Category Archives: Alphabet Soup

Mario Incisa della Rocchetta, of the Italian winery Tenuta San Guido, was the inspiration behind the “Super Tuscan”.  Not officially recognized by Italian wine law, these wines emerged in the 1970s as a result of restrictive wine laws, and decreased quality of and demand for Chianti. 

By the late 1960s, Chianti was suffering from overproduction, poorly situated vineyards, sub-par varietal clones, and over-dilution with white grapes.  Not wanting their wines to only be purchased for their straw-covered bottles, some producers thought they could do better by ignoring the wine laws.  Instead of the traditional Sangiovese-Canaiolo-Malvasia-Trebbiano blend, producers began experimenting with Cabernet Sauvignon and other varieties. 

Incisa della Rocchetta made Cabernet Sauvignon from vines sourced from Château Lafite in Bordeaux and aged his wine in French-oak barriques, as opposed to the old, large-format Slavonian oak, which was common at the time.  He called it Sassicaia, dialect for place of stones, and his production was tiny.  Fortunately, his cousin Piero Antinori (the head of another centuries-old winemaking family) got wind of what Mario was up to and created Tignanello, the first well-known “non-Chianti Chianti” (thanks, Karen MacNeil). 

Piero’s younger brother, Lodovico Antinori, went on to make Ornellaia, sourced from grapes planted right next to the ones used in Sassicaia.  Many other producers have since followed suit.  To this day, these three Super Tuscans are rich, juicy, incredibly sought-after, and go to show what can happen when you combine the right grapes with the right site.

Yellow eyes, red veins, piercing, sucking mouthparts: what's not to love?

The glassy winged sharpshooter is a leafhopper from the insect family Cicadellidae.  Originally from northeastern Mexico, these little buggers have migrated to the U.S. where they spread Pierce’s Disease, a bacterial infection that kills grapevines.

Voracious eaters, they spread bacteria from plant to plant by inserting their needle-like mouth parts into the xylem of the plant.  As they’re eating away, they deposit waste, often dubbed “leafhopper rain”, which can give the leaves and fruit a whitewashed appearance. 

Fantastic name for a fantastic pest.

Drawing courtesy of robotkatsen's flickr stream. Not what we're talking about here, but still awesome.

You may be a cute little heartbreaker, but the foxy I’m referring to today is a pretty negative term that folks use when a wine has aromas more like animal fur than fruit or flowers.  The odor may also come across as grape-y, candy-like or similar to tiny wild strawberries. 

Studies have shown it might be caused by methyl anthranilate and/or o-amino acetophenone.  This is a little much for a Friday afternoon, so just know that it is commonly associated with grapes in the Vitis labrusca species, and the Concord grape in particular.  Concords are widely planted in New York State and are best known for their role in Welch’s grape juice. 

Earlier harvesting or longer cask aging has been shown to reduce some of Concord’s foxy characteristics.

Fear not, dear readers, this is not a health food post.

Believe it or not, egg whites play an important role in the wine making process, particularly when it comes to fine red wine production. 

The albumen – from the Latin alba for white – found in egg whites are colloidal in nature and have a positively charged surface that attracts negatively charged tannins.  Egg whites tend to remove fewer phenols and less fruit character than other fining agents, such as gelatin.  Egg whites also tend to favor harsh and bitter tannins, leaving the softer ones behind in the wine. 

Fining is done to improve color and clarity, as well as to enhance flavor and stability.  Five egg whites can do the job for a 225 l/59 gal barrel of young, red wine.  Fining can save money for the producer (and for you) because it saves time – most fine wines held under good conditions for a few months would achieve the same clarity as fining. 

Other fining substances have been derived from milk, fish bladders, and American bentonite clay deposits.  If any of this grosses you out, research conducted at UC Davis found that insignificant traces, at most, of any fining agent remains in the final wine.  Nevertheless, many producers are moving away from animal-based products for the sake of vegetarians and vegans.

In the late 1990s DNA profiling determined that Petite Sirah in California was a field blend of Peloursin, some actual Syrah and mainly Durif, which is a crossing of Peloursin and Syrah.

Huh?

Let’s break it down.  Petite Sirah is a darkly-colored, fairly tannic grape grown in warm climates like California, South America and Mexico.  Sometimes it’s bottled as a single varietal – I especially like the ones from Elyse, Judd’s Hill and Neal Family – these wines are bold, with spicy blue and black fruits.  At other times it’s used to beef up red blends.

A field blend, not as common as it once was, is a mixture of different varietals planted in the same vineyard.

Peloursin is an obscure French grape, now found in California and Victoria, Australia.

A crossing is when two varieties within the same species are combined to create a new varietal.  Think Pinotage (Pinot Noir x Cinsault) or Müller-Thurgau (Riesling x Sylvaner).

Durif was spread into southeastern France in the 1880s by Dr. Durif and while it was resistant to diseases such as downy mildew, it didn’t really produce any high quality wine and the French authorities weren’t too keen on having it very widely planted.  You can now find it in North and South America and several areas of Australia; Rutherglen, Riverina and Riverland.