EP 3 | Winemaking Style Transcript

If you're a member of a wine club you join because you totally love the Chardonnay you tasted when you visited that winery last summer, you're completely perplexed the bottle you just received in your latest shipment doesn't taste anything like it, you're not the first person to experience this. I mean, you're super excited when that box arrives on your doorstep. You throw the bottle in the refrigerator and at dinner that evening, you pop the cork.

But your memory of what that chardonnay tasted like and what's in your glass don't match up at all. I mean, you're still a fan, but instead of reminding you of this phenomenal summer day on the beach, it tastes more and reminds you more of a fall evening around a campfire.

The good news is it's not you. Your palate's totally fine and your wine tasting skills haven't failed you. The reality is your ability to taste those differences means you're actually a pretty darn good taster. But to the bottom of the mystery, stay tuned and we'll pull back the magic curtain and we're gonna reveal why this scenario happened.

Welcome back to episode three. several years ago, my husband and I were at a holiday wine lunch and we fell in love with one of the wines. We asked the host what it was and we found out it was a really well priced Chianti purchased at a surprising location.

But not one to pass up a great wine at a great price. We went straight to the store after the event and purchased every bottle they had in stock. And over the next few months, we continued to buy same wine every time we went to the store. But one day, everything changed. That ripe, juicy, fresh, and delicious wine we loved tasted bitter and herbaceous, I mean, like a green bell pepper. But

Not in a good way, And candidly, I couldn't drink it. So my husband got the remaining I didn't realize when I purchased those last few bottles was they had actually changed. It was the same brand, but from a different vintage. Now in our last episode, we explored how vintage variation can dramatically influence how a wine tastes year after year.

or in wine terms, every vintage. this was exactly the case with that Chianti. why wasn't this the case with some of the big brand wines frequently keep on hand? It always tasted the same, regardless of the vintage. In the world of wine, there are effectively two overarching winemaking styles. Now I'm definitely oversimplifying.

But hear me out, there are ones that are crafted specifically to taste the same year after year, consumers predictable flavor and style, regardless of the vintage. And there are others that allow mother nature winemaking influences, vineyard location, and other elements to dictate the ultimate wine in the bottle. So to keep things simple, let's use the terms predictable wines and authentic wines.

Let's start off with predictable wines. Now these are often high volume, brand wines. year after year, nearly likely to be mass produced, even though they might have once been privately owned or a small brand. And then they were acquired by a big conglomerate like Jackson Family Brands, Constellation, Conti Turo.

So why are winemakers able to create the same style year after year? So let's start off with vineyards. Many times these bulk brands or large brands that have high volumes and produce millions of bottles a year either have vineyards or buy their grapes from vines grown in the valley floor of major wine regions. Let's think about Central Valley in these are highly fertile soils. They're able to irrigate These vines special grow tons and tons of grapes. they're healthy, And there's no regulations around the fact that they can have super high yields each acre is going to produce tons and tons of vineyards are in valley floors, flat, maybe a few rolling hills, it's super easy to farm machine. and most importantly, it's very easy for them to harvest the grapes machine.

And doing so versus hand harvesting and hand farming the price down.

In addition to that, a lot of these bulk wines or big brand wines have vineyards in multiple sites or buy grapes from multiple these wineries are like big manufacturing facilities. They hold multi-story tanks that holds thousands and thousands of gallons of wines. And most importantly, after each harvest and after the wines are all fermented, the amount of wine that that winemaker has at his or her blend to taste exactly the same over year is one of the key factors that allows that to Now, many times, depending upon the harvest, as we talked about in the last episode, if it's a cooler harvest or a warmer harvest, the grapes will taste different and ultimately the wine will taste different. 

But the winemaker has Tricks of the trade, such as adding sugar if the wine's not sweet enough, adding acid if the wine's a little flat or flabby and just needs a little pick me up, or things like Mega Purple. We're gonna define that in a later episode. But these are all things to get to singular, consistent flavor profile brand is known for.

I'm not saying that this is necessarily bad. mean, sometimes you just want a wine you know you're gonna enjoy. I mean, as a US consumer, we are creatures of habit. when you go to McDonald's and order French fries, you want them to taste like McDonald's French am I right?

And winemakers play to these preferences by keeping consistency and style, style of wine that's very dictated by the same style year after year is champagne. Champagne houses all have their house style. So year after year, it's part of their DNA. And as consumers, we love this. If we're fans of the orange label, we want it to taste the same time after time. So regardless of what brand of champagne you like,

This is something that the winemakers and champagne houses, will deliver time and time again.

Now let's switch gears and let's talk about what I'm referring to as authentic wines.

these are likely to be a little bit higher end or more premium brands. And these are wines where the winemaker allows vintage or mother nature to profile. after year, no two years are going to taste exactly the going out to the vineyards they're often in the best locations for growing vines, often on steep slopes and they have the ideal sun exposure so that those grapevines can produce really ripe and perfect grapes year after The soils are often highly porous and well-drained. this might sound strange, unlike crops like corn and wheat and soybeans rely on and highly nutrient soils,

The more concentrated grapes that produce these premium wines are actually really stressed out in the vineyards.

So getting those premium vineyard locations, can probably assume that the winemaker and the farmer have paid a premium or much higher price per get those ideal locations. Oftentimes these vineyards have old vines that give them highly concentrated and super delicious grapes. that also translate to lower yields. So unlike these highly fertile, irrigated valley floor vineyards lower yields means you're taking up the same amount of space, you're getting fewer grapes, which means you're translating that to fewer bottles of wine. So as you can imagine, the price of these wines is very likely to be higher.

Because of steep slopes and other challenges, surely from the location, wines are hand farmed and of course, hand harvested. there are some premium brands that are machine harvested, And machine harvesting does not translate to a poor quality wine.

You'll see on the bottles of these single vineyards or single Appalachians. And that means all of the grapes came from that location. Unlike predictable wines who can buy wines from probably all over the state or even cross state lines. And you will see on the labels that they may just say rather than being a single vineyard or a single designation.

Smaller wineries only have wine club or on-site sales fall into this category and hopefully what we've been discussing reflects on likely going to be a higher price than their big bulk brand So support these guys because they're doing amazing things and their survival is % based on you and other wine lovers not only finding them and buying their wines but continuing to support them through things like their wine what's the solution? I mean you are now an expert on what makes a predictable wine what makes an authentic wine so you're probably wondering okay I have the information, I've got the knowledge, how the heck do I translate this to picking a wine at my favorite wine or grocery Well grocery stores are their own unique animal.

And small producers and big brands shelf space. mean, in big box stores will have more of your big brand or bulk wines. And it's simply a function of 101, supply and small wineries that have very limited production aren't necessarily attractive to major grocery store or retailers like Target because they don't have the amount of quantity to justify of shelf space. when you were looking at the shelf in a grocery store or one of your big box stores, the middle shelves, those at eye level, that's the most coveted shelf space you're likely to see all of your big brands right there.

So going back to the smaller wineries, very few of them have sales teams or marketing dollars to compete for that shelf space. But the good news is you can look high and you can look low you're likely to find some really amazing wines that might be owned by one of these U.S. conglomerates who could actually smaller production brands in the bigger stores because they do have the sales teams and they do have the distribution and they do have the marketing dollars.

But not all wines that are owned by these big conglomerates are predictable big bulk if you'd like to do a little bit of research to understand which brands are actually owned by these big conglomerates, you're in luck because my friends over at Wine for Normal, people have a fantastic resource. And we're gonna put it in the show notes that lists all the major US conglomerates and all the wine brands that they own.

Shifting gears, let's move on to wine shops. The great thing about your local wine shop is that the collection of wines that they have is going to be curated either by the their team because they're looking for wines you can't your everyday big box store.

So visit them, talk to the owner, talk to the wine buyer and find out their DNA, find out what they are looking for in the wines that they choose to stock. Are they looking for a great quality wine for the they focused on specific regions or even getting some local wines? Or do they focus on imports from a specific country? Now here's the trick, definitely join their email list, attend their tastings because

This is where you're going to get the inside scoop on some really, really cool, authentic wines. going just a little bit further beyond your local wine shop is going to visit wineries, that's on your travels or whether that's in your own backyard. And these are the real gems where you can find wines you're simply not going to be able to buy anywhere else. 

I mean, these winemakers put their heart and soul into making amazing wines and they're dealing with what Mother Nature handed to them year after year you'll go and you'll taste flights of wine, but buyer or not. They're going to want you to join the wine club. And if you're like me, you don't like a sales pitch, but this is actually one I encourage you to reconsider. These small wineries or onsite sales and their wine clubs. But here's the bonus by signing

For their wine club, you're not only gonna get those wines shipped to your door, you're gonna get access to special and unique small bottleings that they save only for their wine club members. you visit that winery again and you're not a member, you're not gonna get access to these wines. You'll often get free tastings on your next visit, and you'll get invitations to things like winemaker dinners and other member only events.

So the bottom line is I have tremendously oversimplified by calling wines in two buckets, or using these terms and using these principles, when you go out to pick your next bottle, you are now armed with that information. And if you want something that you've had before and you don't wanna think about the purchase and you don't wanna wonder whether you're gonna like that wine or not, the predictable wine route is totally the way you should if you're feeling a little bit more look for wines that are in that authentic category that may taste different year after year. 

And if you can find what we call a vertical of that wine, meaning you might buy a bottle from 2015, 2016 and those bottles open with some friends and taste just how different they are year after year because that's where the winemaking really shines and that's where you may find your next favorite and if you do buy a case or two because you're going to want to have some on stock because next year I can guarantee you that wine's going to be amazing but it won't be exactly the same.

So thanks for joining us on this episode of Everyday Sommelier. And if you want more tips and tricks and insights from me, make sure you're on my insider list. So you can sign up at www.wine-wise.com and that's W-I-Z-E. We'll put it in the show notes and you're gonna receive our secret guide to improving your wine tasting skills.

And if you love this show, don't forget to leave us a review or rate us on your favorite podcasting platform. That way we know you're listening But next on Everyday Sommelier, we're gonna continue our exploration of wine styles with a focus on simplifying how you can figure out what type of white wine

you love and how you can ensure what you're going to get in your glass every single time you order it at a restaurant or a bar even if you don't recognize a single wine on that wine is an episode you don't want to miss so make sure you Follow Everyday Sommelier podcast on your favorite platform for finding your next favorite wines.

Whether your next bottle is predictable or authentic, we know you're going to enjoy every sip while learning wine your way.