So on the third day of wine training with WSET we covered a fair bit of
information. We talked about wine and health, services and storage and the main
red grape varieties. The most interesting of all these being the last one.
Obviously.
Okay so how do we get the "red" into a wine and why does it
vary between wines? Great question! Basically when the grapes are crushed, they
are left to sit on “the must”. The must is the pulp, the skin and sometimes
even the stems of the grapes.
The wine then goes into a process called maturation; this is where the
juice and the must are kind of stirred together to help extract the tannins and
flavors out of the must. Some other methods are racking and pressing, but
maturation is the most effect and time efficient.
Now, our biggest red wine varietals are Pinot Noir (my personal
obsession), Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah/Shiraz. Now each varietal is
going to be different because of their terrior, any blending, aging, what they
are barreled in, and countless other things that wine makers do to make a wine
their own. However each grape is going to have its own set of boundaries that
it exists in so lets take a look at some of those.
Pinot Noir – aka The Heart Break Grape
This wine is typically very light in it colour, this is because the
grape skins them selves are very thin. This wine is also considered This wine
is light to medium body, medium acidity and dry, with soft tannins, often
described as elegant, complex, with finesse and this sort of elusive power. I
don’t know about you but the last one might be a bit much but it is a very sexy
kind of wine when done well. Coming from a variety of places it is known best
from Burgundy (mid region of Burgundy is known for an earthy barn quality in
their wine), Oregon (because this is considered a newer region they are prone
to a lot of vintage variation, but we are seeing some really great stuff
starting to come out), New Zealand (pinot noir is the second most grape
produced there and for good reason. They produce some of the world’s finest
light and fruity pinot noirs) and Champagne (pinot noir is one of the 3 grapes
they use in the bubbly). As for flavors in most pinot noirs you get a
range from cherries, strawberries, vegetal, spice, red fruits and even to that
French barnyard I was talking about earlier.
Merlot – “if any body orders merlot, I’m leaving!”
Merlot, despite its Hollywood bad rap is actually quite the little
grape. Remarkably resilient, incredibly versatile and has the ability to stand
up to almost anything. Even bad PR. Often deep in colour, dry and medium to
full body but softer and more approachable then a Cabernet Sauvignon, ages
incredibly well in top tier wines. We see a lot of well-done Merlots coming
from places like Bordeaux (St.Emilion and Pomerol), California (Sonoma and
Napa) and Chile. With right bank French Merlots we have vines that are grown in
clay and moist soils, where they absolutely thrive!
In my honest opinion I believe that merlots, or any wines for that
matter, are always going to be better when done in small 10 to 30 thousand lots
rather then being mass-produced.
Cabernet Sauvignon – Rawr
This wine is usually deep in colour, dry, medium to full body, firm and
grippy tannins, often blended, it matures well and has huge aging potential.
Some of its key regions are Bordeaux (left bank specifically because its gravel
and these vines don’t like to get their feet wet), California (single varietal
wines that often have a benchmark flavor of dill), Australian, specifically Barossa Valley and Chile –
Colchagua Province (where
we see a lot of mint and cassis, and over all is excellent value on
cabernets). Some of the main flavors we find are black currant, cedar,
bell pepper in cooler site, but this is often seen as a fault. Over all we get
complex earthy notes and tobacco. It’s typically ages in some sort of oak
barrels where we can get another huge range of flavors.
Syrah/Shiraz – What’s in a name?
Theses two wines are actually the same grape, deep colour, full bodied
and rich. Medium to high tannins, and yet another very versatile grape. Some of
its most common regions are Northern Rhones, France, where it can age 10- 20
years, Hermitage, where it can age 30 – 40 years, and Côte-Rôtie. Out of Barossa Australia we see wines that are developing
towards hedonistic flavors with. With this grape we taste a lot of spice! White
pepper to baking spice, black and blue berries, raisins, leather, black
current, and smoked meat. This wine is often oaked to soften tannins.
There are thousand of types of grapes that are produced through out the
world, these just happen to be the most main stream ones that I know of. If you
want a complete list you can click here, but as this blog goes on I’ll go into discussing
them as we meet them.
Cheers!
In the Glass – this wine is medium to deep purple, with purple deposits of colour on the legs in the glass
