September 2006
So you think you know a thing or two about wine? Maybe you have dispensed some wine advice in the past. Somehow, myths are propagated and persist in all aspects of our culture. Exactly how and why these myths come to be is not always easy to explain. We will tackle a few common myths from the wine.
We will examine the practices of sniffing the cork and letting the wine breathe, as well as the beliefs that legs are an indication of the wine’s quality, wine turns to vinegar with time and that all old wines are valuable.
Sniffing the cork.
It’s an important
occasion: a big date or an important business dinner. The server hands
you the cork from a bottle they’ve just opened for you. Do you take it
and sniff it not knowing what to look for? Do you just take it politely
and wait for the next cue? If you have smelled the cork, were you
puzzled by the smell? It seems to be a popular belief that you are
expected to smell the cork and that it will give you a sense of the
quality of the wine. However, if you have done this enough times, you
will agree that it not only tells you little about the wine but it also
tends to smell less than appealing.
First and foremost, when you smell the cork, the most prominent aroma will be that of the cork itself. Some believe that sniffing the cork will give you an indication of any presence of moldiness or taint – that is, it will tell you f the wine is ‘corked’. The term describes wines contaminated by trichloroanisole (TCA) a chemical compound produced by the interaction of mold infecting in the cork and cleaning agents used in production of wine corks. The consequences of this contamination is that tainted wines have a foul, musty, mushroomy or dank aroma and flavor reminiscent of wet rags making the wine undrinkable. To be clear, TCA is harmless and if you don't detect it (regardless of its concentration) and drink the wine, there will be no harm. Statistically, approximately 5% of bottles produced are corked. This is the main reason for some producers opting for screw caps or synthetic corks.
Returning to our question, if the cork tends to smell like cork, it is not likely that anyone will be able to discern a flaw by sniffing it. The ability to detect trichloroanisole is often debated and some experiments have demonstrated the inability of expert wine tasters to consistently and reproducibly identify its presence in wine. That is not to say that it doesn't occur in wines and that it does not spoil a percentage of bottles. There are some postings on the web that suggest polyethylene (kitchen plastic wrap and sandwich bags) or a tap water filter can reduce TCA in wine.
The server or sommelier may hand you the cork so you can examine it visually. The main thing you should look for is the date and other identifying information: it should match that on the label. (Inexpensive wines will not have dates or other identifying information on the cork). You can also look for signs of mold, evidence of drying or cracks or breaks. (A crumbling cork does not necessarily bode poorly for the wine). You can also look for tracks of wine up the side of the cork which may suggest the wine was subjected to heat. (The heat causes the wine to expand and push against the cork, sometimes seeping around it). This may also happen when the bottle was too full during bottling.
So the question remains, what can you do to ensure the wine is to your standards? Well, you are given a small sample of the wine in your glass. This is where your skills of evaluating wine can pay off. The server will wait while you sniff and taste and give you sign of approval or disapproval. It is up to you and your style, then, to deal with any eventual haughty disdain for your passing over the sniffing of the cork. Back to top.
Breathing the wine.
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Some wines need contact with air to open up and express aromas and flavors. Historically, this practice took hold because, in earlier days, winemakers used much more sulfur than today. This led to some wine having an off-putting smell. Since this smell was caused by volatile sulfur compounds, aeration allowed most of those compounds to escape from the wine. In modern wine, the reason for aeration is simply to allow the wine's natural and appropriate aromas to loosen up and blossom. When you realize how little of the wine’s surface is exposed to air in the neck of the bottle, it becomes apparent that the wine will not be able to release those luscious smells and flavors if it is just left to sit there in the opened bottle. You will get the wine better aerated by pouring it and then swirling it in the glass but the best way to aerate the wine is by decanting. |
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There are caveats here: Older wines are rather fragile. Decanting may dispel any remnants of aroma and flavor, so proceed with caution. Aeration opens a wine, but leaving it exposed to air for an extended period of time will result in oxidation and spoilage. Finally, you may try all you want but you will not be able to freshen up a corked wine.
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Decanting is simply the action of pouring a wine from its bottle into a wide-based container. It separates the wine from its sediment and exposes a large surface of the wine to oxygen, allowing it to express its desirable aromas. We have found that this process may also soften some aromas which were overpowering or unpleasant. The method of Double Decanting consists of first pouring the wine into a decanter, and then rinsing the original bottle with non-chlorinated water. The wine is then immediately returned to the bottle. In this way, amount of exposure the wine has had to oxygen is doubled. Top. |
Legs and wine quality.
| Legs, also called tears, are the viscous, tear-like tracks that run down the inside of a glass after you swirl the wine. Many revel in their beauty and some place great emphasis on their appearance. Most likely related to alcohol content (usually becoming more prominent with higher alcohol by volume), it is a visually pleasing phenomenon but is not correlated to other sensory aspects to the wine or its quality. Here is why: |
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Certain liquids tend to cling to glass because of the attraction between the molecules making up the two. Water is a perfect example. If you look at the side of a glass of water you will see the meniscus: an upward curve of the surface of the water along the inside of the glass. It doesn’t go up very high because the forces attracting the water to the glass are only a bit stronger than water’s surface tension – the attraction of water molecules to each other. The second major component of wine is alcohol and it is carried up the inside of the glass by the water. Adding alcohol to water reduces its surface tension – another reason the film of wine clings to the glass. Thus, after swirling, there is a thin film of wine on the inner surface of the glass. However, alcohol evaporates at lower temperatures than water does. This happens rather quickly and the surface tension of the remaining film of wine increases. The wine coalesces into heavy drops and flows down the side of the glass. If you were to stop the evaporation of alcohol, say by swirling the wine in a covered container, there would be no formation of legs. (Some will attribute the legs phenomenon to the wine’s glycerol content. This alcohol is present in amounts insufficient to contribute to the formation of legs. Furthermore, it evaporates at much higher temperatures than water or ethanol.)
The basis of this phenomenon is collectively called the Gibbs Marangoni Effect – named after the two scientists who described the two principles underlying the phenomenon. This seemingly obscure and overly-technical bit of chemistry and physics is the underlying principle of bubble bath, shampoo, beer foam, whipped cream and sheeting action of automatic dishwasher detergents. If this is all too technical or overwhelming, we apologize for bursting your bubble. Back to top.
Wine, with time, will turn to vinegar.
This myth presumes that vinegar is the natural next step in the evolution of wine. Leaving the wine open for extended periods of time (overnight for example), this myth suggests, will result in its conversion to vinegar. Another belief related to this myth is that wine kept in an inappropriate temperature range will also turn to vinegar. While both sets of circumstances will result in spoiled wine, neither will cause the conversion of wine to vinegar. There is nothing in wine that holds potential to convert it to vinegar as a result of exposure to air or heat.
Vinegar is a dilute solution of acetic acid and is made with the help of specific bacteria which convert sugar directly into acetic acid as part of their metabolic processes. This process bypasses the production of alcohol from sugar by yeast – which is called fermentation. Ethanol may be converted to acetic acid but wine does not contain any of the chemical ingredients necessary for the process to take place.
Because exposure to air alone, is not enough to enact the chemical conversion of ethanol to vinegar, leaving wine exposed to air overnight will only result in its becoming oxidized. Such a wine will taste off and stale but won’t have turned to vinegar. It will be spoiled but there will be nothing vinegary about it.
Since wine contains none of the essential ingredients to turn it into vinegar, exposure to heat will not accelerate a reaction that does not have a chance of occurring in the first place. What will happen, though, is the wine will get cooked. It will taste burnt, overripe or raisiny. Some signs of heat stress are a cork that is pushed up past the mouth of the bottle and streaks of wine up the sides of the cork. If the exposure to heat is prolonged, the cork may dry up and shrivel and allow air to leak into the bottle and the wine will be oxidized. Back to top.
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The older, the better. Since we are on the subject of changes that occur with time, we should address the notion that all wines improve with time and as such, become more valuable. The fact is that the vast majority of the wines produced are ready to drink at the time of release and do not hold much potential for aging. A small portion of wines will improve over about a decade following release. A rare few will last several decades. Examples of these are Bordeaux Premier Crus, Burgundy Grand Crus, select Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons and some Tuscan wines. At this time, most Central Coast wines don’t make it past the 10 year mark. Not that it’s a bad thing. Drink up! Responsibly. |
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A wine is a complex chemical system that will change over time. What destines a wine to greatness? Three general things: The wine must have the chemical makeup (proportion of extract, acids and tannins) to last and evolve into something greater than what was initially bottled. This is highly dependent on the year produced, source of fruit and winemaking methods (even in a good year, a poor producer is very unlikely to miraculously turn out a stunning, exceptional wine). Once the magic has been captured in a bottle, the ball is in your court. If you find a wine you feel will age well over the years, you should purchase at least a case of it. This way you can track its development and determine if it’s still closed, if it’s peaking or if it is past its prime. In order to do this well, your newly acquired supply of wine should be stored properly. You need to keep it on its side, in a cool environment (55 – 60 degrees Fahrenheit) at a constant 60% humidity. The wine should be kept out of the light and not moved. Frequent vibrations will also prevent the formation of sediment. This is best achieved with a controlled-climate wine cooler placed in a cool dark room. There are facilities which can store your wines and some higher end wine retailers offer this service at a fee.
Hopefully, this article debunked some common wine myths. So if you have a 5 year-old bottle of Charles Shaw or an older jug of Gallo Hearty Burgundy that have been sitting in the cabinet above your refrigerator, you have a fun learning opportunity! Pop the cork and sniff it (if you dare!). Experiment: Let it sit with the cork out and then try it. Swirl it around in the glass and see if that improves it… Does it have legs? Do they predict the quality of the wine? Then open a recent vintage and do the same. With the help of this article you will no longer feel awkward when ordering a bottle of wine in a restaurant. You may also want to view our pointers on tasting wine.
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This Month's Wine Reviews:
Cal-Itals/Super Tuscans:
00 Mckeon-Phillips Ceazar 90 points
03 Mandolina Toccata Riserva 91 points
03 JanKris Riatta 89 points
04 Presidio Sangiovese 89 points
Consilience Winery:
04 Grenache 90 points
04 Zinfandel, Mendocino County 90 points
05 Grenache Blanc 92 points
05 Grenache Rosé 89 points
Whites:
Non-Vinatage Chardonnay, Cottonwood Canyon 93 points
05 Koehler Viognier 89 points
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