Can You Name These Barrel Aromas?

Naming Aromas is not just for wine

https://crushmag-online.com/fun-unique-wine-tasting-pairings-cape-winelands/

HOW WINE IS DESCRIBED

EARTHY

“A classic go-to move for a wine writer trying to describe that awkward green and unpleasant finish on a wine. They don’t want to hate on the wine, they just want you to know that if you don’t like the wine it means you don’t like earthy and you’re a bad person. —from https://winefolly.com/tips/40-wine-descriptions/” (Madeline Puckett)

WINE DESCRIPTIONS

“A lot of folks (including me) rely on reading wine descriptions to get an idea of what a wine will taste like. Wine writing is a business and its job is to SELL wine, not to be honest or accurate.”—Madeline Puckett, Wine Folly

The actual experience of tasting wine is silent.

You don’t have to say anything at all. But, since saying stuff is part of the fun, it’s good to know a little about how words are generally used in the business to describe wine.

First, be aware that just like Madeline Puckett says above, words about wines are often used to intimidate and insult outsiders, or insiders you don’t like—probably because traditionally they have been mostly written by men.

The wine business was created by men and so naturally it absorbed “male” values—full of enemies, dominating the opponent and celebration of individual violence, which is what we men like to call “winning.”

Tasting wine is not a wrestling match, you don’t have to dominate your fellow tasters like Hulk Hogan in a WWE match.

So, as we talk about wine, the words are more than just their literal meaning. They convey social class, attitudes, and hierarchy, too. Also, since tasting wine is a skill built up over years and decades, some people skip the skills part and just make up words. And, if they are good, they get away with it.

Say, “My, the taste of huckleberries is strong in this one” and all of a sudden everybody in the room is tasting huckleberries. Or, blueberries. Or, whatever.

So, wine words don’t exist in a vacuum the way they are taught in wine schools. They exist in the context of other words, other smells, and other people. Especially, what you just tasted before you taste or smell this wine.

Here’s the traditional way to describe a wine, which is based on how English experts have historically approached it. Originally, it was almost all about Bordeaux (France)—Claret if you’re in downtown England. It’s about Chateau Lafite 1947.

“The 1947 vintage belongs to the small group of legendary Bordeaux vintages from the twentieth century together with 1928, 1945, 1949, 1953, 1959, 1961, 1982 and 1990. The year was marked by a very hot August and September. The grapes were harvested in a heatwave with a sugar content no one knew how to handle at the time. There were no temperature-controlled fermentation vats nor cultivated yeasts that could cope with such ripe grapes. This led to many wines’ showing volatile acidity that would become more obvious as the wines aged. Many wines also show much more residual sugar than any respectable cellarmaster would allow now.”—Jancis Robinson, https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/1947-a-magically-faulty-vintage

She’s right. I’ve had that vintage, she’s not making that stuff up.

The English approach is a combination of weather report, history lesson and esoteric knowledge which can’t actually be checked out. If that’s what you like, that's fine. But, it can’t be acted on.

In winemaking, the words are practical and aimed at directing actions to make better wine, not selling opinions. Telling somebody you want higher or lower acidity, more or less char from the barrels, or changes in the sugar are all things winery personnel can do something about.

Selling opinions is for salesmen when they are selling. Also, office politics.

Salespeople don’t really care what you say about the wine as long as you give me a purchase order when you get through. I’ve tasted with wine buyers who have said cosmically ridiculous things to me about the wine—

“Pine sap, eh? Maybe a touch of asbestos.”

“Sure” I say, '“I was thinking the exact same thing myself.”

In selling, the right words are the ones that people give you money for.

Making wine is different. The right words are ones that make a better wine.

Criticizing wine is even more different. The right words are the ones that sell your opinions.

The words of what the wine is like pass from winemaker to owner to cellar crews to salespeople—all with the assumption (which is not always correct) that they are precise. They are meant to convey the same details about the wine to everybody working on it, so that everyone is working to produce the same taste and smells of a particular style.

The French generally eschew precision in favor of the metaphorical approach: “It’s a dainty little thing, barely old enough to dance, but lively and somewhat forward nonetheless.”

Go tell a winemaker to make a dainty little wine barely old enough to dance. See what that gets you.

Go tell a wine buyer that and they might love it and give you a purchase order.

You have to know why the words are being used. The words the way I use them below are meant to be specific vineyards, grapes and stylistic production choices— not metaphors.

Neither way is right or wrong. I just want to be clear about how and why we are going to say anything at all about a particular wine.

Talking About Wine

There are three main ways to talk about wine:

Grapes

Geography

Style (Production techniques)

Oak barrels stacked while the wine ages. Specific information about the wine inside is written in chalk on the end of the barrel. The barrel on the top left is marked “Nebbiolo.” The barrel next to it is marked “Merlot.” So, these are being coded by grape variety rather than vineyard origin. Although, vineyard or lots may be identified in the letters and numbers under the names.

What Aromas are Produced by Barrel Aging?

Barrels are part of style in the list above.

Lots of wines are aged in barrels of course. Usually, but not always oak barrels. Redwood, cedar and mesquite and all kinds of things have been, and still are, used but they are not the norm today.

Wines get flavors from barrels in different ways. The wood itself imparts vanilla or pencil shavings for instance. Redwood barrels impart, well you know, redwood aromas.

Wood from some forests impart flavors that are unique to the forests as well—Wisconsin oak is generally more vanilla than French oak. But, that’s a rule of thumb, not an absolute.

How many times the barrel has been used matters, too. After 3 years or so, the barrels become neutral, imparting no flavor of their own anymore. So, expensive red wines are often aged in new oak (with stronger flavors) or aged partly in old, neutral oak and partly in new oak.

Neutral oak is also used for short to mid-term storage when aging them longer in new barrels would impart too much oak and overpower the wine.

Even the tightness of the barrel staves has an effect on how much oxygen gets into the wine from the air. Sometimes, as barrels get older, their staves loosen slightly and are more prone to oxidize the wines.

Wine evaporates while in the barrel so the wine has to be topped up from time to time with other wine to keep a bubble of air forming at the top of the barrel under the bung (stopper). Failing to do that’s usually a mistake. But, sometimes it’s a winemaker style—like in Italy— to let the wines oxidize a little.

That makes the wine have overtones of vinegar which some people like but it also means the wine is likely to go bad a lot sooner.

THREE MAJOR AROMAS FROM THE BARREL

Vanilla—you can check this for yourself with a little vanilla extract or a fresh vanilla bean pod from the grocery store. Just go back and forth between the vanilla and the wine to teach your mind to name what it already knows.

Teaching your mind the names of smells is a little like teaching a child the names of things. Repetition and clarity make a difference.

Cigar box

I know most of you these days don’t have cigar boxes lying around the living room, but it is so incredibly specific and accurate for certain Bordeaux wines, plus the occasional highlight from California, Chile or Australia that you ought to know it.

Notice that cigar box is not the same as cigar or tobacco. Those are different aromas.

Toast

This is usually from the char on the barrels. Barrels are burned inside to give the wine a smoky or toasty taste. Char comes in light, medium and heavy. The specifics vary from one barrel maker to another depending on the exact technique they use.

OTHER BARREL AROMAS

Here’s a (partial) list of additional aromas that come from the barrels:

Good aromas:

Pine

Resinous

Cedar

Charcoal

Coffee grounds

Chocolate Mocha

Cinnamon

Clove

Nutmeg

Bad aromas

Bacon

Musty

Dank

Vinegar

Nail polish

Skunk

Names held secret power in ancient societies. So, the naming of names makes a difference. Using words randomly can be confusing and reduces the values of names. It also reduces the power of the wine.

But, used correctly, names can reveal the beauty and grace of wine. And, wine can reveal the beauty and grace of the rest of the world.

Stay well.