There is no Such Thing as a Bad Grape. Simply a Bad Production.

Working as a Sommelier offered a great insight into the workings of the human mind when choosing a bottle of wine. Unfortunately, the thought process very rarely went further than;

“I hate Chardonnay” “I always say ABC Anything But Chardonnay”

“I hate Pinot Grigio” “If I wanted something that tasted of nothing I may as well go for water”

“I hate American wines”

For once, whilst serving, it would have been nice to have been hit with;

“I’m not a fan of Chardonnay when it is from colder climates and when there hasn’t been any experienced wine making techniques involved”

Obviously this would be a wonderful thing to hear for a sommelier as it allows them to automatically understand the style of wine the customer is wanting. But how do we get to this stage?

If you haven’t had any formal training in wines, read any books on wine, or even had a discussion with a sommelier or wine expert, one could forgive you for not knowing how to express what you enjoy. Below The Wine Is Fine has collated a small cheat sheet when it comes to understanding what makes a wine taste the way it tastes. Obviously like all things there will be some which do not adhere to these rules, as within the wine industry it is sometimes hailed as a great triumph to rule break when making the ol’ vino.

Let’s begin.

1. The Climate

If the wine is coming from a warm / hot climate the flavours of the wines will be more prominent with tropical fruits and very ripe stone fruits if it is a white (Think of an Australian Chardonnay). If it is a red wine it will be more prominent with black fruits and ripe almost cooked red fruits (Think of an Argentinian Malbec).

If the wine is coming from a moderate / cold climate the flavours of the wines will be more prominent with grassier / herbaceous notes and under ripe stone fruits and citrus if it is a white wine (Think of a German Riesling). If it is a red wine the colder climate will create more fresh tomato leaf and red fruits such as red currants and strawberries (Think of a French Pinot Noir).

The alcohol in the wine will be more obvious in a warmer climate as with more sunlight and warmth, more sugar will become concentrated and the more sugar in the grapes, the more potential alcohol in the final result (Think of an Italian Montepulciano or a French Malbec).

Conclusion - Generally warm temperatures will create more punchy fruity wines. Cooler temperatures will create more acidic and fresh wines.

2. The wine making method

Depending on how the grapes have been crushed then fermented will alter the flavour of the wine quite dramatically. Think of a White Burgundy (Chardonnay made in France) compared with a Chardonnay made in the UK. Burgundian styles of wine generally prefer to use Oak when maturing their wines. UK producers like to keep wines fresh and vibrant so will opt for using Stainless Steel. The same grape, yet completely different in style. Below is a quick overview of some terms and what they can create.

Carbonic Maceration - Fermentation takes place with the presence of a lot of Carbon Dioxide resulting is very candied fruit flavours such as foam bananas and Haribo cherries. Beaujolais is the forefront of regions producing wines this way.

Whole Bunch Fermentation - Fermentation takes place with the grapes still on their stems. This can add more astringent, fresh, green characteristics.

Stainless Steel Fermentation - The wines will be produced in such a way as to keep all the characteristics of the grape itself, retain as much fruit flavour and keep the wine much fresher.

Oak Fermentation and Maturation - The addition of oak in the wine making process allows different factors within the taste profile of the wine to become more homogenous. Tannins which may at first seem chalky and too strong will develop into softer and riper textures. The body of the wine, the overall feel, will become more rounded and less sharp. Depending on the style of Oak used it will impart different flavours. American Oak offers characters of Coconut, Vanilla, and Sweet Spices, French Oak offers characters which are more subtle such as cinnamon and clove. The older the oak, the less flavour it will impart. Cheaper wines which operate at larger production numbers will opt to use just the wooden staves of a barrel instead of a whole barrel, giving much more obvious flavours and can often be noticed as over the top (strong vanilla flavour in cheap American reds)

Malolactic Fermentation (MLF) - MLF is used occasionally for the sole purpose of turning Malic Acid into Lactic Acid. Malic Acid is very sour, sharp and acidic. Whereas Lactic Acid is found in fermented soy products and yoghurts. So a wine which has undergone MLF will once have had an abundance of sour acid and now displays creamier softer textures. (Found a lot in Burgundian Whites).

Lees Stirring - Lees are the by product of fermentation, they are the dead yeast cells which float to the bottom of a barrel. Many times they will be simply drained out and removed from the liquid. However, in some cases these dead yeast cells will be stirred and mixed with the wine liquid to develop flavours of biscuit and brioche.

3. Vintages

Vintages become very important when you begin to notice differences between one and another with the same wines. If one year is a lot hotter than the previous year, there will be obvious stylistic differences. A little help as a starting point, Years that go up by five from 1985, these vintages are widely regarded as some of the best worldwide.

1985 - Brilliant worldwide but especially Europe.

1990 - Brilliant especially for Bordeaux and Barolo.

1995 - Brilliant especially for Tuscany, Germany and Spain.

2000 - Brilliant for Bordeaux, Ports, and Barolo.

2005 - Legendary throughout Bordeaux, but brilliant across the world.

2010 - Legendary for Bordeaux, Rhone, Tuscany, and Burgundy.

2015 - Brilliant for France in general.

2020 - Unfortunately ignore due to Covid.

4. Conclusion

So now, you should be able to determine why you do or don’t like a certain wine. Is it coming from a particularly cold climate which prefers to keep it stainless steel fermented? It will probably be quite sharp, fruit forward, and acidic.