Wine Flavors from Aging

We've been exploring where wine gets it flavor from starting with the star of show, the juice of the grapes, then learning how the grape skins, seeds and stems can affect the finished flavor and we also looked at how the fermentation process can affect flavor. So, now it's on to the aging process and how it can affect a wine's flavor.

Let's start with the aging process before the wine goes into the bottle (aging in the bottle is an entirely separate subject for another time). 

At the winery, once the wine is fermented, it is typically aged in stainless tanks or oak barrels. With respect to stainless tanks, they don't add anything to the final flavor of wine. So, that was easy. But, oak barrels are an entirely different story.  Barrels can affect a wine's flavor in a couple different ways.

First, barrels can impart wood-like flavors. But, wine makers really don't want to make wine that tastes like trees or tree sap. So, one of the things they do is to 'toast' the inside of the barrel (i.e., subject it to an open flame to provide a char to the wood). And, this is done to varying degrees. A barrel that is lightly toasted will add subtle hints of flavor. A medium toasted barrel will start to add vanilla or caramel flavors to the wine and heavily toasted barrels will impart stronger flavors of smoke, coffee and chocolate. 

Now, these flavors are well suited to some red wines but typically not for white wines. So, most red wines spend some time aging in oak barrels while white wines typically don't.  The exceptions are generally Chardonnays that will, with oak aging, take on those butterscotch, vanilla and toast flavors. Fumé Blanc is another oak-aged white wine. It's simply Sauvignon Blanc that's been oaked aged.

And, finally, an oak barrel can actually become 'neutral' with time and impart no flavor. This typically occurs after a new oak barrel has been used three or four times.  It's still a good vessel for aging, but just doesn't affect its flavor.

The other way that oak barrels affect a wine's flavor comes from their naturally porous nature. But, I'll leave that for next time. Until then, Cheers!

Behind the Cork™ - Wine of the Week

2013 Elevation 1250' Paso Robles Red Wine ($7)

This Elevation 1250' is a nice blend of Syrah and Petite Sirah from Paso Robles.  And, as with all Behind the Cork™ - Wine of the Week features, it's a great value.

I must admit this is a unique find at Trader Joe's, and when I went on-line to learn more about the wine I came up empty handed.  It is produced by Riboli Family Wines, a large conglomerate, but even their website does not include this one in their portfolio. So, it's not a mainstream wine and probably will come and go quickly.

Regardless, this is real nice red wine blend at a great price. I'd definitely suggest giving it a try. I went back for more! Cheers!

Malolactic "Fermentation" of Wine - Not

The flavors in wine come from three things - the grapes, fermentation and aging. We've explored the flavors from the juice of the grape, the flavors from the grape skins, seeds and stems and we've seen that the yeast can affect flavors during fermentation. But, there's another process that affects a wine's flavor and it's often called Malolactic Fermentation.

But, getting right to the point, this is not a fermentation. It's actually a process in which one type of acid in the wine is converted to another type of acid. So, it is more correctly a Malolactic Conversion, not a fermentation.

In this conversion process, a tart acid that naturally forms in wine, malic acid, is converted to lactic acid. While the tart malic acid can yield flavor sensations much like a tart green apple, the lactic acid is much softer and creates a richer mouthfeel that is often called buttery and can make a wine seem velvety smooth.

Most red wines undergo malolactic conversion while only some white wines, notably Chardonnay, undergo malolactic conversion. This process is most often performed shortly after the end of primary fermentation and just prior to the aging process.

And, speaking of the aging process, we'll explore the flavors that are imparted to wines as they age in next week's blog. Until then, Cheers!

Behind the Cork™ - Wine of the Week

2016 Daou Chardonnay Paso Robles ($13)

I was well aware of the excellent red wines being produced by Daou in Paso Robles, but was extremely surprised by their Chardonnay. This wine seems to fall somewhere in between a bright, crisp, fruity Chardonnay that would come from stainless steel tanks and one with oak aging. While this one sees seven months in neutral French oak, it retains flavors of pear and white peach, but adds on some vanilla notes from the oak. Another really nice wine from Daou. And, a great value. Pick this one up. I'm going back for more!

Wine Flavors from Fermentation - Part 2

So far, we've learned that wine gets it flavor from three things - the grapes, fermentation and aging. Last time we looked at the fermentation process and how the yeast can affect flavor. But before we move on to flavors associated with aging, let's take a step back to the first item that affects a wine's flavor - the grapes.

While the juice of the grape plays a leading role in the flavors of a wine, the other parts of a grape also can play a supporting role. Items such as the stems from the bunch of grapes, the grape skins and the seeds.

These grape solids are all potential modifiers of the finished wine's flavor. These grape solids contain tannins, proteins and other microscopic solids that can benefit the final product. But, other solids such as leaves, sticks from the grape vine and dirt are undesirable solids that are always removed (For reference, these undesirable items are often referred to as MOG: Materials Other than Grapes.)

With respect to the stems that the grapes were grown on, winemakers can decide if they want to de-stem the grapes before the wine making process begins.  White wines are usually made from de-stemmed grapes. But, a red wine’s tannin is increased by leaving some or all of the stems in the juice.

Grape skins also contain flavor compounds. And, just like brewing a cup of tea, the longer you leave the grape skins in contact with the juice, the bolder the flavors can become. The depth of color of a wine also comes from the length of time the wine is left in contact with the skins.  For example, if you remove the skins immediately, no color is imparted to the wine.  The best example of this is Champagne, a sparkling white wine, that is produced from Chardonnay grapes (a white wine grape), and Pinot Noir grapes and Pinot Meunier grapes that are both red wine grapes. Another example is rosé wines that are made from red wine grapes that see very little skin contact time after pressing resulting in the light pink color.

The grape seeds will also play a role in the wine's flavor as it ferments because they too contain tannin that adds structure and makes wines better able to be aged.

So, it's not just the juice from the grape that affect the flavor of the wine. These other solids play a very important role.

Next time we'll take a look at the final process that affects a wine's flavor, the aging process.

Until then, Cheers!