6th of October 2008
A Word About Quality
For those of you wanting to learn about wine, or understand the difference between quality wine and "two buck chuck", it is easier than you think.
Because there are millions of reviews that talk about elderflower this and dark cherry that, cats pee, gooseberries, tar, rose petals and other wonderful things, I have found that lots of beginners think if they can't reel off tasting descriptors then they can't judge a wine's quality. This is just not true.
The language of wine is designed for people to tell a story or to help describe the flavours to someone who hasn't tried that particular drink. Knowledge or naming of flavours does little to enhance the quality, or indeed, your perception of what is in the glass. There are however a few things to think about that can point to quality, without ever having eaten a gooseberry or smelled cats pee.
Balance, tannins and acidity. Quality wine has balance, balance between the amount of perceived fruit flavours, or derivatives thereof, and the amount of acidity, and tannins. Basically, tannin and acid are building blocks, or structure as we call it. Think of a house, if there is a bad structure, there will be a bad house. The same goes for wine.
If a wine tastes only of acid, then it is not good. But, if for instance there is sweetness or residual sugar in the wine, the acid can be balanced. The greatest dessert wines in the world have tremendous amounts of acid, but they are balanced out by the sugar and the perception of the sweetness is also restrained.
Tannin in red wine is also extremely important. It is a natural preservative (think of tanning leather) and it is also required to give that all-important structure in wine. Some wines have very fine-grained tannins, some have very coarse tannins. The bigger the wine (fruit weight) the more tannin it can have to achieve balance. Wines without tannin can seem flabby and too soft. Over time the tannins polymerise (they join together) and fall out of the wine, to become sediment on the bottom of the bottle. As that happens, the colour also falls out. This is why older red wines become gentler in the mouth and lose colour.
The level of acidity in wine never changes, only the perception of it does. As the fruit develops the feel of the acid will seem different, depending on how the wine ages.
So when you are trying wine, think of balance. Think of the acidity, the tannins (white wines shouldn't have tannins) and think of how long you can taste the wine after you have swallowed it. The fruit descriptors will come in time. Start with what you can feel, and keep on trying new things.Flotsam of Weeks PastJasper Hill New Release RedsPenfolds Recorking ClinicCoonawarra VisitChestnut Hill VineyardThe Emperors New Pinot
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