THE COLOUR OF WINE

A while ago Oliver asked if a pale or yellowsih coloured rose means that the wine is "no good".

First things first: regardless of skin colour, almost all grape juice is colourless, except for a group of grape varieties called "teinturiers", which have red juice. Therefore, the colour in red wines is obtained by fermenting the juice on ths skin. Fermentation is that process, in which yeast, a living organism, metabolises the sugar in grape juice into alcohol. During fermentation alcohol is formed, which helps extract the colour out of the skin cells. Hence, the longer wine is "on the skins" the deeper the colour.

Now, in regard to rose, the procedure is exactly the same as for red wines: the juice and skins are put together in the fermentation vat, with the sole difference that the time skins and juice stay together is much shorter than for red wines, normally only up to eight hours, after which juice and skins are separated, and the pink coloured juice is fermented on its own, in absence of the skins. Of course a winemaker can "play" with the time frame and either go for a deeper or a paler style of rose, depending on how long he keeps skin and juice together.

There is another, more crucial side to colouring matter in grape skins: every grape variety diifers in the amount of pigment it has in the skin, Therefore, colour alone doesn't say anything about the quality of a certain wine. Pinot Noir, for example, that revered variety from Burgundy, which is responsible for the production of some of the world's most expensive wines, has very little pigment indeed. Still, no one would contest that it "lightness" in colour says anything about its undoubted quality.
Reversely, Cabernet Sauvgnon, the main ingredient of many Bordeaux wines has colour in abundance in its skins. Therefore a very pale coloured Cabernet would raise eyebrows. but between pitch black and watery pale pink, or even grey (a colour of pink so pale the French call it oeil de perdix - the colour of patridge eyes) there is any hue and intensity imaginable.

To go back to Oliver's question about the paleness of a rose: there are many roses that are very pale, think for example of roses made of Pinot Noir or Rose Champagne, to name just two examples, and very deep ones, almost starting to look like full blown reds. What does sound alarming is the "yellowish" colour Oliver mentioned in his post. It may be in indication that the wine is "oxidised", and has been exposed to air and has lost all its freshness. A browing tinge is often a sure tale sign that thisis the case, to be cofirmed by a stale, browning apple like smell. However, also here are many exceptions: some aged Rioja roses are almost amber in colour, due to very long cask ageing. The smell of browning apple is part of the wine and very much desired.

One also has to take into account that with age red wines get ligher in colour - this is due to the fact that part of the pigments coagulate with the tannins in a red wine. The weight of these molecules makes it impossible for them to remain suspended in the wine, and fall out. This is the sediment that you often see sitting on the bottom of an aged bottle. Curiously, with white wine eactly the opposite happens: they tend to become darker in colour, a process that is not yet entirely understood.

to further complicate things (and remember: we all like wine, exactly because it hasnt the simplicity of coca cola): recently an unstoppable trend has been to ferment white wines on the skin,just like a red wine. resulting in wines with an orange hue. Strione of Cantine Astroni , a wine available on this site, is a perfect example oft his style. Unusual at first, this style is borne out of the desire to re-create the ancient wine styles from the Greek and Romans, who, regardless of the grape variety's colour ,would ferment everything together. Most people tend to argue that these wines are not "real" white wines, and initially they find them hard to apreciate. But this style is as real as any red, it just depends what you are acustomed to, anf they are often much better food partners than the thousands of same tasting and smelling whites currently onthe market.

Hope this gives some insight. Please let me know your experiences and feedback.

by Walter 25/02/2010 00:22

As requested Walter one post about tartrates!

I have just reviewed M Seduction Haut Medoc and mentioned that it had lots of sediment. If there is anyone left out there who like me was a complete novice when they bought their first case and is wondering what they are, description follows;

In most cases, sediment in bottled wine is a side effect of aging: a deposit of tartrate crystals and/or of anthocyans, tannins, etc., produced by naturally occurring phenolic polymerization.This probably means that the winemaker didn't heavily filter and clarify the wine before bottling. The downside is the deposit (which, despite what many consumers think, is not a defect); the upside is usually more flavour, more potential to develop a bouquet and increased ageability.

To deal with the deposit, all you normally need to do is set the bottle upright an hour or two before opening and pour carefully, especially toward the end. Some wines throw particularly heavy deposits (vintage Ports are notorious in that regard) and you may want to decant them into another container. This is usually done by placing a light source behind the bottle as you pour and stopping when you see the deposit enter the neck. While you end up leaving an ounce or two of wine behind, you probably wouldn't enjoy drinking the gritty slurry anyway.

The presence of Tartrates could also be a sign that the wine has not been cold stabilized, although cold stabilizing doesn't necessarily remove all sediment.
Cold stabilization techniques have varying degrees of effectiveness. And the issue is complicated with red wines because tartrate and potassium ions can bind or complex with other chemical components, in particular phenols such as anthocyans, making them resistant to precipitation and reaction. As the wine ages and polymerization occurs, the complexes lose some of their capacity to hold tartaric acid, which then precipitates out. Many red wines aren't cold stabilized because they aren't intended to be chilled to a low temperature (usually a prerequisite to crystal formation).

Isn't the internet wonderful!!
by Alex 16/02/2010 23:43

by Alex 17/02/2010 13:24

SKIN FERMENTED WHITE WINES

Can one go on and on about a single grape variety? Well, yes, when the variety is as versatile as Falanghina, and refreshingly different from the sea of Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio flooding the shores of the UK.

Don't get me wrong: I know some outstanding Sauvignon and equally outstanding Pinot Grigio, be it from Friuli (Italy's Northeast corner, famous for its whites), France's Alsace (where, of course it is called Pinot Gris), or New Zealand, but they tend to osbcure that there are many more varieties which deserve a place in the spotlights.

i already wrote a few lines in the recommendation of Gerardo's "Strione", that this Falanghina is the pinnacle, the absolute top of what can be achieved with the grape. The fruit for this wine comes from the slopes of the estate's "crater", Astroni, and the grapes are harvested well into October. The vineyard is extremely low yielding, producing small volumes of highly concentrated bunches. You are forgiven for thinking that Italy's South may be too hot to produce whites with balance and nerve, but day and night temperatures differ signifcantly here and the cooling ocean breeze helps retain the acidity in the grapes.

What makes Strione so special, except for the low yields that are demanded from the vineyard, is the fermentation on the skins. Most grape juice, whether from red or white grapes, is colourless (exception on this rule are the so called "teinturiers" grape varieties which have red skins and red juice). Almost all the colour of red grapes is in the skins of the berries, and by fermenting the juice in the presence of the skins, the colour is extracted out. It is this, which gives the wine its red hue.

Consequently, the reverse is also possible: to make a white wine from red skinned grapes, by pressing the grapes, which separates the clear colourless juice from the red skins and ferment the juice on its own. It is the way Champagne is produced, using the white Chardonnay and the red Pinot Noir.

Fermentation on the skin for white wines is considered an ancient method, and goes back to the very beginning of wine making history, when juice and skins were not mechanically separated, and whole bunches, regardless if they were white or red, ended in the fermentation vessel.
Nowadays, especially in Italy, a trend has emerged to ferment white wines on the skin again. These wines are truly niche, not least due to the fact that the method is never used in modern winemaking and therefore wine lovers have hardly heard of it. This "trend" is not just a fashion, but stems from a desire to haul something back from the past, that has been forgotten. but it is more than just a sentimental movement. It is fed by the conviction that all the good things are in the skins, and why throw that away?

Strione is the result of this "skin fermentation" . The berries (skin, pulp, juice and all), landed in stainless steel and wooden vats. Fermentation took about two weeks to finish, after which the wine was processed as a conventional red: the young wine was drawn off from the vats( this procedure is called "racking) leaving skins and pulp behind.

Although we call white grapes "white", in reality the skins are green-yellow, and there is also some colour pigments in the skins. Therefore, skin fermented white wines tend to have a deeper, more concentrated yellow hue, and the first, opulent scent that rises from the glass is that of apricots and honey. Strione shows these "classic" skin fermentation aromas. It has an multilayered, complex but very fine nose of peach, lemon skin, hints of pink grape fruit and spice. Decanting won't hurt it either (yes, decanting white wines can do wonders!) if you want the wine to open up. By all means, don't serve it too cold, and pour it in generously sized glasses, like you would serve a fine white Burgundy. It will go very well with gnocchi and shrimps in afresh tomato and cream sauce (perhaps a drip of truffle oil?), or fish risotto, especially black risotto with squid. But i wouldn't hesitate it to serve it next to honey glazed ham either.

by Walter 04/02/2010 22:15

SHOULD RED WINES ALWAYS BE ALLOWED TO "BREATHE" OR BE DECANTED?

the following question came from Philip. See my comments and do add your personal experiences!

Is it really necessary to always let red wine breathe? Should you decant it?
Do the aerators work, I have one of the electric gadgets that blows air bubbles through the wine for a minute or so, am I wasting my time?



Hi Phil


that is a very interesting question, which i would answer in the following way: i read quite a lot of comments from people on this site, saying they opened a wine, to actually appreciate it more the next day. So aeration, and letting wines breathe seems to be a personal matter. As a rule of thumb, aerate, or decant any wine you feel is unexpressive when you open the bottle - that is, you dont get a lot of smell from the wine. the wine is said to be "closed" and air can "open it up".
However, to aerate a wine you dont have to decant it in a caraffe, just use bigger glasses (a topic i need to speak about at some stage!) and swirl a lot!
Decanting is often used for this purpose and to separate sediment that occurs in wines that have aged for many years. The sediment doesnt look "nice" in a glass, and is often associated with something "unclean" which is not the case. It mostly concerns tanninsa and tartrates (acidity), which have coagulated and due to their weight have fallen out fo the wine. It normally has a crunchy texture and tastes slightly acidic. It is, above all, harmless.

I tend to decant anything that i want to show off! i also decant whites which i find "tight" and closed, and i decant aged wines. Depdening on their structure and age, i decant either hours in advance or only just before pouring.

I just don't want to give strict rules, as there aren't any, and the wineworld is already too full of them!

Get experimenting and let me know your thoughts!


W

by Walter 02/02/2010 22:03

CORK VS SCREWCAP

WHAT CAUSES CORK TAINT IN WINE AND CAN IT HAPPEN WITH SCREWCAPPED WINES?

Cork taint is the mouldy, wet cardbox smell you get when opening a "corked" bottle of wine. This wine fault apparently occurs in up to 3% of wines that have been sealed with natural cork or so-called composites - corks that are composed of finely chopped up cork particles, which are glued together. The introduction and the subsequent succes of screwcap was the results of wine makers being concerned about the high incidence of cork taint in their wines. Except for the foul smell, the real problem is the so-called threshold of its manifestation, from almost indetectable to very intense. In its full blown appearance it is so overpowering and offputting that most people would recognise it, but there are many levels in between. In its lightest form it can subdue the fruit and give a slight bitter sensation at the back of the palate after swallowing the wine. This stage is much harder to detect or interpret for consumers and, often, professionals alike, and will lead them to think that they dont like the wine as a style, whereas in reality it is the cork taint that has affected the wine’s quality.

However, there is also a phenomenon called "the cork devil", which occurs when tasting wine in a group, and one of the tasters think a wine is „corked“, and all of a sudden everybody present start to smell it too. This happens regulalry at professional tastings, when merely raising the suspicion causes for all tasters having the same sensation, even if the wine in actual is completely clean. Even more intrigiung is the fact that people claim to smell cork taint in a screw capped wine, which apparently is impossible.

So what ist he cause of cork taint? The component responsible for it is called TCA, 2,4,6-trichloroanisole, a chemical compound produced by microbes living in cork. TCA is formed by these microbes in the presence of chlorine, which is used to clean the cork after it has been extracted from the tree's bark (but different methods like high temperature steam sterilisation are trialled) and phenols. Phenols are present in most organic matter, such as corks, but also wooden wine barrels, pallets used for transporting wines and even the wood with which the winery has been built. It is therefore not impossible for TCA to occur in screwcapped wines (even TCA contaminated steel containers used to ship wines in bulk have been reported). But it is extremely rare.

It is more likely that what people tend to identify as taint is in reality reduction. Screwcap seals off bottles hermetically, not allowing any air to permeate through the cap. Cork by nature is much less hermetical, although research has shown that the air that gets into wines that have been sealed with cork, is actually not coming from outdside (at least not during the first three years or so) but is actually air from within the cork. However, cork tends to "deteriorate" with age, due to the alchol in the wine, which affects its elasticity, and the wine itself permeating the cork, making it more porous and reducing its ability to seal the bottle. Depending on the quality of the cork, this may take many years (more than 30 years and regulalry longer). A greater hazard in this context however, is the drying out of the cork, caused by storing the bottle upright, instead of lying down. Upright stored wine bottles don't allow the wine to be in contact with the cork, guaranteeing its level of moisture. Other factors speeding up drying out the cork is storing wines too warm. When cork looses ist capacity to seal, it will alow air to enter the bottle, which in turn oxidises the wine, making it smell of browing apple and sherry.

Practically all wines have tiny portions of sulphur in them. Sulphur can be added during the wine making process, as a desinfectant, it is produced in minute quanitities by the yeast during fermentation, and can be added at the stage of bottling. Whereas apparently cork allows for some air to enter the wine after bottling, screw cap doesn’t allow for this. In the relative absence of air (relative, as between wine and closure there is a portion of air in the bottle), wines under screw cap can (but this must not happen automatically!) can get into a state or reduction, which ist he opposite of oxidation, whereas all the oxygen is bound to the sulphur. This state of reduction can make a wine smell of very little (a state which in the trade is known as „closed“), or, depending on the level of reduction, can give the wine a smell of burnt matches. The easiets way to get rid of this is to aerate the wine, to let it „breathe“ by decanting it, or swirling it in the glass. Nowadays producers who bottle under screw cap are very much aware of the hazard of too much reduction in wine, and adjust (or omit alltogether) the level of sulphur used at any stage of the winemakinga ndobttling process. The screw cap industry has responded by the development of screw cap closures, which „imitate’ cork by simply sealing the bottle less hermetically.
Another factor for developing this type of screwcap, is the fact that wines destined for extended bottle ageing (and really only a fraction of all wines produced) will evolve and develop tertiary aromas, aromas that are caused by extremely slow chemical reactions in the wine under the influence of slow ingression of minute quantities of oxygen. Hermetically sealing wines with screwcap is believed to prevent this desired process.

The debate about the advantages and disadvantages of both closure types rages on and will do so for the foreseeable future, including the notion of aesthetics of the cork vs the screw cap, and the loss of ritual when opening a screw cap bottle. Whatever the outcome, screwcap has conquered the wine world, and has become the favourite closure of most winemakers. It certainly is NOT an indication of a cheap wine, but a sign that the winemaker wants the wine to reach the winelover in the best possible condition.

For more information go to
http://www.wineanorak.com/corks/introduction.htm

by Walter 02/02/2010 09:55

Any one up for a challenge?

Ok I've always been a fan of the Naked Wine green tick or red cross system. It has proven to be an invaluable guide. However as my wine loving experience has grown, I'm beginning to wonder if i am missing out?

I made my choices on my personal preference on past experience, but baring in mind that most of my previous wine tasting will have been from the supermarket, pub or at events the likelihood is that the quality was not what it could have been so...

The Challenge!

These are my bottom two scoring categories;
Fruity but DRY whites, perfect for an aperitif (scored two stars)
Bone dry classics like Chablis? (Scored 1 star)

Can anyone come up with something to change my opinion and open up the door to me having more wine to try?

Cheers

Phil

by Phil 19/02/2010 10:06