Wine Making Magic
April 18, 2009
In week two of wine snob class, our teacher James Cluer, Master of Wine, had us tasting in pairs to compare and contrast how wine-making techniques could change the final outcome of a wine.
A lot of wine glory is now being given to the grape growers and a common expression is ‘wine is made in the vineyard.’ But winemakers can still make bad wine from good grapes — all it takes is a few bad decisions.
Aromatic Allure
Our first blind taste of the night was slightly effervescent wine with some honey, apricot, tropical fruit, and a floral perfume on the nose. With a sip, we discovered it was medium sweet with medium acidity and low alcohol. The tropical fruits and honey characters were present on the palate, along with some stewed apple. It reminded me of Asti, but I thought that it wasn’t quite bubbly enough for this to be right.
Once revealed, I found out that I had been right to peg it as an Asti! It was a Batasiolo Moscato D’Asti 2007 ($22) — a frizzante (wine snob translation: lightly sparkling). I was thinking of Asti Spumante, which is made in the same region (south of the town of Asti in Piedmont, Italy), but is a fully sparkling wine. They’re both made from the aromatic Moscato Bianco grape.
Wine snob bonus fact: my Brazilian friend, who loves sweet white wines, tells me that in Portuguese, espumante translates to foamy — makes sense! Spumante is usually translated from Italian as sparkling.
What I especially love about Asti? It’s the perfect breakfast wine. Moscato D’Asti is about 5.5 per cent alcohol, and Asti Spumante only rings in at 7 per cent! Since they’re both medium sweet wines, they are a great pair with waffles, fruit and whip cream — or Summerland Sweets fruit syrup. And yes, I’ve tried it. You should too!
Wine #2 of the aromatic face off had a bit more colour and more legs (higher alcohol!). Mineral, citrus, perfume, roses, even petrol — it seemed like everyone in class was getting something different on the nose of this one. It was slightly off-dry with medium acid and high alcohol. I was able to hold this wine in my mouth for a long time, enjoying the smooth spice, apricot, grapefruit, lemon and mineral characters. There was a slight tartness on the finish, but overall I thought it was a pretty palate-friendly white.
My fellow wine snobs did not agree. This wine took a beating from the class and they firmly turned up their well-heeled noses at it. It was Caymus Conundrum 2007, an aromatic white blend from California that goes for $30.
Cluer joked that the conundrum winemakers had was wondering what to do with all the bin ends of Muscat, Gewürztraminer, Riesling and others. The solution? Throw them all together in this blend and market it really, really well. I’m sure 88 points from Wine Spectator didn’t hurt popularity, either.
My Conundrum? Wondering how to jot down the details without being spotted by my classmates!
No Oaking Around
A big decision when making wine is the use of oak. It adds different flavours (vanilla, butter, toastiness, spice) but it doesn’t necessarily preserve the fresh, fruitiness of a wine. We were tasked to find the oak in our next two whites.
The first wine had some fresh citrus, mineral and a buttery hint on the nose. Cluer noted “freshly sawed logs.” The fruit was more intense on the palate: we tasted melon, ripe pear and peach, in addition to the citrus. There was also butterscotch, a mineral quality, maybe even some petrol, and a grassy note. There was a slight burn on the finish.
The butter, sawed logs and butterscotch pointed to oak, and this was indeed the oaked wine — and our first taste from the Okanagan Valley! It was Road 13 Jackpot Chardonnay 2007 ($35). It is ready to drink now or in the next year or two, but it’s not going to improve with time as the slightly hot alcohol makes it unbalanced, Cluer said.
The second wine had such a strange smell. It took me a while to put my finger on it, but I decided it reminded me of cauliflower water. You know when you boil cauliflower then pour out the water and the steam rises up to your face? That smell. Others described it as grassy, green pepper, green bean or tinned asparagus (but who the heck eats tinned asparagus? Eww!).
Once you tip this one, it gets a bit more rewarding. There’s high acid which gives a nice crisp mouthful. There were more citrus, passionfruit, grassy, and vegetal flavours. Preserving those fresh flavours is what stainless steel does best. This was Jackson Estates Sauvignon Blanc 2007 from Marlborough, NZ ($25). It’s an area famous for these fresh, vegetal Sauv Blancs that pair well with summer salads.
Forgive me Father, for I have Zinned…
Same country (USA), same region (California), same grape (Zinfandel) but what different resulting wines! One winemaker decided to go with a rosé wine, while the other made a fairly full-bodied red.
As the rosé, we tried Sutter Home White Zinfandel 2007 ($8.99), and all got our wine snob chuckles. There are around three or four million cases of this stuff pumped out of Sutter Home every year and that is far too common for connoisseurs, darling. The wine is pale salmon pink, off dry, has little acid and light body, with low alcohol (9.5%). Cluer told us that this is wine “for drinking yesterday.” There’s some strawberry and candy sweetness that makes it pleasant, but there’s not too much going on. Sweet, pink, strawberry candy? Let the underage drinking begin!
Cluer explained that White Zinfandel is a winemakers’ trick to make their red Zin more intense. They scoop off some of the wine after it’s only been in contact with the skins for a day or two. This becomes rosé. The remaining wine benefits from having less liquid competition for the tannins and colour that are taken from the skins, seeds and stalks. The resulting reds are more powerful.
The ballsier Zin was Cline Zinfandel 2006 ($20). Young and ruby with purple glints, it whiffed of sweet, ripe black cherry, oak and licorice. It’s a dry wine with medium acid and tannins. The body and alcohol level are a bit more than medium, but not quite full. Wood, black fruit, sweet spice and a medicinal component come out when you taste it, and there was a fairly long finish. We concluded that the grapes had a good level of ripeness and this was a quality wine that should be consumed now or in the next couple years.
Wine snob bonus fact: Cluer told us that you can often pick out a Zin in a blind tasting because it is “dry with residual sugar.” Now all you have to do is figure out what residual sugar in a red wine tastes like and you’ll be impressing all your coworkers at the next office party.
Commitment Issues
Another decision winemakers need to make is whether they intend their wine to be for long-term aging or immediate consumption. To make this point, Cluer poured us reds from Beaujolais and Bordeaux.
Beaujolais is made from the Gamay grape and the resulting wines are ruby-hued and fairly thin. DuBoeuf Beaujolais Villages 2007 ($16.49), despite it’s beefy name, was no exception. There was some red licorice, sweet cherry, banana and strawberry on the nose — fun! But on the palate we just got simple red fruit and found it a bit sour.
In Cluer’s words, “there was no mid-palate richness required for age.” He added that “the winemaker wants you to drink this tonight so that you can run back and buy more tomorrow.” It wasn’t very popular with the class, so I don’t know if any of us will be doing that.
Next we tried some Chateau La Vieille Cure 2001 from Fronsac, Bordeaux ($56). This appellation is on the left bank of Bordeaux, which is known for Cabernet Sauvignon-driven blends. However, wine snobs in class were of the opinion that this tasted more right bank, the side of the river known for Merlot-driven blends. I don’t call us wine snobs for nothing!
The wine was already showing some age with a brick-coloured rim. The bouquet was developed, everyone in class was able to contribute something new: black current, black cherry, plum, earth, leather, spice, vanilla, tobacco, licorice — and that was just on the nose! “Lots of people smell lots of things. Conclusion? Complexity,” Cluer said.
It was dry with lots of points in the acid, body and tannin departments. The tannins were soft with some grip on the roof of your mouth. Cluer reckoned this wine has the potential to age further, that it’s a good value at $56 and that it would be a dream with roast beef or steak frites. My mouth is watering with the memories!
Ciao Italia!
We moved from France to Northern Italy with our next match up. Same main grape (Corvina) in the blend, same region (Veneto), but a wine-making decision produced two very different wines.
First we tried Masi Bonacosta Valpolicella 2007 ($16.99), a youthful wine with simple red fruit on the nose, maybe some licorice and cedar, and a sour cherry mouthful. Between the astringent tannins and the short, sour finish, I was reaching for the spit cup pretty quickly with this one. If I had a cheesy pizza margarita to pair with it, I think I’d enjoy it much more.
Take those same Corvina grapes, dry them on straw mats until they raisinate and what a difference in the wine! I was glad we tasted Salvalai Amarone 2003 ($59.97) near the end of class, because I did not want to spit out this powerful wine. By drying out the grapes and getting rid of the water, the flavours become so intense and concentrated. We’re talking chocolate, sweet spices, raisins, cherries, tobacco, dried fruit, black currents, raspberries — the esoteric list of wine-snob descriptors goes on!
It’s high alcohol at 15 per cent, but it’s not hot. The tannins are smooth, silky and fine. A beautifully balanced wine worthy of decanting, it would pair well with stews, osso buco or veal. Cluer’s words? “That’s dynamite. Phenomenal wine!”
A Sweet Finish
As a lovely prize for making it through another three hours of wine class, we were poured a glass of Taylor Fladgate 20-year-old Tawny Port ($68.50). Taylor Fladgate is one of the top producers in Portugal and makes reliably good port. The caramel, nutty, toffee, dried fruit and marmelade characters in this sweet, fortified wine were such a treat.
Is Wine Really Made in the Vineyard?
There is no doubt that you can not make good wine from bad grapes. Good vineyard management and careful selection of fruit is absolutely necessary to produce top quality vino. But I think the point was made clear during this class that the winemaker still has a lot to do with the final product.
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