H
uman beings have been
making wine for
millennia. Archaeological
evidence from China
suggests wine-making
dates as far back as 9000
BCE, and from Georgia in the Caucasus,
shards of pottery dating from 8000BCE
were discovered to be harbouring
residues of an ancient vintage.
The making, sharing and drinking of
wine is rich with symbolism. It is woven
into religious rites, from the ancient
Greek cult of Dionysus to the Christian
Eucharist. Brimming goblets glow on
the canvases of the world’s great artists,
and wine drips from the pages of our
most-revered writers, from the
‘wine-dark sea’ of Homer’s Iliad, to the
‘draught of vintage... cool’d a long age in
the deep-delved earth’ that Keats
longed for in his ‘Ode to a Nightingale’.
There is a wonderful kind of poetry in
modern wine writing, too; read the
work of the experts and you can revel in
their language, their talk of the scents of
gunf lint or violets, of smoke or butter, or
of the ‘silvered acidity’ or ‘bristling
tannic power’ you can find in a glass.
Even if you cannot identify all those
qualities yourself, it’s fun to try.
While wine is drawn from the earth,
the alchemy of the winemaker’s craft
imbues it with something magical, too.
Sipping a glass of something decent is
a profound pleasure that transcends
instant gratification, heralding a
moment to pause, savour, consider.
Offering a drink may be the first thing
we do when a friend arrives, an
expression of welcome and respect.
Good wine can be a gift to ourselves, too.A WINEMAKER’S ART
The bald definition of wine: an alcoholic
drink produced by the fermenting ofgrapes(fru )
sugar,doesnotevenbegintodescribe
the complexartofwinemaking.
It starts with the grapevine itself.
Vines can be productive for many
decades if tended carefully. That doesn’t
mean a vine should be allowed to get too
comfortable, though. As with many
plants, a degree of stress stimulates it to
produce fruit. Many of the world’s great
wines come from difficult soils and
‘marginal’ sites where the vines (and
the winemaker) have to work hard. This
is all part of terroir – a description of
the unique inf luences on vines in a
certain place and why the same grape
variety will produce totally different
wine in Burgundy than in Barossa.
In winter, vines look dead: gnarled,
knotted and brown. Come spring, the
wonderfully named ‘budburst’ occurs
and they return to life. These buds are
vulnerable and frosts or hail can
decimate them, robbing the vineyard of
its entire crop. It’s not unknown for
hundreds of candles to be lit in the dead
of night and placed under vines to ward
off a late frost. But all being well, by
midsummer, the vines are thick with
greenery and clusters of ripening fruit.
Harvest is in the autumn and must be
completed quickly, while grapes are at
their desired point of ripeness – far less
simple than it sounds. Wines are getting
more alcoholic (typically 12–15%) –
average alcohol content has increased
by a whopping 2% since the 1980s.
Picking point is part of the reason.
As the global climate warms, ripe
grapes are simply, well, riper. Heat
ramps up their sugar levels, which
means more alcohol in the wine.
Winemakers can’t necessarily pickGlossary
Legs Also called ‘tears’, these
are the lines of wine that run
down the side of the glass after
swirling. Thicker, more viscous
‘legs’ often indicate a higher
alcohol content.
On the nose What the wine
smells like when you swirl it then
stick your nose in the glass.
Dumb A wine that is not
‘expressive’ – ie, it lacks aroma.
The wine could be over-chilled,
while some ‘dumb’ wines are
immature and need time in the
bottle to develop their character.
Oaked Ageing in oak barrels –
or with oak chips – adds body
to many wines and has a
distinctive and easy-to-spot
influence on aroma. Think
vanilla, butter, cream – even
coconut or banana!
Body The richness and density
of the wine’s flavour. More body
is not necessarily better – some
very full-bodied wines can be
overwhelming.
Acidity This is a crucial quality in
wine (as in all delicious things),
but should be in balance. A wine
with a nice degree of acidity
might be called ‘crisp’, ‘fresh’,
‘bright’, ‘steely’ or ‘zesty’,
whereas wine that lacks it will be
designated ‘flabby’ or ‘flat’. Too
much acid makes a wine ‘green’,
‘tart’ or even ‘angular’.
Tannins These compounds come
from the skins of grapes (mostly
red grapes) and can have a huge
influence on the flavour and
‘texture’ or mouthfeel, of wine.
Tannins are essentially bitter and
dry so if they are too dominant,
a wine may be called astringent
or ‘hard’. A good level of tannin
may be called ‘chewy’, ‘firm’,
‘structured’ or even ‘grippy’, and
wine with little tannic influence
would be ‘soft’.
Jammy A wine probably made
with slightly over-ripened
grapes, giving cooked rather
than fresh fruit flavours.
Finish The length of time that
the taste of the wine stays with
you after you’ve swallowed it. A
longer finish means better
quality wine.uitorflowers)withwaterand