How Does it Feel?

Some wine professionals I know cringe whenever someone invokes "mouthfeel" to discuss a wine's texture. They take issue with it being yet another exclusionary piece of jargon employed by wine geeks and, in some instances, just say it sounds wrong.

    As some one who squirms when anyone refers to pants as "slacks." I understand the latter complaint. Some words or expressions simply run afoul of one's viewpoint.

    That said, I'm a fan of talking about the texture or, dare I say it, mouthfeel of any given wine. Many wine reviews I read fail to address the actual sensation of the wine on the palate. Which strikes me as overlooking a key understanding of what makes a wine enjoyable or not.

    These same writers might identify a veritable blizzard of animal, vegetable and mineral aromas and flavours - turning a wine's scent into an explosion at a green grocery with that naming of smoke and curious combinations of fruit and vegetables — but they don't communicate what I sometimes refer to as the touch of taste.

    A wine's weight, texture and structure combine to shape the body and the sensation it delivers on the mouth. That sensation, I believe, plays a major role in determining our final appraisal of a wine's character.

    The growing trend of leaving more residual sugar in wines that we ordinarily consider to be dry, such as Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, is partly a move to increase the roundness and fullness of their texture. Most popular, large volume brands subtly — or not so subtly — dial up the sweetness to make the wine softer and more palatable for consumers.

    Ask a fan of a bestseller Fuzion Malbec-Shiraz or YellowTail Shiraz about their favourite wine and they're likely to use words like soft or smooth. That easy-drinking, approachable character has a lot to do with the commercial success of those brands.

    Winemakers producing wines that retail for more than $15 usually leave the crutch of residual sugar behind. Instead they opt for riper fruit in the vineyard, which translates to higher alcohol and riper tannins (tannins are the bitter or astringent component of wine, particularly in red varieties, that leaves your mouth dry) or employ more graceful winemaking practices that allow the wine in question time to mature and evolve.

    In either case, it's a question of balancing the various components of a wine to make for a compelling and complex drink. The firmness of a red wine's tannins, the brightness of its acidity, the ripeness of its fruit flavour and so on all combine to form the wine's structure and texture — or what I unapologetically identify as its mouthfeel.

Wine of the Week:

Liberty School Winery 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon
California
AB MB BC $22 | ON $18.95 (738823)
    Produced with fruit from Paso Robles, which is home to the winery operated by Hope Family Wines, and other California appellations, the well-made Liberty School Cabernet reveals ripe cassis, black cherry, peppery spice and dark chocolate aromas and flavours. The palate strikes a good balance between fleshy texture and firm tannins, which makes for a versatile wine that works well with or without a meal.