In years past, before everyone who’s anyone put in drip lines, you needed to know the Vintage Date to determine the difference between good years and bad years. Years with a longer growing season were good years. Years with a summer rain were bad years. But all that was before drip lines and hydrometers. Nowadays, a viticulturalist can tell exactly what the percent sugar level of a grape is. If the brix is at 25, the viticulturalist knows that the grapes need a few more days on the vine. If there’s a summer rain, the viticulturalist knows that the grapes need about another week on the vine than the year prior. We now have the methods and means to measure inches of rain. The only bad years of recent history were 2011 and 2012 when Iceland had the Super Volcano Grimsvotn that erupted and caused the weather patterns to be disrupted for two years with two years of summer rains. In ’11 and ’12, when the viticulturalist had to harvest before the first frost, it meant that bolder grapes (or grapes with thicker skins) had to be harvested before they were completely ripe. The seeds were still green in grapes like Petite Sirah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petite Verdot and others. That meant the wines were extremely acidic and tannic. Ideally seeds should be brown and nutty flavored before harvesting. The bolder grapes didn’t get enough hanging time those two years, and as well in 2004, the year of the prior eruption. But all light skinned grapes such as white grapes, Pinot Noir and Grenache, were perfectly fine. Thus, Vintage date, tells us not only when the grapes were harvested, but reminds us of which wines we may not want on certain years.
The Vintage date also tells us when something is ready to be consumed, based upon the style of wine. Places in France are notorious for 100% brand New French Oak. When you age a wine in New Oak, it adds tannin to the wine. Thus, you need to let the wine simmer in the barrels or in the bottle longer to mellow them. Thus, a wine with 100% New French Oak may take five years before it’s drinking well. Otherwise, it’s like drinking tar and pepper. Yuck. A winery has to make ends meet, so they may or may not release the wine before it’s ready to drink. But typically, when a wine is released, it’s meant to be consumed within two years. The more new oak that the wine is matured in, the more longevity the wine has (usually).
Different types of barrel aging create different flavor profiles. For example, American Oak has looser grains and add more vanilla flavors to the wine. French Oak has tighter grains and add subtle white pepper notes to the wine. There are other types of oak as well, such as Hungarian Oak, which is somewhere in the middle adding an Allspice note to the wine. When the barrels are toasted, the flavor profile changes. French Oak flavors become more intense with espresso and chocolate notes. American oak flavors evolve to butterscotch. Hungarian Oak develops toffee flavors. Some winemakers choose Hybrid barrels, wherein the staves are one type of oak and the heads of the barrel are another. Winemakers also choose neutral barrels (that don’t impart flavor) and simply add oak corkscrews, chips or dust in the barrel to impart flavors.
When you are tasting wine, the primary aromas are the fruit and floral aromas that are synonymous with that particular grape. This week we’ve been talking about Grenache with its raspberry characteristics on the nose. Then when it’s aged for a year in American/French hybrid barrels, the flavors change. When aged in neutral oak (that doesn’t impart flavor) you’ll still notice the raspberry flavors first. But, when a lot of new oak is used, you might not notice the primary fruit aromas first. The secondary aromas of the vanilla and espresso will come through more prevalently. Once it’s aged in a bottle for a period of time, tertiary aromas of hazelnut and marzipan unfold. A great artist is able to balance all three layers of complexity: primary, secondary and tertiary, as all are equally important for creating a foodie wine.
The amount of time in the barrel and the size of the barrel are similarly important. Here’s where humidity comes into play. About half of a gallon per month evaporates out of the wine. It’s the water that’s evaporating out. In warm humid months, less is lost than in cold dry months. It’s the humidity that causes the expansion and contraction of the wood causing the evaporation. The barrels themselves stay pretty well insulated, with the temperature of the wine barely changing over the course of a year. But it’s that time in the barrel that is most obvious to the consumer. When you compare a glass of a $10 bottle, a $30 bottle and a $50 bottle of wine (of all of the same grape), what you are paying for is the aging. You’ll see more transparency in the $10 bottle and more opacity in that $50 bottle. Each 59 gallon drum equates to only about 25 cases of wine. Barrels range between $1800 and $4000 on average for a 59 gallon drum. When you buy a bottle of wine, you’re paying for the artistry of time. The secondary and tertiary flavors and aromas become more intense with time.
