Inventing Wine

'Inventing Wine': The History Of A Very Vintage Beverage

A New History Of One Of The World's Most Ancient Pleasures on NPR

  

Basic Traits of Wine

9 BASIC TRAITS OF WINE

Use GDP's tasting method to judge any and every wine you sip

Acid: low, medium-low, medium, medium-plus, high

Acidity is naturally occurring in grapes, but it can also added during the winemaking process in order to try to achieve a balanced wine. One of the two pillars that make up a wine’s structure, along with tannins, acidity leaves wines feeling fresh and bright in the mouth. If the acidity is too low, the wine can feel heavy and dull. If it is quite high, the wines are often described as crisp and vibrant.

Tannins: sweet, dry

Tannins are another naturally occurring element in wine that can be added through the winemaking process. Wines with low tannins are generally described as soft and/or supple, though tannins only play a supporting role in most cases. Wines with high tannins are described as being hard, tough and sometimes chewy.

The naturally occurring tannins that grapes contribute to wines are generally, but not always, of the softer variety. You encounter this type of tannin all the time when you chew on grape or apple skins. On the other hand, wood tannins, which come from aging wine in wooden barrels, are sometimes added to a wine as powdered tannins. These can be both sweet (in the case of toasty wood barrels, in particular) or dry. In extreme cases, dry tannins can be reminiscent of chewing a Popsicle stick.

Generally, fruit tannins are felt towards the front of the mouth and on the gums, while wood tannin emerges on the back of the tongue.

Sweetness

Several factors create the impression of sweetness in wine. Sugar is the most obvious cause of sweetness. Residual sugar, or sugar left in the wine after production, can be there intentionally to help balance out high acid. This is often the case with German Riesling, for example. Residual sugar (RS) can also be left to lend richness and body in the mouth. This often happens with California Zinfandel. In either case, the sweetness accentuates the fruit flavors of the wine and helps to cover up acidity, tannin and potential flaws.

Sweetness can also be added to wines from substances that are alternate forms of sugars, such as the toasted inside of a new barrel or high alcohol. Both of these add an impression of sweetness to a finished wine. In addition, very fruity wine tastes sweeter than equally sweet but savory wine, simply because our brains make the association between fruitiness and sweetness.

Oak

Oak is a common flavoring element that typically contributes flavors and aromas of vanilla, smoke, toast, cedar and spices like nutmeg, cinnamon and dried ginger. Other, more subtle oak influence often comes across as coconut, dill, coffee and milk chocolate.

There are two main categories of oak, referred to as American oak and French oak. The American oak adds more sweetness and vanilla flavors to the finished wine, with coconut and dill being very typical indications of its use. French oak is generally more subtle in its effects, adding cedary elements, spices and cigar box aromas.

  

Spicy Flavors Spicy flavors come from both oak and fruit. Some common examples of grapes and their spicy flavors include:

Syrah + Black Pepper
Cabernet Sauvignon + Jalapeno
Pelaverga + Pink Peppercorn
Carmenere + Green Chilies
Mourvedre + Middle Eastern Spices
Nebbiolo + Liquorice
Gewürztraminer + Spicy Flowers
Muscat + Spicy Flowers

Savory Flavors

Savory flavors come from both fruit and oak and are the most prized flavors in aged wines. Some common examples of grapes and their savory flavors include:

California Pinot Noir + Cola
Cabernet Franc + Tomato
Mourvedre + Leather
Merlot + Cocoa
Malbec + Rosemary
Zinfandel + Briar
Grüner Veltliner + Green Peas
Sauvignon Blanc + Grass

Fruity Flavors

Almost all wines have some sort of fruity flavors, though in some cases oxidized wines and very old wines are left with only savory notes. Fruity flavors can be broken down into the following groupings. When exploring wines, think of a parent group and then dive down deeper to see if you can identify the specific fruits you smell and taste.

Citrus Fruits: Lime, Lemon, Orange, Tangelo, Grapefruit
Berry Fruits: Strawberry, Raspberry, Red Cherry, Blackberry, Black Cherry, Black Currant
Orchard Fruits: Green Apple, Red Apple, Pear, Apricot, Peach
Tropical Fruits: Banana, Papaya, Mango, Pineapple
Melons: Watermelon, Cantaloupe, Honeydew
Dried Fruits: Raisins, Dates, Prunes, Dried Apricots, Figs

Intensity of Flavor

The intensity of flavors in a wine can be surprising. Medium- and light-bodied wines can often have outsized flavors, while big, rich wines may trade some intensity of flavor for all that weight.

Intensity of flavors is one of the key elements to consider when pairing food and wine. Matching the intensity of flavor between the food and wine generally leads to a more successful pairing!

Weight in Mouth

Many things contribute to the weight of a wine in one’s mouth. Lower acidity makes a wine feel heavier, as do high tannins, sugar, and dry extract, which is literally the amount of suspended solids you find in your wine.

This textural component is one of the truly underappreciated aspects of wine, and it is one of the fundamental reasons we prefer one wine over another. Many people find a lot to like in powerful and rich wines that are heavy in the mouth, while others prefer the purity and elegance of wines that are decidedly lighter-bodied.

article from smooth.com - By Gregory Dal Piaz

The Tasting Wheel

How do different wines taste?

What is the relationship between wine varieties and flavor components? This visualization attempts to show the strength of these relationships. I culled descriptive flavor words from over 5,000 published wine tasting notes written between 1995-2000 in a major Australian wine magazine. Written by Carl Tashian for Visualizing the Five Senses, a class at ITP @ NYU. Special thanks to chef Adam Melonas and sommelier Maria José Huertas for categorizing the flavor words. 

All Reds

All Whites

All fortified

Shiraz

Chardonnay

Pinot Noir

Merlot

Semillon

Sauvignon Blanc

Riesling

Cabernet Sauvignon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tasting Room

THE TASTINGROOM.COM

The idea is absurdly simple:

1. Pick a winery and buy samples for as little as $10.
2. Wait for your box of 50ml bottles of wine to arrive.
3. Drink up at home. If you like some of them, buy the full bottles of wine online.

Anyone who’s trudged through the California wine country knows how much of a pain wine tasting can be… so why not bring the experience home instead? For the price of a single tasting fee at your typical Napa winery, you can get samples of Trefethen, Grgich, De Loach, or a few other wineries for you to taste in the comfort of your own home. A 50ml bottle is plenty of wine for two people to taste.

I tried the kit from Patz & Hall ($25 for six wines; regular bottles are each $55 to $80 retail), and really enjoyed the experience. The screwcapped minis are fun to work your way through, and a card included offers tasting notes and other information about each wine you’re drinking. Putting wines side by side is the most fun, an experience you don’t often get at a commercial tasting room. And best of all: No pressure to join the “wine club,” a standby at every Napa winery in existence today.

TastingRoom.com is currently working with just six wineries so it’ll be interesting to see if this idea takes off. But even with a limited selection, consider me a fan.

TastingRoom.com offers wine lovers an innovative new way to discover, taste and acquire wine that expands and enriches the wine-drinking experience. Our service lets you discover and consume wine in a variety of exclusive formats delivered directly to your home.

Online Wine Shops

When your not heading to a winery or local liquor store how do you access a huge variety of wine with very little effort? The answer is an online wine shop.

We have suggested a large list of Online wine shops that we think cover enough wine variety for you to be content with the selections.

Here is our list of Online Wine Shops
#1 is the Wine Library

Wine Library gives you a some what large selection of wine from all over. Where Wine library really shines is it uploads reviews and tastings of its wines to Wine Library TV which gives you a deeper understanding of what your purchasing.

Tastingroom.com

What’s to like: Utilizing a proprietary process, Tastingroom.com bottles and sells sample size wine from notable wineries in 50ml bottles, about the serving size of a pour at a winery tasting room.  While that alone is novel, the real benefit is consumers have an opportunity to buy mixed sampler packs to try a number of different wines at home, at their leisure.  Part of becoming a certified wine nut is the desire to taste wine more so than drink wine, satisfying an inveterate curiosity.  Tastingroom.com lets you do exactly that, at extremely reasonable prices.

Plonk Wine Merchants

What’s to like: Besides the elegantly designed, easy to navigate and information-rich web site, Plonk Wine Merchants is also a carefully curated selection of offbeat and affordable wines (all under $30) from around the world.  If you’re an intrepid wine explorer who knows that Garnatxa is Catalan Spanish for Grenache or that Blaufränkisch from Austria can be mighty tasty, then Plonk is for you.  It’s a bonus that the customer service is impeccable and owner Etty Lewensztain is a one-woman operation who will include a quick thank-you note complete with a smiley face with your shipment.

Wine-Searcher.com

The latest wine news. Wine prices at all online wine stores (search in seconds). Critic scores. Region maps and grape variety encyclopaedia.

Mission Fine Wines

missionfinewines.com
Chang-rae Lee's Pick: Go-to site for rare Bordeaux and Burgundies, with older bottlings from Spain, too.

North Berkeley Wine

northberkeleyimports.com
Chang-rae Lee's Pick: California retailer-importer that specializes in wines from France, Italy and (uniquely) Chile.

The Rare Wine Co.

rarewineco.com
Chang-rae Lee's Pick: Terrific source for vintage Barolos, Burgundies and Rhône wines, as well as Madeiras.

Appellation America

appellationamerica.com
This is the ultimate source for obscure American wines—Merlot from North Yuba, California, say, or Ohio River Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. It also offers wines directly from more than 120 wineries. One to try: the appealing Bowers Harbor Vineyards Semi-Dry Riesling from Michigan's Old Mission Peninsula.Tip: A search tool parses each state's shipping laws to determine which wines shoppers can buy.

Avalon Wine

avalonwine.com
Run out of a modest Corvallis, Oregon, wine shop of the same name, this is a comprehensive source of top Washington and Oregon wines from producers like Beaux Frères and Leonetti Cellar—though it sells great wines from obscure producers, too. Tip: Avalon's wine clubs, like the Northwest Big Reds Club and the Reserve Pinot Noir Club (membership costs $80 per month), are a great way to access up-and-coming stars, like Oregon's Daedalus Cellars and Washington's O-S Winery.

Bounty Hunter Rare Wine & Provisions

bountyhunterwine.com
Mark Pope's Bounty Hunter is a restaurant in downtown Napa, as well as a catalog and Web site featuring top Napa and Sonoma wines. One recent find: the rare 2002 Mount Veeder Progeny Cabernet Sauvignon from Marco DiGiulio, who also made the cult Lokoya wines. Tip: Download the catalog; it's an always-enjoyable read.

Brown Derby International Wine Center

brownderby.com
Great deals in Missouri on California wines? Brown Derby owner Ron Junge uses his long-standing connections to bring great California wines like Copain Syrah home to the Show-Me State. He also offers hard-to-find gems such as the Diebolt-Vallois Blanc de Blancs Champagne. Tip: Many, but not all, of the wines here have low markups. Low inventory numbers ("Only 6 left!!") are often a guide to bottles that are going fast.

Chambers Street Wines

chambersstwine.com
Owners David Lillie and Jamie Wolff are consummate wine geeks who have assembled an impressively esoteric inventory in their Manhattan store, and on their Web site, which includes lots of Loire valley wines and biodynamically grown Bordeaux, like Château Peybonhomme-Les-Tours Premières Côtes de Blaye. Tip: Check out the "Pre-Arrivals" section for Lillie and Wolff's latest finds.

K&L Wine Merchants

klwines.com
Serious wine lovers have been turning to this California retailer for more than 30 years. K&L's wine buyers not only hunt down the best from nearly every region in the world, but also sell hundreds of direct-import wines at great prices. The Web site shows real-time inventory of just how many bottles of a given wine are still available. Tip: Direct-import sparkling wines include terrific bargains such as Tarlant Brut Zéro Champagne.

Napacabs.com

wine-club-central.com
This no-frills site isn't actually in Napa but Chino, a small city between Los Angeles and San Bernardino. Owners Tom and Kris De Grezia have access to highly allocated wines, which they offer at excellent prices. These include famous names like Ridge Monte Bello, as well as lesser-known ones like Rusack Santa Barbara Pinot Noir. Tip: Check out the "90+ Under $20" section for bargains.

Twenty Twenty Wine Merchants

2020wines.com
Los Angeles-based owner Bob Golbahar specializes in hunting down impossible- to-find wines for impossible- to-reach clients like Jack Nicholson and Sandra Bullock. The informative and easy- to-use site includes prestige bottles like Cabernet from Harlan Estate and the 1995 Denis Mortet Clos de Vougeot, but also great deals. Tip: The site contains lists of 99- and 100-point wines for those buying bottles to fill out their collections.

Vinfolio

vinfolio.com
This California wine-storage company's recently launched Web store is packed with more than 1,500 hard-to-find wines, like Jean-Marc Brocard Chablis, along with scores and average retail prices based on online data and recent auction sales. Specialists offer to help anyone looking to build a killer collection—and buy at least $10,000 worth of wine. Tip: The site lists great older bottles, like the sought-after 1994 Dominus Estate.

Winecommune

winecommune.com
This is eBay for wine lovers, where frenzied bidders vie for wines like a 1979 Château Pétrus or a 1999 Screaming Eagle. Modest bidders can score bargains, too—there's a no-minimum section where lots open at just a buck. Handling charges nudge up the total but are still quite reasonable. Tip: Watch auctions in the "Closing Today" section and pounce on them, eBay-style.

Here are some other Options:

http://cellar.com

Rating Wines

Wine Ratings Explained

Our goal at Wine.com is to help you choose the wines that are best for you. After all, you are the most important judge of the wine you drink. We know that the wine selection is vast and choosing a wine can be overwhelming, so to give you a balance of information, Wine.com displays wine ratings from ten different publications: Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast, Wines & Spirits, Steven Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate, Connoisseurs Guide, James Halliday's The Australian Wine Companion, James Suckling's JamesSuckling.com, Pinot Report, and Burghound. Wine.com is not sponsored by, affiliated or associated with any of these publications or their publishers.

Wine ratings may influence your decision, but the ultimate judgment is yours. Everyone has a different palate and different preferences, so basing purchases on wine ratings may not garner the perfect wine match for your tastes. Always read the tasting note to find out more. And when you do purchase for wine ratings sake, you'll soon learn which publications or tasters possess your style of palate.

Wine Spectator

Each wine region is the sole jurisdiction of one editor who has developed an expertise in that region's offerings. Other editors can offer opinions, but the final say comes from the region's primary editor.

Reviewers & Regions:

• James Laube -California (primary taster)
• Harvey Steiman - Washington State, Oregon, Australia, New Zealand
• Bruce Sanderson - Burgundy, Champagne, Germany, Italy
• Kim Marcus - Portugal (including Port), Languedoc-Rousillon(Southern France), Austria, Greece
• Thomas Matthews - Spain, New York
• James Molesworth - Bordeaux, Loire Valley, Rhone Valley, South Africa, Argentina, Chile, Finger Lakes (NY)
• Alison Napjus - Alsace
• Jo Cooke - Veneto region of Italy
• MaryAnn Worobiec - California
• Tim Fish - California
• James Suckling, retired as of July 2010 - former beats: Bordeaux, Italy, Port

All tastings are conducted "blind." Tasters are told the type of wine (varietal or region) and vintage. Flawed wines or wines that score very highly are re-tasted. European wines are sometimes tasted in the districts that yield them, where fresher, perfectly stored examples will be readily available. Wine ratings are based on how good a wine will be when it reaches its peak, regardless of how soon that will be. If barrel samples are being rated rather than finished wines, that is revealed.

Wine Spectator's 100-Point Scale:

• 95-100 -- Classic; a great wine
• 90-94 -- Outstanding; superior character and style
• 80-89 -- Good to very good; wine with special qualities
• 70-79 -- Average; drinkable wine that may have minor flaws
• 60-69 -- Below average; drinkable but not recommended
• 50-59 -- Poor; undrinkable, not recommended

The Wine Advocate

Robert Parker is a renowned wine critic and publisher of The Wine Advocate. Parker is not the only critic at the Advocate and many wines are tasted by colleagues at the publication. Note that an RP next to a wine means that it was rated by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, not necessarily Robert Parker himself.

Reviewers & Regions:

• Robert Parker - Bordeaux, Rhone, California (until late 2011)
• Antonio Galloni - Italy, Burgundy and California (starting late 2011)
• Jay Miller - Oregon, Washington, Spain, Australia, South America and Vintage Ports
• Mark Squires - Israel, Greece, Lebanon, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Romania
• Neil Martin - Some Bordeaux & other regions
• David Schildknecht - Germany, Austria, Eastern Europe, America's Eastern & Midwestern wineries, Alsace, Burgundy, the Loire Valley, Languedoc-Roussillon, Champagne, New Zealand and South Africa
• Other contributors include Karen MacNeil, Lisa Perrotti-Brown, MW and Kevin Zraly.

Tastings are conducted in peer group, single-blind conditions, which means the same types of wines are tasted against each other and the wineries' names are not revealed, so niether price nor the reputation of the winery influences the rating in any way. If tasted several times, the scores represent a cumulative average. Overall, the score assigned to a specific wine reflects the quality of the wine at its best. Parker encourages readers to rely on the score with the written notes rather than the score alone.

The Wine Advocate's 100-Point Scale:

• 96-100 -- Extraordinary; a classic wine of its variety
• 90-95 -- Outstanding; exceptional complexity and character
• 80-89 -- Barely above average to very good; wine with various degrees of flavor
• 70-79 -- Average; little distinction beyond being soundly made
• 60-69 -- Below average; drinkable, but containing noticeable deficiencies
• 50-59 -- Poor; unacceptable, not recommended

Wine Enthusiast

Wine Enthusiast wine ratings are based on tastings by the magazine's editors and other qualified tasting panelists, either individually or in a group setting. Tastings are conducted blind or in accordance with accepted industry practices. Price is not a factor in assigning scores to wines. Only wines scoring 80 points or higher are published. When possible, wines considered flawed or uncustomary are re-tasted.

Reviewers & Regions:

• Joe Czerwinski - France, Germany, Australia & New Zealand
• Susan Kostrzewa - South Africa, Greece, Canada, Eastern Europe and all U.S. states except California, Oregon and Washington
• Steve Heimoff - California
• Roger Voss - Austria, France and Portugal
• Paul Gregutt - Washinton State & Oregon
• Monica Larner - Italy

Wine Enthusiast Scores:

• 95-100 -- Superb. One of the greats.
• 90-94 -- Excellent. Extremely well made and highly recommended.
• 85-89 -- Very good. May offer outstanding value if the price is right.
• 80-84 -- Good. Solid wine, suitable for everyday consumption.

Wine & Spirits Magazine

All wine evaluations for tastings section are conducted under controlled, blind conditions, no exceptions. Wine & Spirits tastings are a two-step process. First, all wines submitted to us or purchased are tasted by screening panels composed of retailers, sommeliers, winemakers and other wine professionals whom we invite to taste with us. The wines recommended by our screening panels are then presented at a later date to our critic, who scores each wine and writes the reviews. The critic's ratings are based on how well a wine performs within its category as labeled (varietally or regionally). Our goal with these ratings is for each critic to provide a consistent point of view against which you may measure your own taste over time.

Reviewers & Regions:

• Joshua Greene - California wines, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Portugal, Rioja, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa
• Tara Q. Thomas - wines of the Mediterranean-with a particular focus on Greece and Eastern Europe
• Wolfgang Weber - Italy & the Central and South Coast regions of California
• Patrick Comiskey - all domestic wines from outside of California
• Peter Liem - Loire, Alsace, Germany and Austria.
• Patricio Tapia - Argentina, Chile and Spain

Wine & Spirits Scores:

• 80 to 85 -- good examples of their variety or region
• 86 to 89 -- highly recommended
• 90 to 94 -- exceptional examples of their type
• 95 to 100 -- superlative, rare finds

Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar

Wines are scored relative to their peer group based on their expected quality during their period of peak drinkability. A "+" after a score denotes a wine that is likely to merit a higher rating in the future. All wines rated 90 or better are highly recommended additions to your cellar (or, where indicated, for drinking over the near term); wines rated at least 85 are recommended bottles that should provide pleasurable drinking. Precise scores are provided only for wines in bottle; ranges are offered for unfinished wines.

• 95-100 -- Extraordinary
• 90-94 -- Outstanding
• 85-89 -- Very Good to Excellent
• 80-84 -- Good
• 75-79 -- Average
• 70-74 -- Below Average
• <70 strong="strong"> -- Avoid

Stephen Tanzer is the primary taster and critic, Josh Raynolds also reviews wines for the International Wine Cellar.

James Suckling's JamesSuckling.com

JamesSuckling.com is run by James Suckling, wine writer, critic and former European editor for Wine Spectator magazine. His new venture features wine ratings, reviews and videos on what he terms, "the best wines of the world," featuring only wines he rates with 90 points or higher. Wines may be tasted blind or non-blind, and are rated for both their current drinking pleasure as well as their potential ability to age.

Other Publications

PinotReport, Burghound.com, Connoisseurs Guide and James Halliday's Wine Companion all use the 100-point system. The scale is similar to those of the above publications in their score to quality ratio. Note that the Connoisseurs Guide uses a star system, which they have translated into the 100-point scale.

How to Taste Wine

Wine tasting 101 from Gary Vaynerchuk