Quality in Wine

Determining whether or not a wine is high quality is not the same as whether or not you like it. These are two separate notions.

The question then becomes what makes the wine high quality and often, as a result, higher in price?

Assessing a wine’s quality is determined by several factors.

First are the aromas, or the collection of aromas called “the bouquet”. When you smell a wine, you should be able to distinguish two or three primary fruit aromas. Additionally, there should also be a few “other things” such as fresh cut grass, pencil shavings, baking spices, cigar box, or perhaps even petrol as some examples. The more “other things” you can smell as the wine opens up in the glass, the more likely the wine will be higher in quality. Sometimes I will smell a wine whose aromas are so captivating I want do not want to drink it in favour of revelling in the aromatic experience for as long as possible.

Tasting the wines helps to further discern the wine’s quality level. Characteristics like balance, complexity, and length are all key factors in determining quality.

When a wine is well balanced, it means there is enough sugar to balance out the acidity. It also means there’s enough fruit concentration to balance out the tannins.

Complexity means there are multiple flavours that echo the nose and that these flavours continue to develop as the wines open up in the glass. With each mouthful, more and more flavours are revealed and layered on.

As for the length, if you take a mouthful of wine and 5 miles down the road, you can still taste it, that would be considered a long length, and of high quality. If on the other hand, you taste the wine and there is a burst of immediate flavours but the flavour is gone in a moment, that would generally be considered a lower quality wine.

There is often a strong correlation between quality and price. Higher quality wines usually confer higher priced bottles. Achieving higher quality often requires extra work in the vineyard and winery. Sometimes brand new barrels, which can cost upwards of two thousand dollars, are used to add complexity to the wines. This will also increase the price.

Lower quality, mass-produced wines can easily be fixed and treated. You might be surprised to learn that many things are often added to lower quality wines in order to make them smell, taste and even feel a certain way.

As it takes a great deal more effort to grow grapes in the climate here in The County, the conversation among winemakers is how to position themselves in the premium price bracket of $25-$40. The answer of course is to rely on the quality of the wines.

And while the quality of a wine can usually be agreed upon, in the end, whether or not you like the wine is entirely personal.