It is important to note that wine is a noble drink and that there are many types of wines, not only in origins and varieties, but also in intentions and price segments (including the mysterious concept of Price/Quality). However, here the intention is to understand Great Wine: why can a particular wine be so good or why does it transcend in time? What is that essence that defines great wines?
An interesting option to evaluate this question may be the model used by the philosopher Edmund Husserl, who, within his School of Phenomenology, used a method called Reductionism. This method basically tries to get to the essence of something, questioning each element that constitutes it until finding that fundamental element.
If we apply this analysis to the question: What is the Best Wine?, we can eliminate different components that are not part of the soul or essence of these wines. Let’s start with the basics:
Alcohol
Alcohol is important for the balance of acidity and astringency, as it provides a degree of sweetness; on the other hand, it is the vehicle that transports the aromas from the glass to the nose. However, the fact that a wine has a very high or low degree of alcohol does not make it better; it accentuates certain sweeter traits and intensifies the aromas, but it can also generate a feeling of warmth that can be exhausting.
In contemporary wines, this has been regulated in various ways. In the case of alcohols that are too low, as happens in cold climates, corrections such as chaptalization (adding sugar to the musts) are used, a common practice in wines from cold areas but also used in industrial vineyards where too much fruit is produced and the plant fails to ripen it. In the case of very high alcohols, as could happen in warm climate areas, hydration can be used (although this method is not accepted by the OIV, it is widely used).
It is important to note that the alcohol content has the winemaker as its main regulator, who decides the amount of production in the vineyard, the harvest date and, with it, the degree of sugar or brix, which defines the alcohol content. With all these adjustments, we can see that it is not essential, because it is manageable from the management of the vineyard and the decision of harvest date to more ambiguous adjustments such as those mentioned above.
Acidity
There are two fundamental acids: malic acid (like that of green apples), which can be reduced through secondary fermentations with lactic bacteria to lower acidity and give creaminess; and tartaric acid, which is normally the one that provides the main acidity of the wine. In warm climates or harvests with late maturity and passification, these acids decrease and can be corrected during the process. Therefore, since acidity is manageable, it is not essential.
Tannins
To understand tannins, I think it is important to see them from a physiological perspective in the plant. Tannins have a defense role, acting like white blood cells in us: they cut proteins to repel predators. In our mouth, they cut the proteins of salivary amylase that make up saliva and provide us with lubrication.
There are three basic types of tannins:
- Wood tannins (ellagic): They are reactive because they defend the structural elements of the plant (trunk, branches and leaves). In our mouth they cause the so-called “lion’s smile”, when the mouth dries and we cannot close our lips. They are felt at the base of the mouth, near the cheeks and molars.
- Seed tannins (gallic): They are the most reactive or aggressive of all, as the mother vine defends its seeds to the maximum. They are perceived in the center of the tongue and palate, resulting very astringent and bitter. In vertical fermentation models (more aggressive in terms of pump-overs or pistons), harvests are usually delayed seeking to avoid these flavors, but not necessarily to seek typicity, but to evade bitterness and astringency that come from excessive extraction.
- Grape skin tannins or proanthocyanidins: They are the most appreciated. At the beginning of the berry’s maturity they protect it, but as it matures, they associate with color molecules (anthocyanins), soften and give an almost sweet and structured sensation in the mouth.
These three types of tannins are present in wine, but their degree of maturity and proportion in the red wine are what largely define the structure and smoothness in the mouth.
During the last decades, tannins of different origins have been produced externally: through barrels, wood derivatives, in powder and with liquid extracts of gallic tannins and even proanthocyanidin tannins from white grape skin. These can be used as antioxidants in small doses, but in excess they can become a makeup, seeking a structure that does not necessarily represent the vineyards.
It is important to note that, although there are many of these industrial tannins, none compares to the grace and smoothness of the red grape skin tannins, extracted naturally during maceration and fermentation. Industrial tannins in small doses help protect the wine and fix colors and tannins, but if they are abused, they can end up covering everything, taking away its essence.
In conclusion, tannins are partially manageable, not only by addition, but also by concentration processes, passification or prolonged macerations. The issue is not the quantity, but the quality. We could say that they are partially manageable, but they do not correspond to the very essence of the wine, but rather adorn it, like the muscles in a person: they embellish it, but do not define it. When they do, they probably become crude. There are many modern wines like this and I don’t consider them to be totally bad; the issue is that, being more reproducible and globalizable, they lose originality.
Yeasts
The old fermentations were almost wild, depending on the yeast present in the vineyard. Some batches fermented well, but others turned to vinegar or had undesirable odors. For this reason, for centuries, monks like Dom Pierre Pérignon dedicated themselves to cultivating and studying yeasts, a century before Louis Pasteur. Thus began the selection of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, one of the yeasts present in the vineyard, although in small proportions, since it was capable of fermenting musts with high levels of sugar but was less competitive than other yeasts.
With the industrial revolution, production volumes skyrocketed and large quantities of grapes began to be produced per plant, weakening the vineyards and leading to the use of high levels of pesticides. This exploded a couple of decades ago and practices such as organic agriculture emerged, but the mass industry resisted change. Thus, more informed movements appeared that later derived into dogmas and extremisms, taking the pendulum to the other extreme, where the aim is for the wine to be absolutely natural, almost eliminating human intervention.
The problem with these fanaticisms is that the focus on the essence is lost. I remember a trip to New York, where I visited the wine bar of James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem). The sommelier, upon learning that I was a Mexican producer, the first thing he asked me was: do you use natural yeast? The conversation extended until 4 am and I was never able to tell him about the vineyard, climates or soils. That is the problem with fanaticisms: they become a sense of life for those who do not find it.
Wine is not a natural event, but an encounter between nature and the human being, a mutual and constant learning. Although humanity has not always done the right thing, it has also created music, poetry, art and mathematics. Denying the human in wine is like taking away the father from a child.
We are the ones who can understand the beauty of the grape, remove its function of attraction for reproduction and convert those aromas, flavors, colors and textures into wine. Thus we create something beautiful, whose only function is to be beautiful, a definition of art.
For this, we must use clean yeasts, which do not alter the aromas and allow a complete fermentation. We cannot discard the knowledge acquired, it would be like burning books and libraries. From the other side, biotechnology can produce yeasts that exaggerate or produce aromas and flavors not typical of the vineyard. Here comes the ethics of the producer. We must appeal to sobriety and balance: yeasts are important, but they are not the essence of the best wine.
Aging in Barrels
When analyzing this topic, it is important to highlight the positive effects of barrels: first, the ellagic tannins (from wood) that clarify the wine and make it more stable to heat; second, the oxygen, which eliminates sulphurous aromas. Oxygen, however, is paradoxical: it can protect, but also destroy. Well used, it helps to release the “sculpture” of the wine.
The porosity of the barrels depends on the type of wood. European oaks are denser and oxygenate less than American ones. This also influences how many tannins and wood aromas are extracted. Components such as whiskey lactone, vanillin and nutty aromas are more extractable in American oaks.
Therefore, in the same period of time, a wine in American oak oxidizes and acquires more tannins and aromas than in a European barrel. Since American oak is cheaper, it is the most used worldwide.
The use of barrels and toasts has been used as a tool to “aromatize” and “sweeten” the wine, making it more attractive. However, this has reduced the typicity and homogenized the wines, losing the identity or terroir.
In cold regions such as Bordeaux, where the maturity of the tannins is not always optimal, it is expected that these will soften in barrel and bottle. Hence the market’s fixation on aging. But this model should not be applied to warm regions with mature tannins. If maturity is achieved, a long aging is not necessary.
The issue of cleanliness in barrels was a serious problem in Europe between the 50s and 90s, due to Brettanomyces contaminations that gave aromas of sweat and old leather, a defect. The solution was the use of cleaning techniques and new wood.
In conclusion, aging in wood and bottle is important to polish and enhance the wine, but it should not transform or make up the wine until it is unrecognizable or ambiguous.
Aromas
Eight years ago my daughter asked me intrigued: “Dad, what’s so special about grapes? Why not pineapples or bananas?” I was surprised and didn’t know what to answer. Finally, in the afternoon, I told her: “The grace of grapes is that they can be all the fruits: sometimes they smell like pineapples, bananas and tropical fruits, sometimes like cherries, blackberries, currants, cassis and even flowers.” She smiled at me and asked: “So are grapes magical?” “Yes, daughter, they are magical.”
Smell is the most primary sense, housed in the reptilian brain, and responds to basic instincts such as hunger, sex and danger. Aromas are the main language of nature, connecting plants, insects and animals. If we manage to understand and rationalize them, we can enjoy them in an almost artistic way. Aromas transport us to places, moments and memories.
The sense of taste is a consequence of smell; aromatic molecules generate complexity. In the tongue we have taste buds (sweet at the tip, bitter in the center and end, salty on the low sides, acidity on the high sides), but only aromas provide true complexity.
In wines, aromas are divided into three:
- Primary aromas: come from the grape and are the most important, as they give identity to the wine. They are fragile against oxidation and heat. When the grapes are passified, these aromas are lost.
- Secondary aromas: develop during fermentation, such as dairy in a Chardonnay, resulting from malolactic fermentation, and the aromas of wood.
- Tertiary aromas: arise during aging in the bottle, such as fungi, mushrooms, toffee and amaretto. They do not always appear, it depends on the quality of the wine and the storage conditions.
Continuing with the reductionist exercise, we see that primary aromas are essential. If we eliminate them, we lose the sense of wine: the reading of the climate, the type of soil, the varietal and its care. Primary aromas are not replaceable; they exist or not, like character in people: intangible, but defining. In fact, great wines are characterized by having this character very present and defined, like the great wines of Bordeaux, Burgundy or Piedmont of 20 years ago, which feel young thanks to the persistence of their primary aromas.
Therefore, primary aromas are essential and their presence defines a great wine. If they are the most important and everything else is controllable, it is essential to understand that primary aromas are a vehicle of communication. But it is not enough that they exist, we must know how to interpret them, understand their layers and complexities. Only then will we be able to answer our question.
We can say that, in this questioning, we have advanced: primary aromas are essential and the main language of great wines. I think we are closer to a clear answer to the question: What is the best wine?