Is Your Wine Sweet or Does it Just Taste Sweet?

During a recent wine tasting, one opinion given of the wine was that it was sweet. My reaction was that it wasn't sweet at all. So, how can a wine seem sweet and not sweet at the same time?

Well, as you'd expect, everyone's perception of taste is different. But, are tastes so different that one person can find a wine to be sweet while someone else can find it not?  The answer, of course, is yes. It's possible.

To understand this, you first have to understand that taste has a lot to do with smell. As soon as you smell a wine's aroma, you are detecting distinct fruit flavors. And, many of these fruit flavors are associated with sweet fruit. Think about black cherries, plums and blackberries. These are all sweet fruits. But, they are also flavors you can get from many red wines.  The wine we were tasting was a Cabernet Sauvignon and it indeed had aromas and flavors of these fruits.

When your brain senses these aromas, you automatically and subconsciously associate them with sweetness. And, with a first sip, your brain will continue you down that path as you taste the various fruit flavors. Sweet fruit flavors. But the wine, as was the case with this Napa Cabernet, had little to no residual sugar (RS).

As we started talking about the wine, it became apparent that indeed the bright fruit flavors were there, but the wine wasn't actually sweet. So, this wine had great flavors of sweet fruits, but having little to no residual sugar, it really wasn't sweet.

The wine world is a fascinating adventure. Get out and try some wines, different varietals or wines from different regions of the world.  You'll find a world of flavors!  Cheers!

Is Your Favorite Wine Made from Berries? Check Again!

Think berries…strawberries, raspberries, and blue berries. Then think wine.  Yes, some of these delicate berry flavors can be present in fine wines. But, your favorite varietal wines aren’t made from berries. Boone’s Farm, maybe, but not your wine. Right?

Well, hold on a minute. When you actually get technical about it, it turns out that grapes are, from a botanical perspective, berries, not a fruit! 

Though you’ll commonly hear grapes referred to as “fruit,” it turns out that botanists technically classify grapes as berries since each fruit forms from a single flower.

This gets even more interesting when you find out that a strawberry isn’t actually a berry. Neither is a blackberry.  Then, you learn that a banana is a berry! Huh?

Well, regardless, the wines that you commonly drink are berry wines, not fruit wines.  Another wine fun-fact. Cheers!

Behind the Cork™ - Wine of the Week

2015 The Hess Collection Napa Valley Estate Chardonnay ($22)

This week's feature is The Hess Collection's 2015 Napa Valley Chardonnay. This wonderful 100% Chardonnay features flavors of apple, white pear and a slight touch of tropical fruits and a very slight hint of oak.

The hint of oak is due to 70% of the blend seeing fermentation in Stainless Steel to retain the fresh yellow stone fruit, citrus and pear flavors. The remaining 30% of the blend gets just a light touch of oak, and only 30% of the overall blend is allowed to undergo secondary fermentation. The wine is then aged for 9 months in barrels with lees stirred weekly for 4 months.

The resulting wine is a nice balance that features the crisp fruit flavors with a bit of baked apple, vanilla and caramel.

The Hess Collection wines are family owned, sustainably farmed and dedicated to reflecting a true sense of place.

This Chardonnay is well worth the price and one that you should definitely try. It was a great pairing with pork loin, but would work well with poultry or fish.  But, for that matter, it was great all by itself.

Look for 2015 The Hess Collection Estate Chardonnay. You won't be disappointed!

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Disclosure of Wine Sample Submission:  I received this wine at no cost for review. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Sample Provided by Donna White Communications

Ever Wonder How Many Grapes it Takes to Make a Bottle of Wine?

Last time we took a look at a wine fun-fact about a butt of wine and learned that it is a measure approximately equal to two standard barrels.

So, here's some more wine fun-facts about the amount of grapes used in producing wine.

When you look out at a vineyard, it's easy to imagine that the grapes produced in that vineyard will make "a ton" of wine. Well, one ton of grapes results in a little more than two barrels of wine! 

One barrel of wine equals:

• 60 gallons

• 25 cases

• 300 bottles

Stating it the other way around, to produce one bottle of wine it takes about 2.8 pounds of grapes or approximately four clusters.

So, there you go. A few more wine fun-facts.  Maybe not as interesting as last week's butt of wine, but I hope this helps to put some things into perspective. Cheers!

How Much is a Buttload of Wine?

It may seem like a funny or pointless question, but there's a real answer!  So, here's a wine fun-fact.

The “butt” is a measure of liquid volume equaling two hogsheads.  That may not be of much help. So, in terms that we all understand, a butt of wine is approximately 126 gallons. That's compared to a standard wine barrel that contains about 60 gallons. So, technically, a buttload of wine is roughly two standard barrels.

And, just so you know, a butt of wine is also called a pipe. Who knew? Cheers!