I first started drinking wine in 1973 (plus or minus), but I didn’t start studying wine until 2003 (plus or minus). For 30 years the sweeter the better, and the cheaper the better. From Boone’s Farm, to MD20/20, to Black Kat Rieslings; I didn’t give wine much thought. But in 2003 I decided to learn more about wine, and actual set about studying wine. And if you would have asked me my favorite wine in 2003, my answer would probably have been “I like all wines that are not tannic.” Today I would probably rephrase that to be “I like all wines that are not (unbalanced) tannic.” And in 2003, that meant Bordeaux’s and Italian Reds! So in 2003, I liked all wines, except Bordeaux’s and Italian Reds. But times have changed!
As I studied wine, I learned about tannins and where they come from, what they added to the wine, and most importantly, how to tame them. A tannic wine is like a wild horse; but tamed, that horse can be magnificent. Once you learn how to manage the tannins in the wine, they can really add to your wine drinking pleasure.
Some of you like overly tannic wines. Some of you even like liver and onions, but I don’t. I do enjoy fried pork rinds (fresh and hot), but I’m sure at least one person reading this doesn’t. The point being, if you like big, tannic wines, there is plenty for you to choose from. However, if you don’t like unbalanced tannic wines, you don’t have to give up Bordeaux’s and Italian Reds (the biggest group of tannic wines).
Tannins help a wine age. The longer it ages, the more the tannins eventually break down. If you mature a hugely tannic wine for 20 years, the probability will be that when you open the bottle the wine will still be good and the tannins will have all mellowed. The more tannins in the original wine, the longer it can age.
But there is a way of tricking the wine – decanting.
Most tannic wines will lose their tannins through bottle age, or decanting. As a (gross) Rule of Thumb; one hour in the decanter is equal to one year of bottle age. A Bordeaux, or Barolo, or Barbaresco made to last 20 years can be tamed with 10 years of bottle age and 10 more hours of decanting.
I recently returned from a wine trip to Montalcino (e.g., Brunello di Montalcino). These wines have a lot of tannins, and need 10 plus years to start to mellow. Part of the reason for the high tannins is that the salami from this area is rich and fatty and goes perfect with the tannic wine. However, for me, I like a softer wine. The 2001 reserve Brunello’s are drinking wonderfully right now, but the 2006 vintage was rated so high that I wanted to try some, but without the high tannins. So I opened a few 2006s and let them decant for 6 or 7 hours and they were wonderful.
So if you like big, tannic wines, the world is full of them, but if you don’t like tannic wines and you don’t want to wait another five to ten years to drink your wines, try a decanter. A little time in the decanter can make a world of difference when it comes to maturing a wine (and mellowing the tannins).
Until next time drink good wine.
Dr Dave
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Taming Wild Tannins
Tuesday, May 8th, 2012What Do IBM, Starbucks, SPDR Gold Shares, and Tiffany’s Have in Common With Wine? More Than You Think!
Thursday, April 12th, 2012No, it’s not sitting in Starbucks at one of their new wine serving cafes, tapping the keyboards of your IBM laptop searching for that coveted Tiffany’s bracelet of gold for your significant other’s next milestone birthday……...Although that’s not a bad guess. Actually, it’s something that I suspect many of you haven’t thought of but should. It could save you a lot of money. Collectible wine trades just like a stock, a commodity, and precious metals, obeying market forces. You ignore the charts at your own financial peril, especially if you’re a collector.
Over the last quarter century, fine wine such as Bordeaux, Burgundy and now highly coveted Rhones of famed producers such as E. Guigal and M. Chapoutier have behaved more and more like equities and commodities such as gold, silver, platinum, copper, sugar, soybeans and so on. I suspect that’s why Liv-ex, the collectible wine trading service, established in 1999, was created. The Liv-ex 100 is a basket of one hundred mostly top Bordeaux, with a few Burgundy and an occasional Rhone and Super Tuscan thrown in. If you examine the Liv-ex 100 chart, you’ll note that it looks like that of any equity or commodity or index such as the S&P 500.
Dr. Dave Makes it Clear That All Wines Are Good and All Daughters Are Pretty
Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012I am often asked what I think of a particular wine. I consider the question similar to being asked “do you think my daughter is pretty?” What can I say? All wines are good, and all daughters are pretty.
I have to put myself in the right mindset when I review a wine. The first question being, “compared to what?” “How is this wine compared to a 1997 Gaja Barolo? Or how is this wine compared to a 2010 merlot made by your neighbor with a metal bottle cap closure?”
Why It’s Never Been a Better Time to Be a Wine Connoisseur
Tuesday, March 13th, 2012The other morning, I was streaming through ’09 and ’10 Bordeaux prices, taking stock of changes, re-reading some reviews and making my wish list (and hoping that some of the prices soften), all the while reviewing a video with Giancarlo Pacenti from tour last summer. On another screen, I was reviewing our upcoming invitations from Bordeaux estates this summer for our video tour while still on another screen, evaluating airfare prices to Bordeaux. Then came an alert regarding a wine I’d been searching for, all as I was writing this article. Suddenly, I stopped, scanned the number of screens I had going in real time and was simply overtaken with how much information was available to me simultaneously and in real time. Before me, on my computer, was the epitome of the informational age (minus a few games). While it’s something that all of us take for granted, it wasn’t so long ago than none of it was available. For those of you old enough (like me), it doesn’t take much to recount the days when the information stream was limited and stodgy. Access often required days, weeks or even months of laborious work and research just to retrieve enough data to draw conclusions. The road to information was a small two lane dirt path accommodating only one task at a time. Multitasking? Fuggetabouit!! If you wanted to learn about wine regions and estates, you might require a tome, a wine or beverage periodical, or even the encyclopedia! I can still clearly recall reading, for the first time, about the stellar 1982 Bordeaux vintage through the old fashion route, a wine magazine. For additional follow ups, I had to wait for the next issue.
Access to wines (and often “conflict of interest” wine recommendations) would come courtesy of your local retailer, who might be pushing the wine of the week. The era a wine rating gurus was just getting started, still very much in its infancy. Sourcing out a coveted bottle could be even more challenging, leaving you to take what was available. All in all, it was a pretty slow and cumbersome process.
Wine Sulfites is Giving Me a Headache!
Friday, March 2nd, 2012This will not be a chemistry lesson, I promise. But I have been a chemist and I do have a Master’s Degree in teaching chemistry. So if I do stray towards the technical, please forgive me. I will try to put this into layman’s language even if it’s not exactly, technically, correct.
First, I know of no scientific study which relates sulfur in wine (in any of its organic forms) to headaches. A lot of “urban legion,” but no science.
How I’m Playing the 2009 Bordeaux
Tuesday, February 21st, 2012Well, the verdict is in and, not surprisingly, it appears as if all have reconfirmed that the 2009 Bordeaux vintage is another of a lifetime and with good reason. The growing season was picture perfect with very warm to hot days, cooling well at night, and just enough rain yielding ideal harvest conditions. It’s kind of hard to argue with Mother Nature when she kindly provides the ultimate setting, isn’t it? Add in winemakers that have been perfecting their skills for centuries and you have a recipe for greatness.
With wine rating experts tripping over one another with (well deserved) accolades over the ideal 2009 vintage and the Bordeaux marketing machine firing on all cylinders, even I find it hard not to simply give in, back up the truck and load it up with cases of the greats. I know how superb these wines can be during top vintages such as the ’82, ’86, ’00 and ’05. While I have yet to taste them, we will be traveling to Bordeaux this year to visit many of these historic estates and taste the wines so I’ll have lots of first hand information for you later on. Meanwhile, what do you do if you’re either a Bordeaux fanatic (as I am) or a novice ready to plunge in? Here’s my strategy and while it works for me, it may not be for everyone. While I’m (seriously) tempted to jump in, I know that there will be lots of the ‘09 available, now and in the future. Most of these estates produce at least 10,000 cases per vintage so the supply shouldn’t outstrip demand, forcing a surge up in pricing. So while I could lay out the cash now for a wine that I won’t see for a year or so, at least I know there will be some around if I decide to go for it down the line, even if it’s priced higher. Eleven years post 2000 vintage, there is still Lafite, Mouton and others available, albeit considerably higher priced than at release. This is not Burgundy where inventory is severely limited.
When “Silly Money” Loses it Sense of Humor: Are Cult Wine Prices About to Implode?
Monday, February 13th, 2012"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana, Reason in Common Sense, The Life of Reason, Vol.1
Through the ages, market forces have taken us on some pretty memorable rides. At the peak of the tulip craze in the 1600’s, bulbs were valued at ten times the annual salary of a worker. The fervor took over society, many placing their life savings in what seemed to be a sure thing. Shortly thereafter, the market collapsed causing irreparable ruin for many.
Danna’s Wine Scale
Friday, February 3rd, 2012For months I have been struggling with how much “bad” wine there is in Italy, and how much people defend it with national pride.
Don’t get me wrong, there is incredible wine in Italy, maybe even the best wines in the world; but 99% of the wine in Italy is drank out of a glass jug filled in the trunk of your car at the winery through a garden hose. It is THE substitute for drinking water or soda or milk with your meal. In the USA we often drink ice tea or water or soda or milk with our meals, in Italy you drink “daily” wine. And 60 million people drink a lot of daily wine. And have been drinking it since they were small children. The FUNCTION (or purpose) of 99% of the wine in Italy is not to enhance the meal, but to be the liquid part of it.
Dr. Dave Reaches His “Tipping Point “
Wednesday, January 4th, 2012There comes a day in every wine drinkers life, when they hit the “tipping point.”
Mine was New Year’s Eve, three years ago, at the Starr Pass Resort, in Tucson, Arizona. {To be fair, the Starr Pass resort has a fine sommelier, and some great wines, but not THAT night.} THAT night the best wine I could find in the entire resort was a Robert Mondavi jug wine.
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