Body is the impression of a wines weight, density, or its ‘mouth-feel’. Some wines feel weighty, or full bodied, while others feel light bodied. Wine runs the gamut from light to full, with most falling somewhere in between.
ACIDITY
Low
Moderate
Balanced
Crisp
High
Acidity is a foundational component in wine. In fact, low acidity, or ‘flabby’ wine (as the term suggests) is a negative. You can sense acidity mainly on the sides of your tongue. Acidity generally ranges from balanced to high. Crisp acidity adds freshness, making your mouth water. Acidity is a necessary element and helps to balance other components.
SWEETNESS
Dry
Off Dry
Medium Dry
Medium Sweet
Very Sweet
Most wines are characterized as dry to off-dry, but there are some grape varietals, like Riesling, that run the gamut from dry to sweet. The tip of the tongue mainly detects sweetness, which is why it is often the primary characteristic detected. Sweetness is derived from residual sugar that did not ferment into alcohol.
ALCOHOL
12.5%
Alcohol is the by-product of fermentation. Differing grape varieties have differing potential alcohol levels, but regardless warmer areas result in riper grapes resulting in higher alcohol. Alcohol level is an objective number, but its affect on its palate impression is largely determined with how well integrated and balanced it is with other components.
Chenin Blanc is often overlooked, but makes some of the most compelling white wines across Palate Character, including bone dry to sweet in style. Some of the best expressions come from France’s Loire Valley, and South Africa, which at their best are concentrated, crisp, sometimes long-lived, mineral driven wines that deserve more recognition for their high quality age-worthy whites.
Jacky Blot was on a mission. He bought eight hectares of more than 50-year-old vine chenin blanc in the late-1980s and transformed Domaine de la Taille aux Loups into a certified organic property in 1988.
Jacky Blot does things differently, following a more Burgundian technique. He hand-harvests grapes and, like famous producers Roulot and Coche-Dury, he exposes the must to oxygen before undergoing barrel fermentation and then storing the wines in steel tanks before bottling
Jacky Blot’s chenin blanc is bone-dry, with crisp acidity that is defined by a complex minerality rather than overt fruitiness.
Green Apple
Honeysuckle
Mineral
Organic
