WHAT THE BOTTLE CAN TELL YOU ABOUT THE WINE
Its hard to decide if you like a wine before you taste it. You may browse through the aisles of the liquor store until you are overwhelmed with choice and confused with descriptions and still not know if the choice you made was the right choice for you. There are ways to minimize the risks of choosing a bad wine or a wine not to your personal liking. You can discover a lot about the wine just by looking at the bottle in store, before ever having to buy it and try it. The bottle can give you information through the label and you can also tell a great deal about the wine by inspecting its colour, hue and clarity within the bottle, and then compare this information against the information on the label. Information obtain through these means will tell you if the wine will be more sweet, bitterly tannic or mouthwateringly acidic, what kind of flavours you are more likely to come across and if there might be issues with the wine.
THE LABEL
Every bottle of wine will have its label, and on this label will be divulged the wine's growing region, vintage year, alcohol content, the grape variety make-up of the wine, if the wine was oaked, as well as descriptions of what it tastes like to someone who is not you. Labels vary in structure from region to region, country to country and even from winery to winery, but this basic information should be divulged by every supplier.
LOOKING AT THE GROWING REGION: Growing regions can effect the taste and flavour of a wine greatly. European grown grapes give their wines more earthy and mineral tones over the fruits, while those same grape varieties grown in other regions around the world tend to be more fruit focused and less earthy or mineral focused. This may be important to you. If you prefer earthy flavors you might want to try a European based wine. If you love bold fruits then perhaps go for a region outside Europe.
The region will also give tell you a great deal about the climate the grapes were grown in. Climate effects how a grape ripens. Naturally a grape moves from more acidic with acids to more sweet with sugars as it ripens. It takes heat and sunlight to ripen. Certain varieties of grapes grow better in warmer region or cooler regions and when a wine best suited to warmer conditions is grown in a cooler region, those acids might not fully convert to sugars making the wine more acidic and therefore tart and sour but mouthwatering. If its a grape variety best suited for cooler regions and is grown in warmer regions, then those grapes ripens and dry out more easily producing a less acidic and sour wine but with dried fruit flavours.
During fermentation, it is the sugars that are converted to alcohol. If there are less sugars then the wine will be less alcoholic. Though there may be more sugars in less acidic wine, these can be greatly converted to alcohol balancing out the acids with the sugars and creating higher alcohol content. Warmer climates allow grapes to ripen faster and more so, creating a less acidic, sweeter and/or more alcoholic wine. This means the wine will be less crisply sour and tart and more sweet with warming in alcohol with a fuller body. In cooler climates grapes ripen slowly and less so creating a more acidic, less sweet and alcoholic wine with lighter body. Cooler climate also tend to be subject to mould called Botrytis which causes dehydration and concentration of the grape sugars which can create a very sweet but low alcohol wine through special processing.
LOOKING AT THE VINTAGE: The vintage (year of grape growth on the bottle) of a wine is important for knowing specifics on the weather and temperature of that particular growing year obtain a loose idea of the quality of the grapes and therefore wine of that season. Of course, you will have to look this information up but its a good idea if purchasing a more expensive bottle. If weather of that year was excessively hot, it may have dried out the grapes giving a more dried fruit flavour. if the weather was unseasonably cold it may have slowed down or halted the ripening of the fruit creating a very immature grape with high acidity and low alcohol causing a lighter crip dry wine. This effects the wine creating a high tartness (sourness) and low alcohol content. Vintages will also tell you how aged the bottle of wine is. Wines made from certain grape varieties of certain vintages are meant to be aged a certain amount of years before consuming, These are wines which often carry high tannin content and need time for these tannins to soften, or for the flavours to mature. Other wines should be consumed as early as possible before they lose their fresh fruit flavours. When looking at the vintage, you can accept that a newer year means the fruit flavours will be fresh and bold. Aged wine will carry a more complex character with softer tannins, more ripened flavors and heavier oaked spices.
LOOKING AT THE ALCOHOL CONTENT: A Wine that shows a higher alcohol content will usually be a fuller bodied wine while a lower alcohol content is indicative of a lighter body with higher acidity, but this is not always the case. A second indication of fuller body is sugar content. A body can still remain fuller but with lower alcohol and high sugars. this is a wine made from grapes that were fully ripened or even introduced to botrytis or left for frost and then when fermented were not fully processed so the sugars are retained for a sweeter wine. If you want to distinguish between a fuller body due to sweetness versus a fuller body due to alcohol just look at the alcohol content. Fuller bodies due to sugar have very low alcohol content sometimes reaching 5-7%. Fuller body due to alcohol will contain an alcohol by volume of 12% or higher.
LOOKING AT GRAPE VARIETALS: A bottle will signify if it is a varietal wine made from one grape variety or a blend made from several grape varieties. Sometimes with blends, they will list the grape varieties included and percentage of each that the bottle contains but sometimes they will not divulge all of this information. Known the grape varieties involved will give you great insight into what you might expect from the wine in terms of tannin and acid content as well as berry flavors, floral or herbal aspects and any spices, minerals or earthy tones. For information on the characteristics of different varietal and blend wines see the Red and White wine sections.
LOOKING AT THE GROWING REGION: Growing regions can effect the taste and flavour of a wine greatly. European grown grapes give their wines more earthy and mineral tones over the fruits, while those same grape varieties grown in other regions around the world tend to be more fruit focused and less earthy or mineral focused. This may be important to you. If you prefer earthy flavors you might want to try a European based wine. If you love bold fruits then perhaps go for a region outside Europe.
The region will also give tell you a great deal about the climate the grapes were grown in. Climate effects how a grape ripens. Naturally a grape moves from more acidic with acids to more sweet with sugars as it ripens. It takes heat and sunlight to ripen. Certain varieties of grapes grow better in warmer region or cooler regions and when a wine best suited to warmer conditions is grown in a cooler region, those acids might not fully convert to sugars making the wine more acidic and therefore tart and sour but mouthwatering. If its a grape variety best suited for cooler regions and is grown in warmer regions, then those grapes ripens and dry out more easily producing a less acidic and sour wine but with dried fruit flavours.
During fermentation, it is the sugars that are converted to alcohol. If there are less sugars then the wine will be less alcoholic. Though there may be more sugars in less acidic wine, these can be greatly converted to alcohol balancing out the acids with the sugars and creating higher alcohol content. Warmer climates allow grapes to ripen faster and more so, creating a less acidic, sweeter and/or more alcoholic wine. This means the wine will be less crisply sour and tart and more sweet with warming in alcohol with a fuller body. In cooler climates grapes ripen slowly and less so creating a more acidic, less sweet and alcoholic wine with lighter body. Cooler climate also tend to be subject to mould called Botrytis which causes dehydration and concentration of the grape sugars which can create a very sweet but low alcohol wine through special processing.
LOOKING AT THE VINTAGE: The vintage (year of grape growth on the bottle) of a wine is important for knowing specifics on the weather and temperature of that particular growing year obtain a loose idea of the quality of the grapes and therefore wine of that season. Of course, you will have to look this information up but its a good idea if purchasing a more expensive bottle. If weather of that year was excessively hot, it may have dried out the grapes giving a more dried fruit flavour. if the weather was unseasonably cold it may have slowed down or halted the ripening of the fruit creating a very immature grape with high acidity and low alcohol causing a lighter crip dry wine. This effects the wine creating a high tartness (sourness) and low alcohol content. Vintages will also tell you how aged the bottle of wine is. Wines made from certain grape varieties of certain vintages are meant to be aged a certain amount of years before consuming, These are wines which often carry high tannin content and need time for these tannins to soften, or for the flavours to mature. Other wines should be consumed as early as possible before they lose their fresh fruit flavours. When looking at the vintage, you can accept that a newer year means the fruit flavours will be fresh and bold. Aged wine will carry a more complex character with softer tannins, more ripened flavors and heavier oaked spices.
LOOKING AT THE ALCOHOL CONTENT: A Wine that shows a higher alcohol content will usually be a fuller bodied wine while a lower alcohol content is indicative of a lighter body with higher acidity, but this is not always the case. A second indication of fuller body is sugar content. A body can still remain fuller but with lower alcohol and high sugars. this is a wine made from grapes that were fully ripened or even introduced to botrytis or left for frost and then when fermented were not fully processed so the sugars are retained for a sweeter wine. If you want to distinguish between a fuller body due to sweetness versus a fuller body due to alcohol just look at the alcohol content. Fuller bodies due to sugar have very low alcohol content sometimes reaching 5-7%. Fuller body due to alcohol will contain an alcohol by volume of 12% or higher.
LOOKING AT GRAPE VARIETALS: A bottle will signify if it is a varietal wine made from one grape variety or a blend made from several grape varieties. Sometimes with blends, they will list the grape varieties included and percentage of each that the bottle contains but sometimes they will not divulge all of this information. Known the grape varieties involved will give you great insight into what you might expect from the wine in terms of tannin and acid content as well as berry flavors, floral or herbal aspects and any spices, minerals or earthy tones. For information on the characteristics of different varietal and blend wines see the Red and White wine sections.
THE BOTTLE
Now, looking at the bottle separate from the label we can gather a better guess at the body, age, filtration, oaking and any issues.
A darker wine usually indicates a fuller body. With whites, a clear to straw color will indicate a lighter crisp and dry younger wine that has not been oak aged. A yellow to golden color indicates a wine that has been oaked and thus contains tannins and spices from the oaking and has some age. As white wine ages it become more golden. Aged white wine also often needs oaking to obtain tannins which allow its preservation. With reds, a lighter red indicates a young, lighter wine and one that has not been oaked and contains more acidity. A darker wine indicates age, fuller body, higher tannins, alcohol and sugars. When a wine becomes garnet and moves towards brown, it is a wine that has gone through longer aging.
a brighter, clearer wine might indicated a filtered wine or younger wine, while a wine that is slightly hazy or which has sediment might indicate one which has not been filtered or which has been aged for some time. if very hazy or murky without years of aging it might indicate a wine that has been contaminated through incorrect sealing or storage.
COMPARING BOTTLE TO LABEL
When the bottle and the label match up in what they indicate there is a greater chance that this is what you can expect. Issues arise when what you see in the bottle does not match up with the label.
When you have a label that states a red wine of last year's vintage that has not been oaked yet it is hazy and brown, this is a warning of contamination. This is normal for an aged wine of 10 years but not of 1 year. This is what happens when a red wine is exposed to an excess of air. This could be a problem with the cork where air is seeping through the cork and into the bottled wine oxidizing it. It may be an issue stemming back to the winery or bottling process. This is also true of white wine which should only be golden in colour if oaked or aged for a few years.
When you see a cork bulging from the lip of the bottle or the foil bulges if it is covering the cork, this is a cooked wine. Cooked wines are those which have been exposed to too much heat from improper storage. This will cause a lifeless wine with a cooked like feature to it.
There is much you can detect in terms of issues when you compare the appearance of the wine and the label and this should be utilized, especially in the purchase of an expensive bottle that has been matured in oak barrels for a many years and then shipped and stored in bottle and cellars for many years where issues in practice could have arisen at any time to effect the quality of the wine.
When you have a label that states a red wine of last year's vintage that has not been oaked yet it is hazy and brown, this is a warning of contamination. This is normal for an aged wine of 10 years but not of 1 year. This is what happens when a red wine is exposed to an excess of air. This could be a problem with the cork where air is seeping through the cork and into the bottled wine oxidizing it. It may be an issue stemming back to the winery or bottling process. This is also true of white wine which should only be golden in colour if oaked or aged for a few years.
When you see a cork bulging from the lip of the bottle or the foil bulges if it is covering the cork, this is a cooked wine. Cooked wines are those which have been exposed to too much heat from improper storage. This will cause a lifeless wine with a cooked like feature to it.
There is much you can detect in terms of issues when you compare the appearance of the wine and the label and this should be utilized, especially in the purchase of an expensive bottle that has been matured in oak barrels for a many years and then shipped and stored in bottle and cellars for many years where issues in practice could have arisen at any time to effect the quality of the wine.
Reference:
Wine Hack @ winehack.com
Tim Gaiser @timgaiser.com