Shortcuts

Owning a retail wine shop, most of our evenings, save for when we have events like tastings and dinners, are pretty quiet. We make dinner at home most times and of course we have some wine but they are, in short, quiet. At times I contemplate while making dinner, "Maybe I will skip that step tonight, just take a shortcut." The problem is with food preparation when you shortcut steps, it doesn't come out quite the same. Flavors might not be as complex and coherent, the tenderness might not be quite what it could be, textures and aromas could be a bit off.

The same is true of wine. When shortcuts are taken during winemaking, all of the same shortcomings are in play. Winemaking is a fine balancing act between art and science, costs and market sensitivity to price. Ultimately, all of these things must be accounted for to bring a product to the market that is pleasing enough to the wine consuming palate that folks will find it a worthwhile proposition. Shortcuts, though, almost always have a negative impact.

Technology has affected most industries creating efficiencies that are, in many cases, positive. Winemaking, though, is an exercise in patience, so some of the "advances" are not always positive, and it shows in the end product. One of those we have found to have deleterious effects on wine is the use of oak products other than barrels to impart oak character and flavor on the wine in a shorter ageing time. Oak chips, old barrel staves, and barrel heads are floated in large tanks of wine as opposed to the wine actually being placed in oak barrels. The results to us are more "sharp-edged" oak flavors that seem out of balance with the rest of the wine, masking the more natural fruit flavors, so at times all you taste is oak and alcohol.

We understand the dilemma for certain winemakers and certain wines but when it comes to oak and wines, using real barrels as opposed to the shortcut gets you what you pay for.

Mechanical harvest and sorting as opposed to hand-harvesting and hand-sorting is another shortcut that can clearly be detected in the end product. While at Balletto Vineyards, I was able to see firsthand what went into harvesting a vineyard, as John Balletto is always first and foremost a grower. To this day, his vineyards are all hand-harvested. Watching the harvest crew carefully but quickly cut the grape bunches from the vine leaving the less desirable ones behind is an artistic event. It prevents underripe or raisined grapes from making it into the mix.

Similarly at the sorting table, the cellar crew from winemaker on down is able to go through the grapes to remove errant leaves and the occasional misdirected frog, further

refining so that only the best bunches and individual berries go into the fermenter. While mechanically handled grapes are necessary for large scale bulk producers, it is another case of clearly getting what you pay for.

Filtration and fining is yet another choice. Running the finished wine through a filter removes solids and particles from the mix quickly and efficiently. Filtering, however, is very traumatic on the wine. Large amounts of oxygen are introduced to the wine that can change it - not always for the better. Allowing the wine to sit a bit longer will result in the solids naturally settling out of the wine; the time is an additional cost, but far better for the end product. Similarly, fining through adding egg whites to the wine is a costly, time-consuming method of removing solids, but the end product is ultimately better.

Hand punchdowns versus mechanical, free run juice versus pressed grapes, infrequent racking, and many more decisions will all lead to a more elegant and better wine.

For wine consumers, it will still always come down to what wine you like the best for the budget you have to spend. And it should come down to just that. We find, though, like our weeknight dinners, purchasing wines from producers who avoid the shortcuts make for better wines for us to drink and enjoy.

If there is a topic you would like to read about, or if you have questions on wine, you can email George@thedinnerpartyshop.com, or make suggestions by contacting the Healthy Community section at the Coeur d'Alene Press.

George Balling is co-owner with his wife Mary Lancaster of the dinner party, a wine and table top decor shop in Coeur d'Alene by Costco. George has also worked as a judge in many wine competitions; his articles are published around the country and is the wine editor for Coeur d'Alene Magazine (www.cdamagazine.com). You can learn more about the dinner party at www.thedinnerpartyshop.com. You can get all of these articles, as well as other great wine tips, by friending us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/#!/dinnerpartyshop.