How to educate yourself on wine
Have you ever poured a glass of wine and discerned an obvious scent of butter, almost as if someone had just slathered a ration of pure creamery butter on a slice of hot toast? Most often found in Chardonnay but occasionally appearing in other wines, the buttery scent comes from diacetyl, a chemical that produces the characteristic aroma of real butter and that is used as an additive to add a butter scent to margarine.
Some people love this butter flavor. Some find it off-putting. What’s your opinion? Just for fun, we’ve set up this week’s Wine Lovers’ Voting Booth topic to find out. You’re invited to drop by the Voting Booth, to cast your ballot.
Malolactic fermentation is commonplace in red wines but less customary in whites … except for Chardonnay, where it was developed in Burgundy as a way to bring a smooth roundness to the finished wine.
The wine’s color didn’t betray serious problems: It was clear, not cloudy, and remained garnet, reddish-violet, without the distinct “brown” colors that betray a dead wine. But the aroma and flavor further suggested a wine damaged by heat or exposure to air: subtle fruit remained, focused on red-skinned plums, but it was hiding shyly behind a veil of burnt sugar and caramel. Tart fruit flavors were laced with the light but distinct walnut and pecan character, reminiscent of Sherry, that betrays oxidation. This one was borderline, frankly. In contrast with cork taint, which almost always renders a wine undrinkable for me, this one retained enough fruit and structure to be palatable. But the experience was significantly diminished, and it wouldn’t be fair to represent this wine as typical of its brand with a formal tasting note.
Bottom line, if the retailer was aware that the wine was damaged, it shouldn’t have been on the shelf. And if we hadn’t gone ahead and drunk most of the bottle, I would have felt fully justified in taking it back for a refund. If you encounter a wine that’s obviously corked or cooked, you should do the same.
Want to find out more about food and wine festival, then visit George Winston’s site on how to choose the best food and wine festival for your needs.
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