February 1, 2013
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “Like a fine wine, it gets better with time,” but what does that even mean? I found myself asking this very question a few months back while staring at rows of stacked oak barrels. I knew how the wine was made and I loved drinking the finished product, but how does sitting in wood barrels or bottles for months on end transform the stuff I was draining out of tanks to this delicious liquid in my glass. Well turns out Tom and of course Google had the answer.
Let’s start with the chemistry and some fancy wine jargon. Wine is a combination of acids, sugars, alcohols, esters and phenolic compounds all reacting with each other to create various tastes, aromas and textures. As I’m sure you know the sugars, acids and alcohols all come from the grapes and from fermentation, but what are the other two?
Esters sound like something out of a fantasy novel, but turns out they are actually the result of alcohol reacting with the acids and are a main contributing factor in the wine’s aroma. Esters can be broken down and created throughout the aging process causing the wine to constantly change and develop new desirable or undesirable characteristics. Hydrogen, more prevalent in wines with higher acidity, can encourage these reactions to take place and therefore highly acidic wines usually change more in the barrel or bottle
If you are currently drinking a glass of wine while reading this, swirl it around smell it and then taste it. Good, now you’re a little more relaxed, possibly tipsy and my blog magically just got better. Actually jokes aside you just experienced where the Phenolic Compounds of wine come into play. They are responsible for the tastes and smells in not only wine, but all foods.
The most important phenolic compound is one you have probably heard of and is a great love of Cab drinkers called tannins. Tannins are the huggers of the wine compound world, binding to proteins, each other and any other phenolic compound that looks like it needs some love. When tannins bind to the proteins in your saliva it inhibits your saliva’s ability to lubricate your mouth causing a bitter taste and a puckering sensation. This is also why high tannic red wines taste better with red meat. As tannins bind to each other over time they become heavier and sink to the bottom of the barrel as sediment. This is why wine will taste smoother or creamier as it is aged for longer. When tannins bind to other phenolic compounds it keeps them from evaporating. This helps the wine hold on to old flavors as it develops new ones, resulting in a wine that is more complex. As a kicker, tannins also help preserve wine by preventing oxidation.
Now take a deep breath because you’re going to need some oxygen to finish the aging process for the wine and yourself. When Oxygen hits alcohol it creates acetic acid, or vinegar while also altering the wines color. You want to limit the amount of oxygen in contact with the wine, however, because too much vinegar will turn the wine undrinkable, just pour it on your fish and chips. Aged red wine becomes brick-colored while white wine becomes golden brown. Like using lemons to prevent apples from oxidizing, wines with higher acidity will take more time to turn brown. Therefore highly acidic wines are better candidates for aging. Oxygen also helps combine the woodsy flavors of the oak with the fruity flavors in the wine by transferring phenolic compounds between the two. After a while the wine will take on more earthy, nutty flavors to combine with the fruity flavors. Bottle aging won’t add flavors like oak does, but the wine will continue to change as it reacts with itself and as oxygen, from the cork, breaks down compounds like tartaric acid creating what wine connoisseurs call a beautiful bouquet.
Aging wine is an art and so far there is no technology to tell us exactly what we will get when we finally pop the bottle open. By keeping wine in cool, about 55°F, damp areas, 70% humidity, we can promote the best aging possible, but only time will tell when the wine will taste its best.
That’s all I have for now, all this wine talk is making me thirsty.
Thanks for Reading,
Erik
