To the
casual wine drinker, or those who have taken production oriented winery tours,
the idea of the wine being made in the field with minimal interference during
winemaking is a common impression. But the concept that wines really make
themselves and the winemaker but a steward of the process is more romantic than
realistic. I'm not saying this is bad but in most cases, in terms of total wine
production volume, it just ain't so. Thanks to technology, it is more likely
that designing wine taste profiles is becoming more the norm than the
exception. This does not mean that small lot and artisan estate wineries will
embrace all the available tricks. Most of the larger producers, those that sell
juice or blend to a brand standard style, especially boxed, mini-kegged and the
under $15 price point magnum segment will use every advantage available. It may
in fact give the drinker of those wines a better tasting and more predictable
wine.
Fine wine aficionados may find this appalling but they are
not really the market for most of the wine made in the world. Nor is the amount
of money they spend on wine terribly significant in terms of market share.
Growers have to sell their grapes just as if they grew broccoli. While some
choose to hand tend clusters at the 1.5 tons/acre and $2,000 per ton level,
others may find that four or more $500 tons/acre meets their business model.
Knowing your labor makes for outstanding fruit that goes into Pinky Up Chardonnay
is great but from a pure farming business standpoint, selling your total
tonnage for the same money is also fine. Even if it goes into Suzy Spritzy wine
coolers. That helps keep an industry (and agricultural families) alive and
well.
I hear my readers running for the spit bucket at that
thought but please indulge me. You don't have to drink it (and I don't blame
you) but, if everything was La Tache, wine drinkers would be a rare breed. Even
so, we love to find a consistent source of daily plonk or decent enough for
cooking. More people drinking wine means a healthier wine trade and competition
at the introductory price points helps drive that. Well made, consistent
bottles under $10 are good for us all.
Those that find they enjoy wine generally move up the
price/quality scale, even if only for special events. One thing I've found in
years of educating people about wine is that even those who claim not to like
wine can tell a well made one from a poor example. Take a novice wine drinker
who loves Riesling with some sweetness but "hates" Cabernet. Put a
well made Cab and one that is less fine in front of them and they may claim not
to like either of them but can usually identify the better example. Also,
novice drinkers often expand their range of taste, typically moving from fruity
whites to drier reds over time.
In talking with people at trade shows and reading trade
publications, I find an increasing attention to profiling flavors. And not just
at the introductory level. Gallo, from long ago, used its lab to test potential
new brands for consumer flavor preferences and to fine tune the end product.
While we are beyond Thunderbird and oak chips in a swimming pool approach, if
there is a way to make a wine taste like what the customer wants, winemakers
should not fear to use it. Actually, it has gone on for years. Taste is in part
determined by choices in soils, clone, exposure, climate, vine density, fermentation
methods and aging vessels are common and part of the taste of terroir lore as
to why certain areas or wineries offer superior wine.
Now technology is moving forward on several fronts. Barrels
have become very costly. When the cost is taken over the three years of typical
use, the best of the respected French firms oak cooperage add about $1.50 of
cost to each bottle of wine made from a standard size barrel. This is part of
the move toward neutral oak (pre-used barrels that impart little flavor) or
unoaked versions of Chardonnay. An alternative gaining favor (see prior
"Concrete Solution" post) are alternate storage and fermenting
vessels such at concrete. That option, as well as purely using stainless tanks,
is said to allow more expression of the true fruit flavors.
That may be fine if the fruit has the taste you seek. If
not, barrel makers are beginning to offer profiled barrels. Not just by wood
grain and level of toast but by infused flavoring components. Another alternative
are true oak packs in a spiral design that can be toasted to a desired degree.
These offer much more surface exposure to the wine, speeding up the time needed
for desired flavor impact. If you want the micro-oxygenation offered by oak but
like the cost of used barrels, dropping these in the wine may be the answer.
Taking this another step, companies are now offering
products for use in the field that can alter the fruit flavors or yield, color
and even clarity of the final wine. These are enzymatic approaches to how the
fruit matures and what the grower prefers. Stay tuned as I research more about
how this works and hopefully find some examples that are in bottle for you to
try.
