Wine-Speak

This week's blog is a quick primer in "wine-speak."  People shopping for wine will often ask for a "dry" wine, meaning a wine that is not sweet. The technical definition of a dry wine is one that has less than one percent residual sugar per liter after fermentation. Industry insiders reserve the word "sweet" for describing dessert wines.  In reality, we all use the word "dry" so often in describing wines that it's become over-used and inaccurate.  All your everyday drinking wines are "dry" unless otherwise described on their labels or elsewhere as "semi-dry" or "off-dry," meaning they have a little sweetness to them.  What many perceive as "sweet" is the intensity of the grape in the wine.  Joel Gott "Shatter" Grenache from France is a great example of this.   It's a big wine, with a lot of extraction from the grape, full flavor, and "inky."  It's so big that it initially comes across as "sweet," but then finishes off "dry" -- with no lingering sweetness at all.  What do we mean when we describe a wine as "acidy?"  If you feel like you're salivating after sipping on a particular wine, that's acid. White wines usually have higher acid levels than reds. Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc are pretty high in acid.  Last: "tannins."  When you detect a little bitterness after sipping a red you're tasting the tannins.  Tannins come naturally in red grapes and if handled correctly during winemaking, can balance out a wine perfectly. Castello Di Nieve Barbaresco from Piedmont, Italy is a prime example of a red wine with good acid and tannins that balance out beautifully. These are just a few of the most commonly used wine terms I hear these days and thought it would be nice to clear them up.  Now, don't make me explain "oak-y"…...