THE ARCHITECTURE OF WINE

By Mike Muirhead, Sommelier (ISG, CMS)

Fine wine is like great architecture. Whether the finished product is to be sleek and smooth or big, bold, and textured, the elements of good design need to include thoughtful composition and balance in order to achieve greatness. In an issue about the biggest and boldest of reds, we need to ask the question: What is it that makes a wine BIG? By understanding the structure of a big, bold wine through fruit, tannin, alcohol, and acid, we can see how a truly memorable, balanced wine is created.

Composition

The climate, the vineyard, the region’s wine history, and the winemaker all add attributes to a wine’s composition. The grapes contribute fruit and tannin to a red wine’s weight and body, and the winemaker’s approach to alcohol and acidity in the production process rounds out the makings of a big, bold red.

Fruit

Different grape varieties have different characteristics, including flavour, aroma, and intensity. If you compare Cabernet Sauvignon, with its thick skin and deep colour, to Pinot Noir, with its thin skin and pale colour, you get an early hint as to why they might taste different in the glass. Bold aromatics (blackberry, jam, chocolate) that are produced by grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon or Malbec give the impression that the wine is going to be “big” before it even hits the palate. Ripeness of the fruit also matters: grapes need a growing season best suited to the variety in order to ripen well, and the chosen harvest date affects the ultimate intensity of the fruit flavours.

Tannin

Tannin creates the mouth-drying feeling you experience when you drink quality red wines and contributes to the textural feel and fullness of the wine. There are two main sources of tannin in the winemaking process: skin tannin and wood tannin. Skin tannin comes from the skin of the grape—the thicker the skin, the more tannic a wine can be. In addition, the riper the fruit, the rounder and lusher skin tannin will be in the final glass.

The choices that winemakers make about the vessel used for wine fermentation influences the role wood tannin will play in the final wine. Small wood barrels (barriques—the ones you see in so many winery cellar pictures) have a high wood-to-juice ratio, and newer barrels impart more tannin to the wine, giving added weight. But, in our first hint that these elements depend on each other, only quality fruit can stand up to the added flavours and textures of this type of barrel ageing. For less notable wood tannin in the ageing process, large old casks (foudres) hardly transfer any tannin, and stainless steel transfers none.

Alcohol

While most people do not associate alcohol with the weight or body of a wine, in fact, it plays a very important role. Wines range from very low levels (7% or even lower for Moscato and late-harvest Riesling) to more than twice that concentration (14.5% to 16% for naturally fermented, full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, or other varieties). Years ago, people would swirl their wine around a glass to check the “legs”: the higher the alcohol content, the more viscous the wine, and it would cling to the glass, showing “good legs.” The higher the alcohol content, the bigger the wine feels on the palate (though truthfully, it has no meaningful effect on the quality of a wine).

Acid

Acidity is the backbone of wine structure and quality (especially if you are cellaring). It is what gives you that mouthwatering feeling after taking a sip. Higher acidity lightens the perception of the wine as a whole, and lower acidity brings the fruit and tannin to the forefront, giving the taster a sense of a fuller body—a “bigger” wine. A wine can still be high acid and full-bodied, though: that just means the other components of fruit, tannin, and alcohol are significant enough to balance it out—a perfect segue-way into the final, crucial element of a good, big red.

Balance

In wine, as in life, we search for balance. All winemakers strive for wine equilibrium—but what is that? Let’s use a childhood favourite to frame the principles of balance: lemonade. A good lemonade is the perfect balance between tartness (acidity) and sweetness (sugar). Fullbodied red wine relies on a more complex balance of fruit concentration, acidity, alcohol, and tannin. These all need to be in harmony, without any component “sticking out,” to make for a quality full-bodied red wine. Rich fruit with no acidity will result in a wine that tastes flat and uninteresting. If you match less robust fruit with high alcohol, all you will taste is booze. Winemakers that use top-quality, ripe fruit and master balance truly set themselves apart.

When you admire good design, a building can catch your eye with the use of texture, shape, and materials. But to truly appreciate good architecture, you need to also understand the workings of a solid foundation and structural integrity. Likewise, when a winemaker is able to balance the natural characteristics of climate, terroir, and fruit with alcohol and acid—and yes, a little bit of luck—they can build a bold red that has the power to linger on your palate for years to come. Not every big red wine is the simple product of crushed, ripe grapes, fermented, matured, settled, and bottled. Some winemakers use significant winemaking adjustments, especially in high-volume, branded wines, to attain a big, bold red. These techniques fall well within winemaking regulations and can result in a big wine that uses a few shortcuts to bring down the price tag or speed up the process of producing a bigger wine flavour. SUGAR: Added sugar following fermentation creates artificial body, giving a richer, fuller impression on the palate. A dry wine will have as little as 1 to 2 grams of unfermentable sugars still remaining, but if a producer wants to “up the richness,” it is easy enough to do. Sugar can legally be added in many winemaking areas. For example, some California red blends are 14% alcohol and still have 15 to 20 grams of residual sugar. This sugar creates body—but it can hide bad winemaking (and can contribute to that headache tomorrow). The wine might not necessarily taste “sweet” because the other components have also been adjusted for balance. COLOUR: In the era of bigger, faster, stronger, there are also certain additives that have become commonplace and have been used to make a red wine feel bigger. For example, grape concentrates can be added to deepen the colour of a wine, which can fool the brain into thinking the wine is bolder than it actually is (for more on this, see Gary’s Corner on page 30). TANNIN: Finally, tannin can be added in many forms to achieve the textured mouthfeel of a big red wine without quality, ripe, tannin-rich grapes from the vineyard. Where a wine is a bit thin from a particular blend or from diluted flavours and fruit, tannin powder can be added. To create that “barrel-aged” mouthfeel in a big red wine, oak chips can be added, tea-bag style, without the cost or time of true barrique ageing.

Red Herrings

Not every big red wine is the simple product of crushed, ripe grapes, fermented, matured, settled, and bottled. Some winemakers use significant winemaking adjustments, especially in high-volume, branded wines, to attain a big, bold red. These techniques fall well within winemaking regulations and can result in a big wine that uses a few shortcuts to bring down the price tag or speed up the process of producing a bigger wine flavour.

SUGAR: Added sugar following fermentation creates artificial body, giving a richer, fuller impression on the palate. A dry wine will have as little as 1 to 2 grams of unfermentable sugars still remaining, but if a producer wants to “up the richness,” it is easy enough to do. Sugar can legally be added in many winemaking areas. For example, some California red blends are 14% alcohol and still have 15 to 20 grams of residual sugar. This sugar creates body—but it can hide bad winemaking (and can contribute to that headache tomorrow). The wine might not necessarily taste “sweet” because the other components have also been adjusted for balance.

COLOUR: In the era of bigger, faster, stronger, there are also certain additives that have become commonplace and have been used to make a red wine feel bigger. For example, grape concentrates can be added to deepen the colour of a wine, which can fool the brain into thinking the wine is bolder than it actually is (for more on this, see Gary’s Corner on page 30).

TANNIN: Finally, tannin can be added in many forms to achieve the textured mouthfeel of a big red wine without quality, ripe, tannin-rich grapes from the vineyard. Where a wine is a bit thin from a particular blend or from diluted flavours and fruit, tannin powder can be added. To create that “barrel-aged” mouthfeel in a big red wine, oak chips can be added, tea-bag style, without the cost or time of true barrique ageing.