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Red Wine

Now on to the red wine. This will compare two Merlots, one from Bordeaux in France, and one from California. Again, the difference in alcohol in the wines is due to different amounts of sunshine in the growing season. Bordeaux’s Merlots are lighter in alcohol because the vines generally get less sunshine than those in California. This is a subtler comparison than the white wine tasting, because the alcohol percentage difference between these two is not as dramatic as it was in the whites. Still, you will be able to perceive the body difference.

The Truth About Table Wine

The term Table Wine is a source of some confusion in this country. Specifically, many people think that it refers to the category of mediocre-quality, jug-style wines. But actually, Table Wine is a U.S. government term, referring simply to wine ranging from 7 to 14 percent alcohol by volume, which dictates the level at which it is taxed (lower alcohol products like beer are taxed less; higher alcohol beverages like spirits are taxed more).

The confusion is understandable because in European wine-growing countries, “table wine” does refer to basic-quality, everyday jug wines. Look on the labels even of great wines in any wine store in this country, and you will see the (tax) term Table Wine. You can avoid headaches (literally) when you are in Europe by remembering that their definition of table wine does refer to the lowest quality category.

Oaky, Revisited

You can often judge a wine’s body from the label according to the grape variety, or the alcohol content. But there is yet another major body indicator with which you are also familiar—oakiness. That information is often right on the label, too.

By now you know “oaky” very well. In Chapter 2, you learned that oaky wines have more intense color (for whites), aroma, flavor, and texture. Tasters perceive that greater intensity, especially of the flavor and texture, as fuller body. As you tasted for yourself, that oaky character is very distinctive, and usually comes with a higher price tag.

So how can you know which wines will be oaky before you buy them? Luckily, you can do so with ease, especially with the varietal wines that are so popular these days. Look for these “oaky” indicators right on the label:

Barrel Fermented

Barrel Aged or Oak Aged

Barrel Select or Barrel Selection

Barrel Cuvée (cuvée is French, and in this sense just means selection)

Oak Barrel or Oak Cask (nothing unclear about that)

These label terms are most often seen on white wines. But many red wines are also barrel fermented or barrel aged. In fact, because red wines generally are fuller-bodied than whites, their flavor can support a lot of oakiness without it seeming overpowering.

When it comes to red wines, I recommend that you look at the back label (this is obviously easier at the store, but your tasting exercises will familiarize you with reds you can knowingly order in a restaurant). Quite often, the back label tells you what oak treatment the winemaker used to make the wine, or gives the winemaker’s description of what the wine’s oaky style tastes like. Here are some examples from real reds in my wine rack right now:

“spicy vanillin oak” On a Lindemans Cabernet Sauvignon from Australia. Recall that in Chapter 2 we learned of the presence of vanillin in the wood used to make oak barrels.

“aged for one year in oak barrels” On a DeMartino “Prima” Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile. As we learned previously, the length of time a wine spends in oak barrels affects the degree of oakiness in the taste.

“Aged in small oak barrels, this highly acclaimed wine has an elegant, smooth finish …” On a BV Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from California. Remember the effect of barrel size on a wine’s level of oakiness, with smaller barrels giving a stronger oak character than large ones.

OVER-THE-TOP OAK

Professional tasters use the term overoaked to describe a wine whose flavor is so dominated by oak