Vintner Views – April 2007

 Wine Has Personality

   Reading through the wine descriptions at a winery tasting room can be like browsing the Personal Want Ads:  “Unpretentious, medium-bodied Rhone blend seeks younger, but well-developed palate for dinner.  Lamb chops, baked asparagus and wild rice preferred.  Sassy nuances of currants, and bold, integrated tannins will marry beautifully with rosemary.  Drink me now!”  Some descriptions are so flowery and elaborate that it may be hard to fathom the subject is a beverage.  Why is that?

   First, you have to understand that descriptions are written to sell wine.  They focus on the wine’s strengths.  You’ll never see a tasting room description saying “This wine exhibits a slight rotten egg aroma, followed by a rubbery, inner-tube flavor, and wet dog in the seemingly eternal finish.”  This is more information than you need.  On the other hand, if the description says the wine is gutsy and robust, and you don’t like gutsy and robust, this is actually useful – don’t buy a wine if it doesn’t sound good.

   A secondary objective is to give some idea of what this wine is LIKE:  apricots, pineapple and orange blossoms.  Those new to the wine world often ask if these are actually ingredients.  The answer is almost always a resounding “No!”  Other words we use make it sound like we’re at an estate sale:  old shoe leather, antique wood, and dried rose petals.  We use these words as comparisons and reference points because there are so many different kinds of wines, and they really are like people in a way, because they are often so original and unique.

   Think of nutmeg.  How would you describe it to someone unfamiliar to it?  It’s virtually impossible to get at the essence, but you might say it’s got the rounded sweetness of vanilla, a bit of perfume, with the slightest fractions of cinnamon and banana.  We’re talking around it because we don’t have the nutmeg on hand to give you a whiff or a taste.  This is actually another good reason to go to a tasting room.  At least you’ll be able to taste before you buy the whole bottle.  We have roughly eighteen wineries right here in the Grand Valley.  Go get your taste buds wet.

   We have to try to communicate what this wine might be like if you take it home.  There are all kinds of comparisons and reference points in the language of wine, like plums, black cherries, cassis and cedar.  You may or may not be familiar with these references.  Take cassis for instance.  Cassis is often used to describe rich red wines.  Most folks don’t even know what cassis is, much less what it tastes like, but just using that word makes it interesting.  It might even cause you to go out and find a taste of cassis.  By the way, its full name is Crème de Cassis.  It’s a liqueur made in France from blackcurrants.

   Because each wine has its own combination of aromas, flavors, finish and a slew of other organoleptic parameters, they don’t fall neatly into just a few pigeon holes.  Properly made, wines reflect the grapes, the growing conditions, and the stylistic choices made by the winemaker and/or ownership.  At worst, wine descriptions give you something interesting to read.  At best, they give you an idea of the wine’s personality so you can make an informed purchase.

This article appeared in the April 18, 2007 edition of the Grand Junction Free Press.

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