Here are all the questions I've answered in the past. Have a question of your own? Ask it here.
July 18, 2008:
Dear Dr. Vinny,
Is it true that there is a worldwide shortage of cork, and that is the reason that some wineries are switching to screwcaps and plastic corks?
—Javier E., Mexico City
Dear Javier,
Despite the growing popularity of wine, it doesn't appear that there is a shortage of corks, at least not long-term. Cork trees are pretty cool—you don't have to cut down the tree to get the bark (which is the source of wine corks), and stripping the trees of their bark doesn't hurt them, though you do have to wait a few years between strippings. I've read that that cork producers say they comfortably have enough resources to cork wines for the next 100 years without changing a thing.
So why are some wineries abandoning the traditional cork stopper? Alternative closures, including things like screw caps, plastic corks and glass toppers, are one way to deal with an unwanted compound called 2,4,6-trichloroanisole, or TCA, which makes wines taste musty and dank. TCA is created by an interaction of phenols (organic compounds found in all plants) with things sometimes found in wineries, like mold and chlorine. TCA is often traced to faulty corks; hence, the flavors it imparts are often simply referred to as "cork taint," and a wine that suffers from TCA contamination is often called "corked" or "corky." In fairness to corks, though, TCA can also originate in cardboard cases or wooden pallets; it can even contaminate an entire winery. But corks are probably the most common source of TCA, and that's the principal reason wineries are abandoning them.
—Dr. Vinny
July 16, 2008:
Dear Dr. Vinny,
I have read about certain white wines smelling like gooseberry. What does gooseberry smell and taste like?
—Michael, Irvine, Calif.
Dear Michael,
I know gooseberries are rather uncommon in North America, but I can understand why anyone who has tasted gooseberry finds it a useful wine descriptor, especially for Sauvignon Blanc; the tart and tangy berries can be a dead ringer for Sauvignon Blanc's distinctive personality. There are a few different types of gooseberries, but they all grow on bushes, and the berries are about the size of large currants or blueberries. Some are bright yellow-green, others are more grey, red, or purple in color. They are fragrant—floral and sometimes pungently grassy or herbal, even spicy or peppery smelling. They can be tart and juicy, ranging from grapefruit or green apple flavors to more ripe, tropical notes. Sounds an awful lot like many Sauvignon Blancs, eh?
—Dr. Vinny
July 14, 2008:
Dear Dr. Vinny,
Someone once told me that wine is made only from grapes, but the way you get the smell and taste is because the soil absorbs the smell from whatever is planted around it. Is this true?
—Leslie O., Boston
Dear Leslie,
I think your question is a version of an old but endless debate about terroir, or "sense of place"—do wines somehow pick up, absorb or reflect flavors from the soils in which the vines are planted? The short answer: the jury is still out.
Wine gets its character from grapes, and these flavors and aromas are modified or amplified during fermentation and the rest of the winemaking process. Wines have hundreds of chemical compounds called esters, and some of these esters are found in other things too. So, if you smell "green pepper" in a wine, it may be that the aroma reminds you of green pepper, or perhaps you're actually sensing an ester that also exists in green peppers.
Do some of these flavors in the grapes come directly from the soil? Many people believe that they do, but no one has proved it yet. However, there's no doubt that soil has a major impact on how the grapes ripen (in terms of nutrients, water drainage, etc.), which in turn affects the flavors they deliver to the wine.
—Dr. Vinny
July 11, 2008:
Dear Dr. Vinny,
I currently go to school for enology and viticulture. There has been some confusion between myself and other students regarding the labels of "reductive" and "oxidative." What exactly do they both mean, and what is the science behind them both? We often do blind tastings and these become very valuable descriptors, however, I must admit that I'm not as sure about the meaning as I could be.
—Janna S., Walla Walla, Wash.
Dear Janna,
These are complex questions, and your professors will surely have more comprehensive answers than I can provide here. So do your homework!
To start off, "reductive" and "oxidative" are terms to describe winemaking styles, not wines themselves. Traditional winemaking is considered oxidative, meaning that the wines are exposed to air (in open-top fermentors, for example, or during racking). Reductive winemaking takes extra steps to conduct winemaking in the relative absence of oxygen. It may sound kind of crazy, because air is everywhere. But by using stainless steel tanks and inert gases, a winemaker can greatly reduce the exposure a wine has to oxygen. The intent of reductive winemaking is to maximize the fresh fruit flavors in a wine.
In a blind tasting, you won't necessarily be able to pick up on what kind of winemaking style was used, but you might notice "reduced" or "oxidized" notes. (Reduced notes are often the result of reductive winemaking, but oxidized notes aren't necessarily the result of oxidative winemaking.)
"Reduced" notes generally result from the present of volatile sulfur compounds, or mercaptans; these notes include rotten eggs, rubber, struck matches, sewage and even skunk. There can be a beautiful wine underneath the reductive notes, and sometimes—not always—decanting or vigorous swirling can help these notes blow off. Reduced notes have also been linked to screwcapped wines (another situation where a wine has limited exposure to air), though my own observations of this link are rather inconclusive.
"Oxidized" notes appear when a wine has had too much oxygen exposure—more than it would get through traditional oxidative winemaking. The fresh fruit flavors are faded, the wine takes on nutty notes, like a bruised apple, its color starts to fade and it might remind you of Sherry. I often describe oxidized wines as tasting "tired," and indeed, many past-their-prime wines have oxidized notes.
—Dr. Vinny
July 09, 2008:
Dear Dr. Vinny,
After perusing an extensive wine list at a restaurant, I noticed a few of the wines were marked as "Vandermeulen bottling." What is the significance of this?
—Alan, La Jolla, Calif.
Dear Alan,
Until about the 1950s, many Bordeaux châteaus sold their wines in barrels, either to negociants in Bordeaux or directly to international merchants such as the Belgium-based Vandermeulen or Berry Bros. & Rudd in London. These merchants then bottled the wine themselves, hence the designation of a "Vandermeulen bottling." (Today it would be very rare for a top estate not to bottle all of its production itself; on the label, this is indicated as "mise en bouteille au château.") These merchant-bottled wines can be just fine, but some collectors prefer bottlings that come from the original château.
—Dr. Vinny
July 07, 2008:
Dear Dr. Vinny,
Does Sauternes see oak?
—Julie, via the Internet
Dear Julie,
Yes, Sauternes—the French sweet white wine from Bordeaux—often sees the inside of oak barrels. Sauternes are made from Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle grapes that have been affected by botrytis, or "noble rot," which shrivels up the grapes like raisins, concentrating the flavors. The wines are typically fermented in barrels (often new barrels) that add lovely vanilla and spice notes.
—Dr. Vinny
July 02, 2008:
Dear Dr. Vinny,
Is there a device or some way to detect a "bad cork" prior to opening a bottle of wine?
—Michael D., Atlanta
Dear Michael,
The technology exists, but it's not widely available. Last I heard, there's a machine that costs about $50,000 that collects molecules on the cork and foil of a bottle of wine without penetrating the bottle, and those molecules are analyzed by a second machine for the presence of "cork taint," or TCA (the chemical compound 2,4,6-trichloroanisole, which causes a frustrating musty character in wine). So far the device has just been in limited use by restaurants and auction houses for rare bottles. No word yet on a consumer version for our everyday wine.
—Dr. Vinny
June 30, 2008:
Dear Dr. Vinny,
Ports are fortified wines. My question is, how long will a Port be drinkable once it is opened?
—Jim P., Brooklyn, N.Y.
Dear Jim,
You're correct that Port is a fortified wine, which means that distilled alcohol (grape brandy, in this case) has been added to the young wine. It's also sweet, because the addition of alcohol stops the fermentation while there's still sugar in the juice. Both the higher alcohol (typically around 20 percent) and the residual sugar help protect against degradation once the bottle is open; most Ports will remain fresh and vibrant for a week or so after uncorking. However, fortified or not, oxidation begins the moment a cork is pulled on any bottle of wine, so the same rules apply for keeping your wine fresh: minimize the surface area of the wine by transferring it to a smaller container, and store it in a refrigerator to extend its life (but warm it back up to nearly room temperature before serving). I've been served Ports that have been opened for weeks or even months, and while they can still be enjoyable, they are definitely not as good as when they were first opened.
—Dr. Vinny
June 27, 2008:
Dear Dr. Vinny,
My sister believes that "cheaper" wines are much, much lower in alcohol content. Thinking of the process, I don't see how this is so. Is it?
—Diane, Dallas
Dear Diane,
It's not accurate to say across the board that less expensive wines have a lower alcohol content than expensive ones. You could easily find examples that either follow your sister's theory or disprove it. You're right that the wine process is basically the same no matter what the price point; the biggest factor in determining alcohol content is the ripeness of the grapes. Ripeness means sugar, and fermentation converts sugar to alcohol, so the more sugar you start with, the more alcohol you'll end up with. (Some regions are permitted to add sugar or concentrated grape juice to increase alcohol levels in their wines.) "Table wine" is defined to contain between 7 and 14 percent alcohol by volume, but you'll typically find a much narrower window on wine shelves—most wines these days are between 12 and 14 percent (though many now exceed this threshold, reaching 15 percent or more). In any case, this variation is not a function of price.
—Dr. Vinny
June 25, 2008:
Dear Dr. Vinny,
I recently read that you can chill red wine for 30 minutes before pouring the wine. Of course, Florida is very hot and I keep my wine at room temperature. Please advise if this is OK or even correct.
—Ruth L., Hallandale, Fla.
Dear Ruth,
It's perfectly OK to drink wine at whatever temperature you like. Many connoisseurs think that Americans in particular tend to drink our whites too cold and our reds too warm. I bet that's because most folks chill their whites in the refrigerator (where they can get cold enough to suppress a wine's aromatics) and serve their reds at room temperature (which can be a bit on the warm side, depending on your definition of "room temperature"). As a rough rule of thumb, we recommend serving most whites between 45 and 50 F and most reds between 65 and 70 F. Experiment a bit, and if reaching your preferred temperature for reds requires a brief stay in the refrigerator, go right ahead.
—Dr. Vinny
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