The no nonsense guide to wine: The next time you pick a bottle …
I love drinking wine in any form — Reds, Whites, Sangria. You name it.
However, I did not understand wines beyond a simple “ I like this wine! Its not too sweet / too bitter” till I ended up in Argentina!
A fantastic three weeks in Argentina had me visit four vineyards in the wine rich region of Mendoza, to understand the art of winemaking and obviously sample a few wines (Fun fact: Visiting 4 wineries and tasting 3–4 wines at each without spitting will leave you very happy by the end of it). The wineries turned out to be a fantastic way to learn the basics as these came from experts who produced wines day in and day out, and not from some snob at a dinner party! The diligence and the passion with which the vineyards spoke about their craft is the hallmark of winemaking.
Wines in Argentina: How Europe’s plight built Argentina’s fortune
Wines came to Argentina in a big way in the mid 1800’s. It all started with Europe though. American wine makers wanted to test how their vines grow in the European region, so they brought their vines and planted them in Europe. Unwittingly, they also brought a species of aphids which lived in the roots of these vines. The European vines had no natural resistance to this alien pest and soon there was an epidemic in Europe (The Great French Wine Blight) with vines dying by the thousands stuck by aphid attacks (Americans, messing up the world since forever). If one goes far back enough in history, we will notice that for a couple of years, there were hardly any wines coming out of Europe!
Faced with the decimation of their vineyards, the Spanish and the French brought their vines to Argentina, owing to their existing ties through their colonial misadventures. Mendoza was found to be the most suitable region, given the plentiful sunshine it received all year round. This led to the establishment of the Argentinian wine legacy, which today stands as one of the most distinctive and sought after in the world. Argentina is known for its Malbecs, a grape which prospers in Mendoza, thereby becoming the signature grape of Argentinian wine. Given that most Argentinians today have Spanish / / Italian / French roots, their love for wine is famous, with per capita wine consumption being 45 litres per year! But enough with the story, what does one do the next time you have a bottle in your hand or you are looking at the wine list at a fine dining place?
5 ways ‘read’ a wine
Broadly speaking, there are 5 ways to ‘read’ a wine as you stare at the label.
- The Vineyard: Bodega Domiciano in this case, which dates back to 1898. However, this is useful only if you have an idea about the region and its heritage. Else you wouldn’t know the difference between Mendoza and Bordeaux. Most vineyards do mention their region as well.
- The Grape: Malbec, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Shiraz etc. — You get the drift. If you are to ever compare wines, you should only do so within the same grape. So you compare a Merlot to a Merlot to determine which vineyard / brand has a better Merlot. Else you are comparing apples to oranges
There is no grape which is superior or inferior — it’s just a matter of personal preference. So next time someone tells you that “Oh the Sauvignon has a better body than the Merlot”, ask them to stuff some Shiraz up their ars*.
Incidentally, Shiraz is in fact the oldest grape in the world and probably the first wines were made from Shiraz.
3. The year: The year in which the grape was harvested. Simple as that.
4. Alcohol content: Important as it varies by region. Mendoza requires all wines to have at least 13% alcohol — this is often a function of the sugar content of the grapes in a given region — which again varies by type of soil and climate. For e.g. Chardonnay needs more stones in the soil, so it’s best grown in the mountains and not in the plains.
When you swirl the wine in your glass, notice the ‘tears’ on the sides. More the no. of tears, higher the alcohol content.
5. Special mentions: No these are not awards! But these are mentions like Reserve / Grand Reserve, which you would typically see on more expensive wines. We will return to this in a bit.
There are a few other characteristics which are mentioned as well, like toast, late harvest etc. and we will return to them soon.
How is wine actually made?
- Grape Picking: One of the most surprising things that emerged is that the grapes are picked at night — The cool temperatures of the Andes at night allow for bacteria and viruses to be more dormant, thereby ensuring that the grape undergoes minimal uncontrolled modification. Additionally, the labour finds it easier to work away from the blazing sun. In fact, it’s not uncommon to see labels on bottles to be marked ‘Nocturna’ i.e. picked in the night to establish the diligence in the picking process. Grapes are picked once they are ready, and their readiness is decided by the oenologist employed by the winery.
For e.g. To achieve a sweeter wine, grapes are harvested late. This allows grapes to mature more, thereby adding more sugar to the grape. When these high sugar grapes go into fermentation, the yeast is not able to convert all the sugar into alcohol, thereby giving us a sweeter wine. So if you spot a ‘Late Harvest’ label on a wine, it would mostly turn out to be sweeter.
See, wines are not that complicated! Grapes can be picked by hand or machine, depending on the vineyards POV on what’s best. Some vineyards take pride in carefully handpicking their harvest.
2. De-Stemming: As the name suggests, the grapes are de stemmed with a machine. The stems are then composted to use as a natural fertiliser.
3. Fermentation:The grapes are then put into large concrete / steel containers where they are fermented. The yeast used naturally occurs on the skin of the grape. The process lasts for about 15 days to 1 month to achieve the desired alcohol percentage.
4. Settling: Then the wine sits for anywhere between 6 months to 1 year and this is known as the settling phase. During this time, flavours may be added to wines to provide them with a signature. This is where the difference between wines really starts to set in.
Younger wines: Most wines which you would see on a supermarket shelf would be young wines meaning they have only been settled for about a year or less, but most importantly they have not been aged in oak barrels. These should be consumed within two years of harvest to achieve what’s called ‘peak wine’ — to have the wine when it’s at its best.
Older wines: Wines which are then set into oak barrels post settling are termed as older wines.
The label ‘Reserve’ indicates that they have been aged in oak barrels for less than 1 year and Grand Reserve indicates that they have been aged for more than 1 year.
However, this is where things start getting complicated.
There are two kinds of Oaks. French and American.
French Oak is the most preferred one as it leads to more stronger wines. Additionally, French Oak is also toasted i.e. The wood is burnt to varying degrees — Light, Medium and Heavy toast. The toasting process unlocks various aromas the wood has picked up while growing — like coffee, tobacco etc. These come from the the surrounding areas where the oak has grown.
American Oak is on the other hand used for sweeter wines with essences of Chocolate, Vanilla and fruits.
Wines are aged in barrels to achieve distinctive ‘notes’ which add ‘personality’ to the wine.
However, a few things are sacrosanct — A barrel is used for only one kind of grape through its lifetime (A barrel can last up to 120 years) so as to ensure consistency of taste between a 2014 Malbec vs. a 2016 Malbec from the same vineyard. The barrels are always filled 100% to avoid any oxygen in them, which would oxidize the wine and make it worthless.
Once the wine has aged sufficiently, it’s then bottled. Here, the corking matters.
Wines need to sit in the bottle for them to breath through the cork to bring out the notes / hints / flavors. Hence, as a thumb rule, when buying a wine for a special occasion / impressing someone / gifting — look for actual wooden corks. Plastic corks are non porous and do not allow the wine to breath.
So yeah, Sula Satori Merlot which comes with a cap and no cork isn’t your ‘gifting’ wine. It’s a young wine to enjoy casually with your friends.
The casual drinkers dilemma: Can one really smell / taste the flavours / notes in a wine
For the longest time, I was a skeptic, for I could almost never pick up flavour / notes in my wine. However, in the vineyards, I could actually feel it because I consumed it in the right manner! And here is why we mostly don’t
Not allowing wine to breathe: As wines age in oak barrels, the flavours get locked. This is why it is recommended to swirl your wine in the glass and let it rest for sometime for it to breathe i.e. Allow the wine to oxidise for the flavours to get unlocked. It’s about pure chemistry, not just a fancy habit
Consuming at the wrong temperature: Red wines are to be consumed at room temperature. However, they mean room temperature of cooler wine growing regions (18–20 degrees) and not the tropics of where I live!
Incorrectly holding the glass: The wine glasses are never to be held from the middle, as our warm hands would warm up the wine thereby exacerbating the above. They should always be held from the stem or from the bottom.
Expensive Wines: How much truth and how much marketing
Pricing of wines is really dependent on the ability of the market (domestic or international) to afford it. As wines age, their costs go up, as they hog barrel space, forcing the winery to recover costs. However, Argentina does not produce your 1000 USD bottles as the country is not rich enough to pay for it. And even if they do, they are almost always exported. Hence, all the expensive wines still come from Europe and to some extent US and Australia.
So there you go, here is your starter guide to understanding wines. Go be the wine snob at the next house party!
