How Will it Taste?

Get a lot of feedback about these articles, but not all of it is favorable. My wife says I write too much about myself. My son says I write too much about food, and not enough about wine. So this week I'm writing about wine.

When you're buying or ordering a bottle of wine, the natural thing is to mentally 'visualize' how it's going to taste. I also do this when I look at a menu: I think about the taste of a steak, or shrimp, to decide what I'm going to order.

The first step in trying to anticipate the taste of a wine is to determine the grape, or grapes, from which the wine is made. For a wine from California that's not too hard: usually the name of the grape is on the label, such as 'Chardonnay' or 'Syrah.' The same is often true about Australian wines, such as 'Shiraz,' the Australian name for Syrah.

But in Europe, until recently putting the name of the grape on the label was a 'no-no.' Instead, the place where the grapes were grown is what is traditionally written on the label. So if you see a French wine named 'Burgundy,' you are supposed to know that it's made from the Pinot Noir grape. But this gets a bit tricky if you're looking for Syrah based wine. Wines from the Chateauneuf-du-Pape region are made with varying amounts of the Syrah grape. Wines from the Languedoc region in Provence may or may contain Syrah. And who knows what's in the Super-Tuscan wines of Italy these days'

Then too, there's quite a difference between the taste of a grape of the same name grown in California, and one grown in Burgundy or Australia. Even though it carries the same name, it can be a very different clone.

Let's take Pinot Noir as an example. The Pinot Noir wines of the Burgundy region usually are light in color, (some almost look like rosé), with the delicate nose of flowers and a taste reminiscent of Queen Anne cherries. But because a different clone is usually planted in California, Oregon, and Washington, the leading locations for Pinot Noir wines in the United States, and because of different climate and soil, the Pinot Noirs of the West Coast tend to be darker in color, with more body, a darker cherry flavor and more concentration. I find many of the Oregon Pinot Noir wines to be more like the Syrah based wines of the Rhone Valley than the wines of Burgundy. But the American taste favors stronger flavors.

The Syrah (or Shiraz) grape is more predictable. The Syrah based wines of the Rhone valley, such as 'Cote du Rhone' and 'Chateauneuf-du-Pape' have a slight pepper nose that I don't usually find in the Syrah wines of the States. But the dark color, the nose of blackberries, herbs and lilac is similar. Sometimes there is a hint of chocolate or black olives.

Many wines are improved through the blending of different grapes. Certain blends have become traditional. In Bordeaux it's customary to blend approximately 60% Cabernet with 30% Merlot, then 5% each of two other varietals such as Petit Verdot or Cabernet Franc. In the Saint Emilion region the major grape blend is reversed such that there is more Merlot (the major grape of that region) and less Cabernet Sauvignon, leading to a softer, less tannic wine.

In the Southern Rhone valley the traditional blend is a mix of Syrah with Grenache, and a few California vintners emulate this style, calling their wines 'Rhone blends.' One such group is known as the 'Rhone Rangers.' I like the wines with a significant amount of Grenache blended in. By itself, Syrah can be a bit too earthy, lacking any exotic fruit flavor. The addition of Grenache gives the wines more fruit and more complexity of flavors. I particularly like wines from the small villages in the Rhone valley such as Gigondas and Vacqueras (and these names appear prominently on labels). When a touch of Mourvedre grapes is included in the blend, there is the added flavor of liquorice, which I love in a wine.

Wines made from Grenache grapes are more and more in vogue right now around the world. In the northeast part of Spain, known as the Priorat, 'garnacha tinta' is a hot topic. And the Australian contenders are full of ripe fruit flavor, typical of the Australian taste preference.

I hope this brief description of some of the grape tastes helps you to 'visualize' the taste of your next bottle of wine.

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Mervyn L. Hecht has been the wine buyer for a wine importing company for over 10 years. He is the wine columnist for the Palisadian Post newspaper, and a California wine judge certified by the University of California. He teaches a course on French and Italian wine for the UCLA Extension dept.
www.wine-taste.com/

During the 1970’s and 1980’s Mr. Hecht did extensive work in the options field for Bear Stearns, Charles Schwab, and Merrill Lynch. In 1990 he retired to spend more time as an arbitrator for the New York Stock Exchange and the National Association of Securities Dealers, and to write books. www.doubleyouryield.com/

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