Note to readers: Desire for Dummies is a new series that will guide readers who are looking to be lavish on luxury or big-ticket investments by answering all the key questions they may have.
However complicated they may sound, the world of wines is interesting once you have the hang of the basics. A quick guide that tracks wine’s centuries-old heritage and its modern-day avatar.
When, and how, was wine first made?
Answer: Did you know that carbon dating of 60-million-year-old fossils in parts of Iran and Europe has thrown up the first signs of wine? An amphora of wine found on the Hajji Firuz Tepe archaeological site, in the northern Zagros Mountains of Iran, has been dated back to the Neolithic period, around 5400-5000 B.C.
The early Greeks and Romans mastered the art of making and maturing wine. It is believed the Phoenician traders introduced the Greeks to the joys of wine, who went on to set up wineries in Western Europe.
And it is the Romans who classified the different varieties of grapes, from which we get different kinds of wines. They also invented the wooden wine barrel that was used to mature wines. In ancient Greek and Roman cultures, the wine was an everyday drink. The Greeks, interestingly, diluted it a little with water to avoid getting too drunk in the middle of a day.
The wine grapes tend to be smaller, sweeter, with seeds and thick skin. There are 1300 wine grape varieties today, but only 100 of these make up about 75 percent of the vineyards. This, of course, leads to the different kinds of wines that modern man makes from the various grape varietals.
What are the different varieties of wines?
Answer: There are over 20 varieties of wines made from as many grape varietals, but the really popular ones are a handful.
- Barbera: This red wine comes from the northern Italian region of Piedmont. It has juicy notes of cherries, strawberries and raspberries, and is low on tannins. Almost a thousand years older than Cabernet Sauvignon, it is just about gaining currency outside Italy. One of the highest-rated Barbera by Wine Spectator—considered a Bible by winemakers—is Marchesi di Barolo Barbera Maraia Red Wine, with an enticing aroma of dark berries, spice and a little vanilla.
- Riesling: This aromatic German grape produces wines with intense aromas of fruits such as honey apples, pear, lime peels and apricots. This white wine has notes that go from dry to sweet. On the palate, a Riesling is highly acidic, much like a lemonade. The cult favourite among Rieslings comes the Egon Müller estate, run by the Müller family since 1797.
- Sauvignon Blanc: Made from a green-skinned grape variety, the most famous expressions come from France’s Loire Valley and New Zealand’s Marlborough wine region. The dry white wine can be crisp and grassy (when the grapes are grown in a cold climate) or juicy and tropical (when grown in a warm country like India). J M Barbosa Ninfa Sauvignon Blanc 2015 is a delightful Portuguese single estate wine, best enjoyed with pasta.
- Chardonnay: The Chardonnay grapes are responsible for complex white wines. Chardonnay is also one of the three main grapes used in champagne, along with reds such as pinot noir and pinot Meunier. The full-bodied Lynmar Estate 2016 Monastery Chardonnay is salty, briny and spicy.
- Rosé Wines: Wines receive their colour not from the juice but its contact with the skin of the grapes. Rosé is produced by soaking red grapes on their skins for shorter durations than red wines. As soon as the juice begins to take on a colour that goes from salmon pink to deep pink, the skins are removed and the juice is allowed to ferment. Chateau d'Esclans Whispering Angel Rosé is a light and fresh wine with a hint of sweetness.
- Shiraz: This dark full-bodied red wine has a large amount of mouth-drying tannins and flavours such as berries, pepper and, well, tobacco. Penfolds 2014 Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz is super-smooth, with layers of rich fruit and scents of smoke and olives.
- Zinfandel: Originally from Croatia, Zinfandel is most-commonly grown in California. It has bold flavours, moderate tannins and high acidity. Andis Original Grandpère Vineyard Zinfandel Sierra Foothill 2017 comes from a vineyard planted in 1869 and is packed with aromas of cherry, dried oregano, and thyme aromas.
- Cabernet Sauvignon: This grape varietal produces tannic red wines that are dry, with flavours of green pepper, tobacco and dark fruits such as cherries. 2015 Joseph Phelps Insignia from Napa Valley is rich with flavours of cedar, graphite, grainy tannins, cocoa, cassis, and blackberry.
- Champagne and Sparkling wines: It is believed that a French monk and cellar master, Dom Pérignon, at the Benedictine Abbey in Hautvillers discovered champagne after he pioneered several winemaking techniques around 1670. This sparkling wine from the Champagne region is protected by GI, which means only sparkling wine from the Champagne region of France can be called, well, Champagne. Everything produced in any other part of the world is just ‘sparkling wine. Three variety of grapes, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay are used to produce almost all champagne. Dom Pérignon from the house of Moët & Chandon is a classic.
What are Old World and New World Wines?
Answer: Wines can be divided into two: Old World Wines and New World Wines. Among the Old World Wines, the most famous come from Bordeaux in France, with a history that back to the ancient Romans, the first to cultivate, plant vineyards and produce wine in this region. The wines were distributed to Roman soldiers and citizens in Gaul and Britain. The region was also the place of origin for grape varieties such as Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.
Among the other Old World wine-producing regions are Italy, Portugal, Spain, Germany and Hungary. Old World wines tend to be of lighter body, with lower alcohol content and with less fruity and more mineral flavours.
The more modern experimentation and expression of wines, in regions that were not traditionally wine-producing, are known as New World Wines. New world refers to countries and winemakers that borrowed traditions from other countries to jumpstart their own. Among them: North America, South America, Australia, New Zealand, and the newest of New World Wine regions: India and Thailand.
New World Wines are of the fuller body, with low acidity and pronounced fruity flavours.
How is wine stored and matured?
Answer: Over the centuries, the way wines are stored and matured has evolved. The ancient Romans and Georgians stored wines in large terracotta pots or qvevri. Unfermented grapes were dumped into a qvevri, which could hold hundreds to thousands of litres of liquid depending on its size. The grapes were then crushed (stems included), the qvevri was buried (to keep the wine at a steady temperature) and primary fermentation commenced.
Once matured, the slim-necked clay amphorae, sealed with clay stopper and resin, were used to transport them. This wax-lined (pine and beeswax were common) ceramic containers, invented by the Egyptians, were gradually adopted by nearly all the wine drinking civilisations throughout the Mediterranean and Mesopotamian regions.
The Roman army, who had to carry wine over a large geographic region, abandoned the amphorae when they discovered wooden barrels for storing and maturing wine. Most of the ancient world, then, switched to drinking wine from the barrels. Sometime in the 18th century, while wine continued to be matured in wooden barrels, the world discovered that it can be stored for consumption in glass bottles that were sealed by a cork stopper.
Now, of course, there are various ways in which wine can be stored and sold: bags-in-boxes, tetra packs, wine kegs, stainless steel barrels, screw caps and artificial corks, besides the glass bottles.
What is the etiquette involved in drinking wines?
Answer: Hold your glass by the stem so that heat from your hand does not change the character or flavour of the wine.
Sniff and smell your wine to understand the aromas to enhance the experience. Swirl it in the glass to release aromas, the subtlety of which can be detected by the nose.
Then, sip the wine, hold it in your mouth, purse your lips, and draw in some air across your tongue and over the wine. Swish it in your mouth to release the different flavours, before you gulp it down.
What are the different terms associated with wine?
Answer:
Acidity: This naturally occurring component determines how sharp the flavour of the wine is.
Barrel Fermented: A process by which white wine is fermented in oak barrels rather than stainless steel tanks, which produces richer, creamier wines.
Bodega: A Spanish word for the winery, which means the room where barrels are stored.
Bouquet: A wine’s aromas or how a wine smells as a whole.
Biodynamic Wines: Started in the 1920s by Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner, biodynamics represent a method of farming based around a specific astronomic calendar. Each day coincides with one of the elements: earth, fire, air and water. Days are organised by fruit days (preferable for grape harvesting), root days (pruning), leaf days (watering) and flower days, where the vineyard should be untouched. Biodynamic farming employs organic practices, avoids pesticides and depends on the compost.
Cru: A French term for ranking a wine’s inherent quality, for instance, Cru Bourgeois, Cru Classe, Premier Cru and Grand Cru.
Tannins: A group of bitter and astringent compounds, tannins can be found abundantly found in bark, leaves, wood and oak. When wine is matured in wood or oak barrels, it absorbs the tannins of the barrel. Tannin in wine adds bitterness, astringency as well as complexity.
Terroir: Terroir is how a particular winemaking region's climate, soils and aspect (terrain) affect the taste of wine.
What do you need to keep in mind while storing wine at home?
Answer: Nikhil Agarwal, founder, All Things Nice, says it is imperative to have the right infrastructure to store wine. “If you have space, I would dedicate a room, in which the wines can be kept, to be used as a cellar. The ideal conditions are dim to no lighting when no one is there, a constant temperature of around 12°C to 15°C, and relative humidity of about 70 percent so that the corks do not dry up.”
If space is an issue, then invest in a good wine fridge. When building a collection it is extremely important to buy wines from the right sources. You do not want to build a portfolio of wines that have been previously stored badly.
What is the right temperature at which you serve wine?
Answer: While red wine is generally served at room temperature in cold countries, in India, it is best to chill them to around 16-to-20 degree Celsius before serving. White wine should be served more chilled, between 10 and 12 degrees Celsius.
And the final question: How do you read a wine label?
Answer: Increasingly, wine labels are works of art, often designed by artists, like the Mastu Wineries labels. But there is more to wine labels then art. Confused about what those fancy wine labels state? A quick guide.
The country of origin: The country where the wine originated will be indicated on the label.
Quality designation: European wines by law and tradition are ranked by a rating system that grades them, with `superior quality’ wines being the best and the table wines being the lowest and cheapest. The grades are usually displayed on the bottle. In the case of French wine, these are the terms used to indicate the quality, from the best to the lowest-rated: AOC (Appellation of Controlled Origin), VDQS (Wines of Superior Quality), Vins de Pays (Country Wine), Vins de Table (Table Wine).
Vintage: The label will indicate in large type the year in which the grape used in the wine was harvested. A simple internet search will reveal the best vintage years for various kinds of wines.
Region of origin/grape varietal: The label, especially European ones, will indicate the region where the wine is made. Individual regions are associated with specific types of grape varietals. ‘Red Burgundy’, for example, suggests that the red wine is from Burgundy, which is known for its Pinot Noir variety of grape.
Deepali Nandwani is a journalist who keeps a close watch on the world of luxury.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
