We've compiled a selection of the top the scoring Chablis wines of 2017 - a frost-hit vintage where quantity is small but quality is good. Tasted and chosen by our Burgundy expert Tim Atkin MW...

Chablis vineyardsTop Chablis 2017 wines all scoring above 96

The region ‘suffered terribly between 18 and 29 April 2017, as a series of black frosts descended from the north,’ says our taster, Tim Atkin MW.

The frost was not just limited to the lower-lying areas.

‘All grands crus were affected to a greater or lesser extent, as were the top premiers crus of Montée de Tonnerre and Mont de Milieu.’

Whilst quality is still good in 2017, the frost did hit quantity badly, and Chablis only produced around two thirds of its usual crop.

‘There was so little wine that some producers were selling their 2017 Chablis by January 2018,’ said Atkin.

‘The best 2017s are surprisingly fresh and taut, thanks to a cool summer, with significant rainfall in July, but also to producers’ desire to pick early to counter the high sugar levels.’

Although some wines are a little exotic, ‘the top examples are classic Chablis.’

The following wines all scored 96 points and above.

Look out for the full Chablis report on Decanter Premium soon.

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How long should you let this wine breathe...?

How long should a mature double magnum wine breathe?Decanting mature double magnums – Ask Decanter

Sterling DePew, by email, asks: We recently enjoyed a double magnum of 1982 Mouton Rothschild, removed from the cellar and immediately decanted. It had been perfectly stored and the colour was youthful.

How long would you allow this wine to breathe either in the glass or decanter to maximise its beauty?

Jane Anson, Decanter‘s Bordeaux correspondent, replies: Decanting older wines is tricky, because often the main argument for doing so is to remove sediment, rather than to allow the wine to open up.

A wine at 30 years old can have a delicate aromatic structure that you want to preserve, rather than allow it to escape into the room; as a result, decanting for too long is not advisable.

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Having said that, Mouton 1982 is still a richly tannic, relatively young wine, and in double magnum will have retained much of its fruit and power.

Part of your enjoyment will be in seeing how the wine evolves in the decanter and glass over a few hours.

Decanting it just an hour or so before service should be enough, but take your time and observe how its flavours deepen and evolve. I wouldn’t be surprised if the wine still tastes beautiful a full 24 hours after decanting.

This question first appeared in the November 2018 issue of Decanter magazine.

How quickly should you  drink wine after decanting? How to let a wine breathe, and when  Find more wine questions answered here

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As Bordeaux winemakers wrap up this year’s harvest, many say that they have never seen such high levels of alcohol, including for Cabernet Sauvignon.

Harvest at Château Balac in Haut-MédocBordeaux 2018 red wines: Balance key amid high alcohol levels

As final grapes were being brought in at Château Léoville Las Cases in St-Julien earlier this week, director Pierre Graffeuille said that he had never seen such high levels of natural alcohol for Cabernet Sauvignon, which reached 14.5%.

However, he also stressed that fresh fruit and acidity meant that 2018 will be ‘concentrated in alcohol and tannins, but with enough acidity to achieve Bordeaux balance’.

Further south, Château Margaux director Philippe Bascaules said that the 2018 grand vin may have a 14% abv indication on its label for the first time that he can recall, because Cabernet Sauvignons on both gravel and clay sometimes reached 14.5 per cent alcohol.

‘In 2015 we were at 13.5% and in 2018, we may be at 14 (for the label),’ he told Decanter.com. On the white wine side, Margaux harvested earlier than usual to maintain acidity.

Château Mouton Rothschild director Philippe Dhalluin said the vintage may be a ‘2009+’ but stressed that cool nights helped to maintain enough freshness. More water in the summer would have helped with yields and lowered potential alcohol, he said.

‘I have never seen such richness in sugar and polyphenol and no tanks measured lower than 80 IPT this year,’ he said.

See also: Bordeaux 2018: How things are shaping up as harvest begins

Château Léoville Poyferré director Didier Cuvelier said that one important issue in winemaking this year will be to avoid volatile acidity, because fermentations will be longer than usual.

On the Right Bank, 2018 looks set to be a year for limestone, clay, deep gravels and vines with deep roots, said wine consultant Thomas Duclos.

‘Younger vines on more shallow soils suffered and were not able to withstand the heat stress,’ he said.

With alcohol in some Merlots reaching 15.5% and more, Duclos said that some estates may end up having very high alcohol second wines.

Laurent Brun, of Château Dassault in St-Emilion, said that the estate will finish its Cabernets by Wednesday next week, and that the final blend likely will have more Cabernet than usual to offset higher alcohol Merlots.

However, Château Canon cellar master Stéphane Bonnasse said that clever canopy management – such as less leaf clearing – and not picking grapes directly exposed to the sun would make alcohol levels irrelevant.

‘It is a shame to talk so much about alcohol in 2018, because not everyone has the same terroir or works the same way,’ he said. ‘We had more alcohol overall in 2015 than we will have in 2018.’

Christian Moueix, of Petrus fame and head of merchant house Jean-Pierre Moueix, said,’We had so much time to pick and choose, that I would say that the only danger would have been to have picked too late’.

He added, ‘Alcohol is higher than in 2016, but the balance is so great, that it compares to 1990, and for certain wines it counts among my top three vintages ever in 49 years of winemaking.’

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In 2016, quantities were small, but the best wines are balanced and look set to age for decades, says Richard Mayson, who has picked 25 of the best 2016 Port releases.

Port 2016 vintage report.

‘We have been spoilt for choice.’ These were the words of Johnny Symington at the launch of the 2016 Port vintage in May this year. He was reflecting on the past three harvests in the Douro Valley, which have put the Port shippers in something of a quandary.

The 2015, 2016 and 2017 vintages have all been remarkable in their own way, and it is a function of the manner in which vintage Port is ‘declared’ that the shippers are allowed some foresight and hindsight before making their final decision.

You might also like: Port 2015: a buyer’s guide Top Napa Cabernet wines for the cellar

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The world record for the most expensive bottle of wine sold at auction was smashed twice on Saturday when two bottles of 1945 Romanée Conti fetched US$558,000 and US$496,000 respectively.

The 1945 DRC set new records for wine at auction. 1945 Romanée Conti sets new record at wine auction

The bottles – two of only 600 produced by Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC) in 1945, after which the celebrated vineyard was uprooted – were part of a Sotheby’s sale in New York of DRC wines from the personal cellar of Robert Drouhin, patriarch of Maison Joseph Drouhin.

The two bottles had been expected to sell for US$22,000-32,000 each (excluding buyer’s premium), but confounded expectations by easily surpassing the previous auction record, set more than a decade ago.

That mark was set when a jeroboam (equivalent to six standard bottles) of Château Mouton Rothschild 1945 was sold, also by Sotheby’s in New York, in February 2007.

In all, the 100-lot auction of DRC wines from Drouhin’s cellar, spanning vintages from 1937 to 1964, fetched US$7.3m, more than five times its high estimate.

The wines were acquired direct from DRC by Robert Drouhin and his father, Maurice, mainly at the time when Drouhin was exclusive DRC distributor for France and Belgium.

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Following the Drouhin sale, a bottle of 1926 Macallan 60-year-old single malt whisky, with a label designed by famed pop artist Sir Peter Blake, was auctioned by Sotheby’s for US$843,200.

That fell short of the world record for a bottle of whisky – set earlier this month when a similar Macallan 60-year-old, with a label designed by Italian artist Valerio Adami, was auctioned by Bonhams in Edinburgh for £848,750 (US$1.1m).

However, Saturday’s sale set a new record as the highest price in Sotheby’s history for a single bottle of spirits, as well as the top auction price for any spirit in North America.

Only 40 bottles of Macallan 1926 were released, with 12 each featuring labels designed by Blake and Adami. Another unique bottle, hand-painted by Irish artist Michael Dillon, will be auctioned by Christie’s in London next month.

‘The new world record established in today’s sale is further proof that the demand for wine and spirits of exceptional quality is at an all-time high, and that global collectors are willing to go the extra mile to acquire the rarest bottles of any kind,’ said Jamie Ritchie, worldwide head of Sotheby’s Wine.

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Here are our top picks for winter 2018 from the UK supermarket's range, all reviewed by Decanter's expert tasting team...

Below are our recommended Asda wines from the retailer’s autumn/winter 2018 range, tasted by Decanter’s Tina Gellie recently.

Included are festive wine staples such as Champagne, Barolo, Amarone and a dessert wine, as well as great everyday drinkers such as the Extra Special Sauvignon Blanc.

There’s some serious value to be had in Asda’s ‘Extra Special’ own-label range, but if you can push the budget a little higher it’s also worth checking out their branded wines.

Looking to expand your wine horizons, or after great gift ideas? Decanter Premium brings you exclusive online content and over 1,000 new wine reviews every month

The top 11 tasting notes are our latest recommendations. Continue scrolling down to see older Asda wine reviews.

The best Asda wines to buy this winter:

 

28/11/2017: Added 9 wines from the winter 2017 range

15/10/2018: Added 11 wines from the winter 2018 range

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Italian wine producer Tommasi revealed De Buris on Friday (12th October) - their new luxury wine brand and hospitality project.

The De Buris villa, currently being restored.Tommasi launches new De Buris luxury wine brand

De Buris is a new luxury wine brand and hospitality project from the Tommasi family. It will include a high-end Amarone wine and a historic villa, that will be completely restored into a luxury hospitality center with the aim to promote the historical and cultural heritage of the Valpolicella area.

“De Buris is not just a product, it’s a project,” said Pierangelo Tommasi at the launch in Veneto on 12th October.

“We didn’t want to make a new high-end Tommasi Amarone. We wanted to take the chance to build an entirely new luxury venture.”

In 2000, the Tommasi family acquired Villa De Buris (pictured top), the oldest villa in the Valpolicella area, and a ten-hectare vineyard La Groletta.

“We purchased the two properties for different reasons. Producing wine from the La Groletta vineyard had been our dream for a long time. The villa, however, was an investment we decided to make for other reasons, but just a few months later we started thinking that we should combine our best vineyard with this ancient villa and create a new project.”

Out of the ten hectares of vineyards at La Groletta, only a 1.9-hectare plot, the highest part of the vineyard, is dedicated to the production of De Buris Amarone Riserva.

The vineyard’s 300-meter elevation, long hours of sunlight and a cooling breeze from the Lake Garda makes La Groletta an ideal place to produce top-quality Amarone, according to Tommasi.

De Buris Amarone Riserva 2008 – a blend of Corvina (62%), Corvinone (25%), Oseleta (8%), and Rondinella (5%) – is the first release, with 2009 also in the pipeline.

The Amarone Riserva will be the only wine produced under the De Buris brand.

Construction of a new vinification cellar at Villa De Buris is scheduled to start sometime next year. By the end of 2023, the entire villa should be fully restored.

There are also plans to create a foundation aimed for safeguarding local history, art, and cultural heritage as well as support research in viticulture and winemaking.

The post Tommasi launches new De Buris luxury wine brand appeared first on Decanter.

Andrew Jefford tucks into the tasting of a lifetime. Twice...

Château MargauxJefford on Monday: Blue moon on the left bank

Blue-moon territory: the chance to taste all of the Bordeaux First Growths, plus Pavie, Angélus, Ausone, Cheval Blanc and Petrus, at 20 years old. With Yquem thrown in for luck. Twice in two days. In two southern Chinese cities: Shenzhen and Nanning. My thanks to trilingual China-based educator Julien Boulard of Zhulian Wines and his team for this singular opportunity.

The vintage was 1998: a ‘right-bank vintage’ by reputation. Why? Essentially because there were a couple of bouts of heavy rain on September 29th and October 1st, before some of the Cabernets were fully ripe. I chatted to Bordeaux négociant Jeffrey Davies about the vintage before leaving for China, though, and he told me that both banks now have a very fair reputation among Bordeaux insiders. Our tasting justified that view: the Médoc wines varied, but both Lafite and Haut-Brion were outstandingly good, and neither Margaux nor Mouton disappointed. August 1998, remember, was hot, and it’s August which lays the foundations of every Bordeaux vintage. In this case, they’re sound. Ripeness is ample.

Prices mean that these wines which are beyond almost all of us, except for rare occasions of this sort. My aim, therefore, is to ‘talk around’ each property rather than write tasting notes per se, based on this glimpse of each at the two-decade point, and at a certain point during their long evolutionary trajectories. The order is that in which we tasted the wines: left-bank this week, and the right-bank next. The quality of the bottles, by the way, was outstanding: excellent fills, no tca issues, and nothing to suggest that any of the wines had suffered from excessive heat in transit or storage. All had been purchased in retail in Hong Kong shortly before the tasting – a testament to the professionalism of today’s Hong Kong wine trade.

Lafite 1998

Lafite is an enormous property. At 112 ha under vine, and with average yields (according to Eric Bernadin and Pierre Le Hong’s Crus Classés du Médoc) of 48 hl/ha, around 530,000 litres of this wine will be potentially available for bottling every year. Think about that: over half a million litres. It’s rare to see Lafite itself for less than £500 a bottle and Carruades for less than £250 a bottle (the 2013s are currently listed for more than that); half a million litres at an average price of £375 a bottle means revenues of roughly £250 million. Insider estimates of the cost price of a bottle of any first growth, Lafite included, rarely exceed 30 euros: much less than ten per cent of the sale price. Phew! Wonderful news for the owners, for the sales intermediaries and for tax gatherers alike. These Médoc gravel mounds may look like forgotten beaches, left stranded by former ice ages; in fact every pebble is – invisibly — lined with gold leaf. (For more on yield questions, see next week’s Jefford on Monday.)

Lafite is not always the densest wine of the vintage. It’s the blue-blooded grandee; the purveyor of urbane, drinkable classicism at all times; the apogee of ineffable refinement. Such a profile doesn’t require any strenuous panting after ‘depth’ or ‘power’ or ‘concentration’. The property did, though, get a grip on the principle of exclusion of any but the best wine from the Grand Vin selection earlier than some of its First Growth peers, and the 1998 was composed from just 34 per cent of the total harvest. The blend was 81 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon (including old-vine Cabernet from the St Estèphe vineyard of Caillava) and 19 per cent Merlot.

It’s still deep in colour, without any evident bricking, though now translucent and opaque. It’s a lovely thing to smell: stealthy, refined, tiptoeing from the glass with a classical dancer’s poise. There’s volume of scent, yet it still manages to tease: incense wood, cedar, fine resins, unlit cigars. A ripeness of fruit, too, but even that is understated: compare it to any Napa wine, and what you’ll find here is a suggestion of ripeness rather than ripeness itself.

It is, though, a concentrated wine on the palate: these vineyards can do that even at what seem like elevated yields (ah, the gilded pebbles!) — but don’t forget, too, that classical Bordeaux élevage, which means 18 months in barrels and almost obsessive racking every three months, is said to mean a loss of 10 to 15 per cent by evaporation prior to bottling. That’s a force for concentration in itself (and qualifies our back-of-the-envelope calculation of revenues). I would call this wine lean – but it’s certainly long and architectural, soaring in the mouth, with more sustained dry fruits than the aromas sketched out, with perfectly incorporated tannins and singing acidity providing seamless balance. Those cedary, incense notes provide a vapoury mist around the fruit. Great left-bank Bordeaux always has a sense of direction and purpose to its flavours, and it was hard not to think of the Rothschild arrows in this respect – but these arrows carried soft, feathery vanes. It was much enjoyed by our Chinese guests, coming second after Petrus in Shenzhen with four first places and two thirds, and occupying joint first place in Nanning (three first places, three seconds and three thirds). Robert Parker awards it 98 points; I would give it 96. (13% abv)

Château Lafite-Rothschild in 2015.Credit: Chris Mercer / Decanter

Mouton 1998

Terroir means that Mouton (90 ha today) and Lafite have to be compared to one another; indeed there’s a strong case for considering them to be non-identical twins, legendarily parted according to a line decreed by the ‘Prince of Vines’, Nicolas-Alexandre, the Marquis de Ségur — who owned both. Their vineyards interfold one another; Carruades lies on the other side of Mouton’s vines. No other two properties among Bordeaux’s ‘great ten’ are neighbours, let alone neighbours with this level of intimacy. Examine the contour lines on a map, and you will see that the two properties share the same gigantic gravel mound or croupe – yet in character their wines are very different.

This is a generalization, since the landholdings are complex (I’m thinking of Lafite’s St Estèphe component, and its vineyards to the west of the D2), but might that fundamental difference in style be due to the fact that Lafite commands the northern part of the croupe, and Mouton the southern? Hence the nuanced refinement of the former; hence the exuberance and exoticism of the latter. I don’t know – but something must account for it, since it is consistently noted by those who have a chance to taste these wines regularly, year after year.

Any consideration of the historical trajectory of properties of this sort reveals a series of gear changes: moments, often connected with changes in key personnel and (more rarely) in ownership, when there is a new push for quality, a new seriousness of intent, and — in three out of five cases among the First Growths — the creation of new cellar facilities. For Mouton, that gear change coincided with the arrival of Philippe Dhalluin in 2003. Mouton’s 1998 belongs to a period during which it was still performing rather inconsistently, mirroring vintage hazards more closely than those paying for the bottles might wish: outstanding in 1982 and 1986, for example, but less exciting in 1985 and 1989. There was no official second wine until 1993. Disciplined selection had got underway by 1998, and the Mouton `98 was made with 57 per cent of the harvest, and a blend of 86 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon, 12 per cent Merlot and two per cent Cabernet Franc. But there was, in that vintage, less selectivity than at Lafite. The wine was also made in the old winery whose large wooden fermenters made parcel selection difficult; and the regimes for press wine and barrel choices were less refined than today.

This is not in any way a disappointing wine – indeed it was two tasters’ first choice wine at our Nanning tasting, and I would be thrilled should I ever get the chance to taste it or drink it again. Its colours, though, are a little more evolved than for some of its peers. The scents are very enticing, very flattering: sweet and creamy, yet clean and fresh, too. There is, though, less fruit crowding its scents than at Lafite. The palate is impressive, with intensity and density of flavour as well as a sense of soft, friendly grip. Indeed it’s succulent and rich, too, with time in the mouth. There is fruit here, seamlessly mingling with roasted meat and sweet leather notes: appetizing and gastronomic. Robert Parker gives it 96 and I would give it 94 – though, as so often with Bordeaux, this score is dictated by comparison with high-quality peers. Taste the wine in isolation, and a peer-correlated score will seem mean. (12.5%)

Latour 1998

It’s a commonplace to say that the core of Latour, the 47 ha of vineyards which cluster ‘the tower’ itself and which are communally known as L’Enclos, is the finest single terroir in the Médoc – at least if consistency through the vagaries of wet years and dry years, warm years and cool years is the criterion. It may be so. The four metres of fine-draining gravels over succulent, water-holding blue clays are usually said to be the cause. This time, the core of the croupe is shared with no other property, though both Pichons dispute its dissipating undulations; we are closer to the Gironde at Latour than at Lafite. Latour has a long tradition of selection, with second and third wines.

For all that, the 1998 vintage was a pivotal moment at Latour, the movement the gear lever was thrown. François Pinault had bought the property in 1993, but changes came slowly. Frédéric Engerer was already there, but he only became ‘Président’, his current job title, in 1998; he took over fully in running the property after the 1998 harvest, not before. The modern Latour, complete with new winery and the huge number of changes and refinements it has made possible, was a post-1998 creation. So, too, is the intense focus on individual vine quality and soil health in the vineyards (including the use of biodynamics).

The 1998 Latour, made from 90 per cent Cabernet and 10 per cent Merlot, looks neither notably lighter nor darker than Lafite and Mouton, though the hues are a little less evolved that Mouton’s. It’s the most straightforwardly fruity of the three: fresh blackcurrant scents with a bakery sweetness, even a popcorn touch. On the palate, it is curranty, driving and deep; on the lean side, but authoritative. That line of fruit holds right through to the finish, and it’s still surrendering blackcurrant perfumes, even after you’ve swallowed. For me, though, it doesn’t have the complexity of either Lafite or Mouton, though it is well-preserved and forthright. Robert Parker gives it 90 and in the vintage context I would agree with that 90 score – though our Chinese tasters rated this wine more highly than that: it scored two second places and two thirds in Shenzhen, and another second and third place in Nanning. (13%)

Margaux 1998

Margaux is a still larger property than Lafite: its 265 ha make it the size of a small hamlet on its own, though much of this is vineless pastureland running down to the estuary. In vineyard terms, it has around 92 ha of vines at present, disposed in the least unitary manner of any First Growth – a bottle of Margaux coud be seen as a synopsis of the best land of the commune, though its core still comes from a single croupe. The gravels, here, are sandier than further north in the Médoc, and sand in vineyards usually means finesse and gentleness in place of the powerful and the chunky.

Margaux has been through a gear change in recent years, though (in best Margaux style) that shift has been so stealthy, silky, smooth and supple that it’s hard to pin it to a single vintage. The late Paul Pontallier was open to change, but didn’t like to institute it until it had been fully tested (via research – he was a former researcher himself) at the property. Modern techniques, like the ultra-fastidious handling now common to all of the top Bordeaux properties, took some time to be adopted here. As at Mouton, the recent investment in new cellar facilities has made a big difference, especially in terms of being able to vinify smaller parcels separately — from 2015.

There has always been a second-wine tradition at Margaux, predating the official institution of Pavillon Rouge in 1906, not least because of the evident heterogeneity of the vineyards. Some 50 per cent of production made the cut for the Grand Vin in 1998, whereas nowadays it tends to be less than that (38 per cent in 2010, for example, and just 28 per cent in 2016). This wine has by far the smallest percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon of any of the Médoc first growths in this vintage: just 55 per cent, balanced by 40 per cent of Merlot with the other five per cent coming from Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.

The wine was well-coloured: a little denser than Latour, with little brick-red as yet. It began rather quietly in the glass, like a singer clearing her voice, but after five minutes the aromas were everything one hoped, in harmonious style: red fruits as well as black, with suede, cream and mushroom – indeed none of the first growths had advanced quite as far into a ‘mature wine’ spectrum of scents as had Margaux. When fully on song, after about 20 minutes, it was aromatically the most commanding of the four Médoc peers, though it didn’t hold in the same way as some of the others (Lafite, Haut-Brion). The palate was fresh, pure, dancing and chic, full of the same aromatic nuance that the aromas had sketched out, and very deft and precise in style: never a false step, never a hair out of place. Perhaps there was a tiny touch of greenness driving some of that freshness, but this was far from being a blemish. The wine was liked in Shenzhen, with one second place and two thirds. Robert Parker scores the wine at 91 but I would give it 94. (12.5%)

Haut-Brion 1998

This is by far the smallest of the five First Growths, and destined to remain so forever. Unlike its counterparts, it has no chance to swallow any obscure properties littering its vicinity – since that vicinity has long since been concreted over. Its 48 ha, though, is still over six times larger than the largest of Burgundy’s Grand Cru monopoles (Clos de Tart at 7.5 ha): there’s plenty of market clout there. And it has an extra 200 years of history as a fine wine compared to its First Growth peers.

The advantage of a tasting of this sort is that it underlines just how unique and different Haut-Brion is from the other Left Bank First Growths. Its way of ripening, its fruit expression and the grain of its tannins are pitched in a different key: there’s a dry refinement which the others don’t have. Even if (as in 1998) you have the impression that Haut-Brion is riper than the other four, and even if its tannins seem firm under analysis, there is nonetheless a lightness, a shapeliness, a slenderness and a quickness to it; the other four, even Margaux, are always a little wider in the beam and on the tongue. Haut-Brion can be almost essence-like.

Its terroir is more different than you might think to those of the Médoc. The gravels are finer, and the croupes top out at a slightly higher altitude (27 m compared to 16 m at Latour); there will certainly be sub-surface differences, too. We are much further, here, from the wild Atlantic, and there is no Gironde estuary nearby, either, just the lazy Garonne, so the qualities of reflected light and seaside moderation are less pronounced. The urban location is a significant warming factor: Haut-Brion is usually the first of the Firsts to pick.

This is an outstanding wine, as you might expect from a year in which Merlot was favoured — and a site where the Cabernets ripen earlier than in the Médoc. The vineyard plantings favour the Cabernets by a slight margin (45 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon and 15 per cent Cabernet France compared to 40 per cent Merlot), yet in 1998 the final blend of this wine has by far the highest percentage of Merlot of any of the First Growths: 60 per cent, together with 40 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon. That is, by the way, a higher percentage of Merlot than at Angélus, Ausone or Cheval Blanc in 1998 — yet all of those wines seem more “Merlot-like” in terms of their overall wealth, comfort and amplitude. This underlines an important point: what we assume to be varietal character is often, rather, a sense of place. Yes, there’s more Merlot here – but it’s Haut-Brion Merlot: a different beast to Merlot at Cheval Blanc, at Ausone or at Angélus.

It’s still saturatedly deep in colour, with exciting scents of animal fur, hung game, cooked plum and roasted meat, freshened with tea leaf. Despite the ripeness, it’s vivid, lively, even incisive wine, dartingly deep but in no sense wide, with intense, essence-like flavours which recall the aromatic analogies. The tannins are grippy without thickness; there’s just a hint of brown sugar to balance out the dry refinement and the lively, lunging acids. There are many years ahead. Robert Parker gives it 96+, though his note seems more enthusiastic than his score; I would give it 98. The wine won one first, one second and two thirds in Shenzhen; and one first place and two seconds in Nanning. (13%)

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See new tasting notes and ratings on a selection of the most coveted Cabernet Sauvignon wines from Napa Valley, tasted by Master Sommelier Ronan Sayburn.

Ronan Sayburn MS has selected must-have bottles of Napa Cabernet Sauvignon for your cellar, including 100% Cabernet wines and Cabernet-dominant, Bordeaux-style blends.

This is far from a definitive, all-time list, but all the wines below were selected from the Collectible California tasting on 20 September, held by the California Wine Institute at the US Embassy in London.

Scroll down for Sayburn’s top Napa Cabernets

Sayburn’s top-scoring Cabernet from the tasting is Cain, Five 2004, rated at 96/100 points, closely followed by Diamond Creek, Gravelly Meadow 2016 at 95 points.

The collection also includes big hitters like Joseph Phelps’ Insignia, a Decanter wine legend, as well as historic Napa names such as Beringer, which was founded in 1876 and survived the Prohibition.

Other entries come from the winemakers who helped build the Napa Valley’s global reputation as a premium wine region, including Paul Hobbs, Cathy Corison and David Abreu.

Other wines at the tasting included Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, the winery made famous by the 1976 Judgement of Paris tasting.

The collection spans older vintages from 1989 and 1993, as well as newer releases from 2016. However, although these wines will continue to evolve for years to come, many have entered their drinking window as of 2018.

Introduction copy by Laura Seal.

Top Napa Cabernet wines for the cellar:

 

 

Ronan Sayburn is a Master Sommelier and head of wine at 67 Pall Mall in London, he is also COO for the Court of Master Sommeliers Europe.

You might also like: Top California Cabernet 2015 wines: Full vintage report Opus One wines to look for and estate profile New names to know on the Napa wine scene Premium California wines to buy in 2018

The post Top Napa Cabernet wines for the cellar appeared first on Decanter.

From pretty hillside vineyards to cutting edge wineries - Julie Albin shares where to visit in Paso Robles...

J Lohr Vineyards and Wines.Paso Robles vineyards & wineries to visit

Wine-growers benefit from numerous environmental factors, including abundant sunlight, a diurna; range of up to 10 C and a diversity of more than 30 soil series.

What truly sets Paso Robles apart from other California regions is calcareous soil with high pH levels comparable to the Rhône Valley.

The rolling hills of the east contain granular forms of calcareous soil as loam layers over the watershed areas.

J Lohr Vineyards and Wines

It was this particular terroir that caught the attention of Jerry Lohr in the 1980s when he recognised the immense potential for Bordeaux varieties and became an early pioneer of the region’s commercial era. Bring provisions with you to J Lohr Vineyards and Wines, and enjoy a tasting of Cabernet Sauvignon and juicy Merlot from the picnic area, with no appointment necessary.

Tablas Creek Vineyard

Accessible by snake-like roads, the rugged hillsides of the west extend all the way to the coastal Santa Lucia Mountains. This area, especially the Adelaida District, charmed winemakers with its maritime terroir of steep slopes and calcareous shale soils that retain moisture like a sponge. This allows some producers such as Tablas Creek Vineyard to dry-farm. Taste its biodynamic Rhône-style wines by walk-in or by booking a tasting experience. A short walk from the tasting room is the original nursery and vineyards where the estate’s herd of sheep and alpacas can be spotted.

Law Estate

A drive up Peachy Canyon Road will lead you to Law Estate, where you can taste limited-production Rhône and Priorat-style blends. The property’s towering elevation, modern design and stunning views make a utopian ambience.

Halter Ranch

For a bit of adventure, continue west to Adelaida Road for an excursion tour at Halter Ranch. Cruise around its lofty vineyards in a restored 1984 Land Rover Defender 110 and taste wines against scenic backdrops before stopping by the Victorian farmhouse, which was the filming location for the movie Arachnophobia.

L’Aventure Winery

Then retreat from the afternoon sun in Willow Creek District by exploring L’Aventure Winery’s caves, carved into the limestone hillside. A renowned winemaker from Bordeaux, Stephan Asseo’s medley of Bordelaise origins and west Paso Robles style can be tasted in his Paso blends of Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot.

AmByth Estate

From its viticultural renaissance in the late 20th century to now having more than 40 different grape varieties planted throughout the region, Paso Robles is now home to yet another new wave of experimental winemakers. Launched by Phillip Hart, just east of Templeton, AmByth Estate was the region’s first Demeter-certified biodynamic wine producer. The family continues its focus on head-trained, dry-farmed, unfiltered and unfined wines with zero added sulphites, aged in barrel, clay eggs or terracotta amphorae. Their natural style is well demonstrated by an eclectic range: from Sauvignon Blanc orange wine to a bottling of 100% Counoise.

Paix Sur Terre

Continuing the theme of untraditional varieties, due west on Vineyard Drive is Paix Sur Terre, where owner and winemaker Ryan Pease is making Ugni Blanc cool again. Bring a picnic lunch and enjoy it with a chilled glass of southern French varieties such as Picpoul or Clairette.

Tin City

No trip to Paso Robles is complete without a visit to Tin City. An industrial park turned haven for artisan wineries, the attractions also include Tin City Cider Co and BarrelHouse Brewing Co.

Allegretto Vineyard Resort

Arise from your lavish bedroom at the Allegretto Vineyard Resort and greet the morning with a refreshing swim in the saltwater pool, then stroll in the courtyard through the world’s first sonic labyrinth Sound Circle, emitting soothing tones of wind instruments to send you off in state of Shangri-La. Drive over to Law Estate to taste current releases in its ultra-modern tasting room, displaying an inside-outside architectural design, with views over neighbouring hilltops.

Daou

Head north on Hidden Mountain Road to Daou, where you can treat yourself to the Culinary Pairing Experience that matches Lebanese-inspired cuisine with Daou’s award-winning wines and sweeping views of the Adelaida District.

Alta Colina

Make your way back up Adelaida Road to Alta Colina Vineyard & Winery for its Summit Vineyard Tasting. This picturesque private tour leads you to the top of the organically farmed vineyard to taste Viognier and Rhône-style reds.

The post Paso Robles vineyards & wineries to visit appeared first on Decanter.

The region is busting with wineries, restaurants, boutique hotels and winery guesthouses. Julie Albin picks top restaurants, bars and shops to visit...

Thomas Hill Organics. Paso Robles restaurants, bars and shops BL Brasserie

Formerly of two-star Michelin Le Bistrot d’à Côté in Paris, chef Laurent Grangien brings French gourmand to Paso Robles with classic à la carte dishes and a five-course tasting menu. It has recently changed name from Bistro Laurant to BL Brasserie, keeping many of the original dishes but also brasserie style fare.

Il Cortile Ristorante

Executive chef Santos MacDonal brings a delicious taste of Italy to downtown Paso Robles with homemade pasta, local seafood, meats and antipasti, along with a comprehensive Italian wine list.

Opolo Vineyards

Casual daytime fare with woodfired pizzas and other hearty dishes that are served on the patio overlooking the vineyard and paired with a wide range of wines.

Thomas Hill Organics

This farm-to-table experience is an homage to Central Coast ingredients, curated by chef Kurt Metzger. The organic menu is supplemented by both local and international wines.

Eleven Twenty-Two

The newest place to be seen in downtown Paso Robles, this speakeasy-style bar is already the talk of the town for its inventive cocktails. The perfect place for a post-wine tasting nightcap.

Tin City

No trip to Paso Robles is complete without a visit to Tin City; an industrial park turned haven for artisan wineries, the attractions also include Tin City Cider Co and Barrel House Brewing Co.

Etto Pastificio

Around the corner is Etto Pastificio, a family-owned shop where you can watch fresh pasta being made from local ingredients.

While you’re there, pick up a bottle from the owners’ Giornata label, including local productions of Fiano, skin fermented Pinot Grigio, Nebbiolo and more.

The General Store

Showcasing a collection of artisan kitchenware, coffee and other treats, this is a great place to find locally handmade soaps, body balms and lotions.

The post Paso Robles restaurants, bars and shops appeared first on Decanter.

Bob Campbell MW was one of the lucky few to attend a 32-vintage tasting of Coleraine recently - twice! Read his report below, including ratings and tasting notes on his top 15 vintages of this New Zealand pioneer...

Te Mata Coleraine set a new standard in New Zealand.

Te Mata’s Coleraine is arguably New Zealand’s most prestigious wine.

In 1982, as the Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot grapes were being harvested for Coleraine’s first vintage, there was a general feeling among winemakers and wine drinkers alike that, while New Zealand might make decent white wines, the climate was simply too cool to produce good red wine.

That all changed when Coleraine hit the market.

Scroll down to see Bob’s top 15 picks from the historical vertical

 

You might also like: Ata Rangi McCrone Vineyard: Tasting the difference Top Felton Road wines: Biodynamics coming of age Mature New Zealand wines from the cellar Top California Cabernet 2015 wines: Full vintage report

The post Te Mata Coleraine: Top wines from 1982 to 2016 appeared first on Decanter.

Independent family Champagne house Bruno Paillard, known for exclusively producing extra brut cuvées, has broken with tradition to launch a zero dosage style. Below, Premium subscribers can read an interview with Paillard about the new wine, as well as a full tasting note.

The new Bruno Paillard Dosage : Zero.

The new Bruno Paillard Dosage : Zero – or D:Z for short – is the house’s second attempt at a sugar-free style; its first was made 35 years ago, shortly after Bruno Paillard created the house in 1981.

Scroll down to see the Dosage Zero tasting note and score

Why did he decide to have another go?

You may also like:

First taste: Clos des Goisses 2009 new release 

The post First taste: Bruno Paillard launches Dosage: Zero appeared first on Decanter.

Get to grips with the some of the more obscure tasting notes used by wine experts, with graphics from Decanter's design team. This week we decode 'walnut'...

How to understand tasting notes: The latest… Walnut

This gnarly nut can be tough to crack, but once released from its hard outer casing the kernel can be eaten raw, cooked, pickled, or even pressed into an oil.

Walnuts have a mildly bitter, nutty flavour profile that works well in both sweet and savoury dishes. Similarly, when it comes to wine tasting notes, walnut flavours can complement both sweet and dry styles, ranging from brut Champagne to sweet fortified wines.

Walnut flavours or aromas can be a key indicator of deliberate oxidation, along with notes like almond, hazelnut and marzipan. Such characters are commonly found in fortified wines, including some Sherry and Port styles.

From Fino to Oloroso, various Sherry styles can express walnut flavours or aromas, often combining them with bittersweet citrus peel and honey notes.

SEE: Williams & Humbert, En Rama Fino 2006 | Bodegas Rey Fernando de Castilla, Antique Palo Cortado NV | Gonzalez Byass, Viña AB Amontillado NV

Mature Tawny Ports typically have a nutty flavour profile. For example, Feuerheerd’s 20 Year Old Tawny carries flavours of molasses, dried fruit and Walnut Whip — a walnut-topped chocolate.

In some Chardonnay-based still and sparkling wines walnut notes can be produced by extended lees contact, either through resting sur lie (on the lees) or through the use of bâtonnage (lees stirring).

If you can get your hands on it, look for rich walnut aromas in vintage Champagne, such as Krug’s Clos du Mesnil 1995 or Charles Heidsieck’s Champagne Charlie 1981.

Fruity

 

Apricot

‘Apricot’ in a tasting note is in the spectrum of other stone fruits, such as peach, indicating a certain ripeness in the grapes, and used to describe white wines – although not as ripe as in hot climate wines, where the fruit descriptors become tropical, like pineapple and mango.

In Decanter’s How to read wine tasting notes, it says apricot ‘denotes warm, summery ripeness.’

Apricot is often associated with the grape Viognier, along with peach and blossom, found the in Rhône and increasingly in the New World like California and Australia. Richer Albariño, from North West Spain, is another fine white which regularly gets described with an apricot nose.

Apricot is also an aroma often found in sweet wines;  either as the fresh fruit, or dried apricot, which is sweeter and more intense.

It can be found in sweet wines like Sauternes and Tokaji, and fortified wines, like in Tawny Port, along with other dried fruits.

Dried apricot is not restricted to sweeter wines only, and is found in dry wines too, like Domaine de la Taille aux Loups, Les Dix Arpents 2014.

SEE: Disznókő, Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos 2006 | Zull, Weinviertel, Grüner Veltliner Klassik, 2016 | Château Coutet, Barsac, Bordeaux, France 2011 | Château Lamothe, Sauternes, 2eme Cru Classé, 2013

Banana

Ever caught the whiff of bananas when opening, sniffing or drinking wine? If you have, it could be for the following scientific reasons — please note there are almost certainly no actual bananas involved.

One possible cause is the winemaking process carbonic maceration, commonly used in the production of Beaujolais wines, made from the Gamay grape. In this process, the grapes are sealed in a vessel filled with carbon dioxide prior to regular fermentation, which gives Beaujolais wines their distinctive juicy or subtly tropical flavours.

The chemical compound behind banana’s aroma is mainly isoamyl acetate, an ester that’s also found in pears and bubblegum — another signature Beaujolais scent. It can occur in red or white wines as a natural by-product of carbonic maceration, or from the yeasts in regular fermentation. Interestingly, the same compound is released by the honey bees from their sting to alert fellow bees to danger.

Banana’s flavour profile is among the tropical fruits — notes like pineapple, passionfruit and lychees. Aside from Beaujolais, you can look for it in South African Pinotage. Or from aromatic white wines, especially those fermented at cooler temperatures, including Albariños like Martin Codax 2011 or Coto Redondo, Liñar de Vides 2011 both from the Spanish region of Rías Biaxas in Galicia.

In other white wines, ripe banana notes are associated with richer fruit flavours and sweet blossom aromas. Such as Haridimos Hatzidakis, Assyrtiko, Santorini 2012 or aged whites like Colonnara, Cuprese, Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi 1991.

 

Bergamot

Bergamots are citrus fruits that are commonly shaped like yellow or green dwarf pears with dimpled skins, but they are in fact a variety of bitter orange.

Although edible, bergamots are rarely eaten fresh due to their intensely acidic and tart-tasting flesh, which is more palatable in marmalade or juice form.

The incredibly aromatic essential oils in bergamots’ skins makes them very popular in perfumes and it’s also an important ingredient in Earl Grey tea.

When it comes to wine tasting notes, bergamot is a useful citrus fruit descriptor for certain dry white wines, as it expresses a flavour or aroma that is more bitter than oranges but sweeter than lemons.

Examples could include aromatic German Riesling wines, such as Dreissigacker, Bechtheimer Geyersberg, Rheinhessen 2014, noted for its ‘powerful nose of bergamot and leaf tea’ followed by floral flavours of rose and geranium.

Or French Muscadet wines from the Loire Valley like the 96-point Pierre-Luc Bouchaud, Pont Caffino, Loire 2014, exuding complex aromas of ‘golden pair skin and subtle struck match’ alongside orange blossom and bergamot.

Red wines with vibrant acidity could also express bergamot notes, such as Pinot Noirs like Bisquertt, La Joya Gran Reserva 2014 from Chile’s Leyda Valley and Portuguese red blends from Douro Valley like Symington, Altano Organic 2015.

Black olive

The colour of olives is generally related to how ripe they are: green olives are harvested before the olive has ripened, and black olives have been left to undergo ripening.

During the course of ripening, polyphenol (aka tannin) levels drop. As a result, the astringency of the green olive relaxes into a more gentle and earthy tasting black olive.

In wine tasting notes, black olive might be used to describe the earthy and subtly bitter edge found in some red wines. Syrah is a classic example, where black olive may be found alongside black fruit and black pepper notes.

SEE: Wind Gap, Sonoma Coast, Syrah, California 2012 | Domaine Les Bruyères, David Reynaud, Crozes-Hermitage 2015

Californian Cabernet Sauvignon from cooler vintages might display black olive, as they are generally more savoury and less fruit-forward. For example, the Cabernet dominant blend of Opus One, Oakville, Napa Valley 2009.

The primary flavours and aromas of Pinot Noir can also develop via ageing into earthy and vegetal flavours that might come under the black olive profile. For example Kutch Wines, McDougall Ranch, Sonoma Coast, California 2009 — where black olive blends with spice and forest floor flavours.

Blackberry

Blackberries are soft, black-coloured fruit, commonly found wild in English hedgerows during summer months. They can be eaten fresh, cooked in puddings or made into jam.

In the wine lexicon, blackberry belongs in the black fruit category, alongside similarly sweet and tart soft fruits, such as blackcurrants, blueberries and black plums.

As you might guess from their appearance, blackberries are closely related to raspberries, although the latter is considered more tart in taste and less firm in texture.

Leafy or brambly blackberry flavours might be used to describe a tannic, full-bodied red wine style that hasn’t yet fully matured. Prominent blackberry with leafy notes could also hint that the grapes didn’t fully ripen before they were harvested.

SEE: Zanoni Pietro, Zovo, Amarone della Valpolicella 2011

On the other end of the spectrum, jammy blackberry notes describe the rich ripeness associated with fruit preserves, when heat and sugar are added to intensify flavours.

If you see blackberry paired with words like cooked, stewed, jam or dried, it might be describing red wines with developed fruit flavours from controlled oxidation, a common feature of bottle-ageing.

This could apply to classic Bordeaux or Rioja blends and Californian Cabernet Sauvignon, where blackberry primary fruit flavours can intertwine with oak influences like vanilla, cedar and chocolate.

SEE: Château Palmer, Margaux, 3ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux 2012 | Contador, Rioja 2014 | Ridge Vineyards, Estate Cabernet, Santa Cruz Mountains 2008

As a typical black fruit flavour, blackberry notes are ubiquitous in red wine tasting notes — from Touriga Nacional wines from Portugal, to Nero d’Avola from Sicily.

SEE: Aldi, Zom Reserva, Douro 2015 | Donnafugata, Sherazade, Sicily 2015

Look for them in certain Syrah wines from Barossa Valley and northern Rhône to compare how they interact with characteristic gamey, spicy, tarry or smokey notes to create complexity.

SEE: Penfolds, RWT Shiraz, Barossa Valley 2015 | Delas, St-Joseph Rhône 2010

 

Bramble

The official definition of bramble is a wild bush with thorns, usually genetically related to the rose family. As a wine tasting note, bramble generally refers to the most commonplace example: blackberry bushes, which can be cultivated for their fruit or found growing wild in hedgerows.

Consequently, bramble is found in the black fruit category of the wine lexicon, alongside blackcurrant, blackberry itself, black cherry and black plum.

Much like the term hedgerow (see below), bramble encompasses an overall sense of different natural flavour components. For this reason bramble makes for a very useful wine descriptor, because it can express conjoined black fruit, as well as herbaceous or even blossom notes.

The choice to describe a wine as having ‘bramble’ notes, rather than simply ‘blackberry’ ones, could mean that the wine has a black fruit character plus an overtone of leafiness.

In this way it can indicate desirable or undesirable characteristics, depending on the wine style. For example, in the case of a youthful cool climate Pinot Noir, such as Wakefield Estate, Fourth Dimension Pinot Noir, Adelaide Hills 2016, a ‘spicy, almost tangy, red fruit and bramble character’ is appropriate to the style that the winemaker is seeks to achieve.

Or, Hahn, Lodi, Boneshaker Zinfandel 2014, where the herbaceous-fruity bramble note marries rosemary and menthol with the rich kirsch and chocolate.

Other tasting notes might specify that it’s the fruity element of bramble that’s most prominent in the wine, such as Bodega Norton, Lote Negro, Mendoza 2015 – displaying ‘inky bramble fruit’ with plums and oak spice.

Or in the powerful black fruit flavour profile of Nebbiolo wines such as Fontanafredda, Langhe Nebbiolo, Ebbio, Piedmont 2015, where a ‘nose of hedgerow fruit leaps out of the glass, with berry and bramble flavours’.

However, ‘green’ or ‘leafy’ aromas in some wines can also indicate underripe grapes.

 

Candied fruit

Candying is a preservation technique that involves coating any given piece of fruit, nut or ginger in a sugary glaze, sealing the fresh flavours inside for longer.

In this way candied fruit retains more of its original fresh fruit flavours than dried fruit or jams, although they also become saturated with sweetness.

The effect of intense fruitiness encased in sweetness makes candied fruit a useful tasting descriptor for a range of wines that present this flavour combination.

Candied fruit flavours are perhaps found most prominently in fortified wines like tawny Port, where it often manifests as candied citrus, as in Messias, 20 Year Old Tawny and Marks & Spencer, 10 Year Old Tawny Port.

You might find candied stone and tropical fruit flavours and aromas in sweet white wines like those of Sauternes, such as Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey 2013 and Château Rabaud-Promis’ Promesse de Rabaud-Promis 2015.

Subtle notes of candied citrus peel can also be found in the complex flavour profile of certain red Burgundy wines, such as Louis Latour, Romanée-St-Vivant Grand Cru 2016 and Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Romanée-Conti Grand Cru 2014.

Some Brut Champagnes – although dry by definition – can still have hints of candied fruits. In the best examples these flavours are balanced by fresh acidity, to prevent any cloying sweetness.

For example Krug 2004 is able to encompass ‘candied fruits, gingerbread, white chocolate, caramel and marzipan’ while remaining light, fresh and dry — resulting in a Decanter score of 97/100.

ALSO: Bollinger, RD 2004 | Moutard Père & Fils, Brut 1992

 

Cassis

As a tasting note, cassis refers to ripe and concentrated blackcurrant flavours or aromas. It’s often used to describe rich and full-bodied red wines, such as mature Bordeaux wines, or those made from earthy southern Italian varieties such as Nero d’Avola, Aglianico and Primitivo.

The blackcurrant flavour profile belongs to a broader ‘black fruit’ category. Within that category, it’s more aligned with the tartness of blueberries, and not with the sweetness of dark plum and blackberry flavours.

The term can cover different forms of intense blackcurrant fruit flavours, from a large helping of blackcurrant jam, to a handful of the fresh berries.

The tasting term is not to be confused with the wine region of Cassis in Provence, which is renowned for rosé wines that generally express red fruit rather than black fruit notes, and white wines of a mineral and citrus character.

To fully comprehend the flavour, why not try the blackcurrant liqueur crème de cassis. This also goes well in a ‘Kir Royale’ cocktail — made by pouring a small measure into a flute and topping up with Champagne.

 

Cherry

Cherries have a distinctive fruit character, often replicated artificially for confectionery and liqueurs. When it comes to wine tasting notes, it’s important to distinguish between different cherry forms and flavours. For starters, there are both sweet and sour cherries — think of the difference between maraschino and morello cherries.

Red cherries are seen as part of the red fruit flavour profile, and black cherries are included in the black fruit category. In both of these, cherries might be seen as not so sweet or tart as the berries, yet more concentrated than fleshy plums, for example.

In Decanter’s How to read wine tasting notes, the general character of cherry is defined as, ‘firm, vibrant fruit with a touch of acidity and none of the sweetness of, say, blackcurrants’.

Wines that can carry notes of tart cherries include northern Italian reds, such Piedmont’s Barolo and Barbaresco wines made from the Nebbiolo grape. Red cherry notes can be found in some Tuscan Sangiovese wines from Brunello di Montalcino and Chianti.

SEE: Giovanni Rosso, Barolo, La Serra, Piedmont, Italy, 2010 | Pio Cesare, Barbaresco, Piedmont 2013 | Bottega, Il Vino dei Poeti, Brunello di Montalcino 2010 | Monteraponi, Chianti Classico, Tuscany 2014

Young Pinot Noir wines can encompass a range of cherry flavours from red to black, particularly those of New Zealand, where some of the best examples combine cherry with hints of jam or strawberry to offset earthy notes.

Perhaps the wine most associated with cherries is Beaujolais, a red wine made from the Gamay grape. Cherry notes in these wines are usually the product of carbonic maceration, a process in which whole grapes are sealed in a vessel filled with carbon dioxide prior to regular fermentation. This helps to preserve the naturally juicy and fruity character of Gamay.

SEE: Domaine Georges Descombes, Morgon, Beaujolais 2015 | Domaine de la Voûte des Crozes, Côte de Brouilly, Beaujolais 2015

 

Citrus

As a tasting note, citrus is defined by high acidity and fresh fruit flavour; characteristics that can be found in many white wines.

Although wine may not reach the acidity level of, say, lemonade, it can have a strong acidic structure that recalls sharpness of fresh lemon, lime or grapefruit on the nose and palate.

It may also be found alongside notes like ‘mineral’ or ‘steely’, because certain high acidity wines can feel almost hard-edged in the mouth, lacking in sweet fruit flavours. Accompanying notes of more sour fruits, like green apples or pears, are relatively common.

In wine, citrus is categorised as a primary aroma, because it relates to the flavour of the grapes themselves as opposed to winemaking or ageing processes.

Examples of citrussy wines can include young dry whites like Vermentino, Verdejo, Albariño and Sauvignon Blanc.

SEE: Uvaggio, Vermentino, Lodi, California 2013 | Beronia, Verdejo, Rueda, Spain 2016 | Eidosela, Albariño, Rias Baixas, Galicia, 2011 | Cloudy Bay, Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand 2016 | Domaine Guyot, Les Loges, Pouilly-Fumé, Loire 2015

Note: citrus can sometimes be detected as citrus peel or zest, which might suggest a more pithy and intensely aromatic character than citrus juices. This is because the pungent odour of citrus fruits comes from the chemical compound limonene, which is located in the peel.

 

 Coconut

First things first, it’s important not to confuse the flavour profile of coconuts with nuts. Coconuts are not nuts, they are drupes (stone fruits). Their distinctive flavour and aroma is distinct from either fruits or nuts, and can be found in products like coconut milk or oil, as well as the desiccated coconut you might have eaten in a Bounty bar.

In wine, coconut generally manifests itself on the nose as a kind of dulled sweetness, which doesn’t pique the senses in the same way as sweet fruit or honey flavours. Instead it is more heavily aromatic, which is why it’s categorised among the ‘kernels’ such as almond, coffee and chocolate.

Notes of coconut can come from esters, which are the chemical compounds behind many aromas. Specifically lactones, which are responsible for the peculiar sweet aromas associated with coconuts. Beverley Blanning MW goes one step further in her exploration of oak aromas: ‘beta-methyl-gamma-octa-lactone – that’s coconut aroma to you and me’.

Coconut is one of the key aromas that distinguishes oaked wines, and it’s usually counted as a tertiary aroma because it’s related to the ageing process. Oak flavours can come from contact with wood chips, staves or barrels. Coconut is strongly evoked by American oak, along with vanilla notes.

Wines with coconut notes can include oaky red Riojas with some years behind them, like La Rioja Alta, 904 Gran Reserva 2007 and Bodegas Muriel, Reserva 2008. As well as big Cabernet-dominated Australian reds like Wolf Blass’ Black Label wines, aged for many months in American Oak.

SEE: Wolf Blass, Black Label 1979 | Wolf Blass, Black Label 1974 | Wolf Blass Wines, Black Label 1992

 

 

Cooked Fruit

A ‘cooked wine’ can be considered a fault. It can refer to a bottle that has been exposed to extreme heat. This can occur during shipping and is evident to the consumer as the cork can protrude and the wine quality will be greatly diminished.

However, when a person refers to ‘cooked fruit’ when tasting, this means that the grapes have had too much hang-time on the vine or too much sun exposure and are in fact overripe or even sunburned. This leads to a wine that has lower total acidity, which will make it taste less fresh; it will usually have jammy characters. This jamminess can be coupled with a higher level of alcohol, which can create a flabby mouthfeel.

 

 

Cranberry

Cranberries are small and round red berries, which grow in clusters on low-lying evergreen shrubs. When fresh, the sweetness of cranberries is largely overwhelmed by their acidity, so they’re usually cooked and sweetened into sauce, jam or juice form.

Their sweet and tart flavour profile makes them a useful wine descriptor, and cranberries are found in the wine lexicon as part of the red fruit category. On the sweet to tart red fruit spectrum, cranberries probably sit between raspberries and redcurrants.

You can look for cranberry notes in red wines with high acidity, like some young Pinot Noir wines from cool climates. For example, Fortnum & Mason, Axel Neiss, Spätburgunder 2014, from Germany’s Pfalz region, has a nose filled with ‘bitter cherry and cranberry’ followed by tart fruit on the palate.

Elsewhere, Soter Vineyards, Planet Oregon Pinot Noir 2015, from the US appellation of Oregon, has a ‘vibrant acidity’ and ‘coats the mouth in flavours of red strawberry, cherry and cranberry’.

As well as unoaked Pinot Noir styles such as Zinck, Portrait Pinot Noir 2015 from Alsace, expressing ‘fresh cranberry and cherry fruit with velvety tannins’.

In her article Sancerre: The French Pinot Noir you should be drinking, Decanter’s Tina Gellie outlines how the ‘bigger day-night temperature differences’ in the Loire give rise to more ‘crunchy raspberry- and cranberry-style’ Pinot Noirs, compared to those from Burgundy.

SEE: Domaine Vacheron, Belle Dame, Loire 2010

Younger Grenache wines can also have relatively high acidity and tart red fruit flavours, such as cranberry. For example, Momento, Grenache 2015, from Swartland is noted for its ‘fresh acidity with tart cherry and cranberry fruit’.

Willunga 100, Grenache 2014, from South Australia’s McLaren Vale, displays ‘juicy cranberry, cherry and raspberry on the palate’.

A slightly more unusual style — also from South Australia — Alpha Box & Dice, Enigma, Adelaide Hills 2015 is a wine made from the high-acid Italian Barbera grape — resulting in tarry characters with a ‘cranberry-laced acidity which runs through the centre’.

Fig

Figs are said to be some of the first fruits to be cultivated by humans; they have origins in Turkey, India, as well as many Mediterranean countries.

Genetically, figs are related to the mulberry family, and they grow on trees or bushes. They’re favoured for their smooth, syrupy fruit flavour and pulpy texture.

Although often enjoyed fresh, figs are easily dried out into a chewier, sweeter form — as the fruit sugars become concentrated after the water content is decreased.

It is in this form that they feature in the wine lexicon, alongside other dried fruits like dates, prunes and raisins.

Due to their earthy and richly sweet flavour profile, dried fig notes are primarily found in full-bodied reds and fortified wines.

This could include Portuguese red blends like Herdade de Malhadinha Nova, Matilde, Alentejano 2013 and JP Ramos, Alentejo, Marquês de Borba, Alentejo 2014 — both combining fig notes with spicy undertones. Or Primitivo wines from southern Italy, like Masseria Metrano, Primitivo, Salento, Puglia 2014, where fig mixes coffee and bitter herb aromas.

Among fortified wines, you can look for fig notes in Tawny Ports, as well as mature Madeiras, such as HM Borges, 20 Year Old, Verdelho. Or Pedro Ximénez sherries like Bodegas Rey Fernando de Castilla, Antique Pedro Ximénez NV.

In her article What is premature oxidation? Jane Anson identifies fig as a possible precursor to a wine becoming oxidised:

‘In red wines, the warning signs come with prune, fig and other dried fruit aromas – these are positively sought in specific types of wines such as Amarone or Port, but would be a likely indication in a young dry red that the wine will not age as it should.’

However, she warns that sensitive grapes with dried fruit flavours, like fig, are at more risk than more robust varieties:

‘Some styles of dry reds – such as still Douro reds and some Languedoc wines – naturally have dried fruit aromas when young, and are made from grapes with high natural acidity and resistance to heat.

‘But the danger comes with other grape varieties that are more susceptible to fluctuations in temperature.’

Sources: britannica.com, decanter.com

Gooseberries

A traditional fruit of the English garden or hedgerow, hairy-skinned gooseberries are prized in baked desserts for their fresh and tart flavours. Genetically they’re related to currants, although they are at the most sour-tasting end of the spectrum. They are most commonly green-coloured, although strains of red, yellow and pink gooseberries do exist.

In the wine lexicon they belong in the ‘green fruit’ category, alongside green apple, pear and grape. These are generally less sweet than red, black or stone fruits, displaying a primarily tart character instead.

Gooseberries are typically found in aromatic white wines, as their tart taste and slightly floral or tangy scent makes them a useful descriptor. Sauvignon Blancs may have gooseberry notes, particularly those made in cool climate regions like Marlborough in New Zealand or France’s Loire Valley.

SEE: Auntsfield, Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc, Southern Valleys, Marlborough 2016 | Asda, Sancerre, Loire 2016

See Oz Clarke’s description of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, when it first found its way onto the market in the 1980s:

‘No previous wine had shocked, thrilled and entranced the world before with such brash, unexpected flavours of gooseberries, passion fruit and lime or crunchy green asparagus spears … an entirely new, brilliantly successful wine style that the rest of the world has been trying to copy since.’

• Sauvignon Blanc to change your mind

Another common, if strange-sounding, description of the smell of Sauvignon Blanc is ‘cat’s pee on a gooseberry bush’ — denoting the austere urine or petrol-like aromas intermingling with the green fruit tartness of gooseberries.

Gooseberry notes do not generally emanate from the grapes themselves, instead they are the result of yeast action during fermentation.

Benjamin Lewin MW explains the science:

‘The gooseberry and passion fruit aromas of Sauvignon Blanc come from sulphur-containing compounds that are released during fermentation from non-odiferous precursors in the grape.’

• Yeasts: do you know what’s flavouring your wine?

Alternatively, you can look for gooseberry notes in wines made from the Bacchus grape, a Riesling-Silvaner and Müller-Thurgau hybrid. Bacchus wines are sometimes likened to Sauvignon Blanc for their fresh, green character and high acidity.

SEE: Sixteen Ridges, Bacchus, England 2015 | Chapel Down, Bacchus, Kent 2015

 

 

Green apple

Green apples are generally thought to be more tart and less sweet than their red or yellow counterparts. To test this, try biting into a granny smith followed by a gala or golden delicious apple. You should notice your mouth water more with the green apple, as you produce more saliva in response to the higher acid content. Specifically, malic acid which is derived from the latin word for apple, ‘malum’.

Wine also contains malic acid, which can give the impression of green apple flavours and aromas in your glass. Wines that are high in malic acid have more pronounced green apple notes, these include cool climate dry whites such as Chablis wines, as well as Riesling and Grüner Veltliner from Germany or Austria. In these wines, green apple might be found alongside other green fruits with a similar flavour profile, such as gooseberry or pear, as well as mineral or metallic notes.

SEE: Domaine Jean-Paul et Benoît Droin, Valmur Grand, Chablis 2015 | Weinhof Waldschütz, Riesling Classic, Kamptal 2015 | Eschenhof Holzer, Wagram Grüner Veltliner, Wagram 2015

The effect of malic acid is not always desirable, particularly in some red wines and Chardonnays. It can be processed using malolactic fermentation, when bacteria break down the tart malic acid into lactic acid —  the same substance that’s found in dairy products. This might be used in Chardonnay wines to bring out more buttery flavours and give a more rounded creamy mouthfeel.

Sources: The Persistent Observer’s Guide to Wine: How to Enjoy the Best and Skip the Rest by J. P. Bary | Decanter.com

Jammy

The term jammy is usually applied to red wines low in acidity but high in alcohol, such as Californian Zinfandel or Australian Shiraz. It describes ripened or cooked fruit, in which the pungency and sweetness is intensified compared to fresh fruit flavours.

Jammy is associated with red fruits like strawberries and raspberries, as well as darker fruits such as blackcurrants and blackberries — essentially fruits you can imagine making into jam.

As a fault, it can express poor growing conditions in which the vines are overexposed to heat and sunlight. This causes the grapes to ripen too quickly, and the resultant wines can develop a cloying jamminess with a flabby mouthfeel.

Wine writer Robert Haynes-Peterson notes that Pinot Noir wines are most at risk, as these thin-skinned grapes are ‘intolerant of high temperatures which results in jammy, rather than fruit-driven, wines’. Read more

However, some people see jamminess as adding an enjoyably complex and concentrated fruitiness to wines; Matetic’s EQ Syrah from the San Antonio Valley was praised by Decanter’s James Button for its ‘multi-layered jammy and savoury elements’.

Juniper berries

Gin lovers will know the importance of juniper berries in relation to spirits, but they can also be a useful wine tasting note. Despite their name and appearance, juniper berries are actually the fleshy seed cones of a conifer shrub.

• How to taste gin like a professional

They are far more bitter and peppery than actual berries and are rarely consumed fresh. Instead juniper berries are usually dried and used as a savoury spice, or a gin botanical.

In the wine lexicon, the juniper flavour is found in the ‘botanicals and herbs’ category alongside lemongrass, as well as savoury herbs like sage and basil.

You can look for juniper notes with a similar flavour profile to this category; that is, with a bitter herb and peppery spice character. This might include full-bodied red Syrah wines, like Peay Vineyards, Les Titans Syrah 2011 and Arnot-Roberts, Clary Ranch Syrah 2012, both from California’s Sonoma Coast AVA.

Juniper might feature in the complex aromas of Nebbiolo wines from Piedmont, including Gaja, Sorì Tildin, Barbaresco 2013, where it mingles with typical notes of black cherry and mint.

As well as some of the bold and aromatic red wines from Portugal’s Douro Valley, such as Quinta do Vale Meao, Meandro 2011, where it melds with garrigue and black fruit.

A more unusual example might be Ao Yun’s full-bodied Bordeaux blend from southern China’s Yunnan province. Decanter’s John Stimpfig noted the ‘juniper, pepper and cumin’ elements to the 2013 vintage.

SEE: Ao Yun, China 2013

Aside from red wines, you might find juniper notes in some cool-climate dry whites, like Torrontés from the high-altitude terroirs of Salta in Argentina.

SEE: Bodega El Porvenir, Torrontés, Salta 2015

And even sparkling wine – Furleigh, Estate’s Blanc de Blancs 2009, made in Dorset, noted for its rich stone fruit character with ‘a flash of juniper bitterness’.

Kirsch

Kirsch, pronounced ‘kee-ersh’, is a dry cherry brandy from Germany – where it’s full name is ‘kirschwasser’, meaning ‘cherry water’.

It’s traditionally made using morello cherries, which are fermented whole including their stones, giving the resultant spirit a bitter almond edge.

In the wine lexicon, kirsch is placed in the dried or cooked fruit category, as it corresponds to the concentrated fruit characteristics found among descriptors like jammy, stewed fruit and raisin.

Kirsch’s flavour profile of distilled cherry fruit flavours, plus a hint of bitter almond, makes it a useful descriptor for many dry red wines.

You can look for kirsch characteristics in rich full-bodied reds such as Syrah wines from France’s Rhône Valley, where it can compliment savoury notes like herbs, smoke, earth and pepper.

New world Syrah, commonly called Shiraz, can express kirsch-like flavours too, such as examples from South Africa and Australia – although here it tends to meld with stronger hints of sweet spices.

Other reds with a kirsch character could include fruit-forward Malbec wines from Argentina, which often mix kirsch with dark fruit and floral notes.

SEE: Fable Mountain Vineyards, Syrah, Tulbagh 2011 | De Bortoli, Yarra Valley, Estate Grown Shiraz, 2013 | 55 Malbec, La Consulta, Tomal Vineyard, Teho, 2011

Dry red wines from northern Italy, made from Nebbiolo, Sangiovese or Barbera grapes, can also all display a bold cherry character that can sometimes express itself as a kirsch note.

Similarly, the powerful dark fruit profile of some Bordeaux blends can manifest itself in cassis and kirsch-like flavours.

SEE: Cascina Val del Prete, Roero Riserva, Piedmont 2013 | Château de Fieuzal, Graves, Pessac-Léognan 2015

Kiwi fruit

Kiwi fruit is also known as a Chinese gooseberry; despite its connotations with New Zealand, it originates from China.

However, aside from their sour, fruity flavour and green flesh, kiwis have little in common with gooseberries. Kiwis grow on vines, contain black seeds and have a fuzzy brown skin.

Kiwi is found in the tropical fruit category of the wine tasting lexicon, alongside pineapple, passion fruit and mango.

However a kiwi’s flavours are generally less intensely sweet and pungent than most tropical fruit notes, having more in common with the tarter varieties of melon and lychee.

Wines that might display kiwi notes are mostly dry, fruit-forward whites with prominent acidity.

Chenin Blanc wines often fit this description. These could be of the Loire Valley variety, such as Le Pas St-Martin, La Pierre Frite, Saumur 2015 – praised for its subtle blend of lime, kiwi, quince and green plum flavours.

South African Chenins can also have kiwi character, like Ken Forrester Wines, Old Vine Reserve Chenin Blanc 2015, noted for its stone fruit and kiwi flavours, as well as complex vinyl and cassis leaf undertones.

You might also find hints of kiwi in various unoaked white wine styles, such as Volpe Pasini, Pinot Bianco, Colli Orientali del Friuli 2013 from northern Italy and Alpha Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2014 from Amyntaio in Macedonia.

Both of these wines were vinified in stainless steel to preserve their fresh fruit flavours.

Loganberry

Loganberries are a hybrid formed of blackberries and raspberries, and they have shades of both in their look and taste.

Originating in California in the 1880s, loganberries have become a popular addition to berry desserts and preserves across the US, UK and Australia.

The fruit is a deep claret colour when ripe, meaning that it technically belongs to the red fruit category of the wine lexicon, alongside its parent fruit, raspberry.

In wine tasting notes, loganberry is used to describe red fruit flavours that aren’t as tart as raspberry and cranberry, whilst not reaching the sweetness levels of, say, strawberry.

Possessing elements of both sweet and sour red fruit flavours, loganberry can be a useful tasting note for wines that have similar characteristics.

These are generally dry red wines with a strong red fruit flavour profile combined with medium to high acidity, creating both sweet and tart elements.

Many dry reds fit this description, including French greats from Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Rhône Valley.

For example, our tasters have found loganberry notes in Château La Mission Haut-Brion 2015, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s La Tâche 2015 and Clos St-Jean, La Combe des Fous 2016.

Syrah/Shiraz wines can also display loganberry flavours, such as Rolf Binder’s Heysen Shiraz 2013 from Barossa Valley, in which the tart element of loganberry balances denser notes of blackberry jam.

Further south, Obsidian Reserve Syrah 2013 from New Zealand’s Waiheke Island was praised by our expert panel for its aromatic blend of loganberry, cinnamon, mint and bay leaf.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica

Lychee

With their spiky red exteriors and translucent white flesh, lychees are one of the more exotic fruit varieties in the wine lexicon. They’re defined by a mildly sweet fruit flavour, with an edge of tartness and a floral aroma.

Their large central seed makes lychees look similar to stone fruits, but when it comes to wine they are classed among the tropical fruit flavours — joining mango, banana, passion fruit and pineapple.

Lychee notes are typically found in white wines, often those with subtle fruit flavours and spicy or floral characteristics.

A classic example is Gewürztraminer wine, described by Thierry Meyer, DWWA Regional Chair for Alsace, in Gewurztraminer to change your mind:

‘It smells of ginger and cinnamon, fragrant rose petals and pot pourri with a dusting of Turkish Delight and tastes of deliciously exotic lychees and mango.’

These wines are commonly made in cool climate regions like Alsace and Alto Adige in northern Europe, as well as Marlborough in New Zealand.

SEE: Lidl, Gewürztraminer Vieilles Vignes, Alsace 2016 | Gewürztraminer, Alto Adige, Trentino-Alto Adige 2014 | Yealands Estate, Gewürztraminer, Awatere Valley, Marlborough 2010

Other aromatic white wines with lychee notes could include Sauvignon Blancs, such as Massey Dacta, Marlborough 2015, which combines minerality with tropical fruits.

As well as Pinot Grigio, Prosecco and Soave wines from northern Italy, Austrian Grüner Veltliner and Torrontés from the lofty heights of Salta.

SEE: Cantina Tramin, Unterebner Pinot Grigio, Alto Adige 2014 | Sommariva, Brut, Conegliano-Valdobbiadene NV | Bolla, Retro, Soave Classico, Veneto 2011 | Bodega Colomé, Colome Torrontes, Calchaqui Valley 2015

Marmalade

Marmalade is a fruit preserve made of citrus peel that’s been boiled with sugar, although the original Portuguese variety is made from quinces.

As with other preserves, like jam, the flavours in marmalade are sweeter and more concentrated versions of the fresh fruit it’s made from.

Wines that display these intense, sweet flavours with a bitter citrus edge are commonly fortified reds, such as Port or Madeira wines, or white dessert wines like those from Sauternes or Constantia.

These wines develop complex flavour profiles as they mature; fresh fruit notes evolve and intertwine with other influences like oak.

For example, long-aged wines like Delaforce’s Curious & Ancient 20 Year Old Tawny Port can express notes of fig, spice, coffee, cocoa, leather, spice, as well as marmalade.

Madeira wines are also made to age for decades. Blandy’s Bual 1969 spent 40 years in a cask before bottling, for example. The result is a nuanced wine with flavours starting with hazelnut and woodsmoke on the nose and progressing to marmalade on the palate.

In these wines marmalade flavours are often accompanied by dried fruit notes, which express a similar sense of developed and sweetened fruitiness.

In Sauternes wines, like Château d’Yquem 2015, marmalade characteristics might be caused by the onset of botrytis cinerea, or noble rot, which concentrates fruit flavours and sugars by dehydrating the grapes on the vine.

Constantia, located just outside Cape Town, is famous for its sweet white wines made from 100% Muscat de Frontignan. This aromatic grape variety can develop zesty and slightly bitter notes reminiscent of marmalade, alongside zingy ginger or Turkish delight.

SEE: Klein Constantia, Vin de Constance 2014

Marmalade is not solely confined to sweet wines and can appear in the tasting notes of certain aromatic dry white wines.

For example, Palmetto’s Riesling 2017 from Eden Valley or Vincent Pinard’s Flores Sauvignon Blanc 2015 from Sancerre — both of these wines combine hints of marmalade with delicate floral notes.

For something more unusual try an orange, or skin contact, wine, like Gravner, Ribolla, Friuli-Venezia Giulia 2007, described as having a ‘marmalade-like quality of bittersweetness’.

Melon

Although there are many different types of melon – watermelon, canteloupes, crenshaw, hami to name a few – when talking about melon flavours in wine, we’re generally talking about those associated with the honeydew melon.

Do not confuse this with the French grape that makes Muscadet wines, Melon de Bourgogne, which actually has very little to do with melon fruit.

In the wine tasting lexicon, Melon is found among other tropical fruits like pineapple, lychee and mango. The flavour profile of ripe melon is generally fruity, refreshing and sweet, although its sugar content is not normally as high as that of pineapple.

Rosé wines can be a good place to look for melon flavours and aromas.

This is particularly true for wines from Provence, like Domaine Gavoty 2013, as well as some ‘provençal-style’ Californian rosés, such as Picayune Cellars, Rosé, Mendocino County 2016 or Arnot-Roberts, Clear Lake Rosé, Lake County 2016.

Melon can also be evoked by rosé Champagnes, made from varying ratios of Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay. Including De Castelnau, Rosé Champagne NV, where fruity melon is balanced by floral beeswax notes.

Elsewhere, you might also find melon notes in full-bodied white wines from warm climates, such as Chardonnay from Californian regions like Napa Valley and Sonoma County. As well as in some Italian white wines like premium Pinot Grigio, or fruit-forward Prosecco wines.

SEE: Truchard, Chardonnay, Carneros, Napa Valley, California 2014 | Ronco del Gelso, Sot lis Rivis, Isonzo 2012 | Masottina Extra Dry, Rive di Ogliano, Conegliano-Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore 2010

Source: Decanter.com

Orange

Oranges are a species of citrus fruit which branch into many varieties, whether it be your lunchbox satsuma or a red-fleshed blood orange. 

Despite its many forms, all orange varieties share a similar citrus character that’s less acidic than lemon, lime or grapefruit and more fresh, fruity or tangy instead.

The same chemical molecule is behind the aroma of lemons and oranges, known as limonene. But it exists in two slightly altered forms and interacts with our nasal receptors differently, resulting in the two distinctive fruit scents.

Wine tasting notes might be more specific by naming which part of the orange fruit correctly describes the flavour or aroma found in a wine.

For example, a wine could have notes or orange peel or zest, which indicates a more pungent orange aroma, because limonene is concentrated in essential oils given off by glands in the rind. 

This means that when you peel or grate the skin of an orange you release a stronger and more bitter odour than that of its flesh. 

Wines with orange zest or peel notes are generally dry white wines with mineral, green fruit or floral characteristics. 

These can include Fiano wines from Campania in southern Italy, Riesling from Australia’s Clare Valley, or Californian Chardonnays — where orange zest notes might be intermingled with tropical fruit flavours.

SEE:Pierluigi Zampaglione, Don Chisciotte Fiano, Campania 2011 | Wakefield Estate, The Exquisite Collection Riesling, Clare Valley 2016 | Fess Parker, Ashley’s Chardonnay, Santa Rita Hills 2014

You may also see the tasting term ‘orange blossom’, referring to a very different tasting profile to orange fruits. Orange blossom is typified by a fresh white flower aroma, with a gentle bitter edge. You can look for orange blossom notes in white Burgundies such as Domaine Leflaive, Puligny-Montrachet Le Clavoillon 1er Cru 2015 or Greek white Assyrtiko wines like Ktima Pavlidis, Emphasis Assyrtiko Drama PGI 2013.

Do not confuse orange descriptors in wine tasting notes with orange wines, which are made using white wine grapes which are macerated in their skins, giving them an amber hue. In this case term ‘orange’ is in reference to their colour and does not prescribe orangey flavours or aromas.

Sources: Citrus: A History by Pierre Laszlo | Decanter.com

Geranium

Geraniums are much loved for their vivid flowers, but it’s the leaves that are responsible for their distinctive musky-floral aroma; something that is widely used in perfumes and aromatherapy.

In the wine lexicon geranium is in the floral category of primary aromas, meaning it’s usually created by the grape and alcoholic fermentation, rather than winemaking techniques or ageing.

Within the floral category it can perhaps be thought of as more herbaceous than rose, though more floral than elderflower.

Geranium aromas are most commonly found in aromatic whites, such as premium aged examples Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi, from the eastern Italian Marche region.

Colonnara, Verdicchio, dei Castelli di Jesi Classico 1991 melds geranium with floral-sweet honey aromas and banana.

Alternatively, you might find geranium notes in the floral aroma profile of German Rieslings, such as Dreissigacker, Bechtheimer Geyersberg 2014, exuding flavours of ‘roses and geranium jelly’.

 

Papaya

Papaya, or pawpaws, are seeded fruits that come in sizes ranging from pear shaped to almost spherical. They have green flesh that turns a rich ochre yellow or orange when ripe.

In the lexicon of wine tasting descriptors papaya belongs in the tropical fruit category, alongside notes like passion fruit, mango and pineapple.

These descriptors capture the pungent and sweet fruity character found in some wines, often whites made from aromatic varieties with a ripe, fruit-forward flavour profile.

For example a South Australian Riesling like Two Hands, The Boy, Eden Valley 2014, expresses ‘ripe and soft papaya flavours’ that are pleasantly counterbalanced by its vibrant acidity.

Similarly, a Viognier wine like Elephant Hill, Te Awanga, Hawke’s Bay 2010 might layer ‘luscious stone fruit, papaya and apricot aromas’ upon a strong backbone of acidity.

Other examples could include Sauvignon Blanc from Bordeaux, such as Château Bauduc 2016, or South African Chenin Blancs like Spice Route, Swartland 2015 and David & Nadia Sadie, Hoë-Steen 2015.

Tropical fruit flavours like papaya can also develop in wines made from late-harvest grapes that have been affected by noble rot, such as sweet wines from Sauternes or Tokaji.

SEE: Château de Myrat, Barsac 2ème Cru Classé 2014 | Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey, Sauternes 1er Cru Classé  2017

Oaky or leesy flavours can sometimes give the impression of a tropical fruit tang. These flavours can arise from wines that have been either fermented or aged in oak, rested ‘sur lie’ (on their lees) or from bâtonnage (stirring the lees).

This could apply to some Chardonnays from Burgundy, like Olivier Merlin, Sur la Roche, Pouilly-Fuissé 2016 and Domaine Sangouard-Guyot, Au Brûlé, St-Véran 2016.

It can also apply to some of the more complex premium Champagnes, including Krug, Grande Cuvée 160ème Édition NV and Louis Roederer, Cristal 2000.

 

Passion fruit

Passion fruits are recognisable by their purple or yellow hard casing, which can be cut open to reveal the vivid yellow pulp and green seeds within. They are related to the berry family, which also includes grapes.

They thrive in tropical climates and grow on vines; passion fruit plantations don’t look too dissimilar to wine vineyards, with the plants commonly trellised in lines.

Passion fruits are favoured in desserts and confectionery for their powerful fruity flavour, which is predominantly sweet with a slight sour tang. This flavour profile can emanate from wines too, and passion fruit is included in the wine lexicon in the ‘tropical fruit’ category, alongside notes like lychee, melon and pineapple.

You can look for passion fruit notes in aromatic dry white wines, with high acidity. For example New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is known for its ability to produce an array of pungent fruit flavours, including guava, passion fruit and mango — as well as equally strong flavours in the vegetal department, like cut grass and asparagus.

SEE: Opawa, Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough 2016 | Harrods, Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough 2015 | Tinpot Hut, Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough 2016

 You can find similar examples of this herbaceous and tropical fruit hybridity in Sauvignon Blancs from South America too: Cono Sur’s Reserva Especial 2014 from Chile boasts ‘intense mango, passion fruit and fresh herbs’.

Or Trapiche’s Costa & Pampa Sauvignon Blanc 2016 from Argentina, noted for its heady mix of ‘cut grass and passion fruit’ aromas.

Aromatic Pinot Grigio and Gewürztraminer wines from Italy’s Alto Adige region are capable of displaying ripe tropical fruit notes, such as passion fruit, alongside floral and citrus characteristics.

Certain South African Chenin Blancs, also have passion fruit flavours to match tangy acidity.

SEE: Cantina Tramin, Unterebner Pinot Grigio, Alto Adige 2014 | Baron Widmann, Gewürztraminer, Alto Adige 2013 | Swartland Winery, Bush Vine Chenin Blanc, Swartland, 2015

Pineapple

As you’re probably aware pineapple is a tropical fruit, with sweet and juicy pungent flesh. It’s this sweet pungency that’s reflected in some wine aromas, though no actual pineapple is present. There is such a thing as wine made from pineapples instead of grapes, but we won’t get into that here.

As a tasting note, pineapple is aligned with other sweet-smelling exotic fruits like melon, banana, guava, mango and passionfruit. Its flavour profile is sweeter than the citrus fruits, but it has a freshness that distinguishes it from stone fruits, such as apricots and peaches.

You can find pineapple notes ripe white wines, such as a Riesling like Tongue in Groove Waipara Valley, New Zealand 2013. Or you might find it in more traditional late-harvest examples, especially from cool regions like Mosel in Germany. It’s generally ascribed to the influences of Botrytis Cinerea, or Noble Rot.

• Science: How noble rot influences wine flavour

As a thin-skinned grape, Riesling is particularly susceptible to Noble Rot — a fungus that pierces the skin of grapes and lowers the water content, whilst maintaining sugar levels. Botrytis is able to invoke fruity notes because of chemical compounds like fureanol, which is also found in very ripe pineapples. Look for its pineapple influence in sweet wines from Sauternes too, such as Château Suduiraut 2013.

Some oaky and ripe New World Chardonnays may also exude aromas of pineapple, as they tend to have a more exotic fruit profile, along with hints of sweet spices and a higher alcohol content. Typical examples are Californian Chardonnays, such as Fess Parker, Ashley’s Chardonnay, Santa Barbara 2014 and Y Rousseau, Milady Chardonnay, Napa Valley 2012.

Plum

It’s often hard to define a single position for plum in the tasting note lexicon, because it can appear to span stone fruit, red fruit and black fruit categories, depending on the variety and its level of freshness and ripeness.

It is commonly associated with Merlot wines, particularly in their younger years, and may denote a fleshy character to the wine. You will often find plum in tasting notes for fruit-driven varietal wines dominated by black fruits, including Cabernet Sauvignon — but not exclusively.

Sometimes tasting notes might specify ‘black plum’ or ‘dark plum’, denoting richer and sweeter flavours, as might be seen red wines from Douro, made with Portuguese varieties like Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca.

SEE: Sainsbury’s, Taste the Difference Douro 2015 | Casa Ferreirinha, Callabriga, Douro 2014

You can find plum flavours and aromas in other varieties, too, such as Syrah and Grenache blends, like Domaine de la Cadenette, Costières de Nîmes, Rhône 2015 and La Cabane Reserve, Grenache & Syrah, Pays d’Oc 2015.

In Barbera and also some Nebbiolo wines from Piedmont, ripe red plum notes can be intensified by influences of sour cherry.

SEE: Ciabot Berton, Fisetta, Barbera d’Alba 2011 | Fratelli Serio & Battista Borgogno, Cannubi, Barolo 2009

You may also come across ‘plum jam’ in tasting notes, referring to plums which have been heated with added sugar, creating more intensely sweet, complex flavours. 

In powerful Sangiovese wines like Capanna, Brunello di Montalcino 2010 and Il Marroneto, Madonna delle Grazie, Brunello di Montalcino 2010, plum jam notes may combine with flavours of spice.

Source: Decanter.com

 

Pomegranate

 Pomegranates can be recognised by their hard shiny exteriors, coloured red or yellow, which can be split open to reveal bright ruby-like seeds. They’re

 said to originate from the Middle East, but today their juicy seeds are found in drinks and sweet or savoury dishes around the world.

The tart taste of pomegranate seeds might be compared to that of sour cherries or cranberries, and it’s a useful descriptor for wines with similar flavour profile. Pomegranate flavours can sometimes be expressed by fuller-bodied rosé wines, when their red fruit character is combined with high acidity.

For example, Domaine des Tourelles, Rosé 2015 from Lebanon is made from a punchy blend of Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault and Tempranillo, resulting in ‘heaps of wild strawberries and red berries’ plus ‘an extra dimension of pomegranate-like acidity’.

Spanish rosés, or rosados, often display these characteristics too, such as Pyrene, Rosado 2016 from Somontano – a blend of Tempranillo, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon that has ‘pleasingly tart pomegranate and strawberry fruit’, as well as ‘zippy grapefruit acidity’.

The robust acidic backbone and prominent fruit flavours of this style of rosé can make for great summer barbecue pairings. In her selection of great rosé wines with food, Fiona Beckett highlights Charles Melton, Rose of Virginia 2015, a Grenache rosé from Barossa Valley, for its ‘perfumed cherry and pomegranate fruit’ — a good match for lamb.

Rosés aside, you can also look for pomegranate notes in red wines with vibrant acidity and a ripe red fruit flavour profile.

This could include Cinsault reds, like Tenute Rubino, Lamo Ottavianello 2015, made in Puglia, noted for its strong aromas of ‘red cherry and pomegranate fruit’.

Or fruit-forward Carignan wines from California, such as Lioco, Sativa Carignan 2013, expressing ‘mouth-watering tastes of rosehip and pomegranate’.

Prune

Prunes are dried plums of any variety, typically blackish purple in appearance. Despite their shrivelled and wrinkly appearance, prunes are favoured in for their rich, sweet and juicy fruit flavours – making them a popular ingredient in jams, juices and Middle Eastern tagines.

In the wine lexicon prunes are found in the dried and cooked fruit category, as they share common flavour characteristics with raisins, dates and fruit preserves.

These descriptors have more concentrated sweet fruity flavours compared to fresh fruits, as sugars become concentrated through the processes of drying or cooking.

You can look for prune flavours and aromas in many medium to full bodied red wines with concentrated fruit flavours, typically those that have spent some time in oak.

For example fruit-forward, verging on jammy, Italian wines made from Sangiovese and Barbera grapes: Vignamaggio, Chianti, Classico Gran Selezione 2011, Poggio Ridente, San Sebastiano, Barbera d’Asti Superiore 2014.

Or rich Syrah and Grenache wines from warmer French regions like Languedoc-Rousillon or southern Rhône. Tasting notes for these wines often contain clusters of multiple red, black, fresh, baked and dried fruit descriptors.

Laurent Miquel, Larmes des Fées, St-Chinian 2014 was praised for its ‘sweet plum and prune scents and exciting, generously fruity plum, blackcurrant and damson flavours’.

Other examples could include Argentinean Malbec wines, such as Gauchezco, Oro, Paraje Altamira 2013, which combines liquorice and prune notes.

In her guide on how to taste en primeur wines Jane Anson said ‘fig and prune flavours can mean the fruit is slightly overripe’ in new vintages of Bordeaux wines.

 

Raisin

It might seem natural enough to find flavours of raisin in your wine, given that they’re really just dried out grapes. Indeed some wines are made from desiccated grapes, like Amarone wines from Valpolicella (where grapes are dried for 100 days or more), or sweet wines such as passito or vin santo styles. In these examples grapes are simply air dried by being laid out on racks in well-ventilated spaces, or hung from the rafters.

SEE: Tommasi, Ca’ Florian, Amarone della Valpolicella, Classico Riserva 2009 | Romano Dal Forno, Vigna Sere Rosso, Veneto 2004

The taste of raisins is defined by the concentration of fruit flavours and sugars left over after most of the water is removed. This explains why styles made by lowering the water content of grapes prior to pressing can later express raisiny notes in the glass. Sweet wines made using the onset of botrytis cinerea (aka noble rot) are part of this category too, as the fungus pierces the skins of the berries, lowering water content whilst retaining sugar levels. This includes wines like Sauternes from Bordeaux and Tokaji from Hungary.

Some sweet sherries are made from dried grapes too, namely those that use Pedro Ximénez or Moscatel grapes that have been left in the sun for several days. These berries make naturally sweet sherries that don’t require artificial sweetening after maturation, and they often have raisin in their tasting notes.

SEE: Maestro Sierra, Pedro Ximénez, Jerez | Osborne, 30 year old, Pedro Ximénez Venerable VORS, Jerez

In the wine lexicon, raisin belongs in the dried fruit category alongside tasting notes like dates, sultanas, dried figs and prunes. It’s not unusual to find dried fruit flavours alongside cooked or stewed ones, because the process of cooking can also concentrate sugars and flavours in a similar way to drying.

Bear in mind that wines can display dried fruit flavours even if they aren’t made from dried out grapes, because some intense, earthy or complex fruit flavours can seem raisin-like. For example, you may find raisin notes in Syrah wines from the Crozes-Hermitage or Saint-Joseph appellations in northern Rhône.

SEE: Vidal-Fleury, Crozes-Hermitage, Rhône 2010 | La Tour Coste, St-Joseph, La Combe, Rhône, France, 2010

Sources: sherrynotes.com | Decanter.com

Raspberry

One of the tartest red fruits, raspberry has a distinctive flavour and aroma that’s relished in desserts and confectionery. Raspberries are genetically part of the rose family, alongside other soft hedgerow fruits like blackberries and loganberries (blackberry-raspberry hybrids).

In the wine lexicon, raspberry part of the red fruit category — at the tartest end of the spectrum, next to cranberry. Although some notes may contain ‘sour raspberry’, ‘tart’ is a more specific adjective, relating to their acidic yet sweet, fruity nature.

Given these characteristics, it’s more commonly detected as a primary aroma in ripe and fruit-forward red wines with medium to high acidity.

Many wines from around the world fit this description, but some typical grape varieties include Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Gamay and Tempranillo and Italian grapes like Nebbiolo, Sangiovese, Barbera and Primitivo.

SEE: Collin Bourisset, Fleurie, Beaujolais 2015 | Tolpuddle Vineyard, Pinot Noir, Coal River Valley, Tasmania 2014 | E Pira and Figli, Cannubi 2006 | Bodegas Muriel, Taste the Difference Vinedos Barrihuelo Crianza, Rioja 2012

Lots of rosé wines typically have red fruit flavours and prominent acidity too, like Sacha Lichine, Single Blend Rosé 2016 from Languedoc-Roussillon. Or Graham Beck, Brut Rosé — a non-vintage sparkling wine from South Africa’s Western Cape, which combines ‘vibrant raspberry acidity’ with a leesy ‘brioche finish’.

You may see ‘raspberry jam’ in tasting notes, and this suggests the wine has more condensed raspberry tones; because jam making involves the addition of heat and sugar, which intensifies sweet and fruity flavours.

For example, Bersano, Sanguigna, Barbera 2011 from Piedmont is noted for its raspberry jam aromas, as a result of its ‘vivacious acidity’, plus intense and lingering sweet red fruit flavours.

 

Strawberry

Strawberry falls into the red fruit flavour category, along with notes like raspberry, cherry and jam. It can be experienced as an flavour, but is most commonly identified as a wine aroma. It’s created by the fragrant organic compound called ethly methylphenylglycidate, also known as an ester.

Strawberry notes can usually be found in light reds such as Californian Zinfandel wines, and New Zealand Pinot Noirs. As well as among the complex aromas of more tannic wines made from the Sangiovese and Nebbiolo varietals.

Strawberry aromas are also expressed by rosé wines, such as Domaine Delaporte’s rosé from Sancerre and Famille Negrel’s La Petite Reine rosé from Bandol. Or even in sparkling rosé wines, such as The Wine Society’s Champagne Rosé and Exton Park’s Pinot Meunier.

The nature of the strawberry aroma can range from an attractive berry freshness, to an unpleasant cloying fruitiness. For example, sommelier Laure Patry praises Erath Vineyards’ Oregon Pinot Noir 2012 for its ‘bright and fresh with ripe strawberry aromas’. But it can be distasteful if over-pronounced, in these instances it might be paired with words like ‘cooked’ or ‘stewed’.

Benjamin Lewin MW claims the ‘strawberry notes of Pinot Noir’ are ‘released or created by yeast during fermentation’, and he argues that different strains of yeasts can be used to enhance certain aspects of a wine’s flavour profile. Read more

Tomato

Tomato is one of the less common tasting notes, but nevertheless it has its place in the wine lexicon — among vegetal notes like green bell pepper (capsicum) and potato.

Tomato, green bell pepper and potato may appear to have little in common, but they all belong to the nightshade family and contain pyrazines — the chemical compound behind their sharply herbaceous aroma.

NOTE: When it comes to describing wine, tomato notes are commonly manifested as ‘green tomato’ or ‘tomato leaf’ — to highlight its herbaceous character, rather than the rich and sweet flavours of red ripe or cooked tomatoes.

A form of pyrazine (methoxypyrazine, to be exact) is found on the skins of grapes, which can heavily influence the flavour profile of resultant wines if the fruit is unable to ripen fully.

This can be particularly noticeable in Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Carménère wines, especially from cooler climate regions.

SEE: Masseto, Bolgheri, Tuscany 2006 | Robert Mondavi, To Kalon Vineyard Reserve, Oakville, Napa Valley 2012 | Château Tour Haut-Caussan, Médoc, Bordeaux 2010

Given time, this green tomato/tomato leaf character may evolve into complex notes such as cigar box, but it may never reach its full potential if the tannins were too undeveloped at the time of harvesting.

Herbaceous tomato notes can be desirable, such as in cool climate Sauvignon Blancs from Marlborough in New Zealand. For example Konrad’s Hole in the Water Sauvignon Blanc 2016, where tomato leaf and capsicum complement its citrus and green fruit character.

Sources: Decanter.com, Foodwise by Wendy E. Cook

 

 

Herb & Spice

 

 

 

Almond

When it comes to alcohol, almond is perhaps most associated with Amaretto; the Italian liqueur whose name translates to ‘little bitter’. Almond’s signature bitterness is thought to be caused by benzaldehyde, which is a chemical compound formed in wines during fermentation and also carbonic maceration – when grapes are sealed in a vessel filled with carbon dioxide prior to regular fermentation.

As well as fermentation, it can also come from yeast influences, in a similar vein to biscuit and brioche notes. This could include wines rested sur lie, ‘on the lees’, or those that have undergone bâtonnage, also known as ‘lees-stirring’

Levels of benzaldehyde are generally higher in sparkling wines, particularly those made using the traditional or charmat methods.

SEE: Krug, Grande Cuvée 160ème Édition NV | Prosecco, Cartizze, Vigna La Rivetta, Villa Sandi 2015 | Bodegas Muga, Conde de Haro Brut, Cava 2013

In the wine lexicon, almond falls into the ‘kernels’ category, alongside coffee, chocolate and coconut. In Decanter’s How to read wine tasting notes, experts use almond to describe a certain ‘fruity bitterness, more refreshing than unpleasant’. It is, for example, present in the dry red wine Allegrini, Valpolicella Classico Superiore 1998.

This fruity bitterness can also feature in some young red Bordeaux wines, such as Château d’Issan, Blason d’Issan, Margaux Bordeaux, 2016 and Château Prieuré-Lichine, Margaux, 4ème Cru Classé 2016. Here, it has developed the smoky and toasted element of ‘grilled almonds’.

Sources: Wine Microbiology: Science and Technology, Claudio Delfini and Joseph V. Formica | Handbook of Enology, The Chemistry of Wine: Stabilization and Treatments edited by Pascal Ribéreau-Gayon, Y. Glories, A. Maujean, Denis Dubourdieu

 

 

Asparagus

Asparagus as a tasting note in wine can be divisive; some love the savoury complexity it brings, while others recoil from what can seem a funky vegetal tang. It’s commonly found in descriptions of grassy white wines such as young unoaked Sauvignon Blancs, particularly those from New Zealand’s regions like Marlborough or Awatere Valley. Here it’s often accompanied by typical Sauvignon Blanc notes like green apple, gooseberry, pea or blackcurrant leaf (that’s code for cat’s urine).

• Premium New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc – panel tasting results

Other unoaked whites which might have notes of asparagus include Albariño wines from Spain’s Rías Baixas region, such as Laureatus, Val do Salnés 2014. It’s also in the more unusual Vale da Capucha, Fossil, Lisboa 2012 made with a blend of local Portuguese grape varieties.

Asparagus is related to descriptors like vegetal or herbaceous, as well as more specific flavours of fennel or green bell pepper. All convey a sense of savoury bitterness that, in well-made wines, is saved from acridity by a freshness that’s almost sweet.

Scientifically, the distinctive scent of asparagus is generally attributed to odour compounds called pyrazines, which are also a cause of grassy and green bell pepper flavours and aromas. Asparagus is said to be evoked by 3-isopropyl-2-methoxypyrazine, to be precise.

Look out for distinctions within the asparagus category. For example, imagine snapping a lightly steamed asparagus stem, and the fresh, clean aromas that curl up your nose from the vapour.

Compare this to stewed or off-flavours coming from canned asparagus, which can be caused by mercaptans, aka sulphur compounds (see ‘Rubber’ below). There’s also white asparagus, which is usually considered to taste milder and more delicate than its chlorophyll-driven green cousin. All versions can add their own nuances, which can make for an all-round more interesting and appealing wine if counter-balanced correctly.

SEE: Brancott Estate, Awatere Valley, Terroir Series Sauvignon 2016 | Cloudy Bay, Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand, 2016

 

Balsamic

Many wine lovers make the mistake of assuming that the tasting note balsamic relates to the dark vinegar from Modena.

But it’s more likely that the taster is referring to spiced wood aromas associated with balsam — an aromatic resin exuded by certain trees, such as the balsam fir.

Balsam comes from the same word root as ‘balm’ and it’s comparable to products like frankincense and myrrh, which are similarly used in perfume, incense and medicine.

Its concentrated spicy, woody, resinous flavour profile makes it a useful tasting note for red wines aged in oak, which can impart balsam-like aromas.

You can look for balsamic notes amongst the complex aromas of premium Bordeaux reds like Château Lafleur 2000, awarded 99 points by John Stimpfig, who praised its ‘savoury liquorice, pencil lead’ notes with an undertone of balsam.

Australian Shiraz wines can have a strong savoury and spicy oak character that’s reminiscent of balsam, particularly examples hailing from southern regions like Barossa Valley and Coonawarra.

There are also bold and oaky Gran Reserva Riojas like Bodegas de la Marquesa, Valserrano Gran Reserva, Rioja 2010, where ‘truffle and balsamic aromas dance’.

Many earthy and concentrated Italian reds are capable of balsamic characteristics, ranging from Barolo, Chianti and Brunello di Montalcino wines in Piedmont and Tuscany, to Aglianico wines in the south.

SEE: Brezza, Sarmassa, Barolo 2009 | Fontodi, Vigna del Sorbo, Chianti Classico Gran Selezione 2014 | La Magia, Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2012 

 

Beetroot

Beetroot is a round root vegetable, and the most common variety has a wine-dark purple skin with slightly lighter, ringed flesh – although there are some golden and whitish varieties, too.

Steamed, pickled or roasted, it’s a popular addition to salads and savoury dishes, but you’ll also find it in juice form.

Due to its relatively high sugar content, beetroot walks a fine line between sweet and savoury, making it a useful tasting note for red wines that display a similar balanced duality.

Pinot Noir wines can have flavours and aromas reminiscent of beetroot when their strong sweet, red fruit character intermingles with earthy undertones, often gained from maturation and cooler growing conditions.

For example Franz Haas, Pònkler Pinot Noir 2012, from the Alpine climes of Northern Italy’s Alto Adige region, expresses ‘complex red fruit’ with savoury tones of ‘beetroot and white pepper’.

Or the 98-point Bass Phillip, Reserve Pinot Noir 2012, hailing from the cool, maritime climate of the Australian Gippsland region in Victoria, and praised for its layers of ‘spice and earth sluiced plum, cassis and beetroot’.

SEE ALSO: Williams Selyem, Estate Vineyard Pinot Noir 2009 | Bergström, Le Pré du Col, Ribbon Ridge 2014 | Clos de Tart Grand Cru Monopole, Morey-St-Denis, 2013

Similarly, certain Syrah wines are capable of being both powerfully fruity and savoury at the same time.

A famous example is Henschke, Hill of Grace, Eden Valley 2012, made in Australia’s Eden Valley from 100-year-old Shiraz vines.

It was scored 99 points by Decanter’s expert Sarah Ahmed for its complex notes, including intense blackberry, earthy beetroot, piquant pimento, and mulchy tobacco.

 

Black pepper

Black pepper is among the world’s most commonly used spices and begins life in clusters on a vine — not dissimilar to grapes.

Peppercorns are actually green when they’re harvested, but they turn black once dried. They are usually ground down to release their signature earthy spiciness, generated by the chemical compound piperine.

Flavours reminiscent of this mild spice might appear in the flavour or aroma of some wines. Black pepper notes usually crop up in earthy or spicy dry red wines, particularly those made from Syrah / Shiraz, either single-varietal or constituting a classic blend with Mourvèdre and Grenache.

Syrahs from northern Rhône may intermingle black pepper with floral, minty or even creosote notes. Australia’s warm climate Shiraz blends, such as those from Barossa Valley, might combine peppery hints with baked fruit and liquorice, developing into leathery or earthy characteristics with age.

SEE: Domaine Gilles Robin, Les Papillons, Crozes-Hermitage 2015 | Turkey Flat, Butcher’s Block Red, Barossa Valley 2015

Other potentially peppery wines include rosé blends from Provence, typically Grenache, Syrah and Cinsault. Sangiovese wines hailing from Chianti Classico, can also contain black pepper notes, usually associated with oak influences like black tea, leather and cedar.

SEE: Sainsbury’s, Taste the Difference Chianti Classico 2014 | Château de Galoupet, Côtes de Provence Cru Classé 2016

Sources: Spices and Seasonings: A Food Technology Handbook by Donna R. Tainter, Anthony T. Grenis | Decanter.com

 

Black tea

Although tea might seem worlds apart from wine, it can teach us a lot about wine-tasting and is a useful tasting note. The link between the two is tannin, which is a polyphenol found in plant tissue, including grape skins, seeds, oak barrels — and tea leaves.

You can learn to distinguish how tannic a wine is by conducting a quick experiment using tea: put a black tea bag in hot water for a minute or two and taste the infusion. Then repeat, but this time allow the bag to steep for twice as long, and compare the effect on the taste. The second tea should taste more astringent, drying out your mouth and tasting almost unpleasantly bitter.

Some wines will create a similar effect on your palate, either with smooth and integrated tannins (more like the first tea), or with coarse and harsh tannins (like the second tea).

When a wine has a tasting note of black tea, this generally means it is enjoyably tannic. This can be true of the bold, characterful wines made from thick-skinned Nebbiolo, Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. But, just as some people must have milk with their tea, some may find this flavour too strong and may prefer a milder, less tannic wine — perhaps a Pinot Noir or Merlot.

SEE: Brovia, Ca’ Mia, Barolo 2009 | Kanonkop, Cabernet Sauvignon, Stellenbosch 2005 | Il Mandorlo, Il Rotone, Chianti Classico Riserva, Tuscany 2009

Another aspect of tea tasting notes is identified by DecanterChina.com’s editor Sylvia Wu:

‘Tea-like aromas can be found in aged red wines, alongside scents of earth, dried-leaves and forest floor. These tertiary aromas add complexity to the original fresh fruit aromas (primary aromas), making the wine more layered and multi-dimensional.’

• READ MORE: Wine and tea — Four enjoyable elements in common

You can look for these tertiary aromas in aged red wines from Northern Rhône, Bordeaux and Barolo.

 

Cabbage

As you might imagine, wine with pungent cabbage notes is not generally what the winemaker intended. It can be identified as a tangy vegetal flavour or aroma, often calling forth over-stewed school dinner cabbage leaves.

Stewed or rotten cabbage aromas could flag up reduction in red or white wines, caused by a lack of oxygen during winemaking, which can create chemical compounds called mercaptans, also known as thiols.

Some wines affected by mercaptans could be improved by the addition of an old copper penny, because copper sulphate can react with the mercaptans to remove unpleasant odours.

However, this is by no means a sure cure.

Other mercaptan indicators include whiffs of garlic, rotten eggs, burnt rubber and struck matches.

If subtle and balanced correctly, some reductive characteristics can be desirable.

‘The struck match character associated with some barrel-fermented Chardonnays or Semillon-Sauvignon blends is a reductive one, as are the smoky/gunflint aromas of many Sauvignon Blancs,’ said Natasha Hughes MW in her guide to common wine flaws and wine faults.

Other positive examples include Savignola Paolina, Chianti Classico Riserva, Tuscany 2009, noted as ‘vegetal with sweat, cabbage and other unlikely descriptors’.

Whereas Jordan, Alexander Valley, Sonoma County 2009 is described as smelling like ‘red cabbage in a good way’, making for an ‘intriguing and interesting’ wine.

• California’s Jordan Winery ‘re-writes’ Ed Sheeran song

Sources: Wine Faults: Causes, Effects, Cures by John Hudelson | Decanter.com

 

 

 

Camomile

Camomile is a small daisy-like white flower with a gentle yet distinctive aroma, commonly encountered in tea infusions.

There is a medicinal aspect of its aroma profile that comes through as a sharp edge to the sweet floral overtones, caused by aromatic compounds known as polyphenols — also found to varying degrees in wines.

Some wines have camomile notes because they contain a similar profile of aromatic compounds, creating the illusion of the camomile scent.

Examples include white wines made from Chenin Blanc, particularly those from South African regions like Swartland, Stellenbosch, or Walker Bay. In these wines, camomile notes typically join green fruit flavours, developing a honeyed and lactic character with age.

SEE: Kleine Zalze, Family Reserve Chenin Blanc, Stellenbosch 2014 | Schalk Burger & Sons, Welbedacht Chenin Blanc, Swartland 2010 | Beaumont, Hope Marguerite, Botriver, Walker Bay 2015

You can also look for hints of camomile among the floral aromas of Sauvignon Blanc wines from cool climate regions like Alto Adige in northern Italy.

In these wines the sweet, slightly medicinal camomile flavour meshes well with the wine’s high acidity, and can blend attractively with green fruit, citrus or melon notes.

SEE: Kaltern, Carned Kerner, Alto Adige 2014 | Kurtatsch Cortaccia, Kofl Sauvignon, Alto Adige 2014

Other high-acid, cool climate wines with camomile notes can include Pinot Gris from Austria, New South Wales, or even Prosecco.

SEE: Logan, Weelmala Pinot Gris, Orange, New South Wales 2013 | Villa Sandi, Vigna La Rivetta, Cartizze, Prosecco 2015

Camomile can also appear in bone-dry Chardonnay styles, such as Domaine Joseph Voillot, Les Cras 1er Cru, Meursault 2015 and Littorai, Charles Heintz Vineyard Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast 2013 — both of which intermingle camomile with lemon and mineral notes.

 

 

Cedar

From aromatherapy oils to car air fresheners, cedar wood is prized for its rich and woody aromatic qualities. In wines, it’s a desirable scent that often indicates the use of oak in the production of red wines.

Most commonly, in full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon single varietal and blended wines, such as those of Napa Valley or Bordeaux — particularly the Left Bank appellations. For example Château Léoville-Barton, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé 1990, as cited in Decanter.com’s How to read wine tasting notes, or Château Haut-Bailly, Pessec-Léognan 1998, as mentioned in The seven key aromas of aged Bordeaux.

As it’s related to the use of oak in post-fermentation winemaking, cedar is classified as a secondary aroma. Within this category, it signifies a fresher and more savoury aroma than notes like vanilla or butterscotch, and expresses a resinous and slightly spicy character aligned with sandalwood and cloves.

Its falls among the subtler secondary aromas, therefore it might be harder to detect in the strongly aromatic oaks; such as American oak, where coconut and vanilla fragrances can dominate.

Cedar is also incorporated in the ‘cigar box’ tasting note, which describes the combination of the aromas of rolled tobacco leaves with boxes made of cedar wood, traditionally used for storing cigars.

 

 

Cereal

Forget your morning bowl of coco pops and froot loops; in the wine lexicon, ‘cereal’ usually refers to the flavour profile of a basic range of grains like wheat, oats, maize and rye.

• Is wine gluten free? – ask Decanter

Cereal aromas are most common in non-fruit forward white wines and can be an indicator of maturity, as well as oak or yeast influences. Oak influences can be gained from the wine spending some time in contact with oak barrels, chips or staves, whereas yeast influences can be brought about through winemaking practices like stirring the lees (bâtonnage), or resting the wine on its lees (sur lie).

In this way, cereal is comparable with natural savoury-sweet aromas like honey and hay, which are also a sign of age and complexity in certain white wines, such as oak-aged Chardonnays.

For example, cereal notes of ‘savoury oatmeal’ feature in Domaine Jean-Louis Chavy, Berry Bros & Rudd Puligny Montrachet 2014, alongside cashew and chalk.

Sumaridge’s Chardonnay 2010 from Hemel-En-Aarde in South Africa is from a different hemisphere, but made in a similar style and also boasts savoury oatmeal flavours, enriched with layers of butter and pear.

Australian oaked Chardonnays, such as those made in Margaret River, may also have cereal hints, such as Hay Shed Hill, Wilyabrup 2012, praised by our experts for its ‘quiet notes of cereal grain’ with a ‘touch of brioche’.

You may also find cereal oaty notes in some sweet white wines, such as Château Doisy-Daëne 2013 from Barsac, noted for its ‘well-integrated oak’, resulting in undertones of ‘honey and oat’.

 

Cinnamon

You might be familiar with the sight of a festive cinnamon stick bobbing in your mulled wine, but for other wines it does not feature directly. However, some wines can give the impression of cinnamon in their flavours and aromas. This is because cinnamon contains aromatic compounds called esters, one of which — ethyl cinnamate — can also be found in wine.

Quantities of ethyl cinnamate can find their way into wines during fermentation or ageing processes. The ‘ethyl’ part refers to the ethanol found in the wine which becomes an ester, compounded with cinnamic acid — the same that’s in the essential oil of cinnamon. Bottle ageing white wines is an example of how ethyl cinnamate might be produced, along with other sweet spicy notes like ginger and nutmeg.

Wines that conjure the effect of cinnamon include naturally spicy whites like Gewürztraminer, as well as in some oaky Chardonnays with toasty or nutty features.

SEE: Astrolabe, Province Chardonnay, Marlborough 2014 | Creation, Art Of Chardonnay, Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge, Walker Bay 2015

For red wines with cinnamon notes, look to rich Italian reds such as those made from Nebbiolo or Barbera varietals as well as Amarone, a wine made using partially dried grapes to give it more concentrated flavours.

SEE: Marchesi di Gresy, Langhe Nebbiolo, Martinenga 2013 | Cantina del Glicine, La Sconsolata, Barbera d’Alba, Piedmont 2010 | Cantine Riondo, Vincini Amarone, Veneto 2012

Other reds could include certain smoky Riojas or earthy Oregon Pinot Noirs, aged in American oak. The spicy characteristics of some tawny Port wines can lend themselves to cinnamon notes too, such as Graham’s, 20 Year Old Tawny NV.

SEE: Rivers-Marie, Summa Vineyard Pinot Noir 2012 | La Rioja Alta, Viña Ardanza Reserva, Rioja 2007

Sources: Understanding Wine Chemistry by Andrew L. Waterhouse, Gavin L. Sacks, David W. Jeffery, Decanter.com

 

 

 

Clove

Cloves are the dried flower buds of an evergreen tree native to Indonesia, commonly used as an aromatic cooking ingredient, and in the festive season you might find them bobbing in your mulled wine.

However cloves are not added during regular winemaking practices, but the impression of them might be created during oak-ageing. Clove notes can come from an aroma compound called eugenol, which is found in both oak and cloves.

The influence of eugenol on the resultant wine depends on factors such as how the wood has been toasted or seasoned, and how long the wine spends in oak.

• Oak barrels: What they do to wine

Because clove notes usually come from oak influences, they are categorised as a secondary aroma, alongside notes like sandalwood, vanilla and cedar. In the wine lexicon they’re classified as a sweet, rather than pungent, spice — like cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.

You can look for clove-like flavours and aromas in wines such as classic oak-aged reds from Bordeaux, such as Château L’Eglise-Clinet, Pomerol 2016, where oaky notes of cinnamon and clove are integrated with primary dark fruit notes.

Clove can also be present in Bordeaux-style blends from Californian regions like Sonoma County and Napa Valley. For example Opus One, Napa Valley, California 2014 and the ‘Pomerol-inspired’ Verité, La Muse, Sonoma County 2014.

Sources: Handbook of Enology, The Chemistry of Wine: Stabilization and Treatments edited by Pascal Ribéreau-Gayon, Y. Glories, A. Maujean, Denis Dubourdieu | Decanter.com

 

Coffee

Coffee is one of four key aromas that can help you to understand the difference between an oaked and un-oaked white wine, says Decanter’s Jane Anson. The others are vanilla, coconuts and cloves, incidentally. Coffee aromas can be formed over the ageing process in young wines fresh from the barrel, which is why you so often find a hint of smoky cappuccino in vintage Champagne.

Of course, there’s no actual coffee in your wine. It’s actually a chemical compound that you can smell. An organic compound called furfurylthiol is known to give off a smoky, coffee aroma, which emanates from oak barrel toasting.

 

 

 

 

Cumin

Many of us will be familiar with the aroma and flavour of the spice cumin —either in powder or seed form— which is widely used across Middle Eastern and Indian cuisines. It comes from the dried seeds of the cumin herb, which is part of the parsley family.

Cumin is relatively mild aromatic spice, typified by an earthy or woody flavours and aromas, with a bitter undertone. It features in the spice category of the wine lexicon, alongside notes like black pepper, cardamom, nutmeg and anise.

You can look for cumin notes in some orange wines, which sometimes glean an extra earthy, bitter spice edge from prolonged skin contact.

For example, Albert Mathier et Fils, Amphore Assemblage 2010, from Switzerland’s Valais region, has a honeyed cinnamon nose that comes through as ‘cumin, tea leaf and dry tobacco’ on the palate.

Elsewhere, some premium cool-climate Pinot Noir wines can develop delicately earthy and mildly spicy notes that resonate with cumin.

Peter Michael Winery’s Le Caprice Estate Pinot Noir 2013, made in Sonoma County’s Fort Ross-Seaview AVA, was praised by William Kelley as ‘the most supple and ethereal of the Pinots bursting with perfumed notes of rose petal, clove, cumin and black fruit’.

Full-bodied reds can also develop spicy characteristics, such as cumin, usually gained from time spent in oak.

Ringbolt, Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 from Margaret River — matured for 11 months in American oak — has a ‘touch of cumin and dried herb on the nose’, which adds complexity to the cassis and dark fruit flavours.

Similarly, Ao Yun 2013, a full-bodied Bordeaux blend from southern China’s Yunnan province, was noted for its ‘sweet black and red cherry fruit’ flavours, which are counter-balanced by bitter-edged oak influences: ‘juniper, pepper and cumin’.

 

 

 

Elderflower

Elderflower is a classic feature of English summer drinking, whether it be infused into cordials or even fermented to become elderflower wine. But what about elderflower aromas from wines made out of grapes?

It belongs to the floral wine flavour category, in which it could be positioned as less pungently sweet than rose or violet, but not as intense and herby as geranium. It’s also tied up with the tasting term ‘hedgerow’ (see below), where it’s listed as an example of a wildflower aroma, along with notes like gooseberry, blackberry, bramble and nettle.

In this way, elderflower expresses a delicate integration between herbaceous and floral aromas, such as might be found in dry cool climate white wines, like Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire’s Sancerre appellation or Marlborough in New Zealand.

SEE: Majestic, Definition, Sancerre, Loire 2015 | Asda, Sancerre, Loire 2015

It’s often aligned with another signature Sauvignon Blanc note, ‘blackcurrant leaf’ – which can be read as code for the smell of cat’s urine, although elderflower is usually softer and less acrid. If these notes are too pronounced, it could suggest the grapes were harvested before they were allowed to fully ripen.

You can also look for elderflower notes in wines made from the Bacchus grape, a Riesling-Silvaner and Müller-Thurgau hybrid. Bacchus wines are sometimes likened to Sauvignon Blanc for their herbaceous character and high acidity.

• Where Bacchus wine comes from and how it tastes

A notable example is Winbirri’s Bacchus 2015 from Norfolk, which rose to fame as a Platinum Best in Show winner at the Decanter World Wine Awards earlier this year. Judges said the wine had a ‘complex, oily nose with spice, elderflower and citrus’.

Source: Geoff Adams, Wines of the World | Decanter.com

   Eucalypt/Eucalyptus

Normally associated with Australian wines (particularly Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz), eucalypt, mint, and camphor aromas can be found in other wines too, including Argentinian Cabernet Franc. This is due to the compound 1,8-cineole, also known as eucalyptol.

• Top Cabernet Franc from Argentina and Chile

Studies have shown that vineyards with a closer proximity to eucalyptus trees have a higher incidence of the chemical in the wine, and therefore a stronger note of eucalypt. Eucalpytol is transmitted through the air onto grape skins, which are then fermented into wine, giving the distinct character.

 

 

Fennel

Fennel is a bulbous vegetable with a fresh but slightly bitter taste, often made the most of in summer salads. It belongs to the same family as anise; both have similar bittersweet liquorice-like flavours and aromas — which are brought out in fennel tea, or when infused into the potent spirit absinthe.

In the wine lexicon, fennel is found in the herbal branch of the spice and vegetable category, alongside dill, eucalyptus, lavender and mint.

Tasting notes referring to fennel may be describing either the fresh and bitter fennel vegetable, or the sweet medicinal fennel seeds.

Fresh vegetal fennel notes are usually ascribed to dry white or rosé wines. These can include Verdejo wines from Rueda, which might combine fennel notes with green or white fruit flavours with leesy undertones, such as in Marqués de Riscal, Finca Montico 2015.

Provence rosés like Famille Fabre, Château de la Deidière 2013 or Château Gassier, Le Pas du Moine, Ste-Victoire 2013 could have a savoury gentle herb character, in which red fruits underlay fennel flavours.

Champagne can also express subtle fennel notes, such as Taittinger’s famous Comtes de Champagne — Michael Edwards reports that the 2002 vintage has a character of ‘green fruits, hazelnuts and a touch of fennel’.

Bittersweet fennel seed flavours are more common in red wines, often styles with a spicy fruit character. This includes some Sicilian Etna Rosso wines, made from the native Nerello Mascalese grape, or rich and varied Nebbiolo wines from northern Italy, capable of expressing notes like fennel along with its cousins anise and liquorice.

Other wines with medicinal fennel seed notes could include red-fruit flavoured Beaujolais wines, or bold and smoky Syrah wines from northern Rhône.

SEE: Contrada Santo Spirito Di Passo Pisciaro, Animardente, Etna Rosso 2014 | Domaine Rochette, Morgon, Côte de Py, Beaujolais 2014 | Gilles Robin, Albéric Bouvet, Crozes-Hermitage, Rhône 2010

Ginger

Ginger is the pungent root of a flowering plant native to Asia. It’s consumed in many forms, including as a ground spice, caramelised, pickled, infused into tea or baked into cakes and biscuits.

Ginger has a warming effect on the palate, though it’s not as strong as the burning sensation caused by chilli. In the wine lexicon, it’s classified as a sweet spice, along with notes like nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves.

You can look for ginger notes in some fuller-bodied aromatic white wines that have an edge of spice, such as Viognier and Assyrtiko wines. Also in Gewürztraminer, as described in Decanter’s grape glossary:

‘It smells of ginger and cinnamon, fragrant rose petals and pot pourri with a dusting of Turkish Delight and tastes of deliciously exotic lychees and mango.’

SEE: Yalumba, The Virgilius Viognier, Eden Valley 2012 | Wine Art Estate, Techni Assyrtiko, Drama, Macedonia 2015 | Yealands Estate, Gewürztraminer, Awatere Valley, Marlborough 2010

Mature sweet white wines such as Sauternes and Tokaji, which have been made from grapes affected by botrytis cinerea (noble rot), might display warm hints of fresh or crystallised ginger as part of their complex sweet spice, caramelised and nutty flavour profile.

SEE: Château Cantegril, Sauternes, Bordeaux 2015 | Château Dereszla, Furmint Késői Szüret, Tokaji 2015

The process of prolonged skin-contact, aka maceration, involved in the production of orange wines can also create gingery flavours. For example La Stoppa, Ageno, Emilia, Emilia-Romagna 2011 was macerated for 30 days, resulting in ‘a full bodied, spicy and honeyed wine’ with notes of cinnamon and ginger on the finish.

ALSO SEE: Unico Zelo, Esoterico, South Australia 2016

In sparkling wines, vintage Cava wines that have been aged on the lees can display warm yeasty notes that can be reminiscent of ginger. For example Gramona, Argent Reserva Brut 2009 demonstrates flavours of ‘roasted nuts, sweet nutmeg and ginger’, while Juvé y Camps, Reserva de La Familia, Brut Nature 2010 reveals more intensified notes of ‘honey, toasted brioche, dried fig and crystallised ginger’.

Among red wines, you might find gingery notes in some medium or full bodied styles that have spent some time in oak, which can impart sweet spicy characteristics like ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla.

SEE: Vasse Felix, Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaret River 2010 | Mazzei, Ser Lapo, Chianti Classico Riserva Tuscany, 2011

 

Grass

You may have seen this tasting term on the back of your bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, and wondered how on earth your wine could taste like turf. When it comes to dry white wines, grassy is often used in a positive sense. It describes the pleasant herbal freshness they can exhibit on the nose and palate, reminiscent of fresh mown grass.

Grassy white wines typically come from maritime or cooler climes, such as Albariño wines from Rías Baixas in northwestern Spain and Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough in New Zealand. It can also turn up in some Sémillon-Sauvignon Blanc blends from the Graves appellation in Bordeaux.

It’s not unusual for single varietal Sauvignon Blancs from the Loire Valley to have hints of freshly cut grass too, although these wines generally have layers of citrus and floral notes tied in.

Whilst their Kiwi counterparts often integrate grassy notes with tropical fruit flavours and aromas.

SEE: Gran Vinum, Esencia Diviña, Rías Baixas, 2015 | Greywacke, Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand, 2013 | Château Chantegrive, Graves, Bordeaux 2016

Grassy notes in red wines can be part of a herbaceous bouquet that may indicate under-ripeness. This can be particularly noticeable for Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon wines, especially from cooler climate regions, and also with the Carmenère variety.

SEE: Cono Sur, 20 Barrels, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pirque, Alto Maipo 2009 |

The science: grassiness in wines is thought to come from volatile chemical compounds called aldehydes, which are released from the surface of the wine and picked up as aromas by your nose, or the retronasal passage at the back of your mouth. They are formed as a byproduct of fermentation or alcohol oxidation.

Sources: Wine: Flavour Chemistry by Ronald J. Clarke, Jokie Bakker | Decanter.com

 

Green Pepper

In cooking, some people avoid these peppers in favour of their sweeter red and yellow counterparts. But in wine, the sharply savoury aroma of a freshly-sliced green bell pepper makes it a useful tasting reference.

Sommelier Laura Ortiz explains the science: ‘When we smell green pepper in Cabernet Sauvignon, we are recognising the pyrazine, 3-isobutyl-2-methoxy piracina. A name we seldom remember, but it is impossible to forget the aroma of green pepper.’ Read the full article: Wine, in the nose.

The term green pepper can be used positively, as with some Cabernet Sauvignons from California and Chile, where it can be enjoyed as a counter-balance to the black fruit flavours like cassis. However, in those of Bordeaux a green character is less desirable, as it often taken to be a sign of under-ripeness, along with vegetal or leafy notes.

In white wines: new world Sauvignon Blancs, such as those of New Zealand and South Africa, commonly display vegetal notes like green pepper. Some people enjoy this green herbaceous character, while others prefer the more mineral examples from Sancerre or Pouilly Fumé.

Note: You may see it being alluded to under the bracket of capsicum, which simply refers to the pepper plant genus. Also, it’s not be confused with terms like ‘ground green pepper’ or ‘green peppercorns’, which refer to the peppercorn spice and not the bell pepper.

 

Hay

Hay can be experienced as a dried herbaceous or vegetative aroma in wine, in the same category as notes like straw, tobacco and tea. It’s usually expressed by non-fruit forward white wines, where it’s found alongside herbs and sweet floral aromas like honey or blossom.

• SEE: Kurtatsch Cortaccia, Hofstatt Pinot Bianco, Alto Adige 2014 | Albert Boxler, Brand Grand Cru Riesling, Alsace 2014

Hay can be a secondary aroma associated with yeast influences from wines rested sur lie, ‘on the lees’, or those that have undergone bâtonnage, ‘lees-stirring’. This is commonly associated with Champagnes, like Alfred Gratien, Cuvée Paradis Brut 2006.

Notes of hay can also be an indication of maturity, thus qualifying as a tertiary aroma too. Look for it in oak-aged Chardonnays, such as Bouchard Père & Fils, Corton, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru, Burgundy 1955, where notes of hay are integrated with other tertiary aromas like lanolin, oatmeal and mushroom.

But be warned, when the processes of fermentation go awry the smell of mouldy hay can be a sign of microbial spoilage or brettanomyces contamination, leading to a wine that smells more like dank silage or a manure-laden farmyard.

With dank or mouldy notes it becomes a question of balance; aromas like damp hay, wet wool or ‘sweaty saddle’ may seem unpleasant to the imagination — but in wine sometimes even the most unlikely aromas can be powerfully alluring if counterbalanced correctly. Take a look at David & Nadia, Chenin blanc, Swartland, 2015, which displays ‘sweaty notes to the nose of hay and damp wool’, but this is tempered by the fruit concentration to create a ‘classy wine’.

Hedgerow

Hedgerow refers to the shrubs, and occasionally trees, are used as natural roadside boundaries between fields. Dry white wines, such as Sancerre, often have these aromas – predominantly herbaceous, grassy and nettle-like – but they can also encompass the wild fruits and berries that grow on them too.

Examples may include elderflower, gooseberry, or even raspberries, brambles and blackberries. Hedgerow as a descriptor in a tasting note, therefore, will often denote this fresh, green integration of fruit and plant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Honeysuckle

As a tasting note, honeysuckle is an aroma often ascribed to sweet white wines from the Sauternes and Barsac appellations in Bordeaux. This is because honeysuckle flowers exude intense honey-floral aromas associated with these wines.

They are produced using the onset of noble rot (botrytis cinerea) — a fungus that pierces the grape’s skin and accelerates the evaporation of water, drying out the berries whilst maintaining sugar levels. Noble rot can give wines a distinctively nuanced sweetness, with aromas ranging from rich butterscotch to the heady honey-floral notes of honeysuckle. See Chateau Lafaurie-Peyraguey 2012 or Château Climens 2012.

Aside from sweet wines, it’s also a typical expression of oaked Chardonnay from the Côte de Beaune appellation in Burgundy. Here, it can be found alongside other nutty and floral notes, such as Louis Latour, Meursault 1998, as seen in Decanter’s how to read wine tasting notes guide. Or amongst the complex candied aromas of Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey, Puligny-Montrachet 2015,from our Top-scoring Burgundy whites 2015.

 

 

Jasmin 

The fragrant white jasmine flower has been prized by perfumers for centuries, due to its delicate yet sweetly pungent aroma. It’s also used to make scented jasmine tea, commonly served in China to welcome guests into the home.

As a wine tasting note, it belongs to the ‘white flower’ cluster of descriptors, alongside honeysuckle, elderflower, orange blossom and chamomile. White flower notes are generally sweetly aromatic, with a faint edge of floral acridity.

With this in mind, aromatic white wines are the best place to look for hints of jasmine. For example Albariño wines, made in Galicia’s Rías Baixas region, typically express white flower notes, alongside green and citrus fruit characteristics.

SEE: Valmiñor, O Rosal, Rías Baixas 2015 | Viña Almirante, Pionero Mundi, Val do Salnés 2015 | Gran Vinum, Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference 2015

Wines made from Pinot Gris and Riesling also commonly display delicate jasmine notes, particularly those made in cool-climate regions such as Ontario in Canada, Mosel in Germany and, more recently, Sussex in England.

SEE: Pearl Morissette, Cuvée Black Ball, Twenty Mile Bench, Ontario 2012 | Immich-Batterieberg, Enkircher Ellergrub, Mosel 2014 | The Bolney Estate, Pinot Gris, Sussex 2015

Fuller-bodied whites, such as Viognier, Chenin Blanc and Assyrtiko, might display a stronger jasmine scent. These wines are known for their aromatic richness, often expressing white flowers like jasmine, intermingled ripe stone fruits and underpinned by green and citrus fruit acidity.

SEE: Domaine de l’Amauve, La Daurèle, Côtes du Rhône Villages Séguret 2016 | Momento, Chenin Blanc Verdelho, Western Cape 2015 | Hatzidakis, Assyrtiko, Santorini 2012

Lavender

Lavender is a highly aromatic plant; it produces lots of nectar from which bees can make high quality honey, and the plant itself is becoming more popular in cooking.

As well as being grouped with other floral aromas, like rose, it can be linked with herbaceous ones, like eucalyptus.

Aromas of lavender are found in red wines – commonly in red wines from Provence, where lavender fields are in abundance, which may be what contributes this aroma to the wines.

It’s also found in Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, made in Tuscany from the Sangiovese grape, and some New World Pinot Noirs.

The compounds that are behind the cause of the lavender scent are cis-rose oxide, linalool, nerol, geraniol, according to WineFolly.

Cis-rose oxide, nerol and geraniol are also contribute to rose aromas – which can also be found in Pinot Noir, Sangiovese and Nebbiolo (see ‘rose’ below).

SEE: Forrest, Pinot Noir, Marlborough 2013 | Innocent Bystander, Giant Steps, Applejack Vineyard, Yarra Valley 2012 | Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe, “La Crau” 2010

 

Leafy

This aroma does not come from leaves of the vine but is a flavour compound found in the skin of the grape: methoxypyrazine. This herbaceous character, which can be typical of cooler-climate Cabernet Sauvignon and is present in many Sauvignon Blancs, can be associated with a lack of ripeness. However, it can also give extra complexity to the wine if it is not too overt. Leafiness can evolve into a cigar box character when the wine is aged, but if the wine is too leafy to begin with then it may never reach its full potential as the tannins will also be unripe.

 

 

Lemongrass

Looks like grass but smells of citrus – lemongrass is a highly aromatic tropical plant that is widely used in Asian cooking as well as herbal remedies.

Lemongrass contains a chemical compound called citral, also found in lemons and artificial lemon flavouring, which is responsible for its citrussy character.

The sharp herbaceous and citrus characteristics found in lemongrass make it a useful tasting note for describing wines with a similar flavour profile.

Wines with notes of lemongrass are typically still or sparkling whites that have a strong backbone of acidity and complex aromatics.

For example, certain bone-dry Champagnes can fall into this category, such as Moët & Chandon’s Grand Vintage Extra Brut 2009, which combines lemongrass notes with fresh apple and cardamom spice.

Still white wines with lemongrass hints include dry Riesling wines from Australia’s Eden Valley.

Pewsey Vale, Museum Reserve The Contours Riesling 2012 was found to be brimming with citrus notes, including kaffir lime, lemon verbena and lemongrass, when tasted for Decanter by Sarah Ahmed.

SEE ALSO: Chaffey Bros. Wine Co., Not Your Grandma’s Riesling, Eden Valley 2014

Like Riesling, Sémillon is a grape variety noted for its rich and diverse aromatic profile, often featuring citrus influences.

In Bordeaux, Sémillon is often blended with the zesty, grassy characteristics of Sauvignon Blanc to create full-bodied aromatic white wines that can sometimes carry lemongrass hints.

A prime example would be Château La Mission Haut-Brion, Pessac-Léognan, Cru Classé de Graves 2017, given 99 points by Decanter’s Jane Anson, who praised its notes of ‘passion fruit, nectarine, white pear and touches of lemongrass’.

Some sweet Sauternes wines made from this blend can also retain fresh lemongrass aromas in their youth, such as the ‘zippy and zesty’ Château Filhot, Sauternes, 2ème Cru Classé 2017.

SEE ALSO: Château Doisy-Védrines, Sauternes, 2ème Cru Classé 2017

Source: Royal Society of Chemistry

Lemongrass

Looks like grass but smells of citrus – lemongrass is a highly aromatic tropical plant that is widely used in Asian cooking as well as herbal remedies.

Lemongrass contains a chemical compound called citral, also found in lemons and artificial lemon flavouring, which is responsible for its citrussy character.

The sharp herbaceous and citrus characteristics found in lemongrass make it a useful tasting note for describing wines with a similar flavour profile.

Wines with notes of lemongrass are typically still or sparkling whites that have a strong backbone of acidity and complex aromatics.

For example, certain bone-dry Champagnes can fall into this category, such as Moët & Chandon’s Grand Vintage Extra Brut 2009, which combines lemongrass notes with fresh apple and cardamom spice.

Still white wines with lemongrass hints include dry Riesling wines from Australia’s Eden Valley.

Pewsey Vale, Museum Reserve The Contours Riesling 2012 was found to be brimming with citrus notes, including kaffir lime, lemon verbena and lemongrass, when tasted for Decanter by Sarah Ahmed.

SEE ALSO: Chaffey Bros. Wine Co., Not Your Grandma’s Riesling, Eden Valley 2014

Like Riesling, Sémillon is a grape variety noted for its rich and diverse aromatic profile, often featuring citrus influences.

In Bordeaux, Sémillon is often blended with the zesty, grassy characteristics of Sauvignon Blanc to create full-bodied aromatic white wines that can sometimes carry lemongrass hints.

A prime example would be Château La Mission Haut-Brion, Pessac-Léognan, Cru Classé de Graves 2017, given 99 points by Decanter’s Jane Anson, who praised its notes of ‘passion fruit, nectarine, white pair and touches of lemongrass’.

Some sweet Sauternes wines made from this blend can also retain fresh lemongrass aromas in their youth, such as the ‘zippy and zesty’ Château Filhot, Sauternes, 2ème Cru Classé 2017.

SEE ALSO: Château Doisy-Védrines, Sauternes, 2ème Cru Classé 2017

Source: Royal Society of Chemistry

 

Liquorice

As a wine descriptor, liquorice refers to the sweet, yet slightly bitter and medicinal flavours and aromas associated with the chewy black confection made from the Glycyrrhiza glabra plant root extract.

Although this is not actually present in the wines themselves, its likeness is often perceived in red wines, such as Syrah blends from Rhône, and is usually integrated with black fruit flavours. Or in the spiciness of wines made from the Nebbiolo grape, such as Barolo and Barbaresco wines from northwest Italy, where it is often expressed in harmony with violet and rose aromas.

Liquorice is part of the same flavour group as star anise and fennel, as they share chemical flavour compounds such as anethole, which is found widely in essential oils, and is responsible for their distinctive scent and taste.

It is a useful term to use to describe a particular tart and penetrating sweetness, differing from that related to sugar. Like liquorice itself, wines with this flavour or aroma can be divisive depending on personal taste; for some it recalls childhood treats, for others it causes nose-wrinkling.

Minty

Mint, or menthol aromas can be common in varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon grown in cooler climates like Bordeaux, Chile and Coonawarra in South Australia, but can also be found in other varieties such as Aragonez and Alicante Bouschet.

A mint aroma differs from a eucalypt note, which normally comes from contamination by nearby eucalypt trees. It has recently been discovered that mintiness in wine is caused by the compound piperitone, which is also found naturally in mint plants.

• How to write wine tasting notes

 

 

 

 

Mushroom

Notice something fungi going on with your wine? Mushroom usually appears as a tertiary aroma, formed during the ageing process. Its flavour profile is associated with other earthy notes, such as forest floor (aka sous bois) and leather. These can develop in mature Pinot Noir wines, such as Marchand & Burch, Mount Barrow Pinot Noir 2013, where tertiary mushroom aromas overlay primary floral and red fruit notes.

Mushroom may also appear in aged Nebbiolo wines, such as those made in Barolo. In a similar way, red fruit and floral notes can become intertwined with earthy flavours and aromas, including leather, liquorice and mushroom. Premium, aged red Rioja wines and Sangiovese made in Brunello di Montalcino can display this effect too, although often with some spicy hints thrown in.

SEE: E Pira and Figli, Cannubi 2006 | Beronia, Reserva, Rioja Alta 2007 | Il Marroneto, Madonna delle Grazie, Brunello di Montalcino 2012

In the wine lexicon, mushrooms are in the fresh vegetal category, alongside notes like asparagus, green pepper and black olive. However, fresh mushrooms have a very different character to cooked mushrooms, which are associated with the so-called fifth taste, umami.

To understand the difference, find a fresh mushroom and take in its smell and flavour. Gently microwave your mushroom, and observe how its flavours and aromas alter.

The umami flavour is particularly potent in truffles, a kind of subterranean fungus, which you might find hints of in mature Champagnes like Gosset, Extra Brut, Celebris, Champagne 2002 — where yeast influences deepen into umami fungi notes.

As well as oak aged Chardonnay such as Bouchard Père & Fils, Corton, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru, Burgundy 1955, where mushroom is joined by other tertiary notes like lanolin and oatmeal.

Source: Decanter.com

 

Rhubarb

Although technically a vegetable, the fleshy pink stalks of rhubarb are often treated as fruit, featuring in baked desserts like pies and crumbles. It’s believed to originate from Siberia, but rhubarb has strong ties with a nine-square-mile area of West Yorkshire, northern England, known as the ‘rhubarb triangle’ for its historically prolific production.

Rhubarb is rarely eaten fresh due to its extremely tart character, which must be softened and sweetened to make it palatable.

Most references to rhubarb in wine tasting notes refer to this cooked and sweetened version, although it remains defined by some degree of a tart, almost vegetal, character — and this duality makes it a useful tasting note.

For example, it can be applied to red wines with high acidity overlaid with red fruit or jammy flavours. Many cool climate Pinot Noirs fit this description, such as Spy Valley 2014 from Marlborough, New Zealand; displaying ‘red cherry fruit, rhubarb and crushed raspberries’ alongside ‘wonderful acidity’.

Or Anthill Farms’ Pinot Noir 2013 from California’s Sonoma Coast AVA, expressing ‘tart wild plum, rhubarb and cranberry fruit tones’ paired with ‘crisply refreshing acidity’.

Pinot Noir can also express rhubarb notes when it’s used to make sparkling wines, although usually the effect is more subtle.

For example Coates & Seely, Rosé, Hampshire NV (65% Pinot Noir, 35% Pinot Meunier), is praised for its ‘hints of sweet rhubarb’ and Loxarel, MM Blanc de N Brut, Cava 2009 (100% Pinot Noir) gains a ‘penetrating freshness’ from a touch of rhubarb.

Young Tempranillo wines from Rioja can also display red fruit notes hemmed with acidity, giving a rhubarb-like effect.

However, this natural acidity can be curbed and developed during oak ageing. In the case of Beronia’s Coleccion Tempranillo Elaboración Especial 2014, our tasters found that after being aged in American oak for nine months, this Rioja is defined by a ‘baked strawberry and rhubarb nose’ which blends into oak influences like ‘vanilla and wood tones’ on the palate.

 

 

Rose

As with many floral notes in wine, rose is sweet on the nose but more bitter and austere on the palate. In this way it’s comparable to notes of violet and magnolia, stopping short of the slight acridity of lily or geranium.

You may find the flower referred to directly or as ‘rose petal’, as well in the form ‘rose water’ — which suggests it smells more like musky perfume, or tastes a bit like Turkish Delight.

The science behind rose’s flavour profile comes down to 3 key chemical compounds: rose oxide, β-damascenone and β-ionone.

Usually it’s the rose oxide element that makes it comparable with the smell of some Gewürtztraminer wines. They’re known for their highly aromatic qualities and signature lychee notes — a fruit which carries the same rose oxide compound.

SEE: Jean Cornelius, Gewürztraminer, Alsace 2015 | Paul Cluver, Gewürztraminer, Elgin 2015

β-ionone is also behind the aroma of violets, so it makes sense that violet-scented wines can sometimes harbour rose hints too — such as red wines made in Piedmont from the thick-skinned Nebbiolo grape. You can also look for rose notes in young Pinot Noir wines, particularly those made in Australia and New Zealand.

SEE: Henschke, The Rose Grower Nebbiolo, Eden Valley, Australia 2013 | Giovanni Rosso, Serra, Barolo, Piedmont, Italy 2012 | Pegasus Bay, Pinot Noir, Waipara, New Zealand 2013 | Deviation Road, Pinot Noir, Adelaide Hills, Australia 2012

Note: Rose as a tasting note has little to do with rosé wines, which are named after their pinkish colour rather than for a floral character (see Spanish rosado and Italian rosato equivalents).

Rubber

Rubber is one of those tasting notes that can be difficult to imagine in a wine, but once smelt it’s unmistakable. You can find it in the aromas of certain Syrah wines from the northern Rhône, where it can appear alongside earthy, gamey or tar notes.

Or it can be found among petrol aromas associated with dry Riesling wines, particularly those from cooler climes such as Germany’s Rheingau region.

SEE: Delas, Francois de Tournon, Saint Joseph, Rhône 2010 | Maison Guyot, Le Millepertuis, Crozes-Hermitage, Rhône 2010 | Weingut Knoll, Riesling Kabinett, Pfaffenberg, Niederösterreich 2013

Burnt rubber on the other hand, can point to the presence of mercaptans, which are volatile sulphur compounds. But how does sulphur get into your wine? The truth is grapes themselves already contain sulphur, and sulphur compounds can be generated through reductive reactions involved in winemaking, such as yeast fermentation or malolactic fermentation. Mercaptans are not harmful, but they can become a fault if too concentrated — decanting the wine first can help to lessen their effect.

Volatile sulphur compounds have become a hot topic in winemaking in recent years. They have proved a particular source of controversy in some wines, notably in relation to burnt rubber aromas in some South African Pinotage and Cabernet wines. Today, growers increasingly try to avoid this, aiming for more fruit forward wines.

In the tasting note lexicon, rubber belongs to the mineral flavour profile, which includes anything ranging from earth to tar, and steel to wet wool. The best way to learn to recognise these notes in wine is to experience them in their physical forms, such as smelling a rubber eraser or car tires on a hot day (burnt rubber) — try to embed these aromas in your sensory memory.

 

 

Star anise

Star anise, so named because of its resemblance to an eight-pointed star, is an aromatic spice commonly used to flavour Chinese cooking — and mulled wine. Star anise is actually a seed pod from an evergreen tree, which differs from the anise plant (aniseed).

• Wines to drink with Chinese food

Star anise’s distinctive aroma is derived from an essential oil called anethole, which is also found in fennel and aniseed. Therefore wines with a flavour profile containing notes like liquorice, aniseed or fennel may also have notes of star anise.

Star anise aromas are typically found in spicy oaked reds, such as Primitivo wines from southern Italy, Zinfandel from California or Shiraz from Australia’s Barossa Valley.

SEE: Orbitali, Primitivo, Puglia, Italy, 2015 | Meadowhawk, Old Vines Zinfandel, Contra Costa, California 2015 | McGuigan, Shortlist Barossa Shiraz, Barossa Valley 2014

These wines may contain other ‘sweet spice’ descriptors, such as clove or nutmeg, as well as ‘pungent spice’ descriptors like juniper or liquorice.

These characteristics are usually gained through oak-ageing in casks or barrels, when spicy and toasted woody flavours can be infused into the wine.

This means that star anise is generally categorised as a secondary aroma, as it is associated with the influence of oak (see vanilla, cedar, cinnamon and coconut).

 

 

Tobacco

Even for smokers, the thought of tobacco in your wine is probably not very appealing. However, the term tobacco is used in a positive sense when it comes to describing wine. This is because it’s meant to conjure the fragrance of fresh tobacco, rather than the more acrid smell of cigarette smoke.

The aroma of freshly cut or cured tobacco leaves is often described as enjoyably woody, with a maple sweetness and violet floral notes. It’s considered so pleasant by some it’s even infused into men’s fragrances.

Tobacco is experienced as an aroma, rather than as taste. More specifically, it’s classified as a tertiary aroma, as it’s considered to be a sign of maturity. It’s generally an indicator that a red wine has been bottle-aged, along with notes like leather and wet leaves.

Typically, tobacco notes are found in mature full-bodied red wines, such as Cabernet Sauvignons from a range of regions, including those of California, Australia, South Africa and South America. It can also be detected in some aged Riojas and Amarone wines from Northern Italy.

In wines such as mature reds from Bordeaux, the tobacco aroma can develop into what is termed ‘cigar box’. This note combines the tobacco scent of cigars with that of cedar wood, giving the effect of a freshly opened box of Havanas.

 

 
Vanilla

Vanilla is one of the most frequent tasting notes applied to wines, and it belongs to the sweet spice category. It can be found in red or white wines, usually as an aroma instead of a taste. Vanilla notes are usually generated during the ageing process of wine in oak barrels, typically American oak as opposed to French oak, and younger barrels rather than older. In this sense it is identified as a tertiary aroma, as it is produced by wine ageing.

Decanter’s Sarah Jane Evans MW explains the science: ‘Vanilla, or vanillin, is an aldehyde that is a component of the oak. It is more marked in US oak’. Read more

Reds from Rioja are a common example, such as Faustino’s Gran Reserva 2001, praised for its ‘sweet, vanilla notes of American oak’ — as are oak-aged Chardonnay wines from California and Australia.

The way a barrel is toasted can also bring out vanilla in wines, as William Kelley notes, ‘lighter toast levels bring aromas of vanilla and fresh wood to the fore’.

• Learn more about barrel toasting: Oak barrels – What they do to wine

 

Vegetal

When describing wine, vegetal can be used in a negative or positive sense — as with most tasting notes it’s a question of balance. If the vegetal character is too overbearing, it can become an unpleasant indicator that the wine is too ‘green’, meaning the grapes used were unable to ripen properly before being harvested.

Or alternatively, as with fruity notes, it can appear as unattractively over-developed or stewed. Such as one Chianti Classico Riserva described by Michael Palij MW as ‘vegetal with sweat, cabbage’.

Vegetal notes can also be associated with the term ‘stalky’, when wines have had too much stem contact. This can happen during a winemaking process such as whole bunch fermentation, where the stems are not removed before the fruit goes into the fermentation vat. Decanter’s Jane Anson discusses its use in her article Whole bunch winemaking shakes up Bordeaux. She says that in the past the prevailing opinion has been: ‘Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon have too much vegetal/green flavour in their varietal DNA (specifically a molecule known as pyrazine) to withstand the use of stems that can lead to bitterness in the final wine.’ However, recently several high profile winemakers have begun to see potential in the process.

The divided nature of the vegetal flavour can be seen by comparing the styles of Sauvignon Blancs from New Zealand and the Loire. ‘No self-respecting Loire grower would deliberately aim for vegetal characters; on the other hand many New Zealand growers do precisely that,’ explains Decanter’s Stephen Brook.

• Tasting: New pastures for New Zealand Sauvignon

At its best, vegetal can be enjoyed as a sign of herbaceous complexity; alongside gamey and earthy notes in mature Pinot Noirs, or in the asparagus quality of some Sauvignon Blancs.

 

Violet

As a tasting note, violet is generally picked up as an aroma in wine, but it can be a flavour too — as anyone with a penchant for Parma Violet sweets will know. Violet commonly displays a musky sweetness on the nose, but tastes a touch more bitter and austere on the palate. In this way, it can be aligned with other bittersweet and perfumed floral notes such as bergamot, rose, geranium and lavender. Just like perfume, it’s a matter of preference whether you find violet flavours and aromas off-putting or appealing in wines.

The distinctive scent and flavour comes from two chemical compounds: α-ionone and β-ionone, which are also used in the confectionary and perfumery products derived from violets.

It’s crops up in a broad range of full-bodied tannic red wine styles with high acidity, usually made from thick-skinned grapes. Such as Italian wines like Barolo and Barbaresco made from the Nebbiolo varietal, where violet can be found alongside notes of fennel, liquorice and tar.

It’s also abundant in Bordeaux blends, and it’s commonly referred to in the latest Decanter’s en primeur tastings. Most notably, in Pomerol’s high scorers Château La Conseillante 2016 and Château La Fleur-Pétrus 2016, where violet is coupled with dark fruit notes like black cherry, blackberry and bilberry.

 

Other

 

 

Beeswax

Beeswax is a substance secreted by worker bees in the hive, where it’s used to build the honeycomb structure. Its chemical composition means it can be burnt in candles, when it can produce a resinous and honey-like aroma.

In older white wines, Beeswax aromas can be evoked by the prominence of ethyl acetates, which might be created by yeast during fermentation, or from the breakdown of other components during bottle ageing.

This can apply to some Pinot Blanc wines, such as Jean Biecher, Pinot Blanc 2015 from Alsace, which has a nose of beeswax mingled with baked apple.

Or Franz Haas, Lepus Pinot Bianco 2014, from northern Italy’s Alto Adige region, where beeswax notes help to marry savoury herbs with citrus and green fruit characteristics.

Certain bottle-aged Sémillon wines, particularly from Hunter Valley in Australia, might gain a beeswax character, too. For example Mount Pleasant, Elizabeth Cellar Aged Sémillon, Hunter Valley 2007, ‘picks up nutty, beeswax notes’.

Beeswax can also be common in the aroma profile of German Rieslings which have had some time to develop. Such as Thörle’s Kalkstein Saulheimer 2014, which has a nose of ‘attractive beeswax and white flowers’.

Texturally, the waxy or resinous element to beeswax can make it a useful descriptor for the mouthfeel of some wines. This could include Chardonnay, Sémillon or Chenin Blanc wines that have received a smoother, more rounded mouthfeel from lees-ageing or malolactic fermentation.

For example, Lismore, Chardonnay 2014 from the South Africa’s Overberg region was made in a ‘lees-rich’ style, which elicits ‘beeswax and acacia tones’.

It can also be detected in some particularly leesy Champagnes, where beeswax can give definition to autolytic notes like bread, biscuit, toast and brioche.

SEE: Barnaut, Blanc de Noirs Brut Grand Cru, Champagne NV

Biscuit

Biscuit/biscuity descriptors are most often associated with aged Champagne, where the process of yeast autolysis and time enable a rich, digestive biscuit-like character to develop. It can also be found in oak-aged Chardonnay, where it can be a development of the caramelised butterscotch aromas that comes from the wood.

• Does putting a spoon in Champagne work? – ask Decanter

 

Brioche

The butter-rich brioche bun is the staple of many a French breakfast table, perfect with apricot jam and a grand café noir. For anyone who hasn’t experienced its

No added brioche.

simple delights, the brioche is essentially a yeast bread enriched with butter and eggs, sometimes with more sweetness if made with cream and sugar.

As a tasting note, brioche has three main components: rounded butter and yeast flavours, piqued by pastry sweetness. It’s categorised alongside other non-fruity sweet notes like honey or vanilla, and it’s commonly accompanied by adjectives like buttery, creamy, toasty and yeasty.

‘Warm brioche’ is also a term used, though it has relation a wine’s temperature. It refers to the heightened aromas of a heated pastry.

A yeasty brioche effect can be brought about by sur lie; ’resting’ the wine on its dead yeast cells known as lees, or bâtonnage (stirring the lees). During prolonged contact with the lees, autolysis occurs — when the yeast cells are broken down by enzymes, releasing macromolecules that impart biscuit, toast or brioche flavours. These processes are mostly associated with sparkling wines, including those of Champagne, Cava and the United Kingdom.

You can also find this in some aged Chardonnay or Sémillon wines.

SEE: Recaredo, Turó d’en Mota, Cava, Mainland Spain, Spain, 2002 | Krug, Grande Cuvée, Champagne, France NV | Wiston Estate, Blanc de Blancs, East Sussex, Brut 2010 SEE: Vasse Felix, Heytesbury, Margaret River, 2011 |Tempus Two, Copper Zenith Semillon, Hunter Valley 2007 Bubblegum

Bubblegum is a unique aroma that is found in wines that have undergone carbonic or semi-carbonic maceration. Whole bunches are placed into a sealed fermentation vessel. CO2 is added either artificially (carbonic), or occurs naturally via aerobic fermentation (semi-carbonic). Once the CO2 is added, enzymes begin consuming the available sugars in an anaerobic fermentation process. This process will only produce about three degrees of alcohol, so it must always be followed with a normal yeast fermentation. Although it produces little alcohol it has a marked effect on the aroma and taste of the wine.

In these processes, esters such as ethyl cinnamate are produced in higher quantities than normal, lending flavours such as raspberry, strawberry, bubblegum and even candy floss. The low level of contact between skin and juice means that little tannin is extracted, so wines that undergo this process (most famous being Beaujolais Nouveau) can be drunk soon after fermentation.

The bubblegum flavour can also indicate an excessive use of potassium sorbate – a chemical that is used at the end of fermentation to prevent the yeast from multiplying further.

 

Buttery

Buttery flavours or aromas are normally associated with white wines, and can be produced during malolactic fermentation or oak barrel-ageing. These wines are typically Chardonnays from California, Australia and Burgundy.

The effect of a buttery scent or taste can be produced by a chemical compound called diacetyl — it’s also added to artificial butter products and margarines. Diecetyl can also change the mouthfeel of wines, giving them a smoother and more rounded texture, as might be associated with butter.

In winemaking it occurs as a natural byproduct of malolactic fermentation; the process by which bacteria converts malic acid into lactic acid — the same substance that is found in dairy products like butter.

Alternatively, buttery flavours and aromas can be produced during the process of barrel-ageing wines in new oak. A good example is an oaked Chardonnay like Louis Latour’s Meursault 1998, which can be found in Decanter’s how to read wine tasting notes guide. In these tasting notes ‘new wood’ flavours of vanilla appear alongside butter, both are secondary aromas that indicate at least some of the wine has been aged in new American oak.

In some instances, bâtonnage (stirring the lees) can produce butter-like flavours: the macromolecules imparted by the dead yeast cells create a smoother mouthfeel and richer yeasty flavours, which can be reminiscent of butter on the nose and palate.

• Lees ageing or batonnage: Can you taste the difference? – ask Decanter

 

Caramel

The idea of caramel being swirled through your wine might be pretty sickly, but if it features subtly as a tasting note it can bring a luxuriantly developed sweetness to the nose and palate.

Don’t be mistaken, no actual caramel has been magically formed in the bottle. The caramel-like effect is sometimes created by the vines being intentionally infected with botrytis cinerea, aka noble rot — a form of fungus that dries out the grapes, concentrating sugar levels. This practice is commonly used in the production of dessert wines, such as those of the Sauternes and Barsac appellations, or Trockenbeerenauslese wines from Germany or Austria.

SEE: Château d’Yquem, Sauternes, 1er Cru Classé Supérieur 2016 | Château Nairac, Barsac, 2ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux 2005 | Kracher Welschriesling, TBA ‘No 8’ Austria 2001

Botrytis can also alter the mouthfeel of a wine, as it digests sugar and acids and excretes glycerol in its place. So the developed sweetness and silky mouthfeel can lead to an sensorial impression of smooth caramel.

Lastly, this clever noble rot injects an enzyme called laccase, which is responsible for oxidising the wine, producing flavours ranging from apricot and almond to toffee and caramel. It can also induce deep golden hues, so the wine appears caramel coloured, too. Look for it in other oxidised wine styles, such as in tawny Port or Palo Cortado Sherry.

SEE: Graham’s, 30 Year Old Tawny, Port NV | Lustau, Palo Cortado Almacenista Cayetano del Pino, Jerez NV

Another way to create caramel flavours is by the use of oak, because it can appear as a secondary aroma from oak-ageing, along with butterscotch and vanilla. This can particularly be detected in Chardonnays aged in American oak, rather than French oak.

SEE: Astrolabe, Province Chardonnay, Marlborough, New Zealand 2014 | Ramey Wine Cellars, Hyde Vineyard, Carneros, Napa Valley 2012 | Oak Valley, Chardonnay, Elgin, South Africa 2014

 

 

 

Chalky

The term chalky is usually applied to white wines with high acidity from cool climate terroirs with stony soils, and falls into the mineral category along with notes of flint and slate. Including Chardonnay wines from Chablis and Sauvignon Blanc from Sancerre.

Our ability to perceive these mineral flavours in wine has caused some disagreement between scientists and wine experts, but it is nevertheless widely used at tastings. (If you are struggling, try to imagine licking a piece of chalky rock.)

Sarah Jane Evans MW relates the term chalky to mouthfeel when talking about wines with minerality, describing them as having ‘a taste as if of licking wet stones and often a chalky texture to match’. Read more

This can relate to the astringency of tannins, as the mouth-drying effect can recall the powdery or grainy feeling of chalk. For example a tannic red wine with a drying and lingering finish may be noted for its ‘chalky tannins’.

 

 

Charcoal

Charcoal is a material made up of residual carbon and ash, left behind after other constituents of vegetable or animal matter have been removed after slowly being heated in an environment without oxygen. 

You may have experienced its flavour and aroma in chargrilled food that’s been cooked using heated pieces of wood charcoal.

Charcoal’s flavour profile is often described as smoky, woody and slightly acrid in taste, which can be delicious if combined with the right food, such as meat or fleshy vegetables.

In a similar way, wines which display flavours reminiscent of charcoal can be palatable if these notes are counterbalanced correctly. Many Syrah / Shiraz wines are notorious for their smoky charcoal elements, often integrated with black fruit, spicy or peppery notes.

SEE: Reyneke, Organic Syrah, Stellenbosch 2015 | Domaine du Colombier, Cuvee Gaby, Crozes-Hermitage, Rhône 2010

 Charcoal and other smoky flavours can be created by oak-ageing and their intensity usually depends on how much the barrel was toasted, as well as the pungency of other flavours present.

 You can look for these oak-charcoal influences in tannic reds such as Barolo wines, alongside earthy notes like truffle and tar. Or in classic Bordeaux blends, where charcoal might meld with heavy cassis or liquorice notes. 

SEE: Col dei Venti, Barolo, La Morra, Tufo Blu, Piedmont 2006 | Château Grand-Puy Ducasse, Pauillac, 5ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux 2014

Activated charcoal can be directly used in winemaking. It’s sometimes used as a fining agent to filter undesirable elements from the wine, or to lighten the colour of some white wines. However, these processes are not connected to the oaky charcoal flavours outlined in tasting notes.

Sources: Understanding Wine Technology, 3rd Edition: The Science of Wine Explained by David Bird | Decanter.com

Chocolate

Chocolate is quite a common flavour and aroma in full-bodied reds from warmer climates, such as southern French Merlot, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo and Barossa Valley Shiraz. It can be identified in several different guises – milk chocolate, dark chocolate and even cocoa powder. The latter can sometimes be associated with ripe, sweet tannins, providing a descriptor of texture as well as flavour. Barrels that have been heavily toasted, either using an open flame or in an oven, can also lend chocolatey flavours to a wine.

• Cheese and wine: the ultimate guide

 

 

Cola

Cola, the carbonated drink known under many brand names, has a distinct flavour that originally came from the caffeine-rich kola nut mixed with other ingredients like coca leaves, sweet spices, caramel, citric acid and sugar.

Today, th

e flavour that we recognise as cola is commonly artificial, but nonetheless distinctive; a combination of strong sweeteners with a hint of spice and

 sour acidity.

As a wine descriptor, cola can be used to describe a certain bittersweet, spicy element present in some red wines, particularly those that have been matured in oak.

Bold and spicy Australian Shiraz wines are a good place to look for cola notes, such as Earthworks Shiraz, Barossa Valley 2015, blending ‘cola, mulberry and clove spice’.

As well as certain Syrah, Mouvèdre, Grenache blends from southern Rhône, such as Boutinot, Les Six, Côtes du Rhône Villages Cairanne 2014, noted for its ‘touch of kirsch and cola’ along with cherry fruit and spices.

Or you might find it more subtly expressed in lightly oaked Italian reds with strong acidity, like Bravo Cordara, Barbera d’Asti Superiore 2013, in which ‘a light cola note hangs around the nose’.

As well as Lambrusco lightly sparkling red wines like Cleto Chiarli, del Fontadore, Lambrusco di Sorbara, Emilia-Romagna 2015, showing ‘bitter cola and red fruits’.

The complex aromatics of premium Pinot Noir wines can also include cola notes, alongside those of game, allspice, truffles and leather.

SEE: Williams Selyem, Ferrington Vineyard, Mendocino County 2009 | Sequana, Sarmento Vineyard, Santa Lucia Highlands 2009

 

Cream

You might see ‘cream’ in tasting notes and feel a little confused — surely, fermented grape juice has little to do with dairy products? However, dairy is a category in the wine-tasting lexicon, including notes like butter, cheese and yoghurt, alongside cream.

These flavours can arise from winemaking practices, namely malolactic fermentation (MLF) — the process by which bacteria converts sharp-tasting malic acid into softer lactic acid, the same that’s found in dairy products like cream.

The chemical compound diacetyl is a natural byproduct of MLF and it can give wines a rich creamy, buttery or butterscotch odour.

In addition, diacetyl can change the mouthfeel of wines, giving them a smoother and more viscose texture, as might be associated with cream.

A creamy mouthfeel can also be achieved through lees influences, gained by winemaking practices involving lees contact: resting the wines sur lie (on the lees) or bâtonnage (stirring the lees).

You might find lactic notes like cream in barrel-fermented wines, too, alongside other complex flavours and aromas such as caramel, coconut, toast and vanilla. This is mostly found in white wines, particularly Chardonnays from Burgundy.

SEE: Domaine Jomain, Chardonnay, Bourgogne 2014 | Domaine François Carillon, Bourgogne Chardonnay 2014 | Domaine Guffens Heynen, Tris des Hauts des Vignes, Pouilly-Fuisse 2014

You can also look for creamy lactic notes in barrel-fermented sparkling wines that have received lees contact:

Klein Constantia, Cap Classique Brut 2009 from South Africa was barrel-fermented and lees-aged for 21 months, resulting in ‘developed cream’ notes combining with truffle aromas, with a layer of ‘clotted cream’ on the palate.

In the case of Paul Mas, Crémant de Limoux, Astélia Grande Réserve Brut 2012 from Languedoc-Roussillon, only a portion of the base wine was barrel-fermented, giving just a subtle ‘touch of wood and cream’.

 

 

 

Dosage

After a traditional-method sparkling wine is disgorged, the liqueur d’expédition is added to create the final dosage. This addition of sugary liquid is used to balance the high acidity levels. With the correct addition, the dosage can accentuate the body of the wine and also give a certain roundness. Too much or too little can lead to a wine that is flabby or one that is too tart.

In recent years there has been a trend towards zero dosage, but it can be difficult to create a balanced wine unless conditions are right. So what do the names on the bottle actually mean in regards to dosage? Brut Nature (0-3g/l of sugar), Extra Brut (0-6g/l), Brut (0-12g/l), Extra-Sec (12-17g/l), Sec (17-32g/l), Demi-Sec (32-50g/l), Doux (50+g/l).

 

 

 

Earthy

Earthy is a versatile tasting note that can encompass a range of wine flavour profiles; from dry and dusty aromas to tertiary aromas such as wet forest floor, or even farmyard manure odours. Earthy can be seen as belonging to the same flavour profile as notes like wet wool, mineral and tar aromas; all are naturally occurring substances. But they have little in common with fruit, vegetal or floral notes.

If subtle, and well integrated, then earthy can be considered a welcome addition to a wine’s aroma, particularly for more full-bodied reds. These include Italian wines made from the Sangiovese grape, like those from Brunello di Montalcino, and more rustic southern Italian varieties like Primitivo and Aglianico.

Earthy is also a positive thing for some Pinot Noir and Syrah wines, where it can add complexity as a secondary and tertiary aroma.

SEE: Undurraga, TH Pinot Noir, Leyda 2013 | Keermont Syrah, Stellenbosch 2012

If earthy notes veer more towards a farmyard smell, this could be due to Brettanomyces, a wine-altering strain of yeast. Some wine lovers enjoy its effects at low levels, but its presence causes debate.

Earthy notes could also be attributed to the chemical compound geosmin, which occurs naturally in grapes. The name directly translates to ‘earth smell’ in greek.

This same compound is released into the air by newly turned over soil, or a garden after rainfall. In wine, high levels of geosmin generally indicate a fault. Look out for when earthy smells eclipse expected fruit aromas, or tend more towards the smell of wet cardboard — you could have yourself a corked wine.

 

Flint

This term is derived from the French phrase ‘goût de pierre à fusil’, which literally means tasting of flint stone. Flint, flinty or even gunflint are terms used to describe the minerality note that is found in dry, austere white wines, notably Chablis and Sancerre.

If you want to experience what flint smells like, next time you are walking in the South Downs, pick up two pieces of chalk and rub them together. If this isn’t an option, think of wet pebbles.

 

 

 

Honey

The main defining factors of honey are its sweetness and its viscosity. Therefore as a tasting note it’s often applied to dessert wines, which are more syrupy in taste and density than other wines.

As honey is made from floral nectar, it has rich and heady aromatic properties that make it a suitable descriptor for late harvest wines. These can include wines made from grapes left to dry out on the vine, or developed by the onset of noble rot (botrytis cinerea) — giving the wines a concentrated aroma and a taste that’s reminiscent of honey.

It’s often found alongside stone fruit and dried fruit notes, most notable in sweet wines from Sauternes. Other examples include Tokaji wines from Hungary, and German Rieslings belonging to the Auslese, Spätlese, Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese classifications.

Honey is also aligned with complex notes like tobacco and hay as a sign of a wine’s maturity, for honey has a multilayered sweetness that incorporates fructose and floral flavours. Additionally, aged sweet white wines can recall honey in their appearance, as their hues darken over time. Like honey, dessert wines such as Sauternes or Tokaji wines can range from the palest yellow to tawny bronze, depending on the vintage.

• What happens as wine ages?

As a tasting note, it’s generally understood that the wine contains no actual honey. However, there is evidence that honey was originally used by the Romans to fortify wines, in a process that later came to be known as chaptalisation, when sugar is added to the grapes prior to fermentation. It’s also not to be confused with ‘honey wine’, which is actually mead and is made from fermented honey instead of grapes.

Iodine

Associated with Syrah, particularly from the northern Rhône, as well as Sangiovese in Tuscany, iodine or blood-like notes are derived from the grape or the terroir rather than the addition of the element itself. Some say iodine aromas are increased if vines are planted closer to the sea as well.

It should be mentioned that when fruit has succumbed to excess rot, the resulting wine may also have iodine or phenol aromas, and in this case it is considered a fault.

• Mystery wine fault – ask Decanter

 

 

 

Graphite

Graphite is a common descriptor, especially for fine red wines, signifying notes of pencil lead or a lead-like minerality. Some claim the aromas and flavours come from the wine’s contact with wood during oak maturation. However, others, especially producers in Bierzo and Priorat in Spain, believe that terroir contributes these characters – thus their slate soils provide a graphite taste to the wine. If you are unsure what graphite smells like, try sharpening an HB pencil.

 

 

 

 

  Leather

An aroma often found in red wines that have been aged in oak. Either a secondary or a tertiary aroma, it is associated with the winemaker’s influence and a wine’s ageing process rather than a grape’s varietal characteristic or primary aroma.

It is often used as a descriptor in conjunction with vanilla, toast and cedar, which are all associated with the use of oak in red wines. It can also be a savoury characteristic indicative of a wine softening and ageing, losing some of its primary fruit and gaining complexity and depth.

• Note to self: write your own tasting notes

 

 Marzipan

Marzipan is paste or icing made from ground almonds, sugar and eggs. It’s found in a wide array of confectionary, from cake coverings to chocolates. But as a wine tasting note, marzipan is used to describe a rich, sweet scent or flavour, with a slight almond bitterness at its centre.

In the wine lexicon, marzipan is in the classified as a tertiary aroma, indicative of deliberate oxidation, as is used to make tawny Port or Palo Cortado Sherry. As a descriptor in this category, marzipan is sweeter than other nutty aromas like hazelnuts and walnuts, but it stops short of toffee and caramel.

Marzipan is also a typical tasting note for wines made from Marsanne, found in the Rhône valley, which is usually blended with Roussanne and Viognier.

Marsanne’s nutty character can lend a marzipan edge to the wine, which melds with the stone fruit and white flower notes commonly expressed by Roussanne and Viognier. These blends are typical of Rhône appellations like Hermitage or Côtes-du-Rhône, as well as some parts of California and Australia’s Barossa Valley.

SEE: Alain Jaume, Côtes du Rhône, Blanc de Viognier, 2016 | Marks & Spencer, Marananga Dam Roussanne, Barossa Valley 2015 | Broc Cellars, Love White, California 2015

As with notes of almond, marzipan can also be used to describe lees flavours imparted by wines that have been rested sur lie (on the lees) or undergone bâtonnage (lees stirring). You can often find lees-influenced aromas like marzipan in Chardonnay-based wines, like Champagne or white Burgundy.

SEE: Tarlant, Réserve Brut, Champagne, France NV | Tesco, Finest 1er Cru, Champagne NV

• What are lees in wine? – Ask Decanter
• Lees ageing or batonnage: Can you taste the difference? – ask Decanter

 

Meat

Grilled or raw meat aromas can be found in muscular reds such as northern Rhône Syrah, Toro and Bordeaux. Game is a slightly lighter, more fragrant character that can be found in wines with red fruit characteristics, such as Pinot Noir, Barbaresco, Rioja and Pinotage. It is reminiscent of hung pheasants and ‘farmyard’ aromas, Both meat and game aromas can be amplified over time, so are usually found in more mature bottles of wine, and are considered to be positive (and occasionally defining) characteristics of a particular wine style.

In some cases these characteristics are caused by Brettanomyces, a wild yeast that can easily infect winemaking equipment, particularly the rough interior surface of wooden barrels. In small doses it produces meaty flavours that can benefit the complexity of a wine, although higher levels can can easily spoil the wine with impressions of cheese, rubber and sweat!

 

 

Medicinal

Although ‘medicine’ might seem like a broad category, the wine descriptor medicinal usually refers to common everyday products, like cough syrup or ointments. In these medicines, acrid chemicals are often covered with more palatable flavourings and sweeteners.

This often creates a product that’s superficially sweet or herbal, with an underlying chemical bitterness.

In this way it’s related to other notes in the herbal category of the wine lexicon: lavender, mint and eucalyptus — all have a bitterness overlaid with pungent natural oils.

A medicinal whiff in your wine could indicate the presence of Brettanomyces yeasts.

Some wine lovers enjoy Brettanomyces’ effects at low levels, such as in some styles of Beaujolais, but it’s a cause of debate and others view ‘brett’ as a fault.

• Where brett in wine comes from – ask Decanter

Medicinal notes can also indicate smoke taint, which can arise from high toast levels in oak barrels, according to the Australian Wine Research Institute.

On the plus side, a medicinal hint can develop with ageing and give some red wines a desirable complexity, comparable to other unusual notes like vinyl or tar.

You can look for it in some red Bordeaux blends. 

Medicinal characters can also be present in Australian Shiraz, where it can integrate well with black fruit, spicy and smoky flavours.

However, if not balanced correctly it can dominate the wine: Larry Cherubino, The Yard Acacia Vineyard 2015 Shiraz from Frankland river, for example, was partially noted for its ‘overpowering’ cherry medicinal tone in a previous tasting.

An over-bearing medicinal flavour may also suggest that the wine is ‘tiring’ and losing its fruit, as Andrew Jefford noted last year on one Pomerol 1982 wine.

Mineral

This common description can be used to describe both red and white wines, although it is more common with whites. It is a positive attribute that can be associated with the acidity of the wine, but also the aroma; for example slate, gun flint or wet stones.

The use and meaning of minerality is hotly debated and there is no chemical evidence that shows a mineral aroma or flavour is related to a specific mineral or nutrient in the soil or in wine. Therefore, while we use mineral or minerality often as a descriptor it is still quite a mystery as to what causes this sensation.

 

 

Oxidative

An oxidative style of winemaking is a controlled process of exposing the wine to oxygen. It enhances flavours deemed desirable – such as nuts or dried fruits – and increases complexity in the wine. The opposing method is a reductive style of winemaking where the amount of oxygen exposure is limited to preserve the wine’s fresh fruit characters. Most wines lie between these two styles, achieving a good balance, but some winemakers prefer a more marked oxidative or reductive style.

• How to aerate young wines – ask Decanter

 

 

 

Pastry

Most of us will be familiar with pastry in its various forms, made from mixing flour with butter (or other fat substitutes) and used to make baked goods.

In wine tasting notes, references to pastry usually relate to sweeter styles of pastry, such as might be used to make croissants or fruit pies and tarts.

Pastry notes can indicate that the wine has spent some time in contact with dead yeast cells, or lees. These aromas are enhance by winemaking methods such as stirring the lees (bâtonnage), or resting the wine on its lees (sur lie) for a period of time.

These lees-related techniques involve the process of autolysis, or the breakdown of the dead yeast cells by enzymes. Autolytic characteristics might be present a range of wines, including white Bordeaux and Burgundy, as well as sparkling wines, such as those from Champagne and Cava.

SEE: Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, Reserve, Champagne, France, 1993 | Lacourte-Godbillon, Brut Nature 1er Cru, Champagne NV | Llopart, Rosé Brut, Cava 2014

For example, Clos Marsalette 2014 from Bordeaux’s Pessac-Léognan appellation — made from a classic blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon — is described as having autolytic notes of ‘gourmet brioche and croissant flake’ after having spent nine months resting on its lees.

On the autolytic spectrum, pastry can be considered slightly sweeter than toast and bread, though not as sweet as biscuit. Due to its high fat content, pastry notes also imply a relatively rich, rounded mouthfeel.

Some red wines can have a pastry-like mouthfeel too, particularly premium Burgundy wines. Camille Giroud, Chambertin Grand Cru 2014 was noted for its pastry character, which contributes to the ‘round, velvety texture’ that earned it a score of 95 points.

Similarly, Domaine Alain Hudelot-Noëllat, Les Petits Vougeots, Vougeot 1er Cru 2014 (94 points) received high praise for its ‘suave, textured palate with a pastry finish’.

Petrol

Petrol notes in wine are caused by a chemical, trimethyl-dihydronaphthalene (TDN), whose precursors are naturally found in the juice and skins of the Riesling grape.

Generally, aged Rieslings can have a petrol aroma as the precursors in the wine combine over time to form TDN. When this note is found in young wines, it is considered by some, notably Rhône and Australian producer Michel Chapoutier, to be a fault due to over-pressing during harvest.

• Winespeak: How to talk about wine

 

 

 

Oyster Shell

Few of us will have taken a bite out of an oyster shell instead of its edible innards, but if you have ever shucked one of these shellfish you will likely have come into contact with the smell, taste and texture of its calcified casing.

Oyster shells are predominantly made of gritty or powdery calcium carbonate that has been secreted by the oyster over time. In this sense oyster shell depicts a mineral character, perhaps with some savoury qualities, salinity or a chalky mouthfeel and flavour.

You can look for oyster shell notes in wines that have a strong sense of minerality. This term is the source of some debate among wine critics but it broadly applies to dry, non-fruit forward wines that hail from cooler climes and have high levels of acidity.

In her article Minerality in wine: What does it mean to you? Sarah Jane Evans MW describes wines with minerality as having ‘a taste of licking wet stones and often a chalky texture to match’.

Cool-climate unoaked Chardonnay styles commonly express mineral notes, alongside hard-edged acidity and citrus notes. This could include Chablis, or examples from ‘new world’ appellations like Sonoma Coast in California.

Flowers, Camp Meeting Ridge Vineyard, Sonoma Coast 2012 combines lemon notes with ‘oyster shell and pleasant salinity’ to ‘express the terroir in a mouthwatering way’.

Or you could find sparkling examples from Champagne, such as Pierre Moncuit, Delos Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru NV, noted for its subtle hints of oyster shell and green apple acidity. 

Chenin Blanc is another grape capable of producing wines with good minerality and acidity, particularly those from South Africa’s cooler regions made with little or no oak influence.

For example, The Liberator, Francophile Chenin Blanc, Stellenbosch 2015, produced ‘from the cool south-east slopes of the Bottelary Hills’ was praised for its ‘oyster shell minerality, zippy citrus acidity and a creamy palate’.

 

Salt

Salt forms one of the main perceptible flavour components in food and drink, along with bitter, sweet, sour and umami.

It’s an important descriptor on the spectrum of wine tasting notes too, although it might seem odd to think of fermented grape juice as saline.

Saltiness, sometimes referred to as salinity, is related to minerality as it expresses a taste sensation that is outside the usual fruit, floral, vegetal or spice categories.

In his article Yes, you can taste salt in wine Stephen Brook wrote,

‘There are white wines – from Sicily, for example – that have a salty tang which may (or may not) be related to proximity to the sea.’

As with the supposed link between certain soil compositions and minerality, the connection between a vine growing in salty sea air and saline flavours in the resultant wine is debatable.

Although sometimes noted in dry red wines, salty notes are most often observed in white wines with high acidity and citrus fruit characteristics, such as Albariño wines from Galicia’s Rías Baixas region, Picpoul de Pinet from Languedoc-Roussillon and Greek Assyrtiko wines.

SEE: Mar de Frades, Albariño, Val do Salnés, Rías Baixas 2015 | Domaine de Morin Langaran, Picpoul de Pinet 2016 | Hatzidakis, Assyrtiko Santorini 2015

A salt flavor can also be detected in dry Sherry styles, such Manzanilla from Sanlúcar de Barrameda:

‘The humid sea air encourages a denser layer of flor; the sea is said to provide a salty character,’ said Sarah Jane Evans in her pick of Top rated Manzanilla Sherries.

 

Sherbet

Depending on where you are, sherbet can mean different things. In the UK it’s mostly found in confectionery aisles in the form of sherbet powder, boiled sweets or encased in rice paper. It was originally stirred into water to make fizzy drinks. 

But in the US, sherbet (or sometimes ‘sherbert’) largely refers to what the British understand to be sorbet, i.e. a frozen dessert consisting primarily of fruit juice and cream.

Here we will deal with the UK version.

The fruit flavours associated with sherbet are generally highly acidic ones, such as green fruits (malic acid) and citrus fruits (citric acid). Therefore sherbet is usually used to describe dry white wines that commonly display this flavour profile.

For example Librandi, Cirò, Calabria 2012, made from 100% Greco, was praised for its ‘citrus zing to a pear drop and apple sherbet nose’ — combining three acidic fruit flavours.

Veneto’s Soave wines are a good place to look for sherbet hints, as well as Galicia’s Rías Baixas Albariños and Australian Riesling from Eden Valley.

SEE: Franchetto, La Capelina, Soave 2011 | Santiago Roma, Selección, Rías Baixas 2014 | Thorn-Clarke, Eden Trail, Eden Valley 2014

Due to its effervescent property, sherbet is also a useful descriptor for a fizzy texture combined with acidic fruit flavours, which can be experienced in dry sparkling wines made in cool climates. This could include English sparkling, Prosecco or French crémant and Champagne.

SEE: Nyetimber, Sussex 2006 | Mionetto, Prosecco Valdobbiadene Superiore di Cartizze NV | Langlois-Château, Crémant de Loire NV | Henri Delattre, Champagne NV

Sources: Sugar-plums and Sherbet: The Prehistory of Sweets by Laura Mason, Decanter.com

 

Silky

Imbibing silk might be hard to imagine, and not particularly tempting, but it is certainly a desirable quality in wine.

It is experienced in the mouthfeel of the wine; as you roll it around your palate you get a sense of density and texture. A wine described as silky should feel smooth and luscious in your mouth, with sufficient body to make you aware of its texture, yet elevated enough to avoid being flabby.

In red wines, the term silky is commonly applied to tannins. ‘Silky tannins’ is often a term of praise used for well-aged reds such those of Bordeaux, or a Sangiovese like the Decanter wine legend Biondi Santi, Tenuta il Greppo 1975.

Tannins give red wines structure and texture, and in the ageing process they can evolve from feeling coarse to having a silky quality, as they become more integrated in the wine.

In a similar way, structure can be added to white and sparkling wines by resting them on the lees (dead yeast cells), a process known as sur lie. If macromolecules, imparted by the lees, become well-integrated with the wine they can create a silky feel. A similar effect can be achieved by bâtonnage (stirring the lees).

As a term describing a tannic or yeasty mouthfeel, silky feels more polished than a ‘velvety’ wine, but perhaps not as weighty as a ‘creamy’ wine.

It can also manifest itself in white wines with high levels of glycerin, such as Albariño from Rias Baixas or Vinho Verde. As well as Viognier wines, which are often described as having an oily texture, and this can create a silky sensation in the mouth.

 

 

 

 Slate

You might struggle to imagine the smell or taste of slate, despite the fact it’s widely used as a building material for roof tiles, flooring and eventombstones. It’s even used in lieu of plates in some contemporary restaurants.

In wine, it’s important to understand slate as an indicator of a wine’s minerality. Mineral or minerality are terms that are commonly used in the tasting notes of both red and white wines.

It’s a term that can be hard to describe, but is often intended to convey a kind of clean, almost hard-edged, acidity that’s associated with the scent of rocky substances like slate, flint, graphite or chalk.

Our ability to perceive these mineral notes in wine has caused some disagreement between scientists and wine experts, but tasters who have a strong sensitivity to mineral substances will argue that they can clearly detect its presence in a wine’s flavour profile.

Sommeliers in the cult film ‘Somm’ discuss licking rocks in order understand the essence of minerality.

• Minerality in wine: What does it mean to you?
  

Slate notes are typically associated with dry white wines from cooler climes, such as Waterkloof’s ‘Seriously Cool’ Chenin Blanc 2015 from South Africa’s mountainous Helderberg region, which was noted for its mineral aromas of ‘rain on wet slate’, as well as ‘wet chalk’ — wet stones are often more fragrant than dry ones.

Another example might be a dry and citrussy Chardonnay, such as Domaine Tissot’s ‘Les Graviers’ 2015, grown in the limestone soils of Arbois AOC in Jura. Decanter’s Jane Anson rewarded it was 97 points, praising its notes of ‘candied lemon cut through with a twist of concentrated lime and cut slate’.

Some white Burgundies can also display a slatey minerality, such as Domaine Alain Chavy, Les Pucelles 1er Cru 2011 from the famous appellation of Puligny-Montrachet, praised for its stone fruit character balanced by ‘stoney/slate flavours’.

In the red corner, you might find mineral expressions counterbalancing juicy black fruit in full-bodied Bordeaux blends. Anson highlighted Château Léoville Las Cases, St-Julien, 2ème Cru Classé 2007 for its notes of ‘wet stones sliding up against slate and liquorice, dark bristling cassis’.

 

Smoky

Smoky notes generally come from oak. Normally the intensity of smoky aromas and flavours in a wine will be determined by the toast of the oak (how charred it was), how many times the barrel has been used and how long the wine spends in the barrel. If the wine is put into a new barrel that has had a heavy toast then the likelihood of having smoky notes will increase. This can be desirable if the wine has the structure to handle the oak.

Sometimes heavy toasting and too many new barrels can lead to an overtly smoky wine, which may integrate with time, but can be difficult to assess when the wine is young. Smoke taint can also happen, when forest fires occur between veraison (when the grapes ripen) and harvest time. This has been a problem for winemakers in Canada’s Okanagan Valley, California and throughout Australia.

 

 

Soy sauce

This dark and pungent condiment originated in China over 2,000 years ago, and today it’s widely used in different forms of Asian cooking. It’s generally made from steamed soya beans that have been mixed with crushed grains, brine and a yeast culture.

This mixture is then left to ferment for up to two years, which gives soy sauce its signature umami flavour, comparable to that of miso.

Umami describes an intensely savoury, salty and meaty flavour, and is referred to as the ‘fifth taste’ in Japanese cuisine. Umami flavours, such as soy sauce, can be brought about via the breakdown of natural proteins during fermentation — the same process used in winemaking, when grape proteins are broken down by yeast action.

Wines which display the meaty savouriness of soy sauce are generally dry, full-bodied and red wines, with high acidity and some oak ageing. This could include Tempranillo wines from Rioja, such as La Rioja Alta, Vina Arana, Reserva 2005, noted by Annette Scarfe MW for its ‘traditional, savoury style with soy sauce and rusticity’.

Alternatively, you could look for soy sauce hints in high-acidity northern Italian reds, such as Barbera wines from Piedmont, where it can compliment typical aromatic herb and balsamic notes.

SEE: Tenuta Rocca, Roca Neira, Superiore, Barbera d’Alba, Piedmont, 2010

Or you might find it in wines hailing from Chianti made using the Sangiovese grape, such as Fattoria Tregole, Chianti Classico Riserva 2009, in which soy sauce contends with oak influences like vanilla and sandalwood.

 

 

 

Steely

Steely is a term commonly used to promote fashionable dry white wines, but what does it mean in the mouth? It describes a metallic flavour and a firm mouthfeel. Generally these wines are low in alcohol, high in acidity, with distinguished minerality. In this way it’s aligned with notes like flint and graphite.

Examples include cool climate wines, like Rieslings from Germany, Alsace, Austria or Eden Valley in Australia.

SEE: Malat, Riesling Classic, Kremstal 2015 | Ernst Loosen, Villa Wolf Dry Riesling, Pfalz, Germany 2014 | McWilliam Family, Zeppelin, Eden Valley, 2014 

It’s also associated with Austria’s most widely planted grape variety, Grüner Veltliner, and is often considered a trademark of fine Chardonnay wines from Chablis.

SEE: Steininger, Grand Grü Grüner Veltliner Reserve, Kamptal 2015 | Jean-Marc Brocard, Butteaux, Chablis 1er Cru 2014 | Simonnet-Febvre, Chablis 2014

There is some crossover between metallic and mineral wines, and opinion is divided about whether these flavours are derived directly from the soil, or whether it’s simply an effect created by clean and neutral wines; absent of sweetness or strong fruit flavours, but with a solid acidic structure. In the same vein as mineral wines, steely wines often express floral, green apple or citrus flavours and aromas, rather than sweet fruity notes.

• Minerality in wine: What does it mean to you?

As with tannins in red wines, it’s acidity that changes the mouthfeel of white wines. Steely wines can feel almost hard-edged in the mouth; something that’s usually desirable, rather than a flabby wine, and it should bode well for the ageing potential of the wine too.

Struck match

The aroma of a freshly lit match is often only in the air for a few seconds, but the blend of burning wood tinged with sulphur has its own distinctive character.

Matches and wine may seem to have little in common, but certain wines have perceptible sulphur-based compounds similar to those given off by a struck match.

Most wines* have at least some sulphur dioxide, or sulphites, added in the winery to protect against oxidation and microbial spoilage.

These sulphur compounds are not usually perceptible in the final wine, although their use must be flagged on wine labels.

However some wines can become reductive if oxygen is restricted very tightly, leading to prominent sulphuric aromas.

‘The struck match character associated with some barrel-fermented Chardonnays or Semillon-Sauvignon blends is a reductive one, as are the smoky/gunflint aromas of many Sauvignon Blancs, ’ explained Natasha Hughes MW in her guide to common wine flaws and faults.

As with many unusual tasting notes, it comes down to personal taste and balance. Some people might enjoy the aroma of stuck matches while others find it an unpleasant, nose-wrinkling smell.

Equally, while a subtle hint of struck matches can add to a wine’s complexity, it can become a fault if its pungency masks other aromas.

In his Ask Decanter: White Burgundy and burning match smell, Jasper Morris MW phrased it eloquently:

‘An intelligently managed use of sulphur woven into the fabric of the wine often delivers this intriguing burnt match or gunflint aroma, which I and others very much appreciate – so long as it does not interfere with the underlying fruit.’

To experience struck match notes done well, try top white Burgundies such as Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey, Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru 2015 and New World Chardonnays like Dog Point, Section 94, Marlborough 2013.

*Note: some low-intervention or ‘natural’ winemakers avoid the addition of sulphites along with other non-naturally-occurring chemical preservatives.

Tar

Tar may seem an unlikely substance to be evoked by wine, but as with notes of tobacco and petrol it can be an unusual source of pleasure. If expressed in harmony with the other flavours and aromas of the wine, tar can add a pungent edge, the kind to make your nostrils dilate.

It is usually used as a savoury descriptor of red wines; Barolo wines from Piedmont are most commonly ascribed a tar-like quality. They are made from the thick-skinned Nebbiolo grape, and usually have high acidity with no shortage of tannins. Nebbiolo’s bouquet encompasses violet, smoke and rose-like perfumes, with flavours that include truffle, fennel, liquorice and, most famously, tar.

However, as with other distinctive tasting notes, if you have an intense dislike for the smell of asphalt it can be too distracting, and detract from your appreciation of other aromas and flavours in the wine.

 

 

 

 

Toffee

Toffee can be by turns a delicious and sickly piece of confectionery, made from a simple mixture of butter and sugar. Toffee in wine tasting notes generally refers to a wisp of burnt sugar flavour.

Toffee is part of the wine lexicon, alongside other burnt or cooked sugary flavours like caramel and butterscotch. Within this group, caramel usually involves added cream, which gives it a richer and smoother tasting profile. Whereas butterscotch and toffee are simply heated sugar and butter, although toffee tastes the most intensely of burnt sweetness because it’s heated for longer, raising the sugar concentration.

You can find hints of this toasted sugar flavour in aged fortified and oxidised wine styles, such as tawny Port. When port is aged in this way, fruity flavours can develop into a nutty and resinous sweetness that can seem toffee-like to the senses.

SEE: Fonseca, 10 year old tawny, Port, Douro, Portugal | Niepoort, Colheita Port, Douro Valley, Portugal 1995

Botrytis cinerea (noble rot) creates sweet oxidised wines by via an enzyme called laccase, as well as by heightening the sugar concentration in the berries. In dessert wines such as those of Sauternes, this can create a range of flavours, from apricot and almond to burnt sugar flavours like caramel and toffee.

SEE: Château Climens, Sauternes, 1er Cru Classé 2016 | Château Rabaud-Promis, Sauternes, Bordeaux 2015

Elsewhere, you might look for hints of toasty toffee flavours in vintage Champagnes, where nutty, honey and lees flavours can become more pronounced in a way that recalls burnt sugar. For example, the rich taste of Krug, Clos du Mesnil, Champagne 1982 encompasses toffee, butterscotch, cream and coffee.

Turkish delight

Traditionally known as lokum, this gelatinous sweet is believed to have arrived in Istanbul in the 1700s. It later gained popularity in Victorian England where it was imported under the name Turkish delight.

In its simplest form, it consists of a mixture of starch, sugar and flavoured syrup — commonly derived from citrus fruit or rosewater.

Wines with hints of Turkish delight often have a strongly aromatic flavour profile with a bittersweet floral, herbal, spicy or citrus edge.

Cool-climate Gewürztraminer wines typically fit this description. For example, Hunter’s Gewürztraminer 2017 from Marlborough in New Zealand, which entwines notes of rose, fresh lemon and Turkish delight.

SEE ALSO: Sainsbury’s, Taste the Difference Gewurztraminer, Alsace 2016

Or try high-altitude Argentinian Torrontés, such as Bodega El Porvenir’s Torrontés 2015 from Salta, noted for its rich aromatic range including lilies, juniper, rose, lychee and Turkish delight.

Sweet white wines made from Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains are renowned for their complex and distinctive perfume, which can sometimes include notes reminiscent of Turkish delight.

Vidal-Fleury’s Muscat de Beaumes de Venise 2015 is a classic example from the Rhône Valley, counter-balancing rich notes of stone fruit and Turkish delight with grape and citrus acidity.

Compare this with Klein Constantia’s Vin de Constance 2014 from the South African region of Constantia. Made with the same grape, although it goes by the name of Muscat de Frontignan, this style exudes sweet spices like ginger, nutmeg and bitter marmalade alongside Turkish delight aromas.

For red wines with Turkish delight notes, look for dry, light to medium bodied styles that are relatively low in tannins with a tendency towards sweet spice, herbal or floral characteristics.

This could include complex Pinot Noir wines from Burgundy or Loire Valley, which can combine red fruit flavours with delicate spice and floral aromas that are reminiscent of Turkish delight.

SEE: Domaine Bernard Moreau, Burgundy 2017 | Vincent Pinard, Vendanges Entières, Loire 2012

Source: Turkish Delight, Gerald and Debbie Caskey

 

Velvety

Velvet is a fabric that’s closely woven to form a smooth and luxuriant texture, not as sleek as silk but softer and more substantial.

As a tasting note, velvety describes the texture of the wine in the mouth – aka mouthfeel.

Few of us will have licked a piece of velvet but it’s possible to translate the tactile sensation of plush, smooth softness to how a wine feels as you roll it around on your palate. You might also hear people speak of ‘silky’ wines in a similar context.

A major contributing factor to a velvety red wine’s texture is tannin, a polyphenol found in plant tissue including grape skins, seeds and oak barrels.

Tannins can give reds a smooth or coarse texture depending on how integrated they are in the wine through ageing or winemaking practices.

Given that velvet is a fairly dense and weighty material, velvety red wines tend to have a full-bodied and tannic character that’s tempered by oak ageing – think ‘iron fist, velvet glove’.

Australian Shiraz wines are a good example, such as the 98-point Vinteloper, SH/14 2014 from Adelaide Hills, praised for its layers of ‘smoky, gamey, autumnal fruit on a velvety palate’.

You might also find a velvety texture to full-bodied Bordeaux blends with carefully managed tannins, like Château Figeac 2015 and Château Mouton Rothschild  2009.

Wines with lower tannin content can also develop velvety traits with the right winemaking and ageing treatment.

Rioja gran reserva wines, made predominantly from Tempranillo, receive a significant period of oak ageing that can create a velvety mouthfeel.

SEE: La Rioja Alta, 890 Gran Reserva, Rioja 2005 | Bodegas Perica, Oro Reserva, Rioja 2010

Some vintage Burgundy wines achieve a voluptuous texture, such as the 100-point scorer Domaine Armand Rousseau, Chambertin Grand Cru 1995, ‘beginning to get really velvety’ as it continues to mature in the bottle.

A velvety texture can be created in white still or sparking wines via the use of malolactic fermentation, where harsh malic acid is converted into softer lactic acid, or lees ageing techniques such as resting on the lees (sur lie) and stirring the lees (bâtonnage).

Go in search of a velvety mouthfeel among vintage Champagnes, such as Charles Heidsieck, Champagne Charlie 1982 and Tarlant, La Vigne d’Or Blanc de Meuniers Extra Brut 2002.

Vinyl

Not your typical aroma or tasting note, but it is used to describe this almost sweet, intriguing plastic quality. It may be a sign of reduction, where in the winemaking, lack of oxygen creates a growth of chemical compounds called mercaptans.

These can be extremely unpleasant, creating notes of rotten eggs, cabbage or struck matches. However, if a balance is achieved in this reductive technique, desirable notes can be created, such as quince, smokiness, peardrop or even vinyl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wax

Candle wax or beeswax aromas can be common in aged white wines for a number of reasons. Ethyl acetates, a contributor to honey and wax aromas, can be created by yeast during fermentation (common in Pinot Blanc and Chardonnay). However, they can also come from bottle ageing, as is common in older Rieslings; this is due to the breakdown of other components in the wine to create ethyl acetates.

Wax aromas are, however, different from the petrol aromas often found in aged Rieslings – these are caused by another natural and very potent compound, TDN, which can be detected at concentrations of micrograms per litre.

• Grape expectations – the tasting notes quiz

 

 

Wet wool

One of the more challenging tasting notes, wet wool describes the aroma of damp and earthy smelling fleece, close to that of lanolin — the fatty substance secreted by sheep’s skin.

In tasting terms, it belongs to the mineral flavour category, joining other peculiar yet precise notes like rubber, barnyard and sweaty saddle. Perhaps the best way to understand wet wool is to experience it first hand by getting hold of a tub of lanolin cream, which is used for cosmetic purposes to moisturise skin. Or you can wear your woolly jumper in the rain, then leave it in a heap to go damp and pungent.

Depending on the wine, wet wool aromas can either be an intentional mark of style, or indicative of a fault. For example, it’s typically encountered in Chenin Blanc wines and can be considered an enjoyable part of their aroma profile.

SEE: David & Nadia, David Chenin blanc, Swartland 2015 | DeMorgenzon, DMZ Chenin Blanc, Western Cape 2016 | Doran Vineyards, Barrel Fermented Chenin Blanc, Swartland 2013

Traditional method sparkling white or rosé wines might also express wet wool as secondary aromas, related to sulphur compounds and yeast influences which develop from winemaking processes like fermentation, resting sur lie (on the lees) or bâtonnage (stirring the lees). Traditional method sparkling wines include Champagne, of course, plus Cava and also some UK sparkling wines, as well as others.

SEE: Louis de Sacy, Grand Cru, Champagne NV | Wiston Estate Brut, Blanc de Blancs, East Sussex 2010

As a fault, wet wool aromas could be a sign of lightstrike, aka goût de lumière, resulting from excessive exposure to sun light. Transparent bottles might be attractive to the eye, but they can leave the wine more vulnerable to lightstrike, which is why green or UV resistant bottles are seen as safer by many producers.

Sources: Wine Faults: Causes, Effects, Cures, John Hudelson

 

Wet cardboard

If you get a whiff of wet cardboard – or perhaps even ‘wet dog’ – in your wine, you would be right to assume there’s something amiss.

These are considered to be the main olfactory indicators of cork taint, or ‘corked wine’, one of the most common wine faults; albeit the cork industry has been working to reduce it.

Beverley Blanning MW explained the science:

‘Dissatisfaction with cork is almost entirely due to contamination, leading to the foul, wet cardboard smell commonly known as cork taint.

‘The offending chemical which spoils the wine is 2,4,6 Trichloroanisole (or TCA for short), detectable in quantities as low as four parts per billion,’ she said, writing in Decanter back in 2001.

Despite its adverse effect on the wine, TCA does not pose a direct health risk to consumers.

Aromas of wet cardboard can be a good way to spot a TCA fault, although it can be hard to detect when levels are low — at which point it may only result in a lack of fresh fruit notes and a faint musty character.

TCA can cause wine spoilage at a various points between the winery and your table. It’s worth being bold and asking restaurants to take a bottle back, or at least second-taste it, if you suspect a wine may be suffering from TCA.

• In the restaurant: How to complain about your wine — and get the right result

‘TCA can infect wine via a number of sources including barrels, stacking pallets and winery cleaning products,’ said Blanning.

 

Got a tasting note you don’t understand? Send it in to editor@decanter.com. More learning: Jefford on Monday: Tasting notes – the shame of the wine world?

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The thirteenth annual Christie’s auction of wines from the Decanter World Wine Awards fetched a record total of more than £66,000, with all proceeds to go to the WaterAid charity.

Auction paddles ready for bidding at the Christie's DWWA auction for WaterAid.

This year’s saleroom auction took place at Christie’s King Street headquarters on the 10 October.

More than £66,000 was raised from 91 lots, breaking previous DWWA auction records. This total excludes Christie’s buyer’s premium.

All proceeds will go to WaterAid to benefit its projects around the world, as part of a long-running partnership between Decanter and the charity.

Multi-national bidding

Lots this year included Champagne,  Bordeaux, Burgundy, Italian and Spanish reds with bidding coming in from nine countries including the US, Singapore, Hong Kong, Latvia and Israel.

This year saw particular interest in both white Burgundy and Italian reds, with bidders joining from a number of different countries. Both saw winning bids above their high estimates and the respective bidders bought the full parcel of lots.

Highlights

Particular highlights of the auction included:

• Eight 48-bottle mixed cases of red Bordeaux from Médoc, St-Estèphe, St-Julien, Margaux, Graves, Pomerol and St-Emilion, which sold for £700 each to a single buyer (high estimate: £600)
• Six 36-bottle mixed cases of white Burgundy from Chassagne and Puligny-Montrachet, Meursault and Chablis, which sold for £800 each to a single buyer (high estimate: £660)
• Nineteen 60-bottle mixed cases (1140 bottles) of Italian reds including Barolo, Brunello di Montalcino and Amarone, which sold for £750 each to a single buyer (high estimate: £700)
• Twelve 48-bottle mixed cases (576 bottles) of Spanish reds including Rioja, Priorat and Ribera del Duero which sold for £850 each to a single buyer (high estimate: £700)

Find out more about the wines on auction here.

Decanter and Wateraid

This year marks the thirteenth year of Decanter’s continued partnership with WaterAid with over £650,000 raised over the years through the Decanter World Wine Awards auctions.

WaterAid are dedicated to the provision of domestic water, sanitation and hygiene education across Africa and Asia. Their work is fundamental; over a billion people do not have access to safe water in these areas.

Helena Flippance, from WaterAid, said, ‘We are very grateful to Decanter for their on-going support, the money raised from this auction will help us achieve our vision of ‘reaching everyone, everywhere with clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene by 2030’.

Decanter is one of our longest standing partnerships and has been helping us turn wine into water since 2005 – we look forward to working with them in years to come.’

Decanter’s managing director, Robin McMillan, said, ‘We are delighted with this year’s record breaking DWWA Christie’s auction and incredibly proud of our on-going partnership with WaterAid at both our Fine Wine Encounters and Decanter World Wine Awards, helping to raise the profile of this amazing charity.’

See also:

Full results revealed: Decanter World Wine Awards 2018

The post Records broken at Christie’s 2018 DWWA wine auction for WaterAid appeared first on Decanter.

It's not all about Grange: here are our top scoring Penfolds wines from vintages in the past decade, including new reviews from a re-tasting of the 2010s by Sarah Ahmed and ratings from the launch of the 2018 Penfolds Collection.

The first vintage of Penfolds Grange, from 1951, sold for over AU $50,000 in 2017.

There’s a good chance you’ve heard of Australian brand Penfolds. Most wine lovers will of course know Penfolds Grange, the flagship wine that appears in the Langton’s Classification and is considered a ‘first growth’ of the so-called new world.

Expert reviewer Sarah Ahmed has just re-tasted the Penfolds Grange 2010 for Decanter Premium subscribers and awared it 99 points; high praise indeed, and you can read her full note on the Grange 2010 here.

But there is naturally more to Penfolds than Grange. Sarah Ahmed re-tasted several of the brand’s top wines from the lauded 2010 vintage, including the super-rare single block, single vineyard wine Bin 170 Kalimna Shiraz 2010.

And Anthony Rose recently tasted the latest releases from Penfolds 2018 Collection.

In 2017, Penfolds released g3, a three-vintage, Grange ‘super blend’ matured in oak for more than a year. ‘2008 is the solid anchor, 2012 brings a lovely elegance, a sheen, poise, a foil, and the 2014 brings a freshening up,’ said Penfolds’ chief winemaker, Peter Gago at the time of the launch.

Continue reading below the wines

Decanter’s best Penfolds wines by score:

 

 

View all of Decanter’s Penfolds tasting notes More about Penfolds

Now owned by Treasury Wine Estates, Penfolds was founded back in 1844 by Dr Christopher and Mary Penfold, who planted vine cuttings at the Magill Estate near Adelaide.

The operation quickly expanded, and by 1907 it was South Australia’s largest winery.

The bin numbers are a relic of winemaker Max Schubert’s experiments in the 1950s with different parcels of fruit which each had unique bin locations. Grange, which became their flagship wine, was designated Bin 95.

Both Grange and Bin 707, a Cabernet-based sister to the flagship wine, feature in the ‘Exceptional’ tier of the Langton’s classification of Australian wine. To support their portfolio of ageworthy wines, Penfolds has hosted recorking clinics around the world since 1991, allowing collectors to have their older vintages assessed by the winemaking team.

 

You might also like: What are the best Shiraz wines from Australia? New Penfolds Collection rated: Grange 2014, St Henri 2015… What’s hot in Adelaide Hills: New styles and wines to try

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Many European wine regions are also home to excellent golf courses. Rob Smith of Golf Monthly chooses a selection

In partnership with The Platinum Card® from American Express®.

Lumine

Golf and wine enjoy a long-standing and perfect partnership for a variety of reasons. Culturally, this historically affluent sport was enjoyed by those who liked the finer things in life. In terms of climate and geography, some of the world’s most successful and popular vineyards have been neighbours to many great courses. More recently, an increasing number of golf’s superstars such as Greg Norman in Australia, Ernie Els in South Africa and Luke Donald in California have also been making some excellent wines.

Catalonia and cava

Catalonia is the home of cava, the Spanish sparkling wine, and it has also become known for a wide range of quality still wines made from both native and international grapes. To the east of the region, PGA Catalunya Resort is one of Europe’s leading modern golf resorts with two excellent courses. The better-known is the superb Stadium Course which hosts many leading events, while the Tour Course is just a touch shorter and a little less demanding making it the perfect complement. The five-star Hotel Camiral recently opened here and there has also been investment in many off-course activities making this a perfect place to stay.

Not far away, Golf de Pals is a tight, tree-lined course right next to the beach. Here, the umbrella pines put a premium on accuracy rather than length. Meanwhile, located near Tarragona is the large-scale Lumine Beach & Golf Community, which has three remarkably varied and different courses on site. The Lakes is a Greg Norman design, which runs between lakes and marshland; the Hills is an undulating parkland course that offers up lovely vistas; and finally the Ruins is a delightful nine-hole par-34 course running through an ancient Roman archaeological site.

Bouquets of Bordeaux

Bordeaux is one of the world’s most celebrated winemaking regions, producing an estimated 700 million bottles each year – both red and white. One of the best clubs in the area is Golf du Médoc, which boasts two courses, the Châteaux and the Vignes. The wine theme is prevalent throughout with each of the 36 holes named after one of the local vineyards, and the two different courses are packed with interest and beauty.

Biarritz, one of Bordeaux’s most stylish and chic towns, is home to excellent bars, restaurants and hotels – making it an ideal base for a stay in the region. There are several top-notch courses nearby, with the closest being Golf de Biarritz Le Phare (‘the lighthouse’) an attractive British ex-pat creation that dates back to 1888.

Meanwhile, located a little way up the coast, Golf de Moliets offers something completely different, with its thrilling changes of scenery as you work your way across a course that travels through a dense pine forest, out onto the sandy shoreland, and then back again. Great fun!

English excellence

England is home to a growing wine scene and Kent boasts award-winning vineyards such as Chapel Down and Hush Heath. It’s also home to the only course south of Lancashire currently on the Open Championship roster: The Royal St George’s Golf Club in Sandwich. Golf’s oldest Major returns to this magnificent links for the 15th time in 2020, a sign of the severe test and first-class design, conditioning and facilities on offer at this historic club.

Down the coast is another former Open Championship venue, Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club at Deal. This terrific out and back links has one of the toughest finishes anywhere, with the closing seven holes all playing directly into a southerly wind. Regardless, it is wonderful golf.

Kent offers plenty more delightful parkland and cliff-top courses. A superb example of the former is the Abercromby design at Knole Park Golf Club near Sevenoaks. Laid out over an ancient deer park, it has excellent views of Knole House and the local countryside, and is pure entertainment from start to finish.

The courses France: Bordeaux Golf de Biarritz Le Phare

Green Fees: €78 (£67)

Golf de Moliets

GF: €79 (£68)

Golf du Médoc

GF: €90 (£78)

Spain: Catalonia Lumine Beach & Golf Community

GF: €85 (£74)

Golf de Pals

GF: €105 (£91)

PGA Catalunya Resort

GF: €107-€147 (£93-£127)

England: Kent Knole Park Golf Club

GF: £60-£85 (£52-£74)

Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club

GF: £150-£180 (£130-£156)

The Royal St George’s Golf Club

GF: £210 (£182)

Rob Smith is contributing editor at Golf Monthly and has played over 1,000 golf courses worldwide.

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Decanter's Know Your Wine app has reached more than 7,000 downloads within six months of launching as developers add a California section to the learning platform.

Decanter’s wine app, ‘Know Your Wine’, launched in May 2018 and harnesses ‘micro-learning’ techniques to help both beginner level and advanced wine lovers understand more about what goes into the bottle.

Since launching with the aim of bringing wine knowledge to the fingertips of a mobile-savvy generation, we’ve been overjoyed by the uptake, or downloads, from wine lovers and exam sitters alike for all around the world.

Know Your Wine has been downloaded more than 7,000 times, is used regularly by many who have it on their phone, and has garnered some wonderful reviews on the Apple App store.

Click here to download ‘Know Your Wine’

Currently available to iPhone users only, the Know Your Wine app uses a technique called ‘s p a c i n g’ – or what some have called ‘spaced repetition’ – to deliver learning in highly efficient short bursts.

The app learns what you don’t know; and will, following a spacing algorithm, repeat and re-ask questions until you do.

New Wine App Questions

We started with 350 questions covering some of the classic regions and topics. And, with all the interest, we are very pleased to have hit 1,000 questions with the launch of our new California update adding another 8 modules.

Over the last five months we’ve also add modules from:

• South Africa
• Portugal
• New Zealand
• England

There will be more where those came from and we plan to add regular modules.

Thank you to all those wine lovers who have so far downloaded the app. If that is you, then please let us know via the app which region you would like next.

If you haven’t heard of the app then we hope you will give it a try. Alternatively, if you want something a bit more light-hearted, why not give our wine quizzes a go?.

Edited by Chris Mercer.

Click here to download ‘Know Your Wine’

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The director of the Cru Bourgeois classification body has said she is confident that reviving the three-tier hierarchy will prove successful, as new details emerge of how the system will work from the release of the 2018 vintage onwards.

Cru Bourgeois is returning to the old hierarchical system.

Alongside its ‘official selection’ from the Bordeaux 2016 vintage, the Crus Bourgeois du Médoc has also announced its specification and verification procedures for the new Crus Bourgeois Classification system that will come into effect from 2020.

Crucially, the new classification represents a return to the original traditional hierarchical system comprising three tiers of quality; Cru Bourgeois, Cru Bourgeois Supérieur and Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel.

It will also be reviewed every five years, which means that châteaux can move up and down the hierarchy.

Last week’s statement marks a major step forward for the Alliance.

Speaking at a press conference in London to announce the new 2016 vintage and the new classification, Frédérique de Lamothe, director of the Alliance said, ‘We are very happy about the new process.

‘We have learnt a lot from the past and we are confident that this will benefit the châteaux, trade and consumers.

‘Most importantly, the new classification maintains the quality and origin of the Crus Bourgeois du Médoc. It is the result of five years of work in consultation with all the members of the Crus Bourgeois and the Government.’

Back in 2003, the system was remodeled to recognise 247 châteaux comprising nine Crus Bourgeois Exceptionnels, 87 Crus Bourgeois Superieurs and 151 Crus Bourgeois. However, the classification was then subsequently scrapped in 2007 after a series of appeals by châteaux, which had not been included.

Three years later, in 2010, the Alliance des Crus Bourgeois responded to the debacle by creating a new government backed quality assurance procedure in which all approved Cru Bourgeois wines were selected in blind tastings by a panel of experts. It published its first Official Selection based on the 2008 vintage, and has done so every year since.

See also: Cru Bourgeois and the new order – exclusive to Decanter Premium members How it will work

The new classification will be based on a quality based verification process carried out by an independent body of expert tasters. This body will assess each application by blind tasting several vintages from each applicant château.

It will also take into consideration other factors including agricultural, environmental and technical factors, and site visits will also be carried out.

For the 2020 classification, candidate châteaux can submit a choice of five vintages from 2008 to 2016. The 2025 classification will then comprise vintages from 2017 to 2021. According to Lamothe for the top tiers, the independent judges will be looking ‘for quality, consistency and the capacity of the wine to age.’

The first labels to carry the traditional terms will feature on the 2018 labels of the successful châteaux.

It remains to be seen how many châteaux will apply to the various quality levels. Candidates for the classification had until September 30 to submit their applications – specifying the tier to which they were applying.

The procedure is open to all Médoc vineyards in the following AOCs; Médoc, Haut-Médoc, Listrac-Médoc, Moulis en Médoc, Margaux, St Julien, Pauillac and St Estephe.

Since 2008, the number of approved Cru Bourgeois châteaux have varied from 243 to a maximum of 278 in 2014. In 2018, there were 270 châteaux, which produced a total of 33 million bottles, representing a total of 31% of the Médoc’s total production.

You may also like:

Cru Bourgeois and the new order: An in-depth report

 

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'The best Cabernet sites in Sonoma are still being discovered,' one winemaker tells Jane Anson during a recent trip through the California region. Read her report below, with a selection of tasting notes and ratings exclusively for Premium subscribers.

A view across Sonoma vineyards.

I first met Peter Sichel sometime around harvest 2004, in the drawing rooms of Château Fourcas Hosten. Anyone who has had the pleasure of meeting him will appreciate that it turned in to one of the most enjoyable lunches that I have spent in 15 years in Bordeaux.

He doesn’t travel much anymore, at the ripe old age of 96, and anyway he has left Bordeaux winemaking to his large and extended family of cousins and nephews who remain over here, having sold Fourcas Hosten in 2006 to the Momméja brothers of Hermès.

Instead he lives in New York’s Upper West Side, and has done so pretty much full time since the 1960s, after stints in Berlin, Washington and Hong Kong during his CIA years (yes the spy CIA, although as Jancis Robinson memorably put it, Peter Sichel is surely the only man to have been a member of both the Central Intelligence Agency and the Culinary Institute of America).

All this to say that I found something of his warm, engaging welcome, not to mention immediate air of authority, in his daughter Bettina Sichel, who I met while at Vinexpo Sonoma Explorer last week. And maybe something of his unwillingness to follow collective wisdom when it comes to wine.

Peter Sichel, after all, famously turned his family wine brand of Blue Nun into a global phenomenon, not something that you can say about many German brands based around Liebfraumilch, and then in 1971 put a group together to buy Fourcas Hosten in Listrac-Médoc instead of a château in any number of more illustrious neighbouring appellations that might have proved an easier sell.

And while I’m not looking to offend Sonoma (or indeed Listrac) when I say this, it’s pretty likely that for Cabernet Sauvignon, the grape that Bettina Sichel concentrates on at Laurel Glen Vineyard, it would have been an infinitely easier and more profitable sell to head just a few miles further east from Sonoma over the border into Napa.

She was well aware of this. Before arriving in Sonoma Mountain, Sichel had spent several years at Quintessa in Rutherford, Napa, helping to launch the brand as director of sales and marketing. But when she wanted to make her own wine, she looked to the cooler climate of Sonoma, purchasing Laurel Glen from founder Patrick Campbell with a group of eight investors. She is managing partner, with organic specialist Phil Coturri as viticulturalist.

‘I love the richness and power of Cabernets from Napa,’ she told me. ‘But there is an elegance and freshness that I found in Laurel Glen which is classically a reflection of Sonoma growing conditions. I’m interested in wine that works with food, and I’m interested in acidity’.

Now available to Premium subscribers: Top California Cabernet 2015 wines: A full vintage report by Linda Murphy

‘You can reach the same phenolic ripeness with around one degree less alcohol in Sonoma compared to Napa,’ says Jesse Katz, who worked at Screaming Eagle in Oakville before first moving to Lancaster Estate in Alexander Valley, Sonoma, and now developing his own Devil Proof brand, ‘and there is a greater day-night temperature shift, which is why Cab can taste so different here. I have increasingly shifted more and more over to Sonoma to develop the kind of intensity of flavour that I want while still retaining freshness’.

Tasting Katz’s wines is a clear testament to the success of this strategy, but he’s helped by a track record that attracted investors to his project. You need money to really tease the best out of any soil, and in Sonoma that can remain a barrier. And a lot of the reason for that comes down to grape prices.

In 2016, the price per ton of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from Napa stood at US$6,829 (with a high for the most prestigious at $59,375). That same ton of grapes from Sonoma clocked in at an average of $2,966 (with a high at $17,340). And whereas Napa Cabs in bottle regularly reach upwards of $200 retail, in Sonoma the vast majority seem to top out at closer to $80, with the notable exceptions of Verité’s La Joie and Kamen Estate.

That’s not to say there are not high ticket wines coming out of Sonoma, but they tend to be Pinots or Chardonnays.

And with Cabernet grape prices rising every year, one of the worries that I heard last week was that the rises were beginning to outpace corresponding rises in final bottle price, and so cutting margins. Inevitably this will become an ever-decreasing circle – less margins means less money to invest in viticulture, and therefore less quality in the final bottle.

It was something that struck me while speaking to Gonzague Lurton at his Trinité Estate in Chalk Hill AVA. Lurton owns Château Durfort Vivens in Margaux, and when he and his wife Clare Villars-Lurton were looking to buy in California, they were convinced that the style of Cabernet they like (fresh, sculpted, farmed organically) would work best in Sonoma.

‘Finding an estate was extremely difficult however,’ he told me. ‘While we were searching for the right spots, all the agents talked about finding a location near to main roads, where footfall would make sales easier. I kept saying, ‘no, it’s about the soil’’.

In the end they got advice from Pierre Seillan, the legendary winemaker (and fellow Bordeaux resident) of Verité, who advised them how well the conditions of Chalk Hill – where Verité is located – were suited to growing Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.

‘We started up in 2012, and are extremely happy with the results. But those agents were right in some ways – they clearly understood that without sales it is hard for any winery to exist, and in Sonoma much of that pipeline remains to be through the cellar door.

‘We are estate fruit only for our main wines, but we also buy fruit, and I am now extremely careful about who I buy from, because too many people are still growing for quantity rather than quality. I believe the price difference with Napa, that is right on their doorstep, has a psychological impact. Sonoma seems to have a mindset that their Cabernet Sauvignon just can’t be as good as Napa’s and therefore doesn’t merit as much careful attention in the vines.

‘But the results we are getting in the glass show that’s simply not true. We are only newcomers, but already it’s clear that growers should have much more pride in the incredible potential for Cabernet here.’

‘The best sites for Cabernet Sauvignon in Sonoma are still being discovered,’ Seillan says, safe in the knowledge that he has already bagged a number of them.

‘In Bordeaux we know what the very greatest wines will become, which is why they are so sought after. But in Sonoma we are just starting to understand how exceptional these wines can be. It’s an extremely exciting place to be.’

Some Sonoma Cabernet highlights from Jane Anson’s trip

 

 

 

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