Ratings and medals

Image created by Melody Flammger

We all see the various wine ratings cluttering the shelves in the liquor store- this Chardonnay scored 96 points, this Cabernet Sauvignon scored 88 points, etc.  But do points really matter?

It depends on who you talk to, but for some people points really do matter and those points dictate what they will or won't bring home. There are some who will not allow a wine without a number of 96 points or higher to grace their palate.  What this unfortunately means is that wines that do not get the attention of a rating system such as Robert Parker's do not get the business of these wine drinkers either.  It also means that those same wine drinkers are limiting themselves.  Sure, there are thousands of wines with ratings on them and that consumer still has plenty of choices if they choose that standard.  But at the same time an unrated wine has the very same potential to be just as good- perhaps better than the wine they brought home with the 96 point score.

Wines are constantly evaluated- whether it be with RobertParker’s 100 point system or by International judges at competitions the wines are always going to be sized up against one another and given a grade.  In a wine competition, there are a lot of hoops to jump through for the wine maker before the wine can be entered.  There are entry fees, shipping the wine, minimum quantity requirements, complicated forms, etc.  It certainly isn’t a cakewalk for those who decide to go that route.  Once at the competition, the wine gets tried by a number of certified judges (depending on the competition).  Because of jumping through all of these hoops just for a medal and some recognition for their wine- there are many wines that do not go to competitions and even wineries that don’t participate.

Going back to the scenario of the individual who only drinks wines with a rating of 96 or higher- say this person also doesn’t drink a wine without a Gold medal.  This person is excluding wines from the winemaker who makes wine in too small of a batch to be evaluated at competition.  So, one winery may have actually made the best Chardonnay known on earth but only made a very small controlled batch so was unable to enter the competition.  This Gold medal only drinking wine consumer will never taste that Chardonnay and may very well miss out on the best wine drinking experience of their life.

The point of this perspective on ratings and medals is to show that yes, there is some merit to them.  It’s not easy to produce a 100 point wine that also scores Double Gold in International Wine Competitions and there are a lot of hoops to jump through.  But it also doesn’t mean that the other wine out there isn’t just as good.  People should drink what they like, not what they’re “supposed” to like. 

"Blind" tasting

Photo: Melody Flammger
Butterfly Wine by Lucas Vineyards

Most blind tastings are done without the tasters knowing anything about the wine.  When doing a blind tasting, the administrator will even cover the bottles of wine with a paper bag so that nothing is known about them.  The goal of the blind tasting is to be able to guess the grape type the wine was made from without knowing very much about the wine- as little as possible in fact.  Without some serious administrative help, most of us are unable to do completely blind tastings, but now and again we come across a wine and think "Now, what in the world could this wine be?"  

This is because many wineries have taken to a minimalistic approach in their labeling.  This makes the wines look attractive and/or unique but presents a problem to the already overwhelmed wine consumer.  Many times I’ll pick up a wine bottle in the store and scan the bottle looking for some kind of a description or an idea of what grapes were used, etc.  Sometimes I’ll find a satisfactory answer by looking around but sometimes I won’t.  In these cases, I have to either pick up the bottle and take the risk of not liking it when I open it up or put it back down and go for a wine that tells me a little more about itself.

Luckily, I can usually guess pretty well by the descriptors on the bottle if the wine is going to appeal to me or not.  I can imagine if this isn’t the case for everyone, especially those who don’t know what they’re looking for in a wine.  That said, this time I did pick up a bottle that I was drawn to by the label and decided to try it.  The wine doesn’t tell you a whole lot up front.  The name is a bit ambiguous “Butterfly” and the winery, Lucas Vineyards is in New York.  I’ve never had any of their wines before so I decided it would be a good opportunity to try my skills.

As always, I start with my 4 S’s (See Better wine tasting for more on these).

Photo: Melody Flammger
Glass of the "Butterfly" wine by Lucas Vineyards

See and Swirl:

The color on this wine is very clear with no discernible legs on it.  I can interpret these findings as that the wine is likely unoaked and relatively low in alcohol content. The wine is probably a young white wine.

Smell:

Lemon and green apple come to the forefront of the nose on this wine with a hint of a floral aroma.  Using quick, short sniffs I can also detect a hint of honey on the nose.

Sip:

The green apple flavor hits the tongue first, followed by the floral taste as well finishing with a honey aftertaste.  The wine is both zingy and sweet.  The zinginess  is likely caused by a high acidity in the wine and the sweetness is a moderate amount of residual sugar in the wine. 

Given what I know about the wine so far, I can almost conclusively rule out vinifera grapes.  First, most wineries in the U.S. will advertise these vinifera grapes in order to sell the wine more easily and for a higher price because these grapes are considered to be noble.  The vinifera grapes I am ruling out are: Chardonnay, Riesling, and Sauvignon Blanc.  This means that the wine was likely made from labrusca grapes (native grapes).  There are many different varieties of labrusca grapes including: Delaware, Golden Muscat, Ontario, Seneca, Cauyuga and many others.

 Because many wineries in New York use different labrusca grapes based on their locations and even blend the grapes to balance out their wines, it is possible that without writing the winemaker themselves we may never know the grape that was used to make the wine.  Thus, I suppose in this blind tasting I have failed to identify the grape that was used but was still able to determine quite a bit about the wine just from what I could discern.  We all get better at these sorts of exercises with practice- and next time I’ll use a European wine so that there are a finite number of possibilities.  I certainly enjoyed the adventure and this wine was a winner in my book.

As always, continue to explore and don’t be afraid to try this experiment yourself.  You may surprised at what you know!

The right equipment

As I begin the process of planning my next wine making project, I thought I’d cover the equipment needed to get started.  The gathering process probably takes the longest if you don’t already have all of the equipment necessary (and even sometimes if you do in my case).  I like to make sure that I have all the tools necessary for the project at my immediate disposal before getting started.  So without further ado, here is what you will need to gather for wine production:

(Photo by Melody Flammger) Glass Carboy

Primary Fermenter:

Many use a glass carboy for the fermentation process, but it’s not entirely necessary to use one in this beginning stage.  Although I fermented my first wines in carboys, I found that they are much harder to clean than buckets are and also a lot heavier.  Buckets are also significantly cheaper.  If you are going to use a container other than glass, it’s important to make sure that it is food safe.  Many containers will state on the label whether or not they are food safe, however some may not.  Always play it safe- you are making a consumable.  If the container you’re considering does not list that it is food safe there is another way to tell if it is good to use.  Most plastics will carry a recycling triangle with a number on them.  HDPE 2 is a food safe plastic and will suit your needs for a primary fermenter quite well. 

(Photo by Melody Flammger) Food Safe Bucket

Bung:

No, that’s not a typo.  A bung is the piece that bridges the gap between the top of the carboy or hole in the lid of the primary fermenting container and the airlock.  It’s basically a rubber cork with a hole in it sized to fit your containers.  Bungs come in different sizes, so when picking one up at your local supply store, make sure to know the measurements of the opening of the containers you’re using.

(Photo by Melody Flammger) Bung

Airlock:

These come in many shapes and sizes.   The idea is that the airlock is filled with water (or vodka) and will allow carbon dioxide created in the fermentation process to be released.  This prevents nasty explosions in your wine cellar or other wine making space.  The airlock also prevents the wine from being exposed to the air from outside of the fermenter.  Air from outside the fermenter may contain ambient yeast or other contamination.

(Photo by Melody Flammger) Airlock

Hydrometer:

A hydrometer is going to allow you to monitor the alcohol and residual sugar levels as your wine continues to ferment.   This tool works by measuring the specific gravity of the substance in which it is immersed.  There are a few different types- even digital ones but I heard from a few wineries in the Finger Lakes that they use the same inexpensive model you can find at your local supply store. I use the hydrometer as a tool to craft exactly the wine I’m looking for and generally take a reading at the outset of the wine making and then once per week until the levels get close to the ideal I’m looking for.

(Photo by Melody Flammger) Hydrometer

Auto-Syphon:

This can be made out of plastic tubing or purchased from your local supply store.  The object of the auto-syphon is to make it easy to transfer wine from one container to the other without disturbing any sediment at the bottom which you would not want to include in your final product. 

Brush:

A brush will be needed to clean bottles, carboys and primary fermenters so it’s good to have one handy for this purpose- possibly even several.  Your local supply store should have a variety of shapes and sizes but one will generally suffice provided you wash the brush out thoroughly after each use.  You may want to replace your brushes regularly for best results.

(Photo by Melody Flammger) Straight brush

Corker:

It may seem a bit early to have a corker around, but as I stated in the beginning- I really like to have all of the tools I’ll need at my immediate disposal.  A corker is something you will assuredly need at the end of the wine making process (unless you just happen to have access to a bottling line or something).  Most corkers you’ll find at your local supply store are inexpensive and easy to use.

(Photo by Melody Flammger) Corker

Better wine tasting

There are four S’s so to speak when first experiencing any wine.  They are in order: see, swirl, smell, and sip.  I realize that many experienced wine drinkers might find this post a bit redundant- a lesson they learned long ago- which is why I am going to explain what all 4 of the S’s tell us as well as what one might miss in the wine drinking experience if one were to skip over one or all of them.   These simple things can tell us a surprising amount about the wine before we even consume it: there are wine connoisseurs who can tell us what the wine is without ever looking at the label!

For more of a visual, please refer to my post from last quarter where I taste and compare two Rieslings:

See:

How the wine looks can tell us a lot about the wine.  The color, first will indicate whether the wine is white, red, or rosé.  The presence of bubbles will indicate whether the wine is sparkling or in the case of vinho verdé just slightly bubbly.  Debris in the bottom of the glass (be them tartaric acid crystals, dead yeast (lees), or pulp) can also tell us a bit about the wine depending on what is found.  Beyond those basic visual indicators, the color can tell us other things. 

In a white wine, one may look at the color of the wine and be able to tell several things.  If the wine is aged, it may have a darker color than a very young white wine.  Aging in white wines is a little less common than in red wines due to the fact that reds tend to age better but certainly some aging has been done quite well with some white grapes.  Most notably, Rieslings tend to age well but there are others.  Another factor that can affect the color of a white wine is whether or not it is oaked.  Oaking a wine can drastically alter the color of the wine depending on how long the wine is in the barrel or even what type of barrel is used.  Typically, an oaked white wine will have a fuller, darker more golden color to it.  Finally, another factor that can change the color of a white wine is the alcohol content.  Alcohol can sometimes cause wines to have a darker more golden color. 

In a rosé, one may look at the color to judge whether the wine is being drunk in time.  Rosé wines are seasonal because of their delicate color, which can become more orange-brown tinged if they are not consumed in time.  These wines are literally a cross between a white wine and a red wine and are made in two ways: either the wine is made from red grapes and only allowed to ferment on the skins for a short time or the juice from the grapes naturally has some color to it.  This is why the color and taste of these wines are so delicate.  The tingeing of color is not the only disappointment if these wines are held on to for too long- the taste can suffer greatly as well.  The season for rosé wines tends to be spring and early summer.

In a red wine, one may actually be able to determine the type of the grape used to make the wine.  Pinot noir, for example, will have a very telling watery edge around the glass with a dark garnet center.  Red wine can also, like the rosés acquire an orange-brown tinge to indicate that the wine has been aged a very long time and possibly oxidized a bit.  In these older wines, you would also likely notice that the wine had shrunk in volume a bit over time also due to oxidation. 

Swirl:

Not only will swirling the wine stir up the aroma and oxidize the wine a bit- it can also tell you more about the wine.  Swirling the wine, you want to look for the wine to stick to the sides of the glass and run down.  This effect is called “legs” and can indicate a higher alcohol content than a wine with less or even no legs.  The next “S” (smell) starts with swirling.

Smell:

“If you do not smell a wine or simply take a brief cursory whiff, very little information goes to the brain, and not surprisingly, you will have trouble deciding what the wine tastes like.”  I took this quote from Karen MacNeil’s The Wine Bible because she sums it up so perfectly.  Much of what you taste in your wine will actually come from what you smell.  For this reason, smell is a very important part of a proper wine tasting. 

There are a lot of smells in wine from barnyard to basement there are literally hundreds of descriptors which have been used over the centuries.  Most commonly, one will smell a mix of different fruits but there are also floral scents, nutty scents, mineral scents, even the smell of petrol has entered in now and then.  To simplify tastings, Ann C. Noble invented an aroma wheel which many find useful starting out. 

The smells in a wine can tell us about how the wine was made- in some cases they can tell us what grape the wine was made from, whether oak was used or not, whether malolactic fermentation was used, etc.  I’ve even smelled sunshine or the countryside in a few well crafted wines.  I have the best experience when I let the wine “talk” to me and tell me about itself.  I do this by following the whole process and not trying to smell for specific descriptors but rather put a name on the ones that come to the forefront.  This way, you can get a feel for the wine.

Sip

A tip from my Wines Professor Lorraine Hems who teaches in the Hospitality program at RIT is to throw away the first sip of wine.  Why, you may ask?  This is because you may have eaten something or drank something throughout the day that would taint your palate.  In order to get the best first impression of the wine, you almost want to swish the wine around on the first sip and either spit or swallow when finished.  Never evaluate on the first sip.

Now that palates have been cleansed it’s time to taste all of the beautiful descriptors you found in the nose of that wine. This is where the wine comes to life.  With tasting, there are three main flavors you will notice: sweet, sour and bitter.  Salt is largely excluded because it’s extremely rare to find a salt flavor in a wine.  The only grape variety I know of to have a salty flavor is the trebbiano grape which is used in the making of balsamic vinegar.  This grape is rarely used for wine.

 

Sweet, sour and bitter have attributions to specific qualities in the wine.  Sweet is attributed to the residual sugar (or added sugar) in the wine.  Residual sugar refers to sugar that was not fermented out of the wine by the yeast.  Sour is attributed to acid in the wine.  Acidity can have a lot of bearing on the flavor of the wine making it very tart or in more balanced wines making it well rounded.  Finally, the most common source for a bitter taste is the tannin which typically only occurs in rosé or red wines.

I hope this has been an interesting review even for the experienced wine drinker, and as always- enjoy your wine!

Pour me one please

As I was perusing the internet in the usual way tonight, I managed to come across a very cool youtube video of an intricate machine that will open a bottle of wine and pour a glass.  The machine was made by Robert Higgs and runs on literally nothing more than a hand crank and gravity.  Since it is not only very cool but also has to do with wine I thought I'd share:



While the machine is cool, it's certainly not practical but it does make me think about the ways we go about simple tasks.  There are many ways to open a wine bottle these days: corkscrew, sabre (with sparkling at least), electric opener... and with the increasing popularity of Stelvin screw caps we're seeing this task become increasingly easier.  This machine seems like the predecessor to the electric "rabbit" openers I glance at every time I walk through housewares in various stores.  Unfortunately, as with its electric cousins I find that while the machine is cool and bears some novelty that it just isn't necessary.  Call me old-fashioned but I kind of like the tactile sensation of popping the cork myself- by hand with a corkscrew.  Of course, I've also been known to enjoy my wines from the Stelvin topped bottles as well because the way they open has almost no bearing on how they taste.  In any case, it's still cool that someone spent hours, perhaps months conceptualizing and implementing the design for this machine which performs a simple task which most of us take for granted (I believe this makes it a Goldberg machine).  I also suppose that it doesn't really matter how one goes about opening their bottles so long as they enjoy what's inside.  So, with that- happy opening- however you choose to do it!