How To Impress Your Friends On Your Next Winery Tour
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Visiting the wine country is lovely, especially if you drive to the vineyards with friends and family. Seeing where their beloved fermented grape juice comes from is life-changing for wine lovers, and even people not interested in wine find these trips inspiring.
The question is, what is the right question to ask while on a wine tour? How should you behave in a winery? And most importantly, how can you impress your friends on your next winery tour? Here are some pro tips to make you look good.
The Terroir
If you want to impress your friends the next time you visit a vineyard, pay less attention to the wine and focus on why it is how it is, or what the French call ‘terroir.’
Ask questions about the type of soil and the rain the region receives yearly. Focus on the vineyard’s orientation and inclination. Grape growers and winemakers love these questions because they know wine is a product of the land. Asking about the terroir, instead of just focusing on the grapes used and the time the wine spends in the barrel, will show that you’re in the know.
Winemaking Terms to Impress
Biologic and phenolic ripeness. Grapes ripen biologically by accumulating sugar, losing acidity in the process — winemakers must pick the grapes when the acid and sugar are just right. On the other hand, phenolic ripeness is measured in a lab and has to do with the amount of tannins, pigments and aromatic precursors in the grapes.
Maceration. Macerating the grape juice with the fruit skins determines the wine’s color, mouthfeel and aroma. Some wineries might macerate their grapes for a few hours, while others do so for a few weeks. You can also macerate grapes before fermentation (cold soaking) or after fermentation with different results. Interesting, right?
Batonnage. When making red wine, the grape juice and skins ferment together. The solids eventually rise to the surface, forming a thick cap. Winemakers must punch down the cap in a process called batonnage, and they often do so several times a day. Batonnage determines the wine’s color, tannic structure and color. Ask about batonnage on your next winery visit.
Malolactic fermentation. After alcoholic fermentation, in which yeast turns sugar into alcohol, comes malolactic fermentation, conducted by lactic bacteria. Winemakers can choose whether to allow Malo or not, with varied results. This is a great conversation topic at a winery.
Lees aging. Allowing the wine to spend time with the spent yeast after the alcoholic fermentation changes its aroma and mouthfeel, and it’s seldom discussed. This is an ancient winemaking practice and is, more often than not, behind your favorite wines.
Debourbage. After fermentation, wine is cloudy and sometimes murky; it must be clarified with fining agents, and this is precisely what debourbage is. This process is controversial as many wineries use animal products to give clarity to their wines, including egg whites and isinglass (fish bladders).
Elevage. Elevage is the French term for oak aging, where the wine gets elevated from good to great. The type of oak used matters, but so do the age and size of the barrels. Ask about the oak aging process behind your favorite wines!
Etiquette Matters
If you really want to impress not only your friends and family but the staff at wineries worldwide, learn wine etiquette. And although etiquette sounds like rigid rules, it has more to do with being polite and having common sense.
Sip your wine, and not just chug it; describe the wine instead of just saying if you liked it or not, and most importantly, be respectful to everyone behind the wine, at the vineyard and cellar. A sincere thank you after a winery visit goes a long way and purchasing at least a bottle of wine to take home is always a nice gesture. Being kind and respectful never goes out of fashion!
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