The Wine Paradox - Grapes | two
"Wine improves with age. The older I get, the better I like it"
If you are new, a very warm welcome to the Wine Paradox. Please check out my first two posts here to keep you up to date with the journey so far:
The Problem:
So…. hopefully you have now had the opportunity to sample some Merlot since my last post. If not don’t worry, your homework has an extension this week (newbies come on… catch up!) The most important thing here is to remember Merlot as being generally medium everything and plummy!
The problem is that remembering the individual characteristics of each grape is not as easy as Merlot and it takes a good deal amount of experiencing and learning to understand the individual nuances.
The Explanation:
In the UK we have access to wine from many wine producing countries which is a blessing and a curse.
Imagine for a wild minute that you lived in Beaujolais in France. Beaujolais wines are made using the Gamay grape. This is a light skinned grape that produces a light red wine.
There are 10 registered villages known as "Crus" which produce the region's finest wines. By tasting wines from each village, you would be able to develop an understanding of the subtle differences between them. For instance if one Cru had a particularly perfumed element over the others it might just be music to your mouth.
We want to apply the same concept to our wine world by gradually increasing knowledge through reducing choices and then broadening them, ultimately creating a mental spider diagram.
The Solution:
Keep on concentrating on Merlot! The more you can recognise Merlot the better.
Here are your tips to get you really familiar with Merlot:
try two different Merlots at the same time.
taste in the morning (not drink!) this will mean the flavours really jump out at you.
ask for a sample at a restaurant/pub even if you are not drinking.
buy a juicy plum.
shop at different price points - remember less is better ; )
select different Merlot from different countries.
if you are trying a different grape start to think how does this wine compare to Merlot.
The secret here is I want you to eventually be slightly bored of picking up a Merlot because you know exactly what it is going to give you. But the aim of the game is the next time you pick up a different wine you should be able to pick out noticeable differences in the components of the grape (acidity, tannin, finish, body, intensity, sweetness, alcohol).
Next time our grape mission will be to start recognising the difference between the main styles of grapes.
Stay Corked- Luke
- Remember the grape doesn’t have to be Merlot. Choose a wine that suits you!
Ps. our Valentines free recommendations email goes out later this week so please like, and comment on this so we can start changing the wine game for the better :)
Is it as simple as selecting a ‘Merlot’ ( or other) from different countries / regions to note the difference and then refine?