Making Wine is Hard. Right?

While doing some wine tasting, I had the opportunity to chat with the Winemaker. As I was complimenting him on making some outstanding wine, I commented "Making wine must be really hard."  He laughed and shook his head. "No," he replied "Making wine is easy. Anyone can do it. But, making good wine is really hard."  

Wine making is, in practice, easy.  You grow a bunch of grapes, wait for them to ripen, and then harvest them.  You will usually de-stem the grapes and remove leaves and any bad grapes.  Next you crush the grapes to extract the juice.  If you are making white wine, the skin are removed from the juice; for reds the skins are left in with the juice.  Next, yeast turns the natural sugar in the grape juice into alcohol.  With white wines, some residual sugar usually remains in the wine, while reds are usually fermented until all the sugar is turned to alcohol.  Now you transfer the wine into storage containers; either stainless steel tanks or oak barrels.  White wines may or may not spend time in oak depending on the winemakers preference.  Red wines will age for as little as 4 months to several years. Wines are then filtered and bottled.  So, there you go. Easy, right?

Well, as we have all experienced, some wines are better than others. And some are just plain not drinkable. I know of people who have taken part in a local winery's winemaking experience.  They got to pick the grapes, do the crush, ferment the juice and bottle it, compete with a custom label!  It was a very exciting and educational experience. Unfortunately, the wine wasn't any good.

So, if you think wine making is hard, it's not.  But making good wine is hard.  Next time you get to thinking that maybe you'll try your hand at wine making, open a good bottle, pour yourself a glass and do some serious thinking.  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!

Rosé for Valentines Day

Ah, pink wine.  Yes, it has gotten a bad reputation from the past. You may remember Mateus, Lancers, Cold Duck and White Zinfandel.  Unfortunately rosé wines have been considered second class wines. But, that's all changed!

Rosé is made from red wine grapes, but the grape juice has had very little exposure to the dark grape skins during the wine making process.  So, a white Zinfandel is made from the same grape that produces a bottle of red wine Zinfandel, but the Zinfandel grape's juice was quickly separated from the red (or purple) grape skins, resulting in a pink colored wine.

In the past, rosé wines have been synonymous with sweet wines.  That can still be true.  But there are a lot more dry rosé wines available today.  And, a key to finding the dryer, less sweet, wines is by looking at the wine's alcohol content.  All wines labels are required to show the percent alcohol of the wine. If it's down around 8 or 9 percent, it's going to be sweet.  In the 11 to 12 percent range it will be mid-range between sweet and dry. And, above 12 percent it's going to be a dry rosé.

And, today you'll find rosé wines that are not just blends of red grapes, but produced from specific grape types.  So, you may find rosés made from Pinot Noir, Grenache, Sangiovese, Syrah and even from the Cabernet Sauvignon grape. These are wonderful wines to enjoy lightly chilled on a warm day, but should be considered for anytime that a lighter wine is desired.

So, there is no shame in drinking a 'pink' wine. It's not just for girls anymore. And the great part is that rosé wines are a lot more affordable. You don't need to pay more than $15 to find a great bottle of rosé.  Here's to lifting a glass of rosé for Valentine's Day, or any day of the year. Cheers!

Choosing a Red Wine Along the Aisle

So, we've examined the wine aisle from the higher quality, higher priced wines on the top shelf to the lower quality, lower priced wines down around your feet, and then looked down the aisle at the white wines.  Now lets look at the red wines.  These can be can be a bit more difficult as you are getting started. Red wines can range from sweet, to light and fruity, and to big and bold with earthy flavors. 

The sweeter red wines are most often found in the bulk wines. Don't be afraid to try these out. You may find large jugs of red wine or boxes of wine.  This may be the place start if you prefer white wines that are slightly sweet.

On the fruity side, there are wonderful wines with flavors of cherry, strawberry, raspberry, blueberry and blackberry.  Now these aren't going to taste like a berry soda, the flavors in wines are much more subtle. But as you explore these you'll start to be able to distinguish the flavors.  Fruity red wines include Pinot Noir, Syrah, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Grenache and Barbera.  Another aspect of red wines that you may immediately experience is that they make your mouth feel dry.  This is the tannin in the wine that results from the grape skins and stems.  This dry-mouth sensation is similar to what you might experience when drinking a strong cup of tea.  So, start with some of the softer, less tannic, reds like Pinot Noir, Syrah and Zinfandel. Then, work your way into Merlot and finally to Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo, Petite Sirah and Mourvedre.

Then there are the herbal, earthy red wines. These have description of having flavors of black pepper, clay, forest, smoke, leather and even tobacco.  Again, these flavors are more subtle than they sound.  These herbal reds include many of the wines from France and Italy and include Chianti, Beaujolais, Barolo, Barbaresco, Montepulciano, Cotes du Rhone, Saint-Emilio and the Rhone wines.  These too can range from soft to tannic. On the soft, or less tannic side, are Cotes du Rhone, Saint-Emilio and the Rhone wines. The higher tannic reds include Barbaresco, Chianti, Barolo and Medoc. 

So confidently take a step forward and choose a bottle of red wine. You are sure to pick one full of flavor that can either be enjoyed by itself or with food.  And continue to enjoy your wine journey. Cheers!

How to Pick a White Wine on the Aisle

Last time we took a look at the typical wine arrangements in a large retail store, with the high-end wines on the top shelf, the mid-grade wines in the middle shelves and the low-end wine down at foot level.  Now, if you've zeroed in on the middle shelves, that still can leave you with rows of wines that run from the front of the store to the back of the store. "Now what?" you ask yourself.

Well, along those middle shelves you are probably going to find five types of wines; reds, whites, roses, sparkling wines and dessert wines.  Add, you may know that when you're out at a restaurant or visiting a friend, you've had some white wine that you like and you've had some reds that are OK.  But, the white wines and red wine each take up nearly half the aisle. So, let's focus in on picking a bottle of white wine. 

As stated in a previous posting, drink what you like.  Do you like a light, slightly sweet white wine?  Well, you have several choices including Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Chenin Blanc and Gewurztraminer.  These are usually easy white wines to start with.  Or, if you are looking for something that isn't on the sweet side, the un-oaked Chardonnays may be a great place for you.  The un-oaked Chardonnays (often noted on the label) will be light-bodied and crisp, with emphasis on fruit flavors of apple, pear and citrus. Or, the Chardonnays that are aged in oak (and most are to some extent) have bigger body and flavors that add vanilla, butterscotch, toast and spice to the fruit flavors (and no, they don't add things like vanilla or butterscotch to the wine, but that's a subject for another time).  And, the heavily oaked Chardonnays can become rich, creamy and buttery.

So next time you are standing there bewildered on the wine aisle, look up, look down, and then look across and pick a wine that fits in with where you are in your journey of exploring the grand world of wines.  Cheers!