Looking Into Wine

What are the many wine flavours found in the various wine aromas wheels with descriptions such as strawberries, apple and vanilla? So, when you smell wine, the alcohol volatilises and carries these lighter-than-air aroma compounds into your nose. Each wine can contain hundreds of different aroma compounds and each compound can affect the flavour of a wine. From a chemical perspective, flavours are the manifestation of compounds that are released at different stages during the wine life cycle. When we smell these compounds, a stimulus is transmitted to our brain that compares it to a “memory” of known sensations – eventually conjuring a final impression.

Being fascinated by science and empirical research, in this episode, I spoke to Sietze Wijma a MSc Sensory Science graduate and founder of the art of tasting who will walk us through some of the major flavours compounds, their names and chemistry, explaining how they come about and some of the faults in wines and what are the key compound that one should know.

Specific anosmia of flavour compounds Specific anosmia (smell-blindness) is the phenomenon where a person is unable to detect a specific flavour compound, where they otherwise have an intact sense of smell. For example, 30% of the population is unable to detect rotundone (black pepper-like aroma). β-ionone (violet-like aroma) has a 50% specific anosmia rate. Isoamyl acetate (banana-like aroma) has a <1% specific anosmia rate. This has implication for wine tasting.

Here is Sietze website The art of Tasting: https://artoftasting.nl/
And some further information about flavours compounds and other items related to the topic: https://www.jancisrobinson.com/learn/vocabulary/aromas https://www.decanter.com/learn/understanding-wine-aromas-329940/ https://winefolly.com/tips/wine-aroma-wheel-100-flavors/
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Skin contact, maceration pelliculaire in french, winemaking operation with the aim of extracting flavour compounds, flavor precursors, and anthocyanins from grape skins into grape juice or wine partly inspired by the likes of gravner in friuli, and traditional winemaking techniques in georgi , winemakers have been experimenting with fermentation and ageing in modern copies of amphorae, made from clay or, occasionally, concrete the term ‘orange wine’ was credited to david harvey of uk wine importer raeburn fine wines back in 2004.
He wrote: “the quest for a name arose from my concern that there was no name, let alone category for these wines, which are visually, aromatically and structurally divergent from white wines, and would therefore risk rejection in both the on- and off-trade.” During this final stage, the skin and stems slowly float to the bottom of the qvevri in a natural process of filtration.
Bitarishvilli then pumps the clear orange wine into smaller qvevries for storage and aging. The winemaker says: “longer maceration means many different ingredients go from the skin into the wine - phenols, and tannins. These work like natural conservants so we have a stable wine. We don’t need to use sulfur - or just a little bit.”
In 1995, radikon switched his entire production of ribolla gialla to seven-day skin contact - and lost many customers as a result. It took years to painstakingly rebuild the business but his family’s orange wines are now considered to be among the very best in the world.
With today’s guest simon woolf author of the book amber wines we explore the history of the style and how it traveled the world, what considerations need to be taken when producing amber wines, and the recent classifications of amber wines. If you are enjoying the podcast remember to subscribe and leave a comment we love to hear your ideas for future episodes!
Here are the links to some of further reading about the topics and Simon Woolf Book – Please consider buy a copy as it is a fantasist book!
Https://amber-revolution.com/#:~:text=Amber%20Revolution%20is%20the%20rags%20to%20riches%20story,half%20a%20century%20later%20amidst%20controversy%20and%20misunderstanding. Https://felixir.com.au/what-is-amber-wine/ Https://www.awri.com.au/industry_support/winemaking_resources/winemaking-practices/winemaking-treatment-amber-wine/ Https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/you-say-orange-wines-the-georgians-say-amber-heres-what-they-all-have-in-common/2018/10/05/9a707aae-c805-11e8-b1ed-1d2d65b86d0c_story.html

In the second episode dedicated to Cotes du Rhone’s, we explore the sustainability program and the research that is taking place, other geeky episode just what we like!

Inter Rhône has three main missions: economic support, promotion of the appellations, and technical support. The latter is embodied by the ‘Institut Rhodanien’, where all our Research & Development is being carried I spoke to Julie Coutton, Intern Rhone, public relations manager to discover what research is taking place in the region.

Wine sustainability refers to a range of vineyard and wine production practices that are ecologically sound, economically viable, and socially responsible. Sustainable farmers may be certified (organic or biodynamic) or non-certified. Every vineyard site is different to get the best results in the bottle. Producers make decisions around certification based on how best to make their wine given the soil, climate and surroundings.

Converting a site to fully organic and biodynamic also needs to be done in stages over time so the land gets used to new practices. We talked with Julie about how the region is looking to mitigate the stress from drought, a tool for estimating water stress in the vineyard is the apex method. Based on the observation of the end of the branches, it is a simple method, which characterizes a growth dynamic, itself linked to the water constraint of the vine. It is to be carried out regularly, on a weekly basis.

Extensive research into new varieties is being conducted at the ‘Institut Rhodanien.’ Recently, four varieties have been accepted for experimental authorisation for Côtes du Rhône AOC due to their “adaptation to drought and late maturity.” These are white hybrid Floréal, Rolle (Vermentino), indigenous Carignan Blanc, and red hybrid Vidoc.


Other, topics that were part of the conversation are the study of sites and rootstock research, and winemaking practices to be more energy efficient. Intern Rhone holds talks and seminar for its member ensuring that they are always up to date to their scientific research Remember to subscribe and leave a review if you find this episode valuable to you!

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Twitter Mattia Scarpazza
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In this episode, I spoke to Matt Walls author of the book The wines of Rhone about the Southern Rhone with a focus on the Cote du Rhone.
To best understand the appellation system is a pyramid with three distinctive stages for the Cotes du Rhone - Cote du Rhone, Cote Du Rhone Village, cotes du Rhone Named village and then the Cru see picture here:

https://boutinot-rhone.com/news?start=18

With Matt we talked about how to best understand the terroirs of the Southern Rhone, as there are so many of them, it says that it is best to divide the region into three parts based on their geological period, but it has always been difficult for me to remember the various parts but this has helped immensely.

We also talked about varieties that are taking afoot in the region in the last few years and their use in the blend, Cotes du Rhone is always a blend!

I'm always being curious about the fluidity of the appellation with villages rising to the top of the Cotes du Rhone appellation and then becoming Crus in their own right - Mat has described the process and announced a new (23rd) village that is going to be announced next year!

Here is the list of all the Villages
Chusclan, Gadagne, Laudun, Massif d'Uchaux, Nyons, Plan de Dieu, Puymeras, Roaix, Rochegude, Rousset, Sablet, Saint-Andeol, Saint-Gervais, Saint-Maurice, Saint-Pantaleon, Sainte-Cecile, Seguret, Signargues, Suze-la-Rousse, Vaison-la-Romaine, Valreas, Visan

Some other useful links on the topic
https://www.cotesdurhone.com/en/
https://www.wine-searcher.com/regions-cotes+du+rhone
https://www.wine-uncovered.com/rhone-info/appellations/cotes-du-rhone-villages/
https://www.mattwalls.co.uk/region/rhone/


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Instagram Mattia.lookingintowine
Twitter Mattia Scarpazza
Mail [email protected]

Alentejo the largest wine region of Portugal, is also one of the hottest wine region in the world with many sumer days above 40 degrees and is also one of the at most risk to climate change.
The region has long known about this risks and formed an association dedicated to its sustanabily and future proofing called Wines of Alentejo Sustainability Programme (WASP)
The nine members of the Wines of Alentejo Sustainability Programme (WASP) that have received their sustainable production certificates have been working on a diverse range of projects to improve the environmental, economic, and social sustainability of their businesses. Those projects extend across both their vineyards and their wineries, and also include work in their local communities
Alentejo covers approximately a third of the country and is best known for its red wine, the best of which are sold under the and Alentejo DOC (Denominacao de Origem Controlada) title.
Wine from Alentejo is typically made from Aragonez (Tempranillo), Castelao, Trincadeira or a rich, ripe, jammy blend of the three. Antao Vaz is the white variety of choice here, producing a good level of acidity and tropical fruit flavors.

Nick Breez my guests is a climate Journalist and cofounder of the Cambridge Climate Lecture Series (CCLS)Nick is a climate communicator writing and producing filmed interviews with over 200 experts in the field of climate change. He contributes regularly to The Ecologist and envisionation.co.uk. In 2016 he cofounded the Cambridge Climate Lecture Series with Dr Hugh Hunt and Dr Tony Eva (www.climateseries.com) which, in 2018 was screened in over 15 locations globally, and features speakers at the forefront of action on climate change.Nick is also a wine and blockchain journalist linking both topics to impacts from climate change.

Some other useful links on the topic
https://secretsommelier.com/alentejo-wine
https://sustentabilidade.vinhosdoalentejo.pt/en/wines-of-alentejo-sustainability-programme
https://www.wine-searcher.com/regions-alentejo

Reach us on:
Instagram Mattia.lookingintowine
Twitter Mattia Scarpazza
Mail [email protected]

Brettanomyces, also known as Brett, is a yeast that imparts plastic or animal aromas, such as sticking plasters, smoke, leather, or sweaty horses, to wine. To put it differently, Brettanomyces could cause spoilage in wines via the production of volatile phenol compounds. At first glance, these characters may seem unpleasant. However, many wine enthusiasts enjoy them and do not consider low levels of Brett in wine a fault.

Brettanomyces belongs to a family of nine different naturally occurring yeast species (B. lambicus, D. bruxulensis, B. bruxellensis, B. intermidious, among others). Like its cousin, Saccharomyces, the principal agent of alcoholic fermentation, Brett feeds on sugars and converts them into alcohol, carbon dioxide, and diverse compounds that influence the wine aroma, taste, and texture. Unlike the compounds created by Saccharomyces, however, the ones produced by Brettanomyces are not so much appreciated. Some common descriptions could be barnyard, animal sweat, sewage, vomit, Band-Aid, and wet dog.

Different Growth

Apart from bestowing different aromas to the wine, the two yeasts differentiate in how they grow, too. For example, Saccharomyces multiplies in a must, feasting on all available fructose and glucose. It only dies when the food runs out, the alcohol content gets high, or the winemaker freezes the wine. On the other hand, Brett has steady but slow growth, and for this reason, it appears only months after the fermentation is over. Additionally, it feeds on a range of substrates. Fructose and glucose are favorites, sure, but Brett eats unfermentable sugars, as also oak sugars. Consequently, second-hand oak barrels can be a source of Brettanomyces infection.

Here is the link for Clark Smith Chemistry course extremely fascinating!!
https://fundamentalsofmodernwinechemistryandbeyond.voomly.com/

Some other useful links on the topic
https://beerandbrewing.com/dictionary/sZ3rBkmAXZ/
https://www.internationalwinechallenge.com/Canopy-Articles/brettanomyces-the-most-interesting-of-all-wine-faults.html
https://www.awri.com.au/industry_support/winemaking_resources/frequently_asked_questions/brettanomyces-faq/

Reach us on:
Instagram lookingintowine
Twitter Mattia Scarpazza
Mail [email protected]

Welcome to the first episode of the 3rd season of the Looking Into Wine podcast!
Timorasso? What is that you might ask?
Timorasso is a white Italian wine grape variety grown primarily in the Piedmont wine region of northwest Italy. There it is used to make aromatic wine with some ageing potential
On the palate, Timorasso is known for an exceptional balance of mouthwatering acidity and characteristically high alcohol. Classically, it’s a wine with no rough edges. One that coats the mouth with concentrated flavours through to a memorable finish.
We explored the history of Walter Massa and Timorasso with Micheal Palij Master of Wine, He has been visiting Italy since 1995 for his buying trips and he wrote for many years about Piedmont’s wines.

Timorasso is an ancient Piedmontese grape variety that was on the verge of extinction in the 1980s. Walter Massa of Vigneti Massa carefully revived it and now the yellow-green-skinned Timorasso has enjoyed a resurgence in dry white wine and grappa production.
The pioneering efforts, by the late 1990s, other local producers began planting the grape variety themselves and there are now more than 20 firms growing and producing Timorasso.

While Piemonte is an Italian wine region revered for its legendary red wines, the region also boasts an array of indigenous white varieties worth your time. If you love a good

comeback story, then Timorasso should be at the top of your must-try list. Here’s the low-down on the Italian variety capable of producing age-worthy, refined white wines.
With my amazing guest Michael Palij MW, who has an extensive background in Italian wines we explore his interactions with Walter Massa, the story of the revival of Timorasso and where the specific of this grape
Remember to subscribe if you haven’t done it already and if you have thank you! And then leave us a review! Now on with the show!

We Coming back on the 19th of September on monthly basis and many great guests to joining us.

With the rise in popularity of Rose Wines especially those of the province region,
A multitude of look-alike rose' have found their way into the markets, from wineries chasing the sales and to the wine region in which rose' have been traditionally made the style has shifted to mimic this of the Provance.

With my guest today Elizabeth Gabay MW we are exploring the effects of the rose sales growth and production and what controversiality she is seeing in the market.

From the standardization of Provence winemaking, which is turning into a double edged sword, to the producers outside this region with little to no experience producing Rose reading informational sheets.

With the rise of Rose production so is the need to increase the number of cooled tanks to produce them which has effects on the sustainability of the wineries and packaging.

We also talked about Champagne rose and what varieties Elizabeth is getting excited about.

Elizabeth, just released the book Rosés of Southern France, a monumental task to find incredible rose wines that stand out from the crowd and to educate the reader with maps and infographics the book is available here:
Rosés of Southern France: Amazon.co.uk: Gabay MW, Elizabeth, Bernheim, Ben: 9798837338021: Books


If you are enjoying the show consider subscribing and the leave a review
You have listened to the Looking into Wine Podcast, My guest today was Elizabeth Gabay master of wine.
This episode marks the end of season two of the Looking Into Wine Podcast after a summer break we will be back for the third season,

If you got to this point of the message, thank you so much for your support from the bottom of my heart! Mattia