know a thing or two.. WINE

HEARD IT ON THE GRAPEVINE? WE UNCORK A FEW VINTAGE FACTS

Human 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 gunflint 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 of grapes (fruit or flowers) with water and sugar, does not even begin to describe the complex art of winemaking.

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 influences 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 pick

earlier because of ‘phenolic ripeness’, relating to the flavour compounds in grape skin and pips. In hot summers, sugar ripeness often comes first; picking then risks producing thin-bodied, underdeveloped wine. But waiting until the fruit is phenolically mature could produce a ‘hot’, high-alcohol wine which may lack subtlety. It’s all part of the winemaker’s balancing act.

After crushing, the time that the grape skins are left in contact with the juice is also important. All grape juice is ‘white’. It is the skins of red grapes that give colour. So, you can make white wine with red grapes if you separate the skins straight away – as is the case with Champagne. With rosé, the skins are removed after a brief time. For red wines, the ‘maceration’ can last several weeks, laying the foundations for intoxicating aromas; dried fig and black pepper to cedar wood and cigar box.

ENJOYING A GLASS

Do drink outside your comfort zone from time to time for a delicious surprise or two. When it comes to food matching, you needn’t be an expert: that’s what sommeliers are for. At home, the simplest approach is to just think about what to avoid. Delicate, bone-dry white? Don’t pour it with a hefty stew or rich chocolate. Big, beefy red? Keep it away from the fish and the crudités.

It usually works to match like with like, too. Sticky-sweet dessert wines are good with pud; complex, aromatic wines (red or white) can work well with curries, and big, savoury reds are lovely with a roast. Or try complimentary contrasts: rich, fatty, savoury foods such as lamb shoulder or potato dauphinoise will benefit from a red wine with astringent tannin like good old cab sav.

Once you’ve uncorked a bottle, it’s best to finish it within a couple of days before oxidisation spoils it. And finally, treat yourself to decent, big-bowled wine glasses. Fill them no more than half full, swirl, sniff and sip: they will enhance the aroma of what you are drinking and maximise your enjoyment.