Taking the world one wine at a time.
Sediment That gritty-stuff resting at the bottom of some wine bottles shouldn’t really be viewed as a true wine fault. Let’s go back to science class for a minute: Sediment comes about when naturally occurring tannins in a wine polymerize (cling together), making them larger and therefore more visible. This is a good indication that the acids and flavors of a wine have started to change and mellow out a little more. For this reason…
Read More
Herbaceousness Green aromas (such as bell pepper, asparagus or generally vegetal aromas) in a wine can sometimes be mistaken for bad winemaking or harvesting the grapes too early. But most of the time it’s just a character in that particular grape i.e. Sauvignon Blanc or Cabernet Franc, and can’t really be considered a true wine fault. In fact, “green” aromas have long been considered a staple of French wines (due to the colder climate and…
Read More
Brettanomyces [Breht-tan-uh-my-sees] Brettanomyces (or “Brett” if you want to sound like you know what you’re talking about) is a yeast that is found on grape skins, in barrels and in the winery itself. Brett can be found mainly in red wines, as the color is extracted from the skins of grapes during red wine fermentation, although Brett can and does occur in white wines, and can sometimes be attributed to sloppy (unhygienic) winemaking. Brett is…
Read More
Oxidation Aeration opens a wine, but too much will result in oxidation and therefore spoilage. Similarly, if the wine has a cork that leeks in too much air, or if a wine goes through multiple temperature changes in the bottle over a long period, oxidation may also occur. I find oxidation to be one of the the most common wine flaws you’ll encounter, and is the main reason that I generally don’t drink wine by…
Read More
Cloudiness / Haziness All wine starts off cloudy, that’s a fact. During winemaking and after the grapes are pressed, the juice is fermented, and the wine is run off the skins, stems, pips et al., therefore there’s plenty of smaller particles left behind. Wine is generally allowed a period of rest, to allow this sediment to settle, however this only does so much. Winemakers must filter and fine a wine (to different degrees depending on…
Read More
Tartrate Crystals [Tar-trate] I’ve worked in restaurants my whole life and have encountered tartrates quite a bit. Before a wine is bottled to be sold, wineries usually employ a procedure called cold stabilization (which brings the wine down to a near freezing temperature) in order to remove these “wine diamonds” as they’re sometimes more fondly called. It’s worth noting that Potassium Bitartrate (to give tartrates their full name) is a natural byproduct of the…
Read More
Bubbles Sometimes when you open a bottle of still wine, you might find it to be unexpectedly sparkling. I’ve ran into this mainly with white wines which are light and fruity (i.e. Sauvignon Blanc, Albarino, Vinho Verde etc) and primarily with screw-cap sealed bottles. This is due to a winemaker sometimes adding a little CO2 to keep them crisp and refreshing. In white wines this is often referred to as “petillance”. How to tell if…
Read More
“Ermmmm excuse me, Garçon. This wine is bloody terrible!” – just doesn’t sit too well in most restaurants; therefore over the next couple of weeks I’m going to list some of the most common faults you may encounter on your travel through the wine-wonderland, as well as my suggested course of action should you stumble upon a “bad bottle”. A lot of the time faults in wine go unnoticed, mainly because people just assume that’s…
Read More