Structure: Myth or Reality

My attention was drawn to a recent article (or blog, if you prefer) by Matt Kramer in the Wine Spectator under the headline “Wine Myths That Need Shattering”.  The number one was “The Structure Myth”. Says Kramer ‘Structure is no more a predictor of a wine’s future career success than your fourth grade attendance record.’

Curiously, he seems to suffer from the very confusion he suggests others have when he writes ‘The myth of structure derives from a long-held and mistaken notion about tannins. Time was, wine drinkers looked at tannin levels in wines, especially red Bordeaux, as a marker of longevity.’

If you equate tannin with structure, of course it is no guide to longevity – nor, more importantly, quality. Nor can it have any relevance to riesling, semillon or sparkling wines.

In truth, structure is as important as texture, line and length. Only balance can be regarded as more important. So, what is meant by structure? What does it encompass?

One answer is that it is the framework on which the primary fruit can be draped. Another is that it is the foundation on which the palate is built. If it is an unwooded white wine, acidity will be a major component of structure; where the pH is low, and the acidity marked, structure and texture are linked. Minerality, crunchy acidity and similar terms are used in tasting notes.

For barrel fermented white wines the impact of oak will always affect both texture and structure, although the more subtle and better balanced the oak is, the less obvious will be the impact. Pinot noir can also fall into this category; in each case, tannins are an integral part of structure.

It is when you come to shiraz and cabernet sauvignon that structure comes onto centre stage. I typically assess such wines as light-bodied, medium-bodied and full-bodied, sometimes with halfway steps – eg light- to medium-bodied, or medium- to full-bodied. In using those terms I am endeavouring to convey the weight of the wine in the mouth, or the amount of extract.

Tannins are the major component of extract, whether they be ripe and round, or mean/green and unripe. Alcohol, too, comes into play, as it seems to exaggerate the other components in proportion to its strength.

So Matt Kramer should not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Books for Christmas: Jancis Robinson “Wine Grapes” and Nick Stock “Good Wine Guide 2013”

Wine Grapes by Jancis Robinson MW, Julia Harding MW and Dr José Vouillamoz is an astonishing book. Its 1241 pages details almost 1400 distinct grape varieties, as well as a myriad of correct (and incorrect) synonyms. Cutting edge DNA and relentlessly patient and detailed research lies behind the book, which comes in a huge cloth-bound volume and cloth slipcase. Ecco is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers and is above and beyond all but a handful of books among the many hundreds in my personal wine book library. I assume it will ultimately be sold in Australia, but I obtained my copy through Amazon at a total cost of US$136.23 (including postage and packaging). One of the features of the book is the reproduction of 80 colour paintings of some of the most obscure grape varieties imaginable alongside better known varieties. Thus you get a picture of Amigne, Arvine, Bagrina, Biancolella, Portugais Bleu, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Canaiolo Nero, Chaouch, Jaén Blanco and Pinot Blanc Chardonnay – the latter the last illustration in the first group, and with a cross reference at its foot to the correct (and simple) Chardonnay. The paintings come from a seven-volume, 3200-page work published in French between 1901 and 1910, compiled by Pierre Viala (1859-1936) a professor of viticulture in Montpellier, supported by no less than 85 grape experts from several countries. When you see the acknowledgements page in Wine Grapes, I didn’t count the names, but Jancis Robinson has secured the support of well more than 85 people in compiling the ultimate wine grape book.

Nick Stock Good Wine Guide 2013, published by Penguin Australia under the aegis of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald (a humble 450 pages, RRP $26.99) provides tasting notes for over 1500 wines with the usual database extracts to help you navigate. It presents the wine in varietal groups, with scores out of 100, and as an added attraction includes the recipe for the Penguin Bloody Mary and a selection of sake reviews. 

Angove’s Clare Valley Riesling – Best in the World

It is sheer coincidence, of course, but yesterday I attended (most of) a very interesting MasterClass conducted by Jeffrey Grosset and Andrew Mitchell, featuring Clare Valley Rieslings from 2002 and 2012.  On the same day, news came that Angove Family Winemakers’ 2006 Vineyard Select Clare Valley Riesling won the Trophy for Champion White Wine of Show at the International Wine Challenge in London.  To do so it had to prevail over the top rieslings from 25 other countries that had already been singled out as the best from the country concerned.  Thus, the Angove wine won the Clare Valley Riesling Trophy, the Australian Riesling Trophy, the Australian White Wine Trophy, and the International Riesling Trophy.

Without in any way detracting from Angove’s achievement, nor suggesting that other international shows such as that of Decanter and the International Wine and Spirit Competition do anything different, the ‘World’s Best’ carries with it an implication that all the great wines of a given variety are entered in the competition, and of course that’s not the case.

The other take home message from the success is the transformation Australian riesling makes once given five or six years bottle age.  At the Clare MasterClass the ‘02s took that perspective out 10 years, with more than a few still looking incredibly youthful, more of which anon.

Finally, Angove Family Winemaker’s 2008 Vineyard Select Clare Valley Riesling is currently on sale with an RRP of $25, and can be found in good wine retailers across Australia, or through www.angove.com.au

Ripley-esque truth is stranger than fiction

A vineyard has been located in the little known Gers region of southwest France with vines believed to be at least 190 years old. There are apparently 20 varieties, including seven unknown to authorities. The seven unknown varieties have been named Pedebernade 1 to 7 in honour of the family which has tended the vineyard for eight generations. Judging by the photograph, these are indeed extraordinarily old vines.  The question is why phylloxera didn’t leave its calling card.  It may be sandy soil, but it’s also possible the remote location and lack of awareness of the vineyard may have meant that no infected material was brought to the site in the 19th/early 20th centuries. This is in turn consistent with the grapes having never been made into a discrete wine; rather, they have been sold to the local co-operative. Plans are now afoot to make a wine from the vineyard, but whether it will be from the unknown vines or from tannat and fer servadou (both red grape varieties) isn’t known.

The head of the Ger region cultural affairs department has honoured the vineyard as a historic monument, of slightly less importance than the moves for UNESCO recognition of the historic (and ongoing) importance of Burgundy and its appellations.

Hunter Valley Wine Show

The full results of the trophies awarded at the Hunter Valley Wine Show have been posted on the website.

Two awards which might slip through the net were the Iain Riggs Wines of Provenance Awards for both white and red wines. The idea comes from the Adelaide Wine Show, which pioneered the concept some years ago. To enter, a winery has to provide three wines, the youngest commercially available for sale, plus two wines respectively not less than five and 10 years old. The wines are judged as triplets, although individual assessment of each wine will of course be part of the ultimate decision by each judge, at which point the normal discussion takes place until a full consensus is reached.

It is tempting to say that from this point on it was business as usual.  But the not-always-easy-to-please Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW said ‘Having judged a number of Australian wine shows by now, I have to say that in my experience the Hunter Valley Wine Show 2012 ranks amongst the best organised and judged. But a show can’t be great without great wines, so I’d like to particularly thank the Hunter producers for making some very impressive wines in recent years. The unique styles of Shirazes, Semillons and Chardonnays have especially been a pleasure to judge, and believe me I don’t say that at every show. The best wines demonstrated purity, perfume and elegance as only the Hunter Valley can achieve.’

There were 20 trophies, and all but two (Vintage Fortified Wine and Best Chardonnay) all went to Semillon or Shiraz.  The arrival of screwcap will see ever more trophies going to aged semillons, which start hitting their straps when five years old, but which will go for much longer. Just how long we still don’t know,  but it easily could be well over 20 years.

What is not understood by consumers who don’t live in Sydney is the elegance and perfume of Hunter Valley shiraz. The quality of these wines has improved enormously over the past 10 to 15 years, as winemakers have got rid of brettanomyces and sulphide derivatives, moved to the judicious use of French oak, and have thought carefully about the potential alcohol in the wines.

Just as semillon in the Hunter achieves phenological ripeness around 10 to 10.5 baume, resulting in the majority of wines having an alcohol content of between 10% and 11.5% (with more in the former than the latter level), so does shiraz reach phenological ripeness in most years plus/minus 12  baume, with resultant alcohol levels of between 12.5% and 13.5%.  They have a freshness which is totally enjoyable when the wines are young, but progressively gain complexity over the next decade.  That said, De Iuliis Wines won the Trophy for Best Dry Red of Show with its 2011 Steven Vineyard Shiraz, underlining the ability of young shiraz to outpoint its far older siblings.  Mike De Iuliis is one of the many graduates from the Len Evans Tutorial, and while it would be drawing a long bow to suggest that this was the reason for his achievement, he certainly has an international perspective on quality. 

Wine Intelligence Report - China

Wine Intelligence (www.wineintelligence.com) has come up with a further in-depth study of the structure of the Chinese wine market. It took two years to come up with the full report, which is aimed at medium to large winery operations around the world, with a cost of a cool $4000.

Some of its headline findings will not surprise China watchers. However, the numbers and percentages will undoubtedly add to the overall understanding of the market. The high end is a by-product of business and gift-giving activities, and make up 22% of the wine drinking (assuming the bottles are actually opened) but over 40% of the total spend in the market. Wine Intelligence observes ‘These individuals are typically purchasing top end Bordeaux and Burgundy for business dinners and gift, but are unlikely to venture beyond prestige wines to buy more everyday brands for their own consumption.’

At the other end, middle-aged couples and younger social drinkers account for nearly half of the current wine drinking population, but only a third of sales by value.

The conclusion that the market is still at an early stage of development certainly comes as no surprise.  Maria Troein, Wine Intelligence Country Manager for China, tantalisingly says ‘Nonetheless, there are encouraging signs that there are sections of the market who find wine interesting and appealing for reasons that go beyond social prestige. As the market evolves, the big question for us will be to see whether this remains a niche group of enthusiasts, or whether we begin to see a larger segment of consumers picking up a bottle of wine as a natural, everyday choice.’

I personally have no doubt that the market will evolve, but the unanswerable question is whether this will take one year, five years, or longer. Even this has unspoken questions and assumptions. How do you measure the rate of change and the volume of change. This will vary substantially between exporters in the market, and their ability to hang in there despite frustration and the difficulty of piercing the veil of the Chinese mind.

Corks and Screwcaps: The Hatcher Theorem

Chris Hatcher, chief winemaker of Wolf Blass, has long been an ardent supporter of screwcaps, leading the charge by introducing screwcaps all the way up the range to the Wolf Blass Platinum Label wines. He has developed an elegant diagram, which isn’t easily reproducible for this website, but can fairly readily be understood.  On the vertical axis you have aged characters, and on the horizontal (bottom left intersection) you have time in years.  While the two closures are identical (barring TCA taint) for the first year or so, after two to three years you see more developed characters emerging under the cork closure.  While the difference is not great, some argue that the greater expression of age is a good thing, not a bad thing.  Neither Chris nor I accept that argument, but acknowledgement that it is possible to argue its benefit.

Around 10 to 12 years, the aged characters under cork continue to the point where, depending on the quality of cork, the quality of the bottle neck, the nature of the storage and other variables, the aged characters start to take on different dimensions such that no two bottles are the same.  At this point the bottles under screwcap are all identical to each other and the wine enters a plateau that can extend for decades, with incremental changes over time.  There is no ‘Eureka!’ moment, nor is there any ‘drink yesterday’ alarm bell.

Stephen Henschke has added his own views by saying that cork imparts a taste to the wine which can be detected even where it is a barrel-aged red wine, or a barrel-fermented white wine.

Chris Hatcher reduces this concept to simplicity: there is no point in the development of a white wine where the cork provides a closure as good as that provided by a screwcap.  There is much misunderstanding about reduced/sulphidic characters under screwcap: the fault is not the closure, as the vast majority of white wines show no such characters, but the fault of the winemaker in not ensuring that the wine is free from the signs of or precursors of reduction.  Even here there is room for debate: the eminent French researcher, the late Emile Peynaud, often wrote of the pleasant effect/taste of slight reduction. He saw this as simply being the opposite of oxidation. I won’t go further down this track, because it leads into the scientific thickets of the redox potential of wine, and its constantly changing impact.