Tasting tips: How to tell white wines apart

What Mel's drinking: 2023 ‘Chica’ Rosé

Wines tasted:

• 2023 Brokenwood Semillon $27
• 2023 Yalumba Y Series Chardonnay $15
• 2023 The Ethereal One Vermentino $23
• 2023 AMBERLEY CHIMNEY BRUSH CHENIN BLANC $12
• 2023 Tim Adams Riesling $18

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Chapters

• 0:09 Exploring Wine Tasting and Identification
• 7:09 Wine Varieties Comparison for Blind Tasting
• 17:33 Vermentino and Semillon Comparison
• 29:18 Grape Varieties and Aromas Conversation
• 35:43 Comparing White Wines, Planning Next Steps

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:09

Hi and welcome to Wine with Meg and Mel. We are here to help you navigate the world of wine. I'm Mel Goukous. I'm Jeremy, master of Wine, meg Brotman. Meg, we are doing something really fun this week.

Speaker 2 0:18

Yeah, sort of how to taste and identify. What are the key factors in identifying grape variety? Yeah, and I think it's really key to remember that obviously where the grapes are grown is going to have an influence, but also the structure of the wine is just as important as those aromas and flavour profile. You know, I always say being able to identify a wine by aroma and flavour is a party trick, but being able to describe a wine down to its structure and everything and talk about why it is what it is, so we've got a range of wines quite interesting all from 2023, so I made sure, okay, this is good.

Speaker 1 0:57

And this is like if you've got blind Hastings or Westards and stuff coming up, this should help. We'll just talk through what are the key things that would help us identify this.

Speaker 2 1:09

If we're doing it. One, yeah, exactly, um, we're doing something different today we are. You've tasted something that you clearly want to talk about.

Speaker 1 1:12

I'm not going to ask mel's very limited what she's been tasting these days, so it's like I'm going to talk about what I can what have you been?

Speaker 2 1:19

drinking mel. Wow, my turn we.

Speaker 1 1:22

so we mentioned last week what Sorry, sorry, what you been drinking, mel, that's what you said. Oh, that was good, that was great. You had the inflection and everything. So we mentioned that. I did the Rosé Rendezvous last week, so it was an online Rosé tasting of Rosés around Australia. And you know me, rosé, I'm the. Whatever we'll see.

Speaker 2 1:40

I did see your Instagram post afterwards, yeah.

Speaker 1 1:42

I did see your Instagram post afterwards.

Speaker 2 1:43

Yeah, mind blown.

Speaker 1 1:44

Well, that is a giveaway because, firstly, it was really interesting. There is so much more complexity and depth and interesting stuff going on in Rose now, but the one that stood out to me and the one I want to talk about was made from menthea.

Speaker 2 2:01

Oh, okay.

Speaker 1 2:04

Tell me why that reaction.

Speaker 2 2:05

I don't like the tannins on them.

Speaker 1 2:07

They're really big Even in a rosé Right.

Speaker 2 2:11

I probably have had some sort of random Spanish rosé that was from Mencia. But there's just a dirty tannin structure in Mencia and I get this bilgy kind of flavour and aroma profile. It's what we used to call rustic or provincial wine, and maybe it's just my mind playing tricks on me influencing me.

Speaker 1 2:39

Everyone is so excited about it. All the winemakers are talking about how Mencia is like new. I think it's. I'm calling it. It's like the new big thing in rants in Australia because it's like climate resistant. It's great for our climate, yes, and I tell you what this rosé was amazing. So the rosé I want to talk about it's called Chica Rosé. It's by Oliver's Chiranga Vineyard and the reason it's called Chica Rose is because they have an all-female salad door staff and they all wanted to learn more about wine. And so this awesome winemaker what was her name? Karina Wright. Karina Wright, she gets all these women and says, okay, let's make a rose. And so they made a mentheo rose. And it's awesome because she's lifting women up, she is teaching them. They've made a rosé together. They've called it the chico rosé, a little bit of carbonic, and it's done so well and it's so delicious that they've now grafted a whole bunch of their Cabernet with mentheo so that they can keep making it and they're in.

Speaker 2 3:43

McLaren Vale, aren't they? They are in McLaren Vale, so Karina Wright's a big part of the Australian Women in Wine, is she? I don't know whether she's on the board or whatever, but she's very high profile in that and she has always. It's a family-owned business, yeah, and she's always really championed women in the winery and the vineyard and the wine industry across the whole. Awesome, yeah, she's a pretty cool chick actually, and it was delicious.

Speaker 1 4:09

I'm looking at my notes bright cherry, strawberry well, they're all expected, but it was kind of slightly sour. I've written slightly sour in a delicious way. Nice, and one of the things that she said, which I went oh my God, that's so true salted watermelon. It literally.

Speaker 2 4:24

That's very specific.

Speaker 1 4:25

It is and it tasted like that. So if you are a rosé fan, you want to taste something a little bit different and also support women in the industry. This is one I'd really recommend Price-ish $28, I believe.

Speaker 2 4:40

I've actually got it because I haven't I've only tried two of the rosés that we got sent and that is actually left over. I've actually got it because I haven't I've only tried two of the rosés that we got sent yeah, and that is actually left over. And because they are all in a clear bottle, as soon as I unpack them, I put them straight in my wine fridge, which is dark. Speaking of which, we really need to drink through more in our wine fridge. Okay, the Mega Mel shelves have now gone from one shelf to two shelves, to now onto the third shelf, and Pete's, like can I have that? To two shelves? To now onto the third shelf, and Pete's, like can I have that?

Speaker 1 5:05

No, everyone listening is out. Last but not least, tough problems ladies. Okay, so that's me, meg. Do you have a fun fact?

Speaker 2 5:14

I do you know how we've been talking about minerality? We did Aetna a couple of weeks ago and we talked about minerality in wine and what it is and they don't really really really know in wine and what it is and they don't really really really know. One of the new bits of commentary around this is that it comes from a contributing factor could be the microbiome of the soil.

Speaker 1 5:36

I've heard this theory, yeah.

Speaker 2 5:38

Yeah. So they spoke to a number of Chevalierian winemakers and they think definitely winemaking, having yeast-lees contact, increases minerality in wine. It's something to do with sulphite compounds I can't remember what it was but they also think that it's to do with the microbiome in their soil. And so, basically, microbiome is like your gut biome. Each individual area, each individual person has a different proportion of different bacteria in the soil and when bacteria are dividing and they're eating, basically they're producing metabolites which are excreted into the soil. So these metabolites may be absorbed through the roots. There's nothing to say that they are, but people are projecting that this is possibly what could be happening and it could be contributing to minerality. Wow, yeah, sometimes I just think do we have to know? Yeah, we do, do we? I do because I like the science. You're a bloody science, I know. I like the science behind it, as if you. But I just think you know sometimes they're indefinable, like the X-Files.

Speaker 1 6:45

You know I've never heard you be quite so romantic before. You're normally very scientific about your wine, I know. I know I'm the hopeless romantic about wine.

Speaker 2 6:54

I'm obviously suffering in my old age. Yeah, not Anyone who knows me would not say that that would be true.

Speaker 1 7:03

Yeah, no, I'm not sure that would ever happen.

Wine Varieties Comparison for Blind Tasting

Speaker 2 7:08

Okay. So what have we got? So I've chosen three what we call non-aromatic grape varieties. So aromatic grape varieties are those like Riesling, gruner, veltlinger I think Chenin Blanc is another one that have measurable quantities of these chemicals, terpenes and different types of flavonoids it's such a funny word. I know that we can measure in the wine so that they are more aromatic. Think Sauvignon Blanc, think Riesling, think Grunewaldlinger. We're comparing that to a 2023 Semillon from the Hunter Valley, an unwooded Chardonnay from 2023, and a 2023 Vermentino. Now, you had Vermentino in the list and I was thinking that's a bit, probably random. But then I was thinking, actually, there are some elements of Vermentino that stick out compared to other great varieties.

Speaker 1 8:13

Yeah, the reason I said it was just because I find it's got so many similarities with Chardonnay. Exactly, yeah.

Speaker 2 8:19

Structurally too. Yeah, structurally mainly.

Speaker 1 8:22

Yeah, exactly, so it's like how would you tell them apart? Yeah, structurally too.

Speaker 2 8:24

Yeah, structurally mainly. Yeah, exactly. So it's like, how would you tell them apart? Yeah, so if you look at the Semillon, this is a Hunter Valley Semillon. It's probably about 10.5% alcohol. What you're looking for in Semillon is lemon Yep, white florals, yep. I sometimes get some wet wool character, but it just depends on how the wine's been produced. But Hunter Valley Semillon Semillon's not produced in many places in the world. So if you are doing your WCT, you are either in Bordeaux or you're in the Hunter.

Speaker 1 8:54

Yep.

Speaker 2 8:54

There's really nowhere else, in terms of volume and recognition, that produce these styles of wine, that's true. So Hunter Valley Semillon's always lowish alcohol. So 10.5%, 11% High acid, yeah, and when you first taste it, when it's a young wine, it's very lemony, almost simple. Yeah, it can be quite neutral. Yeah, grapefruit, not hugely aromatic. So if you smell that, that just smells to me like wine.

Speaker 1 9:26

Yeah.

Speaker 2 9:27

Nothing really particularly stands out.

Speaker 1 9:29

Like, maybe like a green apple, but yeah, and like citrus. That's all so straight away. Would you pick that easily?

Speaker 2 9:39

as Semillon when I put it in my mouth. So if I'd be looking at that, I'd be saying, okay, this is a fairly neutral grape variety. Maybe I'm in Italy, um, and or. Or I'd be thinking, maybe semi-alcohol, um, italy, I'd be taking high acid, so that could keep me in Italy as well. So when you're doing these blind tastings for MW students as well, it's a matter of elimination, yes. So say first of all, aromatic, non-aromatic grape variety. You know what the aromatic grape varieties are. Push those to the side. We're on a non-aromatic grape variety. It's fairly neutral. It's a little bit lemony, a little bit, you know, green apple, high acidity, yep, but the body and the alcohol.

Speaker 1 10:24

Give it away. Yeah, because until you got there, you could have been describing a Riesling. It could be anywhere.

Speaker 2 10:28

High acid citrus apple, yeah, but it doesn't have the florals and it doesn't jump out of the glass. Yeah, true, but I could have been describing an unwooded Chardonnay, yes, but Chardonnay is always 12.5%, 13.5%, always, even unwooded.

Speaker 1 10:45

Okay, so that's the first thing. We've got all those things, but maybe our biggest clue with Semillon is the lower alcohol.

Speaker 2 10:53

Yes, now, if you're on Semillon, in Bordeaux it's going to be blended mostly with Sauvignon as well.

Speaker 1 10:59

Okay.

Speaker 2 10:59

So it's rare that you're going to see 100%, so you're going to see much more of that aromatic. So it's rare that you're going to see 100%, so you're going to see much more of that aromatic. So it's going to take you as soon as you see that low alcohol. How many wines in the world have 10.5%, 11% alcohol? You could be German, silvaner or whatever.

Speaker 1 11:18

Yeah, my mind rarely goes there, exactly.

Speaker 2 11:22

But again that's likely. Because Silvana is a filler wine, yeah, it's likely to have a little bit of residual sugar in it. This is dry, high acidity, lemony Yep and low alcohol and light bodied.

Speaker 1 11:37

And alcohol Describe how were you tasting that? It's low alcohol.

Speaker 2 11:44

So people think that alcohol and body go hand in hand. They don't. You can have a low alcohol, full-bodied wine Think of a German Riesling because the things that contribute to body are alcohols, but they're not ethanol, so they're higher alcohols. So they don't give that. So I think glycerol no.

Speaker 1 12:08

This is such a complicated answer. I was expecting you to just be like a slight warmth in my throat.

Speaker 2 12:15

Okay, that is ethanol gives a slight warmth in your mouth. That is why, when you taste wine, hold the wine in your mouth yeah, let it warm up. And when you spit the wine out, the wine in your mouth, yep, let it warm up. And when you spit the wine out, see how much warming effect you have. And this does not. It just dissipates straight away. I love it A great, quite great. It's a Broken Wood 2023.

Speaker 1 12:37

Bloody fantastic.

Speaker 2 12:38

Semi-young.

Speaker 1 12:40

You can't get just a glass of Semi-young anywhere unless you're in Sydney, like New South Wales is the only place that 24.70 from Dan's yeah. Awesome yeah, yum Real happy with that.

Speaker 2 12:53

Yeah, nice wine. We've got some nice wines today. The next wine is a Yolamba Y Unwooded Chardonnay $12. So this is Southeastern Australia, around 13%. I seem to remember when I read the label Chardonnay, warm climate, southeastern Australia. So we're expecting some melon and peach, ripe peach, nectarine fruits, possibly a little bit of tropical fruit as well. You've got to search for it. No, this is interestingly, and when you're making high-volume wines, the concentration or the intensity of flavours is often diluted because of the volume, so you're pumping up the volume of the grape.

Speaker 1 13:50

Yeah.

Speaker 2 13:50

And that dilutes the flavours and aromas. So this, I think, is very, quite neutral. I see some red apple and yellow apple on the nose.

Speaker 1 14:00

But it's one of those wines that you have to like shove your full nose into the glass to pick that up.

Speaker 2 14:11

That's a tough wine. That could be anything.

Speaker 1 14:13

I would never in my life be able to guess what that was.

Speaker 2 14:16

No, neither would.

Speaker 1 14:17

I no Chardonnay drinker Wood ever.

Speaker 2 14:21

I know, but I didn't. I mean, you said unwooded and I agreed with you because we can't. As soon as we put wood into the game, it's going to be short. Well then, it's obvious.

Speaker 1 14:30

Yeah, yeah, no so, but I mean, I think it's good for the sake of this to discuss it.

Speaker 2 14:35

So when you do this in anything, in an educational thing, all you have to do is describe what is in the glass. So this has got pretty low, you know intensity. On the nose there's a bit of red and green apple. I'd be calling it simple Lemon. It is simple.

Speaker 1 14:55

It's really yeah.

Speaker 2 14:58

Even on the palate it doesn't really have a lot of flavour. It finishes quite short. So that gives you leads into the quality question, because there's not a lot of flavour. It finishes quite short, so that gives you leads into the quality question because there's not a lot there. Usually quality I think we've discussed this before is balance, length, intensity, complexity and I would add provenance or varietal expression.

Speaker 1 15:17

Yep.

Speaker 2 15:18

Provenance is does it speak to where it's from? And varietal expression is does it look like Chardonnay? This would be. This is just a white wine. Yeah, and if it wasn't in a green bottle I'd say maybe it's light struck, because everything's muted. We have two white wines here in a clear bottle.

Speaker 1 15:35

Do you like in? Well, I guess Chablis, but like? Do you like unwooded Chardonnay generally?

Speaker 2 15:44

Yes, if it displays that lovely minerality and salinity and green apple freshness that you get in like a Blanc de Blanc champagne. Yes, I do enjoy them for their freshness and deliciousness, but that for me doesn't speak of Chardonnay. No, there's no level of complexity. It's a perfectly drinkable glass of wine. Yeah, but it just doesn't shout varietal expression. So in a blind tasting I would be completely stumped. But again, people who are doing WSCT and those of you doing your MWs, if it's put in, there's going to be a banker, there's going to be a wine that you can hang your hat on within a particular grape variety. So this comes down to a quality question.

Speaker 1 16:26

Yeah, I reckon I would almost call that peanut grey.

Speaker 2 16:34

Blind Grigio, I'd go more than grey.

Speaker 1 16:38

Oh yeah, that's what I meant actually, grigio. I would call that peanut grigio, I know that people are thinking spinning hairs there, ladies.

Speaker 2 16:43

No, no, but literally, yeah, it doesn't have the richness and fatness that gris tends to have. Yeah, I don't even know that. I'd call it just poof. It's white wine, yeah, but you know it's $12. It's perfectly well made. It's fresh, it's. You know, there is nothing, Nothing wrong with this wine. If you want to spend $12, go ahead and do it, but don't expect it to look too much like Chardonnay.

Speaker 1 17:05

Yeah, fair.

Speaker 2 17:06

Okay, the next one is the Ethereal one from Fleurieu which is down on the coast of.

Speaker 1 17:13

What did we have of this?

Speaker 2 17:14

Oh, this is a pinnacle job.

Speaker 1 17:17

They had a good one that we had there. Was it a Grenache? Yeah, it was a Grenache. Grenache, that's exactly what it was.

Speaker 2 17:22

Yeah, vermentino 2023. So what's Vermentino for you?

Speaker 1 17:33

Vermentino I think of as similar to Chardonnay in that it can have more texture, like more body to it, even without oaking. It can have those kind of like melon flavours. It can head into that tropical space if it's picked a bit later, and so that is why I always go. It's similar to Chardonnay if it's unoaked. From a warm climate Chardonnay.

Speaker 2 17:56

Yeah, and Firmatina's grown in a warm climate, Yep. So how do you tell them apart? I don't know how I would tell them apart Because you're right, this smells like you know that dried mango. You can buy the dried pineapple, but as soon as you put it in your mouth it's broader. Chardonnay tends to go straight down in a straight line on your palate to go straight down in a straight line on your palate. This Vermentino, in my experience, tends to have more phenolic grip to it, so it broadens the palate out and there's an oiliness. It's almost like someone's dropped a little drop of olive oil in there. And that's Vermentino for me, yeah, it's always fatter than Chardonnay.

Speaker 1 18:42

It is slightly that oiliness is really it and you can definitely feel that phenolic grip.

Speaker 2 18:47

Yeah, you can. It's like we've almost had a red wine. There is a dryness and a dustiness in our mouth and I suspect the alcohol on that.

Speaker 1 18:56

Alcohol feels high.

Speaker 2 18:58

It's high, yeah, and Vermentino tends to be. I tried to get everything around the same alcohol, but it was very difficult. Vermentino was more around that 14%. Oh, this says 7.1 standard drink, so 12%.

Speaker 2 19:14

Oh my God, it feels, okay so if the alcohol does feel that high, and it's likely to be 13%, it's because, again, it comes down to quality. It's not all balanced. Yeah, the alcohol is sitting very proud of the wine. Yeah, that is a really drinkable glass of wine. I think I don't agree. No See, I actually I don't mind it and I'm not a fan of Vermentino.

Speaker 1 19:43

Yeah, no, that kind of groupiness. It feels like a greenish kind of tannin on my tongue. I don't find it particularly pleasurable and I find it really unbalanced.

Speaker 2 19:52

Okay, it is like the phenolic group and Adrian Sanselan and I had this discussion about Vimentino and he agrees people do too much extraction. It's like back off, don't get all of the juice out of it. Maybe keep your pressings separate and find them, because that is so. It's coming from the skin. Chewing on a green geranium stem.

Speaker 1 20:14

Okay, and so this is something to discuss. I guess the fact that it's cheaper means that they're going to want to get every ounce of every drip from that grape, which means the skin contact is coming off on the grape and that's where we're getting that flavour. So if we bought a more expensive one, is it likely that we might have less of that?

Speaker 2 20:40

Yes, less, but I still think Vermentino has phenolics in it. This is $16.99, down to $14 with my member benefit. The thing is like that is grippy, you find it unbalanced, but again, I just think something salty yum, you want to drink it? Yeah, I actually don't. I would happily drink it. The warmth of the alcohol bothers me.

Speaker 1 21:11

Yeah.

Speaker 2 21:12

It's like you know when you've drunk too much wine, the next day, if you have a glass of wine, it just burns your chest because you're just not in the best mood.

Speaker 1 21:21

Okay, so, compared to everything else so far, our key drivers for Vermentino that would help us tell us apart is that slight phenolic grip and an oiliness.

Speaker 2 21:33

Oil texture, not flavour and aroma.

Speaker 1 21:36

Yeah.

Speaker 2 21:36

Because on the nose that could have been a Chardonnay from a warm climate Easily yeah, but because it has got that phenolic grip and it's not wooded, because you can get some of that phenolic grip from wood, it's not wooded and it has a definite oily texture and Vermentino has that for me.

Speaker 2 21:58

Yeah, cool. So again, don't focus on the structure, don't focus on the flavour, because otherwise you can force yourself down. If you're doing exams, you can easily force yourself down a rabbit hole. Just wipe your mind clean of what it is and just describe what's actually in the glass. And most people can do that who have been doing the study and have been training themselves, For sure. But yeah, I didn't mind that I wasn't a fan. Yeah, no, Now I've got an Amberley Chenin Blanc 2023. So Chenin Blanc is a little bit more aromatic. It has that white, floral, lanolin, lemon, green apple, high acidity, moderate alcohol and from the Loire obviously comes in an array of styles, but this is an Australian, Western Australian wine. This was 12 Thalers.

Speaker 1 22:53

Yeah, the one I found on Linus no 1430.

Speaker 2 22:58

Okay, this is a wine that I reckon.

Speaker 1 23:04

So already you've said things that have. Not that lanolin let's park that but the citrus, the acid, the green apple White florals White florals. Riesling. That's Riesling Without the floral. It's the semillon. So we are in a space where there's heaps of things but that lanolin character.

Speaker 2 23:26

And it's not, as Shannon is more subdued. It doesn't give us aromas as forthright as Riesling. Riesling jumps out of the glass at you. It's an aromatic grape variety. This is more subdued.

Speaker 1 23:38

Shannon just peeks out Hello, it's like you know food Looking over the fence?

Speaker 2 23:45

Yes, hi, it's the foo wine. I don't know if everyone will understand what foo is. It was an image. It's got like a little hand and a guy's face with a big nose from memory looking out over a fence. Absolutely yeah, and it says foo was here or something. Anyway, again we digress. So green apple Yum, A bit of struck match in there. So it is a young wine. So struck match is that's sulfur dioxide. White florals.

Speaker 1 24:20

Wet straw? Yeah, wet straw, it's like a lemon juice, yep.

Speaker 2 24:28

Yep.

Speaker 1 24:30

But so far hang on. So it smells so similar to the Semillon.

Speaker 2 24:38

It actually does.

Speaker 1 24:41

You would think it was the same wine.

Speaker 2 24:44

Yes, but there's one identifying factor on this wine in particular which I wasn't aware of Mm-hmm, oh Sweet, sweet, it's got sugar in it?

Speaker 1 24:58

Oh it does too.

Speaker 2 24:59

Yeah, you don't get it until you've actually swallowed it, or sputtered it out. Yeah, so they're saying melon, pear and pineapple flavours with a generous fruit sweetness, balanced with a clean, persistent finish. I should have read that before I put it to warn it is 13% alcohol, so, shannon.

Speaker 1 25:20

Let's just talk generally, then, and not about this, because I feel like sweet is just going to throw Well no, because when I say Shannon, where do you think of South Africa?

Speaker 2 25:30

Oh, okay. So, I think of Vouvray. Oh yeah, and Vouvray is demi-sec. So Shannon is grown right along the Loire and makes everything from dry, still table wine to ultra-sweet wine, sparkly wine and this demi-sec Vouvray. In between, the reason I would say that Amberley have added the sugar is because the acid is so high.

Speaker 1 25:53

Yeah, okay.

Speaker 2 25:56

We've had the Carimbia Shannon before a number of times. I couldn't actually get that Well in 23, I couldn't get it. Yeah, I couldn't actually get that Well in 23, I couldn't get it, yeah. So this is the aromas are shenan, but the structure is shenan-like because it does have that residual sugar but really high acidity.

Speaker 1 26:16

Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.

Speaker 2 26:22

And definitely not Riesling, riesling.

Speaker 1 26:33

Because Riesling can have residual sugar. Yep, it's more like melon. That is why, yeah, it's like a stone fruit rather than like a floral lychee type thing. Exactly.

Speaker 2 26:42

Yeah, I mean, riesling sits in two camps, three camps Australian Riesling, limey, dry, moderate alcohol, high acidity, yum, yum, and that's what I've got here. Then it sits in a Germanic camp, depending on the level of ripeness, but often with residual sugar and lower alcohol. And that's how you can pick it. It's lower in alcohol and it's much more floral. You don't see the liminess in German Rieslings, it's just not there.

Speaker 1 27:14

Yeah.

Speaker 2 27:14

Even if you, you know, rheingau's a bit more mineral to Mosel, which is a bit more floral, but you never. That lime is Aussie through and through. Oi, oi, oi. And then you have Alsace Riesling. I love Australian Riesling, me too. I just it is my greatest joy and the one I would spend. You know, if I would say to Pete any night well, do you want to drink, do you want to drink this or this? He'd be going to the Riesling, yeah, we drink so much.

Speaker 2 27:40

It's fantastic. This was cheap and it's $16.20. Oh, but we haven't got to that wine yet. But then Alsace Riesling is a little bit more mineral, higher in alcohol, so 13.5% dry as well, but more on the savoury edge of Riesling.

Speaker 1 28:00

Yeah, okay.

Speaker 2 28:04

So it really only there's only three. I mean, I'm really generalising here, everyone's going, oh no.

Speaker 1 28:07

Oh yeah, no, we're going to get some comments this week. We're going to get some triple.

Speaker 2 28:11

But on Shinnon, um. On the aroma, mel is completely correct. The Semillon and the Shannon could be identical structurally. Very different Yep Alcohol. On that Shannon you can feel that warmth. You do not have that in the Semillon Yep. And if you're in an exam, say for WCT diploma, semillon is likely to occur in a mixed bag of wines, so it can only be from a couple of places. Yeah.

Speaker 1 28:44

What do you mean? Mixed bag?

Speaker 2 28:46

So mixed bags are the last on the exam. It could be a Pinotage from South Africa, a Semillon from the Hunter, a Carminier from Chile, so it's three different wines.

Speaker 1 29:00

Yeah, and what you have to tell what each is, or do you have to find what links them, or what?

Speaker 2 29:04

You have to do your tasting note and then identify what they are.

Speaker 1 29:09

Okay, mw is a little bit similar, just individually.

Grape Varieties and Aromas Conversation

Speaker 2 29:11

Yeah, and the reason being is because they cannot do a full bracket of 100% Semillon, because where would they all be from? Yeah, so that's another top tip. If you're doing, look at the international grape varieties. That's what's going to appear in your first question of identify the grape variety. It's not going to be semi-young, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, and Shannon, it could be, because you could be South Africa, you could be Western Australia, you could be anywhere across the Loire, you could have a sweet style, you could have a cycling style. So Shannon could appear in a identify the grape variety. But yeah, unfortunately that's got the sugar in it which I should have read.

Speaker 1 29:49

So I didn't really get that like wet wool lanolin type thing in this Shannon.

Speaker 2 29:54

Did you? No, it's perceiving it more as that wet straw.

Speaker 1 29:58

Yeah okay Now. Is it because there's sugar, or is that?

Speaker 2 30:03

Possibly because it's so young, Young okay. Because you know we're drinking a wine that's barely a year old. Yeah, so possibly because it's really youthful, because most of the Shannons that we drink are at least one year, if not two, on them and that's where the lemon could come from.

Speaker 1 30:21

Yeah, okay, Cool. I think this was awesome and I really Can we do the last one? Oh my God.

Speaker 2 30:29

Sorry, mel's got to go for lunch.

Speaker 1 30:31

I don't want to skip the Riesling. What?

Speaker 2 30:32

am I doing? Okay? So we've got Mr Mick Riesling for $16.20 from Claire.

Speaker 1 30:39

Oh my God, I just love this scent so much $16. It makes me so happy. I just want to sit here and smell it so the other thing is going on.

Speaker 2 30:50

Colour Riesling has a really distinct green tinge. Vermentino and Chardonnay don't usually have that green tinge. Ah, so it can give you, it can start. Colour can give you, we always say, move on from colour, yes, but Riesling always, always, always has a green tinge, unless it's really old, does Sauvignon Blanc?

Speaker 1 31:12

have a yeah, yeah, so Sauvignon Blanc Riesling, but Sauvignon.

Speaker 2 31:15

Blanc tends to be lighter in intensity.

Speaker 1 31:18

Yeah, okay.

Speaker 2 31:20

And that Chenin also didn't have much of a green tinge. Yeah, but this just jumps out of the glass. It's an aromatic grape variety. It's horrible. It's like honeysuckle and creamed honey and lime and lime juice and lime juice, cordial and slate and it's just, it is.

Speaker 1 31:39

And it's 16 bucks. I'm in love.

Speaker 2 31:45

And it's dry and it's high acid.

Speaker 1 31:49

This is like just a Riesling podcast. Hi, welcome to Riesling with Megan Mow. Can we just do?

Speaker 2 31:54

that for a minute Our teeth would not forgive us. I will say it's a bit short, a little bit dilute, a little bit short, but it's perfectly drinkable. $16, people.

Speaker 1 32:08

Yeah, yeah it is, it delivers everything.

Speaker 2 32:11

I expect from the Claire.

Speaker 1 32:12

I mean you're being a bit rough $16. Fuck, no, I know I'd still drink it A bit rough $16. Fuck, no, I know I'd still drink it. Yeah, no, I do see that it's not like a super concentrated flavour Bit yum. Yeah, I know.

Speaker 2 32:29

Yeah, so identifies in Riesling high acidity light herb body. I'm talking about dry Riesling from Clear Valley or Eden Valley, australian classic region Riesling. High acidity moderate alcohol 12% 12.5% lightish body.

Speaker 1 32:49

Yeah.

Speaker 2 32:53

I know that's not WCT approved, but I find their descriptions so prescriptive that I hate using them. And just incredibly aromatic. It jumps out of the glass. It could not be anything else.

Speaker 1 33:02

Okay, so really quick, before we finish up, let's go. If you smell florals in a white wine, what could it be?

Speaker 2 33:10

Arnace, mm-hmm Riesling, yeah Gruner, yeah Shannon.

Speaker 1 33:18

Gewurz.

Speaker 2 33:20

Gewurz is much more of that lychee rose Rose. Okay, you're right, so it is floral, but it's very distinctive rose character.

Speaker 1 33:29

Okay, so let's go through them. Arnaise, I also get like a super minerality. It's not a lot of body, almost like a savouriness is how I would tell an anise and it's like a white floral, like a white blossom white.

Speaker 2 33:47

I get a waxy white flower.

Speaker 1 33:48

Yeah, nice yes um, what was the second one? You said braziling, maybe. Well, we've already talked about braziling. Gruner, gruner, gruner is an interesting one because Gruner would also be like a white floral, but I would get like an intense green apple in there as well. They say white pepper, white pepper.

Speaker 2 34:07

And structurally, gruner is not Riesling. No, it has more mouthfeel to it than Riesling does. Even the Fetishbiel, which is the least ripe level of Gruner, has a much more of a texture about it. Riesling, no matter where it's from, goes straight down your palate. Yeah, gruner, doesn't? It kind of hangs around and fills out your palate a little bit.

Speaker 1 34:37

Chenna we've spoken about and yeah, gewurz would be more like a rose. Yeah, so there are white ones, if you smell floral Alcohol with Gewurz and mouth-filling, and oily. You should just know it. Really, If you go to Gewurz, you should know it's a Gewurz, yeah it's a pretty good one to get into exam.

Speaker 2 34:55

Gewurz and Torontes students do confuse. Really yeah, because they're both very aromatic, very floral, the way that the acidities aren't high in either of them, unless you're talking like sort of Salta in Argentina, but even then the acidities aren't huge and they equate with Alsace. Aren't huge and they equate with Alsace. For me, the Gewurz is always more mouth-filling. There is an oily texture that you do not get in Tonantes.

Speaker 2 35:28

Tonantes is much more floral and aromatic and sweet and sort of dances around in your palate and then goes. Whereas Gewurz is like I'm here for the long haul yeah, I'm hanging around in your palate for as long as, Whereas Gewurz is like I'm here for the long haul yeah. I'm hanging around in your palate for as long as possible. Awesome, and you can feel it.

Speaker 1 35:43

Okay, I think that was great. I think that was a really good summation of, like key white wines, what you can taste in each and how to tell them apart.

Speaker 2 35:52

So the next one I don't know when we'll do it we're going to do Grenache versus Pinot versus Gamay, and I've got an Aussie Gamay Cool.

Speaker 1 36:00

Oh, Meg Gamay is cool.

Speaker 2 36:03

I was going to get the Tilly J Gamay. Oh, does she do one? Yeah, she does do one. Tilly J's an amazing winemaker from the Yarra Valley. Yeah, but I tried to keep them in the same price point. She was a little bit more expensive. Yeah, that's fair.

Speaker 1 36:17

That is fair. Yep, okay, cool. Well, we love it when you ask us to do different topics. This was one that was requested today, so keep those rolling in. But we'll be back with you next time and until then, enjoy your next glass of wine, drink well.