Aroma and flavor are two of the five main categories that we analyze when tasting a wine.
A question I frequently get asked when I give workshops, especially from people new to wine analysis, is, where do the aromas and flavors in wine come from? Students ask, “So if you are saying that there is a hint of green apple, apples aren’t actually being infused into the wine, are they?”
No, they almost certainly are not (unless you are drinking Sangria!). Yet we hear, and read about, aroma flavor descriptions that range from the general (“red fruits”) to the more specific (“graphite,” “violet,” and perennially-humorous ones like “barnyard.”) How do these flavors “get into” the wine?
Thankfully, the fermentation tank in the winery never contained an infusion of pencil lead, violets, or whatever is in a barnyard (though the violets might have been lovely). What you are smelling and tasting are the aroma and flavor compounds that we associate with different foods, minerals, or other odors. These chemical compounds are often the same as the ones in actual apples, graphite, violets, or barnyards, and it is our brain that makes the association with these compounds.
These compounds in wine come from three major sources: 1) the grapes themselves, and then, in the winemaking process, 2) fermentation, and 3) maturation. In this post, I’ll be writing about the first source: the grapes themselves.
Flavors from grapes
Each varietal (a single named grape type or “variety,” such as Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, or Chardonnay, which are actually the names of the grapes themselves) has its own biological characteristics, aptly called the “varietal character.” Just as you might be able to distinguish the flavor differences between Gala apples, Fuji apples, and Granny Smith apples, the same is the case for grapes. Each grape type (varietal) has its own unique scent and flavor profile that it brings to the wine.
On top of this, those characteristics are developed, diminished, or changed based on the viticulture (wine farming) practices. For instance, the longer a grape stays on the vine, not only does it become sweeter (like all vine-ripened fruit, compared to that which is picked even a couple of days too early), but the more its characteristic fruit flavors evolve, too.
For instance, if “red fruits” are a general characteristic flavor and aroma of the Pinot Noir grape, a “strawberry” flavor that comes through could be either “fresh strawberry” if the grapes were picked on time, or “cooked strawberry” if the grapes stayed on a bit longer past their prime. (Some people like the “cooked fruit” flavor, however – a lot of wine appreciation, as you’ll learn in our workshops, is subjective. It’s about finding the flavors that you like in a wine, and then finding a wine that contains those flavors in a balanced, good way.).
Viticulture practice matters, and perfect timing is a key element
These changes that take place on the vine is why viticulture practice is so important, and why a skilled winemaker will constantly be monitoring the ripeness status of the grapes. As an example of this, when I worked as the viticulture intern at Etude, during “high harvest” as the grapes were rapidly approaching a state of almost-perfect ripeness, I would sometimes be sent out two different times in the same day to the same vineyard block to gather samples (there were ~ 16-20 blocks total from which I gathered samples! at different sites! Every day was a race, literally — sometimes I would be jogging through acres of a block to get a representative sample, which was ~16 – 30 clusters from various places in the vineyard block) to bring back to the lab. The first go was early in the morning, at daybreak. I would make it back by late morning (if I didn’t have to drive too far that day), press the grapes, label the juice in the beakers, and run it to the oenologist in the lab. In high harvest I would be sent out around lunchtime or early afternoon to certain blocks, after the numbers were analyzed. Why? because that close to ripeness, often the grapes change in the span of one single day (!).
Jon (Priest, head winemaker at Etude) was monitoring closely residual sugar, pH, and other elements measured in the oenology lab on site, and making decisions about the perfect moment to send the crews out to pick. Crews are typically sent out overnight for picking (when the grapes are cooler) so delaying one day means you’d be waiting until the following night…and during the course of that next one day, in the blazing southern-Napa and Sonoma sun, with temperatures often in the 90s, things can shift. Those same measures of residual sugar, acid, etc. can be past the desired point that very next day, when the grape samples are pressed and the juice goes to the lab.
Every outstanding winemaker has a signature wine-making style that they hope to achieve, and a lot of that depends on what happens in the vineyard. Every year winemakers are tango-ing with temperature and weather shifts (among other growing challenges) and when these spikes and dips occur close to the grapes’ final days of ripeness, it gets intense.
The game-time decision made by the winemaker in these critical days reminded me a lot of a coach making calls during a championship game. All season you have been preparing, there have been highs, lows, upsets, and stressful moments, and it all comes down to one final game, this last brief period of time. It is both exhilarating and nerve-wracking!
The art and science of viticulture plays a major role in the quality of the final wine. Jon (and many other winemakers these days) often spoke of how 90% of the winemaking happens in the vineyard. And in the final days as the grapes are nearing readiness to come off of the vines, these critical timing decisions require the resources to monitor the chemistry of the grapes and the skill to know which numbers will give you the best fruit product possible to work with.
As you can imagine, not all wineries are able to take such care with their picking-timing decisions. While price points don’t always correspond to quality (especially in California, where prices are often arbitrary or influenced by financial motivations) it does generally take more resources to monitor the grapes’ conditions this closely. On the other end of the spectrum, mass-producers of lesser wines often take little care with these nuances, ballparking ripeness and sending out the huge machines on dates made at best by educated guesses. This results in harvests of grapes that may or may not be at peak yet (or could be past it). You can imagine how these decisions impact the flavors and quality of the grapes before the winemaking process even begins.
The next time you pick up an exquisite bottle of wine, I hope you’ll pause to think about the repeated analysis performed on the grapes and the diligent, conscientious efforts of the winemaker and their team to have selected those grapes when they are at their perfect balance of sugar, acid, and varietal character. I will certainly raise my glass to that level of excellence!
Stay tuned for future posts discussing the specific varietal character of some of the major grape types, and for information about how fermentation and maturation impart their own flavors and aromas on a wine.