Tim G Red Grapes Flashcards
1
Q
Cabernet Sauvignon: Left Bank Bordeaux Blend
A
- ID Keys: the combination of deep black fruits, green herbs, earth/forest floor, and bright acidity.
- Sight: deep ruby.
- Nose: black fruits (berry, black cherry and cassis) with green olive, cedar, pencil lead, violet-floral, and green herbs. Wines from cooler vintages can display more red fruit character as well as more pronounced pyrazine/herbal notes. Elements of clay, dried leaves, mushroom, and turned earth can also often be found. Leather and game are common in older wines. Oak aging adds smoke, toast, and sweet baking spice notes.
- Palate: medium-to-full bodied and bone dry to dry.
- Structure: alcohol: medium-plus to high in warm vintages; acidity: medium-plus; tannin: medium-plus to high.
2
Q
Cabernet Sauvignon: New World: California
A
- ID Keys: California/Napa Cabernets are generally much riper and richer in style than Bordeaux without the prominent earth/mineral component.
- Sight: deep ruby.
- Nose: ripe, even jammy black fruits (berry, cherry, cassis and currant) with green olive, cedar, chocolate, and green herb notes. Cooler climate wines can display red fruit characteristics and more pyrazine and herbal notes. Oak aging adds smoke, toast, sweet baking spices, and sawdust notes.
- Palate: full bodied and dry.
- Structure: alcohol: medium-plus to high; acidity: medium to medium-plus; tannin: medium-plus to high.
3
Q
New World: South Australia - Coonawarra
A
- ID Keys: Coonawarra Cabernet is very distinctive with classic Cabernet black fruits but with a strong presence of pyrazines and mint and eucalyptus.
- Sight: deep ruby.
- Nose: blackberry, black cherry and black currant fruit with pronounced mint/eucalyptus and green pyrazine notes. Oak adds vanilla, baking spices, and toast.
- Palate: full bodied and dry.
- Structure: alcohol: medium-plus to high; acidity: medium to medium-plus; tannin: medium-plus to high.
4
Q
Pinot Noir - Burgundy: Côte de Nuits
A
- ID Keys: although deceptively light in color, high quality wines can be quite concentrated in flavor. Lighter-bodied, supple, and elegant, with bright red fruits (not black!), tea-spice, earth, and oak. Some winemakers use stems during fermentation giving the wines a green woody quality on the nose and palate as well as firmer tannins.
- **Sight*: light to medium ruby.
- Nose: red fruits—cherry, raspberry, strawberry–with tea, floral, herb, and mushroom/earth. With age, the wines take on gamy-vegetal-earthy complexities difficult to describe. Oak aging adds smoke, vanilla, sweet spice, and wood notes to the wines.
- Palate: medium to medium-plus bodied and bone dry-to-dry.
- Structure: alcohol: medium to medium-plus; acidity: medium-plus; tannin: medium-minus to medium.
5
Q
Pinot Noir - Burgundy: Côte de Beaune
A
** ID Keys**: generally, wines from the Cote de Beaune tend to be relatively earthier and firmer in tannins than those from the Cote de Nuits.
* Sight: light to medium ruby.
* Nose: tart or ripe red fruits depending on the quality of the vintage; cherry, raspberry, and cranberry are common. Non-fruit aromas include green herb, black tea, rose floral, and clay/earth/mineral notes. As with wines from the Cote de Nuits, age can add gamy—savory-vegetal-earthy complexities. Oak aging adds aromas of vanilla, baking spices, and toast.
* Palate: medium-bodied and bone dry to dry.
* Structure: alcohol: medium to medium-plus; acidity: medium-plus; tannin: medium to medium-plus
6
Q
Pinot Noir - New World: California and Oregon
A
- ID Keys: supple red berry fruit, spices, and new wood. Stem tannins often present but a there a relative lack of earthiness when compared to Burgundy.
- Sight: medium to deep ruby.
- Nose: ripe red fruits (black fruits in warm vintages or regions), herb, floral, tea, and more. Oak aging adds smoke, sweet spice, and wood flavors.
- Palate: medium to medium-plus bodied and dry.
- Structure: alcohol: medium to medium-plus (and getting higher all the time…); acidity: medium to medium-plus; tannin: medium to medium-plus.
7
Q
Pinot Noir - New World: New Zealand
A
- ID Keys: New Zealand Pinots are similar in style to California and Oregon with supple red fruit, spices and new wood qualities. However, the wines are distinct with their pronounced herbal notes; many display a chalky mineral quality.
- Sight: light to medium ruby.
- Nose: red fruits - both fresh and dry - with considerable herb, floral, tea, and mineral/soil. Oak aging adds smoke, sweet spice and woody flavors.
- Palate: medium to medium-plus bodied and dry.
- Structure: alcohol: medium to medium-plus; acidity: medium to medium-plus; tannin: medium to medium-plus.
8
Q
Merlot - Right Bank Bordeaux Blend
A
- ID Keys: Generally, Merlot-based right bank wines tend have softer tannins than their Cabernet-based left bank counterparts as well as more herbal/vegetal characteristics.
- Sight: very deep ruby.
- Nose: red and black fruits, green herb, mushroom-forest floor, violet floral, earth-mineral. Oak aging adds vanilla, sweet spice, and toast/smoke.
- Palate: medium-plus to full-bodied; supple, rich and lush; bone dry to bone.
- Structure: alcohol: medium-plus to high in warmer vintages; acidity: medium to medium-plus; tannin: medium to medium-plus.
9
Q
Merlot - New World: California, Australia, and Chile
A
- ID Keys: generally, Merlot tends to be ripe and supple with lush fruit and herbal notes; riper, fuller-bodied wines display considerable alcohol with a relative lack of earthiness and considerable new oak. Tannins tend to be less angular than Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s important to note that Cabernet is often blended with Merlot to add structure.
- Sight: very deep ruby.
- Nose: ripe black fruits, green herb, bitter chocolate, and oak. Mint and eucalyptus sometimes found.
- Palate: full-bodied and usually richer and riper than right bank Bordeaux wines.
- Structure: alcohol: medium-plus to high; acidity: medium to medium-plus; tennin: medium to medium-plus.
10
Q
Cabernet Franc - France: Loire Valley Chinon and Bourgueil
A
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ID Keys: similar in weight to many to lighter right Bank Bordeaux wines, but with a pronounced pyrazenic quality and chalky
minerality. - Sight: medium to deep ruby.
- Nose: tart red and black fruits (sour cheery, plum, raspberry, and cranberry) with a pronounced green pyrazinic tobacco-leafy herbal character and chalky minerality. Warmer vintages yield wines with more black fruit character. Oak usage varies from old wood to noticeable new barrique.
- Palate: medium to medium-plus bodied and vary dry, sometimes austere in character.
- Structure: alcohol: medium to medium-plus; acidity: medium-plus; tannins: medium to medium-plus.
11
Q
Gamay: Beaujolais Villages
A
- ID Keys: look for the candied fruit-basket quality and herbal and stony qualities.
- Sight: medium to deep ruby with purple highlights.
- Nose: candied, artificial fruit derived from carbonic fermentation with floral, green herb, and stony earth.
- Palate: medium-bodied and bone dry to bone. Emphasis on candied fruit, herb, and granitic soil.
- Structure: acidity: medium-plus; alcohol: medium to medium-plus; tannin: medium-minus to medium.
12
Q
Grenache - Southern Rhône Grenache Blend
A
- ID Keys: the best Southern Rhône blends like Châteauneuf-du-Papes and Gigondas combine ripe-baked red and black fruits, high alcohol, pepper, garrigue, stony earth, and considerable tannins. Stylistically, lower-end wines such as simple Côte du Rhone are light, fruity, and sometimes made with carbonic maceration. Wines from better appellations such as the two above can be powerful, tannic, and very age worthy.
- Sight: medium to deep ruby.
- Nose: ripe, intense baked red and black fruits, wild savory herb (garrigue), black and white pepper, mushroom, stony earth, and large wood (not barrique). Some wines display pronounced game, dried meat and soy/jerky qualities.
- Palate: full-bodied and dry to bone dry.
- Structure: alcohol: medium-plus to high; acidity: medium to medium-plus: tannin: medium-plus to high.
13
Q
Grenache - Australian Old Vines Grenache
A
- ID Keys: a full-throttled red with very ripe, jammy red fruits, pepper-spice, and a pronounced minty quality, with high alcohol and lots of tannin.
- Sight: deep, opaque ruby red.
- Nose: ripe, powerful, intense red and black fruits with black pepper-spice, pronounced mint-eucalyptus, a touch of earthiness, vanilla, and oak spice.
- Palate: full-bodied, powerful, and dry.
- Structure: alcohol: medium-plus to high; acidity: medium to medium-plus; tannin: medium-plus to high.
14
Q
Syrah - Northern Rhône
A
- ID Keys: look for the combination of floral, red and black fruits, pepper, greengage (sour green plum), tobacco ash, smoky-meats, and stony minerality.
- Sight: medium to deep ruby with purple highlights.
- Nose: black and red fruits, white and black pepper, floral, sour green plum, bacon/smoked meat, Mediterranean herbs, tobacco ash, stone-mineral, and oak.
- Palate: medium to full-bodied and dry to bone dry.
- Structure: alcohol: medium to medium-plus; acidity: medium to medium-plus; tannin: medium-plus to high.
15
Q
Syrah - Australian Shiraz - Barossa
A
- ID Keys: typical Barossa Shiraz is rich, ripe, and powerful, and can sometimes be confused with Zinfandel. Shiraz usually displays more depth of color than Zin; also look for the emphasis of black fruits, pepper, mint, leather and the use of American Oak. Mint and eucalyptus notes are very common.
- Sight: opaque ruby purple.
-
Nose: ripe, concentrated black fruits as well as red and dried fruits; also black and white pepper, sweet spice, leather, and wood. American oak is traditionally used giving the wines pronounced vanillin, coconut, baking spices, and sawdust. It’s also important to note that many producers now use French oak or a combination of French and American oak.
Palate: full bodied and dry. - Structure: alcohol: medium-plus to high; acidity: medium to medium-plus; tannin: medium to medium-plus and infrequently high.
