The Charateristics of Wines
Describing the differing processes by which wines of the various
types are made is a simple matter. It is quite another matter to define
the characteristics of these wines, for here one must use words to
interpret the perceptions of one's sight, taste and smell.
THE CATEGORIES OF WINES
There are six basic categories of wine; still and sparkling; natural and
fortified, red and white. Every wine made from grape juice fits into one
or more of these categories. A wine in any one of these categories may
be dry or sweet. So, before we begin to consider the many fine shades of
sense distinction between wines of similar type, they may firstly be
defined by a combination of the basic categorical terms. Thus a Pommard,
or a Hunter River Hermitage, is a still, natural, dry, red wine. A port
of the Portuguese Duoro, or from All Saint's in Northern Victoria, is a
fortified, sweet, red; and a Pol Roget or a Great Western Brut is a
sparkling, dry white.
The terms "natural" and "fortified" usually are omitted in describing a
wine, being taken for granted, but properly should be included if one
wants to make a complete, generic description. As will already have
become apparent. the term "natural" means a wine that has been fermented
to the degree that all the natural grape sugar in the juice has been
used by the yeasts to create alcohol and carbon dioxide, and no
additional alcohol has been added to it. A fortified wine is a natural
wine to which alcohol has been added at some stage in the process of its
making, to bring its alcohol content to about 20 per cent by volume, or
34-36 deg proof.
When presented with a wine of any kind and faced with the need to
rationalize one's perceptions and to form a judgment, one considers
first the shade of color, then the smell (or bouquet), followed by the
flavor, and last of all, the "finish". What one seeks in a wine will, of
course, change as experience and education develop, for it is only by
experience and education that the senses come to detect fine
differences.
The old saw "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing" applies as well to
wine lore as it does to any other subject, but the pleasure of
expounding on the subject of wine will be no less, perhaps even a little
greater, while one's knowledge is small. It is doubtful hether the
greatest of wine judges enjoys his wine any better than the amateur. It
is possible he enjoys it less, for being so erudite he is less willing
to accept the mediocre. And what one must always remember about wines is
that for every bottle of great wine there are 10,000 bottles of
mediocre. To wait only for the great wine will be to spend a large part
of one's life being thirsty!
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