Cracking the wine code

Next time you are faced with a wine bottle in a restaurant, don't look daft. Magandeep Singh provides a few tips…

Around the world, wines - talking about them or drinking them - have been regarded as a sure sign of the good life; a mark of the original savant with all the polish, patina and play of a grand piano.

While I may, after some cajoling, consent to being a regular city slicker, I do maintain that wines and the likes, induce in me a certain savoir-faire, which is neither artificial nor stolen. And I seem to emerge a better person. The point is that, all art, which we live through our senses, does much to improve the quality of the perceived lives we lead.

Philosophy to one side, wine is enough of a field to dedicate a lifetime trying to understand, comprehend and more importantly, enjoy. It took me months before I could even distantly detect the nuances of any given wine. I could have just learnt to nod with the wise and agree with the rest but I knew that it takes even longer to learn to bluff intelligently with wines! So on the whole it was much easier and fruitful to try and truly understand this beverage.

Millésime Vs Maturity

Picture this…you are in a restaurant and all the wines seem to be from a jaded era - when the old foggies on the silver screen today were courting girls their own age - and seem to carry prices from the same time period! Obviously something is fishy. Your one and mostly correct guess would be that they are well beyond their prime.

Lets take it from ‘A’. A combination of several factors decides how a certain wine will shape and also how it will mature and evolve over the years. While storage is in itself a factor of extreme importance, the most important measure of aging potential is the matter and character which have been imparted to the wine during the production stage. Certain grapes have a great aging potential which means they age like our neighbour's much-coveted wife - very slowly and rather gracefully at that too. Other grapes may age much faster and consequently are said to have a shorter lifespan.

What I am adding up to gradually is that while the year (or millésime or vintage; call it as you please) in which a wine was bottled is important, it does not in any way imply that older is necessarily better. For example a fast, easy drinking Beaujolais can hold its own for a maximum of three to four years under appropriate storage. A well turned out Bordeaux takes a decade to 'open up'! So a low price on an old Beaujolais does not promise more quality. Similarly, young Cabernet Sauvignon wine could carry a hefty price tag simply because they will surely age well and maintain their tactile prime longer.

Also to be kept in mind is the confusing idea that two wines from the same grape variety can have different lifespans. The idea is much similar to comparing an original integrated chip, battery, etc. to its less adept 'Made in Manchurian-land' version. While there is nothing fake in the world of wines, my reference is to highlight the fact that difference in the amount of care and precision while making a wine will largely affect its aging potential. So a Grand Cru Chablis may age well for an easy 12 to 15 years whereas a simpler version Chardonnay from elsewhere might wane after two years. And this, mind you, is not always bad. In fact winemakers across the world have exploited this idea very well by producing ready-to-drink wines from grapes which are otherwise inexpressive even after five years of bottling! How else could we find ourselves appreciating a one-year-old Shiraz when half the Rhône valley has decreed that all their grand reds be opened a decade after bottling; if you like them young that is!

In other words, don't hang on to that souvenir bottle from your last vacation (or your friend's in case it was gifted - or 'unknowingly' pursed) without knowing all about its maturity cycle. Chances are when you open it on your golden whatever celebration, you may not have good wine, but some beautiful vinegar and, consequently, an excellent salad!

Before I wrap up this bit, do remember that another reason why a certain vintage might sell cheaper than usual is because that particular year had terribly bad weather and the quality of the harvest was affected. Wines from such years, irrespective of grape, storage and prayer will not age as good as otherwise.

Grape variety and region

I studied most about wines under the French system and honestly if it weren't for my love for the beverage (hic!) I would have possibly hurled stones, amongst other things verbal, at the entire consortium of that school of thought which does not support putting the grape varietals on the bottle labels. Now, after having burnt the midnight oil rather liberally (translation: hic!) I have acquired a fairly good idea of what the words found on a bottle of wine imply. I do confess my predilection for 'showing off' my grand expertise, expanse and depth in this subject, but altruistically enough, I feel it makes wine rather unapproachable as a drink option for most people. And of late I must own up that I experience such random bouts of unselfishness very often and that is somewhat disturbing.

Anyways, most of Europe practises the fine art of hiding what they know in the hope that if others don't find out, they will only be too curious and pay truckloads of the green stuff to find out more.

So there, one is 'expected' to know that Chablis is but a 100 per cent Chardonnay wine, a Burgundy Red is a Pinot Noir unless they decide to add another red grape into a vat and call it 'Passetoutgrain' which is posh for 'put in all raisins'!

Similarly you can chime about Chianti (that's 'Kee-yan-ti' just in case) all you want but only a veteran imbiber would know about the Sangiovese grape used to make it. And don't blame me if you never get invited to such 'Do's' again since you last insisted on having a Cabernet wine 'instead' when someone offered to débouche a Bordeaux claret.

The New World (California to Chile; Australia to South Africa and more) practice of placing the grape variety prominently on the bottle label goes a long way in decoding the enigma.

The physical bottle

Finally we need to assure others of our (newly acquired) proficiency with wines. Picture this…you have placed an order and the wine bottle is brought. What does one do? I suggest giving the bottle the once over - is it in generally presentable condition, doesn't seem too dusty (unless it's a 1961 vintage!) and most importantly if it is at the right temperature. What most service centres fail to understand is that room temperature (14ºC-18ºC) for serving red wines is borrowed from European meteorological standards. The coolest of salons in our country is maintained at around 21ºC and is absolutely inadequate for all red wine drinking. So without any hitches, do ask for the bottle to be prepared by placing in a cool water bath - a wine bucket with water and 30 per cent ice. All beverages, colas and beers included, have a service temperature range to be adhered to and just as a warm beer is insipid, a wine loses much character and balance if not served at the right temperature.

In the case of whites, personally I don't mind if the bottle is cooler than required (6ºC-10ºC) because it will warm with time in the glass.

One last thing we must look at is the cork while still inside the bottle. If it sinks or rises considerably from its original position, one must request for another bottle. Also a crumbly texture, or a slimy moistness is cause for concern and caution. To wrap this turban up, we have skimmed the art of judging a bottle of wine from the outside, before it is served or sold. The next time you are faced with a demeaning wine shelf or wine list anywhere, you will have enough artillery to intimidate, impress and choose intelligently. Revert with your queries; I will go the whole nine yards for a simple ‘thank you’!