better comparison of a wine's body and mouth feel might be with another common drink. And, since it works so well, let's take grape as an example. A grape drink that is made by mixing powder and water (e.g., Kool-Aid or Crystal Light) will generally be light bodied with more subtle flavors.  Compare the powdered grape drink with pure grape juice (e.g., Welch's 100% Grape Juice) and then you get a better understanding of body from light to full. In this example, ignore the sweetness and just focus on how it feels in your mouth and the boldness of the fruit flavor.

Now, I think that's a better example of mouth feel that translates directly with wine.  It's not perfect, but hopefully you get it. The way something tastes and feels in your mouth is very subjective and difficult to describe. Yet in the wine world, a significant amount of time is spent trying to describe flavors and mouth feel.

The best way to learn about a wine's body is through direct experience. Get a bottle of Pinot Noir and a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon.  Try tasting the Pinot Noir first, and then try the Cabernet. You should immediately experience light body versus full body. Cheers!

Full Bodied Red Wines

We've explored the various styles of white wines and made it through the light and medium bodied reds. Now it's time to take the final step and look at the big, full bodied red wines.

These full bodied reds are going to be very dark in color, have rich fruit flavors, moderate to high acidity and big tannin. And it's often the tannin in young full bodied reds that will turn people away from these wines. But, given a little breathing space in a decanter, or a few years of cellar time, these can be the best of all wines.

Full bodied red wines are going to be centered around the black fruit flavors of plum, black cherry, fig, boysenberry, black currant, blackberry, raisin and include other flavors such as chocolate, vanilla, leather, tobacco, pepper, and even tar.

Full bodied red wines include:

• Malbec, Mourvèdre, Nebbiolo and Tempranillo

• Bordeaux blends (primarily Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot)

• Rhone Blends including Châteauneuf-du-Pape (Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre)

• Italian Super Tuscan blends (Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah

• Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Petite Sirah and Syrah

Again, it's the tannin that will play a huge role in these full bodied reds.  And tannin is the reason these wines go so well with a steak or other fatty foods.  The tannin acts to cleanse the fats and proteins that collect on your tongue leaving you with a wonderful mouth-feel and an amazing lingering finish. On one end of the scale tannin can be described a 'chewy,' 'muscular,' 'grippy,' or 'firm' and on the other end you may hear words such as 'smooth,' 'soft,' and 'velvety.' Regardless of which end of the spectrum the tannin falls, it is key to the structure of the wine and it's ability to age.

Tannin often gets a bad rap for causing headaches. But if you believe that it's the tannin you need to avoid in red wine, you are also going to have to avoid tea, dark chocolate, nuts, pomegranate, squash, chickpeas, red beans and apple juice all of which all have significant natural tannin.

If you find upon opening a bottle of full bodied red that the tannin is a bit harsh, give it an hour in a decanter that allows the wine maximum surface area for exposure to the air. Quite often you'll find that this will soften it out and make it less harsh. Or, lay the bottle down in a properly controlled cellar or wine refrigerator for five to ten years. The tannin in these big reds will soften with age and reward your patients with a really nice, smooth wine.

Pair one of these full bodied red wines with a nice steak or some flavorful cheese and enjoy. Cheers!

Exploring Medium Bodied Red Wines

Recent posts have addressed light bodied red wines including two of the most common, Gamay and Pinot Noir. Light bodied red wines have bright red fruit flavor and little to no tannin.  But looking across all red wines you'll find very few that are light bodied. On the other hand, not all red wines are big and bold either. So let's take a look at medium bodied reds.

Many medium bodied red wines continue with red fruit flavors such as cherry, raspberry, cranberry and strawberry, but what sets them apart is tannin. If you're not familiar with tannin, it is an astringent compound that comes from the grape's skin, seeds and stems as well as wood barrels. Tannin is responsible for the characteristic of producing a mouth-drying sensation.  Tannin builds character in red wines and allows them to age well.

So, just as you might expect, a medium bodied red wine will have medium levels of fruit flavor, acidity and tannin. And, as described previously, the terroir and the winemaker can have a big influence on the style of wine produced from the same grape. Cool growing climates tend to produce lighter bodied wines while warmer climates lead to bolder wines. And oak aging will also influence a red wine's flavor with new oak adding flavor and neutral oak yielding little to no additional flavors.

Although the Sangiovese grape can be made into light bodied Chianti, it can also produce medium bodied wines. While Chianti is aged a minimum of six months, Chianti Classico is aged for one year and Chianti Reserva is aged two years.  This additional aging smooths out the acidity and produces a bolder wine.

Another example of a grape capable of producing a light bodied wine as well as a medium bodied wine is Pinot Noir. As previously described, the Pinot Noir grape, when grown in warmer climates such as Oregon's Willamette Valley, produces a fuller bodied wine.

Medium bodied red wines also begin the transition to flavors of black fruits including plum, black cherry, black currant, blueberry and blackberry.  These flavors are evident in Barbera, Grenache, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Zinfandel. The moderate tannins attributable to all these grapes gives them a smooth mouth-feel and allows the fruit flavors to shine through.

Medium bodied red wines are great for food pairings due to their acidity and tannin. They work well with beef, pork, cured meats and even chicken.  As always, the key to pairings wines with meats is to pair them with the overall flavor of the meal that often includes sauces. So, you might not think of pairing a medium red with chicken, unless its got a flavorful sauce (e.g., Coq Au Vin). Then a red wine works quite well.

As mentioned earlier, medium bodied red wines age well due to the compounds in tannin. These reds can easily age for three to five years under proper wine storage conditions. Serve these reds at a cellar temperature of approximately 60 degrees F (not room temperature) in a large wide-mouth wine glass and store any leftover wine in an air evacuate bottle in the refrigerator for up to 3-5 days for best flavor. Cheers!

More on Light Bodied Red Wines

Last time we explored the Gamay grape that produces a very nice light bodied red wine. Like most light bodied red wines, Gamay has delicate aromas, light tannin, plenty of acidity, lower alcohol and subtle fruit flavors that are sometimes described as “restrained” and that are not overpowered by oak aging. 

Another example of a light bodied red wine, and certainly the most popular one, is Pinot Noir. The thin skinned Pinot Noir grape results in a wine with low tannin thus making it very easy to drink by itself and with most foods.  

The Pinot Noir grape got its start in France. The region of Burgundy is the ancestral home of Pinot Noir (literally small black grapes ) where it is the dominate grape for red wines. So, if you’re opening a bottle of Burgundy (Bourgogne), you are drinking Pinot Noir or a blend that is predominantly Pinot Noir. And, by the way, don't forget that Pinot Noir is a major grape used in the production of Champagne. 

All wines are influenced by where the grapes are grown, the types of soil, the daytime and nighttime temperatures, and the overall weather. This combination of factors is called terroir (tay-war) from the French word for earth “terre.”  The Pinot Noir grape is especially influenced by its terroir. 

Thus you’ll find Burgundy’s wines have finesse and complexity with delicate fruit flavors and soft tannins. These wines will have red fruit flavors of cherry, raspberry and cranberry along with some earthiness that adds hints of soil, leaves and even mushrooms. But don't worry, these are very subtle flavors that blend in well and sometimes even hide behind all the delicate fruit flavors.  

In California’s Russian River Valley, Pinot Noir benefits from the warm days and cool nights to produce delicate wines that have flavors of cherry and raspberry along with cola or root beer from its oak aging.  But then going a bit north, Oregon’s Willamette Valley produces Pinot Noir that tend to be bigger, bolder wines that are probably better defined as being medium bodied, almost like a Merlot.

New Zealand's regions of Marlborough, Martinborough and Central Otago, Australia and Chile are also producing fine examples of Pinot Noir that are light bodied and very reasonably priced. And if you happen to be buying wine in Italy look for Pinot Nero or in Germany look for Spatburgunder, both of which are Pinot Noir. 

As light bodied red wines go, Gamay and Pinot Noir are certainly the most notable and consistent light bodied.  But, depending on the terroir and the winemaker’s processes, there are certainly other grapes that can produce wines on the way lighter side.  One of these is Sangiovese.  The best example is Chianti from Italy.  Other grapes used to produce light red wines include Rioja, Cinsaut and Zweigelt.  

All these light bodied red wines are best served chilled a bit and go great with a large variety of foods. Enjoy them in a bowl-shaped wine glass that will capture all the great aromas of these amazing grapes. Cheers!