Wine Bargains B.C. #10 Pro Tip - Perception & Reality in Dry Red Wine Styles
Perception & Reality in Dry Red Wine Styles - How Fruit Character & Sweetening Affect Flavour and Enjoyment
Dry, Fruity, Sweetened: Dry Red Wine Styles
How to Find Dry Red Wines In Your Favourite Style
Wines generally can have varying degrees of sweetness from bone dry and crisp to sticky dessert wines. Sweetness levels in these broader wine categories are relatively easy to discern. But what is sometimes confusing to dry red wine drinkers is that there can be a big range of fruitiness and sweetness even in red wines that technically all have the same amount of sugar. Since many people prefer one red wine style over another (e.g. fresh fruit forward Cabernet Sauvignon versus more earthy and astringent classic Italian red wines) you can end up with a dry red wine that is really not to your liking. Dig a little deeper into dry red wine styles can help
Sweetness is a key wine flavour component along with acidity, tannin, alcohol, body and intensity. Technically, sweetness in wine can be precisely measured but our perception of sweetness in wine can be greatly influenced by other wine flavour elements. These elements will all arrive in the glass, tied together but jostling and influencing each other all at once when you take that sip of wine. Through guided wine tasting experience and by pulling a lot of corks, one can learn to pick each component out individually but it also helps to have a basic understanding of these influences.
Dry, Fruity, Sweet?
Where Does Wine’s Sugar Come From?
All wine starts as sweet juice from sun ripened grapes. When yeast, introduced from either the skin of the grapes or by the winemaker, mixes with the grape juice, fermentation begins. The yeast begins eating the grape juice sugars and produces heat, carbon dioxide and alcohol. It's the same process that raises bread dough and turns malted grain into beer.
Typically, fermentation will continue until all the sugar has been consumed and converted to alcohol. The result will be a dry wine. The aromas and flavours that had been locked in and confined by the sugar will now be released in all their variety. This is why wine is so different from grape juice.
Sweetness by the Numbers The definition of sweetness in wine is determined by measuring its residual sugar level. This is generally the amount of sugar that remains in the final wine. This residual sugar or RS for short is usually expressed in grams per liter (g/L). On this scale a wine’s sweetness is usually defined as: Dry 0-10 g/L , Off-dry 10-25 g/L, Medium or semi-sweet 25-45 g/L, Sweet 45-65 g/L, Very sweet 65-105+ g/L. However, using a variety of techniques in the vineyard and/or the winery, a wine’s final sweetness can be influenced before, during or after fermentation.
Before Fermentation
Succeeding to Death - When Yeast Hits the Alcohol Wall If yeast converts all the sugar in grape juice to alcohol, how can there be a range of sweetness in wine? What keeps the yeast from continuing to eat sugar and make higher and higher levels of alcohol?
Yeast actually has an upper limit to its abilities, created by the alcohol that it produces. At 10% to 15% alcohol, most yeast is actually killed by the alcohol it has produced. Ironic in a way but true.
So, if there is more sugar in the grape juice than the yeast can handle, the residual sugar left after fermentation maybe higher and make for a sweeter, richer and possibly more alcoholic wine. Where does all this extra sugar come from? There are a number of ways that sugar can be concentrated inside the grapes before fermentation.
Warmer grape growing conditions - wine regions that are inland or in hotter climates will receive more sunshine andripen more fully, resulting in higher sugars e.g. Southern California or Australia
Drying grapes before fermentation - a technique used mainly in certain red Italian wines where it is called "appassimento". Many of these wines are available in B.C. liquor stores. The grapes are picked and then laid our on mats or hung up to dry in the months after harvest. The grapes will lose about 30 percent of their water content. This natural partial dehydration shrivels the individual grapes, concentrating flavours and sugar.
Late harvest style dessert wines - late harvest grapes are those left to hang on the vines very late into the harvest season, making them super ripe and richer in sugar.
Botrytis affected grapes - Botrytis is a mold that beneficially affects grapes mostly in the French area of Sauternes. The mold draws water out of the grapes and concentrates the natural sugars leaving a sweet elixir.
Ice Wine - Here the grapes are pressed when frozen so that water as ice is left behind and the remaining rich liquid is pressed out and vinified.
During fermentation
A second method of creating a sweet wine is to halt the yeast’s engine of fermentation before all the sugar can be converted. There are two main ways to do this:
Add alcohol to Halt Fermentation - Since yeast can be stopped by a certain level of alcohol, adding alcohol part way through the fermentation will therefore leave more residual sugar in the wine. This is how fortified wines including Sherry and Port are created.
Other Methods to Halt Fermentation - The winemaker can also halt the fermentation either by filtering out the yeast or by chilling the wine down and adding a small amount of sulphur dioxide (SO2). However, since the fermentation has stopped before the yeast has converted all the sugar into alcohol, the wine is actually left with lower alcohol (often below 10%) and will naturally have a higher residual sugar. This method is commonly used with the sweeter German wines such as Kabinett, Spätlese and others.
Adding Sugar or Grape Juice
Depending on the country or wine region, a winemaker can add sugar or unfermented grape juice before, during, or after fermentation. In most cases, special permission is required from the wine regulatory authorities in that wine region but in others the practice is permitted in order to increase alcohol, sweetness or both.
Chaptalisation is the term for the addition of sugar to grape juice or must before and/or during fermentation. This can be done to sweeten the wine or in cooler climate areas where grapes may not reach full ripeness in a given season as in Burgundy or Oregon. This is usually done to boost alcohol levels to the minimum needed to make a balanced wine and improve flavour and texture.
In other wine regions such as California, sugar cannot be added but unfermented grape juice can be used before, during or after fermentation to increase sweetness, alcohol or both. Some wineries add sugar to dry red wines after fermentation so that they taste “smoother” and bigger bodied for the American palate.
Now that we know a little more about how sweetness can get into a wine let’s look at the the dry red wine styles it can produce. I firmly believe that finding a wine you like first of all finding the wine style you like. That’s why the Wine Picks for this Pro Tips & Wine Bargains in B.C. newsletter are divided into three wine styles: fruit Forward, Savoury and Light and Fruity.
Finding The Dry Red Wine Style You Like - Fruit Forward, Savoury or Light and Fruity?
Two wines, that technically have the identical amount of residual sugar can taste very different - one seemingly much dryer than the other. This is one of wine’s more confusing aspects. Untangling it and being able to identify a wine’s real sweetness level requires looking at wine’s other core flavour components and their influences. This can be very useful in finding wines in the style you like.
Dry Red Wine Styles - Fresh Fruit Forward & Savoury Fruit
Dry red wine styles can have plenty of fruit concentration but for a number of reasons, the fruit tastes categorically different. To help understand it better, think of eating a pomegranate versus ripe cherries. Both are very fruity but very different. You could also think of fruit tea. Without sugar, it’s more tart and savoury but with sugar it tastes fuller, softer and richer.
The third style - light and fruity, is a bit of a sub-category. The wines are lighter bodied, often less intense and tend to have more a more moderate alcohol level. But within this distinctly lighter style there can be wines that are either fruit forward or savoury.
Fruit Forward Reds In the fruit forward style the predominant flavours are fresh, rich fruit, usually from a warmer climate. It makes sense that riper grapes, will produce sweeter juice, and so more likely that the wine will taste plush, jammy, rich and on the sweeter side even though technically the wine will have residual sugar in the dry range of 0-10 (g/L). It’s simply that the flavour of fully ripened warm climate fruit can give the wine a richer, more exuberant polish.
Warm climate reds also tend to have higher degrees of alcohol and lower acidity, both of which increase the perception of fruit, body and smoothness in a wine. Extended oak treatment can also impart fruity and sweet elements to the final wine such as chocolate, smoke and burnt sugar.
Savoury Fruit Reds The savoury fruit style is not primarily built around fruit flavours. The style can equally be packed with fruit flavour intensity but it is of a different nature. The fruit is present as in the fresh fruit style, but will tend to give “earthier” notes such as herbs, forest floor, pepper, mushrooms, smoke or spiciness.
This style is more typical of the Old World from European countries such as France, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Savoury fruit reds also contain elements of tartness or astringency, herbs, earth, tobacco, oak, smoke or olive but they are balanced with the fruit in a way that can produce some very interesting complexities.
The fruit flavors here might include blackcurrant, blueberry and strawberry as well as more austere flavours not in the sweet fruit realm like cranberry or pomegranate.
With fruit less prominent, tannins and acidity are more in the flavour mix of the savoury fruit style. Tannins and acidity are two of the five basic taste elements we can perceive. So the more bitter, drying taste of tannins and the tingling spark of acidity both contribute to our perception that savoury fruit wines are dryer even when the sugar level is actually identical. More astringent tannins or juicy acidity are not automatically an indication of lower sugar levels. Savoury tannins and higher acidity combined with generally lower alcohol tends to make savoury wines dryer tasting but also more subtle, complex and food friendly because of the other flavour elements in play. Both styles have their advantages and their fans.
Some of the world's greatest wines are made in this style such as Bordeaux, Red Burgundy, Chateauneuf du pape, Hermitage, Barolo, and Chianti. Wines you might know in this style would include: Belleruche Cotes de Rhone, Monasterios Las Vinas or Sangre de Toro.
Fruit Forward vs. Savoury: Comparing Napa to Bordeaux Both of these famous wine regions produce examples of cabernet sauvignon dominant wines. But the ones from Bordeaux will typically be more in the savoury fruit style, tasting significantly dryer than those from Napa which will usually be found to tastemore fruit forward. Why are they different?
As you might guess, Napa, which is located around the 38th parallel is located at a more Southerly latitude than Bordeaux, roughly equal to the location of Sicily off the coast of Southern Italy. Bordeaux at the 43 rd parallel is about as far North as Seattle. This difference in latitude gives more direct, warmer sunshine hours the Napa grapes and yields riper tasting grape juice. The resulting wines usually have bigger alcohol, bigger body, lower acidity and juicier rich tasting fruit.
The intensity of the Bordeaux wines can certainly match those of Napa but the style will be leaner and contain more of the more earthy, herbal/forest savoury flavours.
Lighter, Fruity Reds
The third style - light and fruity, is a bit of a sub-category here. But it is a preferred one for many red wine drinkers. The difference is that these wines are lighter bodied, often less intense and tend to have a more moderate alcohol level. But within this distinctly lighter style there can still be wines whose style is either fresh fruit forward or savoury.
These reds usually have a lighter colour, softer tannins and though also lighter in body can be very complex and elegant with good intensity and fruit flavour. The style of the fruit can be either ripe or savoury fruit depending on the area and winemaking style but could include strawberries, cherries, cranberries or pomegrante. Pinot noirs (from New Zealand, Oregon, California, British Columbia), tempranillos from Rioja, Spain and gamay as found in Beaujolais and British Columbia.) are typical grapes here. Wines you might know in this style would include: Georges DuBoeuf Beaujolais, Whitehaven Pinot Noir and Campo Viejo Rioja Tempranillo.
Finding Dry Red Wine in the Style You Like Unfortunately, there is no foolproof method of identifying the style of a dry red wine before removing the cork and tasting it. It’s difficult to generalize in terms of areas or grapes because the wine making style of a certain wine region or the winemakers can have an influence on the final style but here are some suggestions for finding dry red red wines in your preferred style.
Old World/New World - Generally speaking new world wines tend to be in the fresh fruit forward style and old world wines are more in the savoury style. To learn more about the difference between Old World and New World wines see my previous article.
Keep reading the newsletter! As a subscriber of the newsletter, you know that I have deliberately categorized the Wine Picks by style and have separate listings for Fruit Forward and Savoury. In the notes I also try to mention wines that straddle the line between the two.
Grape Grape varietal is unfortunately not a reliable indicator. Wines from the same varietal can often be either sweet or savory, and there are always counterexamples or exceptions for any grape.
Price For wines $30.00 and under, price alone is not much of a help. Wine producers all over the world try to make red wines in this price range that straddle both main red wine styles so that their wines appeal to as wide an audience as possible.
Alcohol Level Though by no means a guaranteee, alcohol level can sometimes be a general indicator of red wine fruit style.
To Find More Savoury Style Red Wines - For all regions, look for wines that are lower in alcohol, say up to 13.5%.
In France look for red wines from the North such as Bordeaux, Burgundy, Northern Rhone (Hermitage, Chateauneuf du Pape, some Cotes du Rhone).
In Italy, again look for wines from more Northern areas such as Barbaresco, Barolo, Chianti, Bardolino.
Despite the very warm climates in Spain the style tends to be mostly savoury, especially from Rioja, La Mancha and Catalunya.
Likewise, dry red Portuguese wines are usually in a savoury style.
Germany has greatly increased it’s acreage of pinot noir and these will be savoury.
In New Zealand and South Africa reds are generally made in a savoury style.
To Find More Fruit Forward Style Red Wines - For all regions, look for wines that are higher in alcohol, say up to 13.5%.
In France look for red wines from the North such as Bordeaux, Burgundy, Northern Rhone (Hermitage, Chateauneuf du Pape, some Cotes du Rhone).
In Italy, again look for wines from more Northern areas such as Barbaresco, Barolo, Chianti, Bardolino.
Despite the very warm climates in Spain the style tends to be mostly savoury, especially from Rioja, La Mancha and Catalunya.
Likewise, dry red Portuguese wines are usually in a savoury style.
Germany has greatly increased it’s acreage of pinot noir and these will be savoury.
In New Zealand and South Africa reds are generally made in a savoury style.
To help further understand all the other wine styles see my Illustrated Guide To Wine Styles:
Thanks for reading. Until next time. Please feel free to leave a comment or ask a wine question.