Wine body and structure

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Some of us have always wondered about the hold at the bottom of the wine bottle also knows as the PUNT. 

Here are some compiled facts for you. 

• Punts were an artefact rather than an intention of bottle manufacturing.
• The Punt makes it easier to hold a wine bottle, and when pouring a glass
• It helps to catch sediments 
• It makes the bottle more resistant to high pressure 

The wine quality can’t really be judged on the size of the punt. I have had some great wine with and without deep punts in the bottle. Trust your taste and wine characteristics. Sit back, relax and enjoy🍷

Credits & sources: winespectator.com ; decanter.com; msn.com 

 It’s known that screw caps are better for Whites while corks are superior for Red wines (generally those meant to be drunk young). Corks naturally let in a small amount of air, which fuller red wines can benefit from. It oxidizes the tannins and creates a smoother finish, nutty aroma just making it a great wine experience. Some wines benefit from a screw cap, because it seals the bottle better and doesn't allow in oxygen, keeping the wine crisp. Corks are a natural renewable resource and proven to age wines well. 

Crew tops on the other hand are more affordable, easy to open and don’t breathe. 

That said,  don’t always judge the quality of wine from the bottle top as there are specific reasons for using either - the cork or the screw top. Just crack open the bottle and enjoy the drop🍷

Wine temperatures do vary by season and our own preferences. Here is a temperature range guide:

<40°F or 4°C : At this temp, your palate won’t register so recommend sparkling, sweet, rosé or whites. 

40°F - 45° or 4°C -7°C: Very cold. Refrigerate for 70 minutes. Good for sweet wines & simpler whites. 

45°F - 50° or °7C -10°C: Cold. Refrigerate for 55 minutes. Good for premium whites and lighter rosés.

50°F - 55° or °10 -12°C: Chilled. 45 minutes will do the trick for fuller bodied whites and light bodied reds. 

55°F - 60° or °12 -15°C: Slightly chilled. 35 minutes for medium-bodied reds. 

60°F - 65° or °15 -18°C: Cool. 20 minutes for full bodied / tannic red wines. 

>65°F or 18°C: over registration of alcohol and aromas get diminished. There is no harm in letting the decanter sit on Ice for those that require decanting🍷

We prefer to have the wine that suits our palette but sometimes it’s not easy to articulate exactly what grapes would go with our taste preferences. I have picked up a few of my favourite fruits, spices, nuts and smells of some of those things in life that make me feel good:) 

Blackberries & Blackcurrants: Cabernet Sauv, Shiraz, Petite Sirah

Cherries: Any of the reds name it ie Barbera, Cab Sav, Chianti, Grenache, Malbec, Nebbiolo, Pinot Noir, Primitivo, Sangiovese, Syrah 

Chocolate/Cinnamon/Cloves: full bodied - Shiraz, Zinfandel, Rhône reds

Eucalyptus: Shiraz

Figs: Chardonnay

Grapefruit: Sancerre, Reisling 

Lime: Reisling 

Pepper: Petite Syrah, Shiraz, Zinfandel

Raspberries: Pinot Noir, Burgundy (red), Beaujolais, Zinfandel, Syrah 

Strawberries: Beaujolais, Pinot Noir

Tobacco, smoke : Barolo, CDP

Vanilla: Semillon

I like raspberries, cherries, strawberries, bubblegum, oak, licorice, eucalyptus - I’d pick a great Burgundy anytime or even a Shiraz if I want to go heavier🍷

Wine and food should compliment each other and close the circle as its said. That’s perfect pairing.. easier said than achieved. Here is a framework that will help you choose your wine and your preferred cuisine. 

When indulging over Italian, have the Zinfandels, Sangiovese, Chiantis, Rosé to go with your pizza or lasagna. Pasta is neutral but the wine is determined by its sauce. Tonight I feel like…. 

Asian: Chenin Blanc, Sparkling , rosé. 

Chinese: Reisling 

Greek: Greek wine, Rosé

Indian: Sauv blanc, Zinfandel, Shiraz

Japanese: Champagne, Chenin blanc, Merlot, Sake, Sauvignon blanc

Mexican: Reisling, Zinfandel

Middle Eastern: Rosé, Pinot Noir

Thai: Sauvignon blanc, riesling

Pasta Pesto: Sauvignon blanc

Pasta tomato: Barbera, Primitivo, Rosé, Burgundy

BBQ: Reisling, Shiraz, Zinfandel 

Lamb: Bordeaux

Fish, Lobster: White Burgundy, Chablis 

These are just to give you an indication to pair your wine acidity, dryness, sweetness and it’s boldness with the food. Its a marriage:) so you can figure out the complexities for yourself. keep exploring till you find that good pair🍷

Acidity in wine is what makes the wine taste crisp & fresh. Higher acidic wines have the potential to age for a high amount of time. Acidity helps balance that wine especially in white wines where the sweetness and acidity find that clear line such as in  Reislings. The more cooler the climate, the higher the acidity. Reason being that the grapes have a challenge to ripen in cold climate, so they have higher acidity. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Chenin blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Sangiovese are grapes that show higher acidity. One feels a sour, citrus taste in the mouth, which give you an indication of the acidic levels. If you drool or salivate, levels that are high so remember to pair wines with the right food that are high in salt/ sugar so the acid cuts through and finds that perfect balance🍷

Body of the wine is categorised by light, medium and heavy. A good analogy is milk i.e skim, whole and cream. One key factor in determining the wines body is alcohol. The more alcohol, the more viscous the wine. Light wines are approx 12.5% alc; medium are upto 13.5% and the heavier wines are higher than 13.5% alc. levels. The high all level wines 16%+ i.e Shiraz and Zinfandels.

Lighter wines: Beaujolais, Lighter pinot noirs, Reisling’s

Medium: Malbec, Merlot, Bordeaux, Sangiovese, Sauvignon blanc 

Full body: Barolo, Syrah, Cab Sav, Cabernets. 

Not just the body but also legs.. thats right, when you pour your wine, give it a swirl and check out its legs. Wine with legs are streaks that get formed on the sides of a glass. Higher alcohol wines display more streaks, and the viscosity of sweeter wines can slow the streaks when tickling down. Legs don’t determine the quality of the Wine though. These droplets are formed when the alcohol evaporates in the air (a.k.a Gibbs-Marangoni Effect). As I always say, know your wine by its characteristics, its level of boldness, sweetness, acidity. Keep swirling and we’ll get there🍷

 For those of you like me, minerality is basically flavours of rocky, chalky material. The flavours of the terroir that probably gets transferred from the soil to the wine - a good example is the smell of the pavement or the ground after it rains Or the smell from a chalk board. Its used metaphorically when tasting wines. Thus a chalky taste / flavour would suck the moisture out of your mouth which apparently sits well with whites like Chablis and Champagne. Some other examples are of Slate which is crisp on the tongue (German Riesling) and Riverstone (Blancs, pinots) actual stone .. with lots of fish around it. 

It could be sulphur in wines or potassium which is abundant in soils when wine is grown. There are various factors that go into wine making that add to the word ‘minerality’ so this profile is not owned by a single region. I wouldn’t spend too much time on it but its worth knowing about the minerality factor that winefolks generally refer - it sounds pretty cool:)🍷

Tannins form the base of red wine structure and power. These are its natural preservatives that help wine age. It’s an acid compound i.e tannic acid. Tannins are found in grape skin, seeds and stems, oak barrels in which wine is made. The longer you leave the grape skins, the more colour and also higher tannins. Mainly on red wines unless there is any grape skin contact (maceration) when producing white wines. Skin fermented white wine are orangish in colour. The thickness of the grape skin also matters to the intensity of the tannic acid. Cabernets, Sangiovese are higher on tannins and Pinots, Gamay and Grenache’s are lower due to thinner skin grapes and more silkier. 

As wine ages, tannins actually start to fall out. One may have seen the sediment at the bottom of very old red wine which is tannin as red wine loses colour during its aging process. 

Tannins make you feel deep drier in the mouth around the gums or sandpaper feel on the teeth. Goes very well with fatty foods - cheese, meat, protein cuts the tannin well as the wine’s astringency counteracts the fattiness of the meat. Overall the bitterness and astringency, if managed well, can be an amazing just like we do see in coffees, dark chocolate🍷

Whether you are flying in front or back of the plane, your wine experience will likely be the same as it boils down to two fundamentals - dryness and cabin pressure.

Olfactory sense (olfaction) responsible for sense of smell allowing the organisms with receptors for the odorant to identify food and other ways of environmental interaction.
Aircraft cabins are dry and when your olfactory senses are dried out, you aren’t able to sense complexity. The second problem is that cabin pressure in airplanes causes flavor molecules to fly around faster which makes it difficult for those aromas to get into your already compromised olfactory system.

Apparently, fruit forward & floral wines like #riesling #sauvignonblanc #pinotnoir #rioja #malbec taste better up in the air than heavy tannin wines like the Chiantis, Cabernets, Zins and all that are likely to impress are the ones that have a leathery effect in higher altitude.
Altitude also makes alcohol more potent so try to avoid higher ABV% (alcohol by volume) wines.

Its known that wine experts make airlines do the drill. Qatar airways has even tasted wines at Mt. Everest base camp. And ofcourse, our favourite winner Singapore airline has Michael Hill-Smith, Jenny Cho and Stephen Spurriers academy tasting wine twice a year. Over 1000 bottles are tasted and a special varietal selection is done even though to me some wines do seem on the heavier side.. am more of a burgundy / Pinot noir fan;)

That said, my personal pov is that you will still enjoy the drop that you like consuming - balance with water (which I anyways would recommend) else just avoid wine on-air and enjoy it with family & friends down on earth. Awesome folks will get any wine at its peak🍷

We often speak about its alcoholic content and wine can vary with its colour, alcohol and flavour.
Alcohol by volume or ABV as you read on wine labels is a % measurement of the total amount of alcohol present for every 100ml. To put it in perspective, 15% ABV in a a cabernet sauvignon would mean 15ml of pure Ethyl alcohol or Ethanol in 100ml.
The fermentation of grapes is a process where wine is made using yeast. This yeast breaks down sugars in the grapes and converts into carbon dioxide and ethanol. Unbroken sugar adds to the sweetness in wine.
Heavier the wine, greater the alcohol content. Red wine average ABV is 13.5 % and ranges from 12-15% The grapes in red wine are generally sweeter that grapes in white wines so the alcohol levels also are higher during the fermentation process. Whites like Riesling, Moscato are sweeter and have low ABV but high levels of sugar during fermentation.
Port wine on the other hand is sweet but also has high levels of alcohol ranging 16-20% ABV. Reason being that port wine is fortified and the process of fermentation is stopped by adding distilled grape spirits. So the sugars remain and the alcohol levels from the sprits are higher.
Here’s a tip when your pour : if you love your wines and the alcohol content is high then serve below the 5 oz or 150ml standard mark. If the ABV level is low then can serve slightly higher than the standard. Probably a reason for more quantity when pouring whites than reds. Now that you are aware, enjoy a glass and drink responsibly🍷