This Ain’t on the Wine Aroma Wheel

In a speech last fall at a gathering of online wine writers, Editor Jim Gordon from Wines & Vines magazine encouraged those in the audience to dig deep into expanding their viti and vinicultural knowledge.  Only when understanding how grapes are grown in the vineyard and turned into wine in the winery would a writer have enough breadth of knowledge to render valid context and criticism of a wine, went his line of thinking.

It’s good advice for all wine writers as well as experienced enthusiasts that make up what the industry call, “Core” wine drinkers.  And, of course, industry trade magazines like Wines & Vines and Wine Business Monthly along with any number of other educational supplements are valuable tools for understanding the production side of the business in order to accrue enough knowledge for what can sometimes by murky territory.

Elsewhere, and in a separate rejoinder, writer Matt Kramer calls for a heightened level of transparency about the making of a given wine in the current issue of Wine Spectator – things like acidifying, watering back, de-alcoholization and the use of additives like Mega Purple (Kramer did not specify Mega Purple by name) that can enhance mouth feel, color and taste.

Kramer’s piece wasn’t a call-to-arms as much as it was a call to lay down the arms, or indicate weapons of choice.

What’s unfortunate however in these twin calls to understand and to explain is the manifest reality that in the business of making wine there’s a certain level of forthrightness from winemakers that may never come.

Simply, the stakes are too high.

The dollars involved are too high not to use the technological advances that are available, and the stakes are too high around the romance of wine from the consumer side to talk about how the wine is made, lest the imperfection of reality manifest itself like a slovenly and sullen cast member at the Magic Kingdom.

Coming back full circle to Gordon’s statement, one thing I would encourage anybody with more than a passing interest in wine to do is begin to monitor the oak alternative companies.  Not necessarily in a “watchdog” way, but definitely in a “trying to understand” way.  It’s less shrouded in mystery and slightly more interesting than understanding a winemaker’s preferred choice of yeast.

A read through of the current issues of Wines & Vines and Wine Business Monthly, both focused on oak, indicates that a significant amount of innovation is happening in this niche of the industry and, secondarily, one of the significant hard costs for a winery is the acquisition of barrels – French, American or other.  Thus, the use of oak alternatives is rising. 

I read one futures prediction recently that indicated that in the not-too-distant future any wine under $15 would use an oak alternative.

An example of the innovation in oak is a recent ad for StaVin in Wine Business Monthly (bolded emphasis is mine).  The copy in the ad says:

“Two years ago, we told the world we could replicate the flavors of a French oak barrel by alternative means. Experts balked, then proved our point in blind tastings, actually choosing our flavors over those of prestigious French barrels.  We didn’t stop there.  Today we’re offering the tools to recreate flavor profiles of a whole range of different barrels.  Whether they come from France or Kentucky, Hungary or Spain.  Never before have winemakers had such a wide array of flavor controls at their command.”

In the visual for the ad (which is far more interesting than the copy), the photography indicates something of a board of dials for different flavors.  Represented in that ad, either by design, or lack of thought, are flavors for grapefruit, lemon, pear, violet, raspberry, blackberry, plum and many other components typically associated with grapes.

Oak doesn’t impart an apple or peach nuance? Or does it?

With the growing divide in between natural wines and wines of construction (using technological advances) there is much more left unsaid then is said. It’s the iceberg theory in action – 20% seen, 80% unseen.

Shrouded in mystery, the winemaker’s art won’t always tell us how a wine is constructed, but by following areas of the industry, like the barrel companies and oak alternatives, we’ll all start to have a better understanding of what goes into wine.  Your meaty Syrah with notes of bacon? Comes from the grape, right? Yeah, it might have come from a tea bag of oak dust tuned to deliver that flavor.