Cork Update

TCA or trichloroanisole is a defect that infects wine corks making the wine under it smell musty/mouldy. It’s the main reason so many producers have switched to other enclosures like plastic/polymer corks and screw caps for wine. Portugal, the largest creator of wine corks, has spent meg-bucks in their production process to rectify this problem. Because of this, less wines today are affected by TCA and as a result, many producers are starting to go back to cork enclosures for their wines. A good thing, if you ask me! Because corks are porous, they provide micro-oxygenation helping a wine better evolve with age. More aesthetic and romantic, there’s nothing quite like the pop of a cork being extracted from a bottle.  

Balance

Balance is the most important aspect of a wine and is key as to whether it works in the mouth or not and detrimental to its aging ability, especially for reds. When one speaks of balance, it is usually the fruit (sweetness) and acid (sourness) that is of concern. If too much acid, the wine will taste sharp and astringent. If not enough, it will come across as cloying or flabby. This fruit/acid balance must exist in a wine upon creation and, if absent, no amount of aging will provide it. Other elements like too much oak, excessive alcohol and even hard, unripe, aggressive tannins can also render a wine unbalanced on another level. When it comes to balance in a wine, it’s all about harmony of components. This is crucial.

The “Nose” of a Wine

Wine appreciation is about 85% “nose”. Why? As humans, our sense of taste is actually quite poor. We don’t realize how poor our sense of taste really is until the nose is eliminated from the experience. For example, when one has a cold or allergies and the nose is stuffed up, food and drink seem tasteless. Sure we can pick up texture and experience sourness or sweetness, but beyond that, any flavour, pizzazz or nuance is lost. Try this. Peel a delicious apple and raw potato and cut them into quarters. Cover your eyes and have someone feed you one or the other. If you can’t see it, or more importantly smell it, I’ll bet you’ll have a hard time telling which is which. The nose is that important when it comes to taste. 

Undervalued Chenin Blanc

One white, grape variety that doesn’t seem to get much justice outside of France’s Loire Valley, South Africa and certain parts of California is Chenin Blanc. It’s resistant to many diseases and grows in climates often too warm for many other Vinfera types. It’s extremely versatile making great dry, medium-dry, medium, and spectacular sweet wines. Noble Rot or Botrytis loves it and it creates fabulous Icewine. It even produces wonderful sparkling selections. It can take oak, if desired, has good body and, at times, possesses reasonable aging potential. Full of floral, honeyed, melon, quince, honeydew, flint and zesty acidity, it’s extremely food-friendly. It’s too darn bad more producers don’t choose to work with it!

Two Faces of Sauvignon Blanc

Sauvignon Blanc, the great white grape of France’s central Loire Valley and Bordeaux has two distinct faces. One is straight up with its crisp, gooseberry, grassy, green tree fruit character shining through as in Sancerre or with more tropicality like New Zealand versions. The other, mellowed with some oak treatment, exemplified in French Pouilly-Fumé or California Fume Blanc. Both are great aperitifs and extremely food-friendly, but which is better? It’s strictly a matter of taste, but personally I feel that this variety shows much better unoaked. In my mind, oak masks and detracts from the varietals distinct soul of freshness, liveliness and pizzazz making it somewhat fatter. If I want fat, then I’ll sip an oaked Chardonnay. 

Visual Wine Problems

Most wine defects display themselves on the nose, however, there are some visual signs a wine could be problematic. Cloudiness or sediment in a bottle is usually evidence of age or evolution. In a young wine, it could mean unfiltered. Neither of these is necessarily a bad thing. If utilizing a cork enclosure and the cork seems to be pushing out against the capsule, this could be trouble. Usually, this particular bottle has come in contact with a source of heat and any dormant yeast has come to life again and starting to re-ferment the wine. The carbon dioxide produced is pushing the cork out of the bottle. If the bottle you’re contemplating purchasing looks this way, don’t buy it. Most likely it will not be good. 

Wine is Light-Sensitive

Why do you suppose almost all wine comes packaged in dark coloured bottles? Very simply put, wine is light- sensitive. That’s also why, properly stored, wine is kept in the dark. As to the particular colour utilized for bottles, there is no significance, Many shades of green, brown and even purple, like a Noxzema bottle, are used. The only wines that might come in clear bottles are dessert and rosé wines, strictly as a marketing tool to highlight the pretty colour and make you want to buy them. Once purchased though, these should be stored in the dark as well. So whether you’re buying wine to have with dinner on Saturday or aging it for a while, be sure to keep it in a dark place.