For most of us, the satisfaction that comes from enjoying a glass of wine is a learned process. There is so much that can contribute to that enjoyment that even the most ardent aficionado would say that it can be a life-long learning adventure. That last statement could put off the novice wine drinker, but it really shouldn't. One's knowledge of wine contributes to wine enjoyment without a doubt, but it is completely unnecessary to be an expert to enjoy drinking wine. Just as it can be fun to fish with a bobber off a dock rather than invest a fortune in fishing equipment, it can be fun to drink a reasonably priced wine with minimal knowledge of wines and winemaking. The purpose of this article is to guide those who would like to know where to start to enhance their wine-drinking enjoyment and to offer some thoughts on other knowledge they may wish to pursue to further enhance that enjoyment. Take it one step at a time and you'll find that your enjoyment of wine just keeps increasing with each new discovery!
Dry vs. Sweet and What is "Fruit Forward"
What does it really mean for a wine to be "dry"? Are less-dry wines lighter and easier to drink? Is a "dry" wine the opposite of a "sweet" wine?
The term "dry" refers to the presence of tannins in a wine. Tannins can make a mouth feel dry in two ways; they can be very astringent (have you ever tasted an unripe persimmon?) and they can modify saliva in the mouth. Hence, tannins are the cause of a wine being called "dry". Winemakers often choose to produce a wine with significant amounts of tannins, because they contribute to the "structure" of a wine. Structure contributes to the ability of a wine to age well. More about structure and aging in another article. Not all tannins are the same. Some tannins are "softer" than others and do not have as much of an impact on the "dryness" of a wine; more about that later. Tannins come from a number of sources in the wine-making process - the skins of the grapes; the leaves, seeds and stems that are present during the first steps in winemaking after picking the grapes, i.e., crushing and fermentation; and the wood of the barrels the wine may be stored in after fermentation. Skin, stems, seeds and leaves can be removed sooner or later in the winemaking process, thus changing the quantity and type of tannins in the wine. The length of time the wine is stored in wood barrels and the type of wood in the barrels also modifies tannin amount and type.
Most wines in the store are table wines, i.e., wines that are good complements to food. Other wines are desert wines and fortified wines. These wines are sweeter wines and they acquire their sweetness in varying ways. These are not typically what you find on a "Wines by the Glass" menu in a restaurant and deserve a separate discussion at another time (although sparkling wines are often table wines, they are different enough from most table wines that they also will be discussed later). Sweetness in a table wine is determined by the amount of sugar that is left over after fermentation. During fermentation, yeasts convert sugar to alcohol. Table wines can vary in sweetness, but not by all that much, because grapes have different amounts of sugar in them when they are picked due to ripeness, weather, and grape variety and, because more or less of the sugar present was converted to alcohol. A "dry" wine can be sweeter than a less-dry wine and vice versa, so choosing a sweeter wine because you prefer a less-dry wine is not the best way to achieve that objective.
Some wines are more fruity tasting than others. Most beginning wine drinkers who shy away from certain types of bold red wines because they consider them to be "too dry" are actually expressing a preference for a more fruity or "fruit-forward" wine. The more different types of wine you try, the more you will learn to appreciate the differences, i.e., more or less dry (as well as different types of tannins), different amounts of residual sugar and more or less fruit-forward. Even those who have been drinking wine for a long time and who appreciate these differences are not always able to verbalize what tastes good to them and what doesn't, so don't be concerned if you aren't very good at expressing your opinions. Many people who consider themselves knowledgeable about wine feel the same way. You can count the author among those people. Most importantly, the more wines you try, the more different types of wine you are likely to learn to enjoy. For the majority of people who enjoy wine, over time, bold red wines become their favorites. The reason is that these wines are more complex, i.e., they exhibit a larger number of interesting tastes, smells and other nuances. It takes experience (but not extensive knowledge or sophistication!) to recognize these sometimes subtle sensory experiences.
White vs. Red vs. Blush/Rosé
Although even wine connoisseurs can have strong preferences of one color wine over another, it is more common for novice wine drinkers to be more comfortable ordering a glass of white or blush wine. Often, those who have not sampled many wines in their life assume that white wines are "less dry" than red and they assume that "less dry" is synonymous with a fruitier, more friendly flavor. In fact, the range of dryness in white wines is not much different than that in red wines. Similarly, a neophyte wine drinker may think that blush wines and rosé (which means "pink" in French and is pronounced "rozay") wines are all "sweet" and therefore easier to drink. Whereas it is true that white Zinfandel (the most well-known blush wine) is usually less dry than a typical red wine, it is not a particularly sweet wine. Further, many rosés are quite dry.
So, red wine comes from red grapes, white wine comes from white grapes and rosés and blush wines come from pink grapes, right? Well, not exactly. There are white grapes and black grapes. White grapes can be green, yellow-green, gold or light-orange. They aren't really white. Just to be balanced here, black grapes aren't black either; they are different shades of red, and can range in color from light ruby to a deep indigo. Therefore, red, rosé and blush wines are all made from black grapes. But white wines do come from white grapes, right? It's true that white grapes only produce white wines. However, a few white wines come from black grapes. How's that possible, you ask? Well, the juice of most black grapes is clear just like the juice of white grapes. To make a white wine from black grapes, the winemaker removes the skins from the juice right after pressing the grapes, not allowing the red pigments of the skin to color the juice. So, that also explains how rosé and blush wines are pink in color; the skins are only left with the pressed juice for a short time. A wine's color is mostly obtained from the skin.
Wine Drinking Tips
There are a few suggestions that can make wine taste better. Table wines are ideally produced so that they enhance the enjoyment of food and vice versa. Although wine can be the perfect complement to a full meal, it doesn't mean that you can't enjoy table wines without sitting down to dinner. Often, a younger red wine has tannins that are not in their optimum chemical state for enjoying the wine, i.e., they are too astringent and cause the mouth to feel too dry, thus overpowering the other flavors and characteristics of the wine. There are two easy ways to soften the effect of these overwhelming, astringent tannins. Either or both are good to employ.
The first method for softening tannins is simple and goes back to the fact that table wines taste best with food. Tannins like to stick to proteins and doing so is another way to make them softer. Serving a small snack rich in protein can make a huge difference in your enjoyment of bold red wine. Some simple options to try are cheese (the ultimate food to enjoy with wine), nuts (some nuts are better than others; peanuts, cashews and almonds are good choices) and prepared meats, e.g., hams and sausages.
Before employing the second method, pour a small taste into a glass before pouring a full glass for you and those sharing the wine with you. If the wine tastes good to you without doing anything, don't mess with a good thing and just pour it! If it tastes a bit too astringent or possibly a littler bitter to you, then the wine needs to "open up", i.e., react with oxygen.
Opening a bottle an hour or more before you drink it can allow oxygen to come into contact with the wine. This is called letting a wine "breathe". Swirling the wine energetically (preferably without making a mess) either in the bottle or in the glass can increase the mixture of oxygen with the wine. There are other ways to accelerate the breathing of wine, so that you needn't wait long to enjoy it, such as pouring the wine into another container, i.e., a decanter, or employing special pouring tools that aerate the wine. Oxygen modifies several components of wine (wine is an amazingly complicated mixture of chemical compounds, which is why it has such complex and interesting flavors and odors). Most importantly, oxygen reduces the ability of tannins to cause astringency and to alter saliva. This process is referred to as softening of the tannins. Over time, sometimes many years, tannins in red wine soften on their own due to the very slow introduction of oxygen through the bottle's cork. This is one of the reasons that it can be a treat to drink a red wine that has aged in the bottle for several years. The effect of aging is similar to that of opening a bottle prior to drinking to let it breathe. The more sought-after bold red wines can reach their peak in over 20 years!
Actually, tasting the wine is the last thing you should do before drinking the wine. Wine is best enjoyed by using 3 senses, sight, smell and taste. The color of the wine is a beautiful part of enjoying wine. Take a moment to look at the color. If you can remember colors, you may be able to associate a particular color with wines that you particularly enjoy.
The smell (also referred to as the "bouquet" or "nose") of wine is, to me, as important as the taste. Some wines have a nose that seems to match the taste perfectly, whereas others have a nose that seems like it came from another wine altogether. I find it interesting that some wines can have a really bold flavor and barely have any nose at all. Ultimately, of course, it is the taste that's most important, but I would always choose the wine with the more interesting and pleasant nose of two wines that are otherwise equal in taste. So, before you taste the wine, take time to smell it and, hopefully, enjoy that aroma.
I hope that Part 1 has been fun, interesting and educational to you. Part 2, my next blog installment, will discuss the topics "Wine and Food", "Sparkling Wines", "Where Do Good Wines Come from?", "What are the Primary Grape Varieties and What Wines are Made from Them?" and "What are Good Values in Wine and What are Safe Bets at a Restaurant?"
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