INFLUENCES THAT EFFECT CHARACTER
Following specific grape variety or blend of grape varieties to understand what a wine might smell and taste lik can only serve as a loose guideline to the character of the wine. Many factors effect the character of a wine. Every wonder why the same grape variety from one region is described on the back of the bottle vastly different from that of a different region? Why wine produced by the same variety from the same vineyard but from different years produces an absolute success one year and then the next year a complete flop? These are all example of the many difference among the same grape varieties, the same regions, even the same winery. Factors that effect the character of a wine start at the vineyard where the grapes are grown and include the grape variety, rootstock, soil, canopy management, terrain, disease and pests,climate, rainfall and humidity, sunshine and wind, vineyard practices of canopy management and harvesting decisions. There are then the winery practices including decisions on additives, fermentation processes, clarification, filtration, blending, stabilizing and aging. Below are some examples of how some of the above can effect the final outcome of a wine.
Natural acidity and Sugar content in a grape can vary depending on climate changing the color, taste and feel of a wine.Grapes need heat and sunlight to grow. As a grape matures, it move from completely containing acid to containing more and more sugar as it grows and ripens. The acid levels drop, making way for the sugar content until the grape is deemed ripe for picking. In warmer climate this process takes place faster, the acidity falls faster and sugar content peaks quicker. In cooler climates, the acidity of a grape declines more slowly and sugar concentration rises more slowly and often these to not reach as high a peak as grapes grown in hotter climates. This effect also takes place in the case of sunshine and canopy management. Acidity serves to tingle the tip of the tongue and engage salivation. Grapes grown in hotter climates will tend to create this sensation, a sensation we describe as tart, more so than those grown in cooler climates.
Climate, canopy management, harvest time and fermentation processes effect the sugar and alcohol levels found in the wine and therefore change their body and taste. As described above, as a grape grows it loses acidity and gains sugar and climate and canopy management effects this rate. If grapes are picked earlier than peak ripeness they contain less sugar, and in cooler regions they contain less sugar do to slower ripening. These natural sugars are what is converted into alcohol during fermentation. With less natural sugars to convert during fermentation, grape varieties grown in cooler climates will produce a wine with lower alcohol by volume content and the opposite will be true of grapes grown in hotter climates.
Different regions have different natural contributions to the flavor of the grape variety. Often in general, European grown grapes will have more earthy elements to the wine that take the forefront of taste while those grown in different regions than Europe will have more fruity flavors taking the foreground.
Fermentation time will effect residual sugar levels in a wine giving it more or less sweetness. Some wineries will increase a wines tannin content by adding pips which contain tannins and some will choose to convert more malic acid to lactic acid which gives a wine more creamy smoothness. In many cases, wineries are allowed a certain percentage of blend in their wines without listing them as a blend wine. Often a wine will contain more than just the grape variety it states on the bottle. This is often done to change the structure of the wine, toning down its harshness, balancing it out or bringing out certain elements. The practice of blending will change the appearance, nose and palate of a wine completely and different wineries add different blends at different percentages, making their wine unique to the next Cabernet Savignon or Merlot on the shelf.
Like grapes, where an oak tree is grown greatly effects its characteristics and these characteristics come out in oak barrel aging. Oak aging endows the wine with tannins and aromas specific to the oak it was aged in. A younger oak will of course produce a more noticeable imparting than an older oak barrel that has imparted its characteristics many times before. Oak will give its wines the aromas of vanilla, clove, licorice, nuts, roast and smoke, florals, baking spice and many other unique characters. Oak aging also increase the alcohol content of a wine slightly and endow the wine with more tannins making it even more age defying than on its own.
Natural acidity and Sugar content in a grape can vary depending on climate changing the color, taste and feel of a wine.Grapes need heat and sunlight to grow. As a grape matures, it move from completely containing acid to containing more and more sugar as it grows and ripens. The acid levels drop, making way for the sugar content until the grape is deemed ripe for picking. In warmer climate this process takes place faster, the acidity falls faster and sugar content peaks quicker. In cooler climates, the acidity of a grape declines more slowly and sugar concentration rises more slowly and often these to not reach as high a peak as grapes grown in hotter climates. This effect also takes place in the case of sunshine and canopy management. Acidity serves to tingle the tip of the tongue and engage salivation. Grapes grown in hotter climates will tend to create this sensation, a sensation we describe as tart, more so than those grown in cooler climates.
Climate, canopy management, harvest time and fermentation processes effect the sugar and alcohol levels found in the wine and therefore change their body and taste. As described above, as a grape grows it loses acidity and gains sugar and climate and canopy management effects this rate. If grapes are picked earlier than peak ripeness they contain less sugar, and in cooler regions they contain less sugar do to slower ripening. These natural sugars are what is converted into alcohol during fermentation. With less natural sugars to convert during fermentation, grape varieties grown in cooler climates will produce a wine with lower alcohol by volume content and the opposite will be true of grapes grown in hotter climates.
Different regions have different natural contributions to the flavor of the grape variety. Often in general, European grown grapes will have more earthy elements to the wine that take the forefront of taste while those grown in different regions than Europe will have more fruity flavors taking the foreground.
Fermentation time will effect residual sugar levels in a wine giving it more or less sweetness. Some wineries will increase a wines tannin content by adding pips which contain tannins and some will choose to convert more malic acid to lactic acid which gives a wine more creamy smoothness. In many cases, wineries are allowed a certain percentage of blend in their wines without listing them as a blend wine. Often a wine will contain more than just the grape variety it states on the bottle. This is often done to change the structure of the wine, toning down its harshness, balancing it out or bringing out certain elements. The practice of blending will change the appearance, nose and palate of a wine completely and different wineries add different blends at different percentages, making their wine unique to the next Cabernet Savignon or Merlot on the shelf.
Like grapes, where an oak tree is grown greatly effects its characteristics and these characteristics come out in oak barrel aging. Oak aging endows the wine with tannins and aromas specific to the oak it was aged in. A younger oak will of course produce a more noticeable imparting than an older oak barrel that has imparted its characteristics many times before. Oak will give its wines the aromas of vanilla, clove, licorice, nuts, roast and smoke, florals, baking spice and many other unique characters. Oak aging also increase the alcohol content of a wine slightly and endow the wine with more tannins making it even more age defying than on its own.