Carl recently bottled his 2018 Glenwood Cellars Merlot and our 2018 Adler’s Blend Red Wine.
In this week’s blog, the first thing I want to update you on are couple of exciting events that have happened in the Tiedemann wine world. Then I want to discuss wine flavors and aromas with you.
Most recently I received a phone call from my good friend Manfred Bauer in Chicago. Manfred is the owner and CEO of Wein-Bauer, Inc., one of the leading wine importers of Austrian and Germany wines. Manfred was born in Stockerau, Austria, and spent most of his childhood and early years working in his father’s winery. Manfred and his family expanded their wine website and he wanted to know if he could sell my family’s wines on the site. Of course, I said “yes.” The site is located at www.weinbauer.com. When you get to the home page click on “Shop” and then click on “The Online Wine Aisle.” Most of our red wines are listed for sale. Have a look and order some today!
You can now buy many of Carl’s wines online here.
The second item of interest: we recently bottled our 2018 Glenwood Cellars Merlot and our 2018 Adler’s Blend Red Wine. Together it totaled approximately 280+ cases. It will be stored in a warehouse in Napa for about a year before we release it for sale.
Unfortunately, I was not able to travel to Napa for the bottling and to blend our 2019 wines. I am still recovering from my surgery in March and along with the Covid-19 pandemic, traveling is difficult at this time for me. I do need to get there and make some more wine.
I believe you have all read, at one time or another, different “wine tasting notes.” For example, here are my winemaker, Bruce Devlin’s tasting notes for our 2016 Glenwood Cellars Merlot:
“Aromas of raspberry, cherry, plum and apple. Big rounded tannins and fruit-forward flavors help make this a Cabernet drinker’s style Merlot. The true fruit of this wine is accented by the vanilla spices and toast from oak. It has a luscious black cherry and raspberry flavor that is concentrated and full and jammy. The wine finishes with nice fresh fruits and characters of caramel, vanilla and framboise.”
In his tasting notes he mentioned 10 different aromas and fruits. Over the next weeks I want to discuss where wine flavors and aromas come from and we will touch on many of the flavors.
The use of wine-tasting descriptors allows the person tasting the wine to measure and relate the flavors and aromas that he or she experiences.
The flavors and aromas are referred to, or identified as, “wine tasting descriptors.” The use of wine-tasting descriptors allows the person tasting the wine to measure and relate the flavors and aromas that he or she experiences. That experience can be used to judge the quality of the wine. A wine that doesn’t have aromas or flavors is going to taste flat and not very enjoyable. The primary source of a person’s ability to taste wine and determine its aromas and flavors come from their olfactory system or sense of smell.
Common White Wine Flavors
White wine flavors are typically white or lighter colored fruit. The most common aromas and flavors in a white wine varietal are apple, apricot, banana, citrus, kiwi, mango, melon, peach, pear, pineapple, tropical florals, and butter. White wines often have more acidity on the palate than red wines.
Common Red Wine Flavors
In red wines you’ll have much darker fruits than you’ll have in white wines. The most common aromas and flavors in red wines include blackberry, cherry, cranberry, fig, plum, raisin, raspberry, strawberry and different floral tones and spices. In red wines you have more tannins. Tannins are what causes the dry mouthfeel you often get when drinking red wines.
Let us examine one of the aromas and flavors that winemaker Bruce Devlin identified in our 2016 Merlot. Let us start with Raspberry.
Raspberry is known to be one of the tartest red fruits. Raspberries are a soft hedge grown fruit like blackberries. Raspberries are quite tart and acidic yet sweet and fruity in nature. The raspberry characteristics are typically detected in fruit-flavored red wines with medium to high acidity. Many wines fit this description such as Pinot Noir, Merlot and Cabernet Franc.
Raspberry characteristics are typically detected in fruit-flavored red wines with medium to high acidity
These scents and flavors come from several places. First, grapes themselves have flavors that will remind you of other fruit’s tastes or smells. In the fermentation process a great number of compounds are unlocked which are shared by other fruits and foods. Your brain and nose start mixing and matching them together and you get more aromas and flavors.
In weeks to come I will discuss other wine tasting descriptors which will help us all identify flavors in wine.
As always, I appreciate your support of our wine blog and encourage you to share it with family and friends. If you are reading this blog for the first time please consider subscribing while you are on the website. This way you’ll get our reviews and articles delivered to you for free in your email box. If you care to share your comments on this blog posting or other topics please do so in the comments section below.
Cheers,
Look Forward To These Happy Things:
Upcoming LEX 530 Events!
Just a few more days to get your tickets to the LEX 530 Wine & Dinner Club Dinner – Wednesday, August 26, 2020 – Partnering with Artisian at LEX 530
Oktoberfest Dinner – Tuesday, September 22, 2020 – with Elkhart’s Iechyd Da Brewing Company
Artisian Wine Dinner in Partnership with LEX 530 – Wednesday, October 7, 2020 – held at Artisan
Special Guest Winemaker Wine Dinner – Friday, October 23, 2020
LEX 530 Wine & Dinner Club Dinner – Friday, November 20, 2020
Important Wine Holidays
September 3 – International Cabernet Day
September 18 – International Grenache Day
November 7 – International Merlot Day
November 12 – International Tempranillo Day
November 18 – International Zinfandel Day
December 4 – Cabernet Franc Day
December 20 – National Sangria Day
December 31 – National Champagne Day
