You’ve probably heard it said: “Great wine is made in the vineyard.” And for red wines especially, there’s been a lot of buzz about ‘minimal intervention’ lately.
Take Felton Road, in Central Otago, New Zealand – home to some of the world’s finest Pinot Noir. Winemaker Blair Walter claims that as a minimal interventionist, he pretty much lets the wine make itself. He doesn’t even add yeast, preferring to rely on the indigenous strains that exist in the natural surroundings.
But of course, there’s much more to it than that. Blair himself makes each of his wines differently, according to the unique characteristics of the vineyard. Picking a little early here, using a higher percentage of new oak there. It’s an art as well as a science.
There are a lot of ways to shape the style of a red wine. We’ve already covered the stages of winemaking in How wine is made – a beginner’s guide – so in this article, I’ll look at some of the specific techniques behind your favourite red wine styles.
Classic and structured – traditional fermentation with oak ageing
Here we’re talking about traditional reds, aged in barrel and often built for long ageing – think Bordeaux, Ribera del Duero or Brunello di Montalcino.
For these wines, the grapes will be given a long fermentation with the juice left in contact with the skins. This will extract plenty of tannin and colour – giving the wine a firm structure that will allow it to age beautifully.
Ageing in oak barrels can add more tannin to the wine, as well as toasty, savoury flavours. Time spent in barrel also ‘micro-oxygenates’ the wine – or in common parlance, allows it to breathe. This helps the wine mature gracefully, further adding complex savoury flavours that Bordeaux fans adore.
Try: Left Bank Bordeaux (such as Médoc) with a Sunday roast or hard cheese like Keen’s cheddar.
