Another person you may encounter in a wine shop or grocery-store wine department is the salesperson for one of the many wine distributors. Again, many of these people are not qualified. I once had a wine salesperson do a wine tasting at a wine store that I managed. I heard her explain to a customer that a full-bodied wine is a wine that is strong and aggressive. This, of course, is wrong.
For consumers unaware of this trend in the retail wine industry, it is a bad scenario. These salespersons do not know what most wine terms mean. What is clear is that not everyone employed in a wine shop or grocery-store wine department is qualified to properly assist consumers. Below are definitions for the basic wine terms used most often.
Body: A wine’s body is its weight in the mouth. A light-body wine has the weight of water. A medium-body wine has the weight of 2% milk. A full-body wine has the weight of whole milk.
Texture: A wine’s texture is its feel in the mouth. Texture is a product of tannins, acidity, and alcohol—wine’s structural elements.
Tannin comes from grape skins, grape stems, grape seeds, and from the oak barrels wine is aged in. Tannin is also present in coffee and black tea. It has a rough feel in the mouth described as bitter, and it has a mouth-drying effect. Tannin acts as a preservative and gives red wine its backbone.
Acidity should be present in all wines (even reds) to some degree or another. A wine that lacks sufficient acidity will be flat and lifeless. Acidity gives white wine its backbone. Acidity has a sour feel that makes the mouth pucker when substantial levels are present. A wine with correct acidity level is fresh, bright, and lively.
Alcohol is present in all wine to some degree or another. An unbalanced wine with high levels of alcohol has a “hot” feel in the moth—a burning sensation. Alcohol has a lightly sweet taste; therefore, a high alcohol wine with lots of fruit like Zinfandel may taste sweet even though it is dry (imperceptible residual sugar level).
Depending on their levels of these structural elemets, a wine is considered bitter and rough, soft and velvety, flat and insipid or something within the spectrum.
Dryness/Sweetness/Fruitiness: Sweetness is a product of sugar. A wine tastes sweet when it has a perceptible residual sugar level. Fruitiness refers to flavor, not sweetness. Dry means absence of sugar (absence of perceptible sugar). A wine can be dry and fruity but not dry and sweet. Dry does not mean rough or bitter. A wine can be dry and bitter or dry and soft. A wine can often be so fruity that some might describe it as sweet (a sugar based perception).
Wine Styles: Most grapes produce several styles of wine. For example, just because a wine is made with Cabernet Sauvignon does not mean that it is a big, full-bodied, full-flavored and aggressive wine. Cabernet can also produce a light and simple style of wine. So, most grapes can produce three general styles: light and simple, medium-bodied and balanced, and full-bodied and full-flavored (tannin and acidity levels can also add another, aggressive, dimension). Of course, a light and simple style of wine should be priced economically. And a light and simple style does not refer to an inferior quality wine. Quality does not distinguish the three styles; each style has its poor to outstanding wines.
So, when visiting your local wine shop, if you are unsure as to the quality of advice you will get from the employees, ask questions from the knowledge gained above to discover if the employees are qualified. For example, “What does full-body mean?” If the employee responds that it means wines that are strong and aggressive or something other than what I defined above, you know that you are speaking to someone that is unqualified to give you wine advice.
At Las Colinas Beverages we think that words are important because we think that beer and wine is of special interest to people that we talk to and listen to. A good wine consultant is not one that helps you select the right wine one-hundred percent of the time—there is no such thing as perfection. A good wine consultant is a reliable wine consultant because he or she will be right seventy percent of the time. The good wine consultant can only accomplish this if he or she is well educated and has learned through experience a strategic way to listen to and speak to each customer. A good wine consultant learns that asking questions is part of his or her job.
If you ever asked a wine consultant for a good bottle of red wine and he or she suggests a bottle without asking you any questions, you are not speaking to a qualified wine consultant.
Cheers,
Rick