Can You Make Wine From Other Fruits?

We generally think of wine as a beverage made from grape juice, but can you make wine with other fruits? Well yes you can. Even the U.S. government’s Tax and Trade Bureau defines wine as being made from grapes, other fruit, and even other suitable agricultural products.

In fact you can make wine with many fruits such as damsons, elderberries, bananas & coconuts. Even rhubarb which is a vegetable. Often these wines are made in sweeter styles, and are always consumed young.

Why are grapes the prime ingredient?

However there are reasons grapes are the prime ingredient. The grape the only fruit with the right combination of sugars, juice and yeast on the skin to make fermentation and the production of an alcoholic beverage a natural process. To make wine from other fruits you have to mash the fruit and usually add water. Then have all sorts of adjustments to make, such as adding tartaric acid, sugar, tannins and so on. As a side note, you might like to know how to go about making your own country wine, and you can find out here.

Chart Showing The Sugar Content of Various Fruits

Grapes on the other hand contain enough tartaric acid, tannins that will naturally turn them into a beverage that has a good mouth feel. Well almost...making quality wine is a little more complex than waiting for nature to take its course. However somewhere in the history of mankind, someone somewhere drank some grape juice that had fermented, and they liked the experience. Wine was born! For a more in depth article click here.

Why Does Wine Need To Air?

A not too technical explanation on airing wine

What happens when you expose wine to oxygen, and why does wine need to air? Is it really necessary or is it just another snob thing? Unfortunately there isn't an answer good for all occasions. For some wines it's essential, while for others it's superfluous. So here's a not too technical explanation. Alternatively if ever in Italy you may like to take a wine class with me at Monterinaldi winery. More info on my tours here, and the Monterinaldi estate here.

Decanted Super Tuscan wine from Monterinaldi

What happens when air & wine Interact?

When our precious liquid comes into contact with air, two processes take place. Namely: evaporation and oxidation. These processes improve the quality of wine by changing its chemistry.

Evaporation

When wine evaporates elements known as  volatile compounds will instantly leave the liquid.  Two of these compounds are undesirable, so the sooner they leave the better. They are Ethanol and Sulfites. Ethanol has a medicinal odor, and Sulfites which are used as a preserve smell like burning matches. While present they will tend to cover the other more pleasing odors. Fortunately it doesn't take long for them do dissipate.

Oxidation

Oxidation is the same process that causes cut apples to turn brown and iron to rust. In simple terms the wine is breaking down. It's the very process of breaking down which is responsible for releasing the pleasant aromas which reach our nose and taste buds. Of course, over a number of days the oxidation process will make the wine very unpleasant to drink, but initially it's the exact opposite.

Do all wines need to air?

No they don't. Generally speaking whites and roses don't benefit from aeration because they don't contain the high levels of pigment molecules found in red wines. It's these pigments that change flavor in response to oxidation. Also cheaper red wines tend not to improve either. In fact, oxidation may make them taste flat after half an hour and bad after an hour! This because they're not made entirely with grape juice, and consequently don't have the same number of fruit derived molecules as a quality wine.

Methods of aerating wine

The best methods are the bottle or the decanter. Well there's also the glass, but this is the last stage. Aerators are a waste of time, because the air to wine contact is s split second which is way too short.

The bottle: The surface area of the neck is very limited. Consequently aerating will need a considerably longer time. Two/three hours for a young wine, and up to eight hours for an aged and structured product. The bottle should be left without the cork.

The decanter: Most definitely the best way is the decanter. The decanter will allow the wine to be exposed over a large surface area. Here a half hour to an hour is usually sufficient

The glass: If you don't have decanter, you can pour the wine back and forth between two containers or simply swirl the wine in your glass before drinking it. Actually a very brief swirl before every sip is something I always do. Just a couple of spins, no more.

You can learm n

Happy drinking!

Sweet Wines For Beginners

If you're new to wine and have a sweet tooth, you could be wondering if there are sweet wines for beginners? You may also have heard a few negative comments about them, and the experts (mainly men), see them as something for women or people who know nothing about wine. Read on and you'll find there's something just for you.

Vin Santo sweet wine from Tuscany

It's true that many sweet wines are made with things other than grape juice, and it's not a bad idea to keep away from them. There are however others that certainly deserve consideration. Some "experts" even rate wines such as Ice Wine, Rieslings, and Sauternes as high as their dry counterparts. You can read the definition of a sweet wine here.

So what's responsible for the bad reputation? Well, the wines with the bad reputation are generally the cheaper ones. And the bad rap is justified. I'm referring to wines under $10 where sugar and other additives are used to mask the poor qualities of the fruit. If a winemaker makes a mistake, or when the juice is of high volume but low quality, the quickest ways to hide imperfections is to add sugar. Because the sugar’s flavor is so dominant and pleasing to our palate, we don't notice the flaws.

You're going to have to spend a little more if you want quality

The best sweet wines for beginners and for anyone else for that matter, are those where the wine making methods concentrate the natural sugars present in the fruit. This may be because the fruit is allowed to over ripen, it's frozen, or it's been dried. No additional sugar is added to hide something, and the sweet flavor is the natural result of the winemaker’s techniques. These processes require more work and low yields, consequently the price tag is a little higher. However for the most part they're still affordable. As I'm biased the best wines come from Italy and are made from dried grapes. See below.

Suggested sweet wines for beginners

Riesling. Originally from Germany, also found in Austria, Australia,  New Zealand & the US. The wine has a wide stylistic range, from complex, dry to very sweet.

Sauternes. From the Bordeaux region of France. Again there are many styles of this white wine, and they're best served lightly chilled.

Recioto della Valpollicella. Intensely flavored, and made from dried (passito) grapes in the Veneto region of north-eastern Italy

Vin Santo. Vin Santo again made from dried grapes. It can vary in sweetness from dry to extremely sweet. The Vin Santo from Monterinaldi estate winery which we can visit on one of my private Tuscany wine tours has won many awards. In my opinion rightfully so. A gorgeous sweetness when it first as it hits the palette, followed by a touch of acidity to keep it from being overpowering. An absolute perfect balance. And to top it all its an all natural product made from dried grapes not sugars. Another bonus is that the wine will keep indefinitely, like a liquor. Take a drink today, and put the cork back on the bottle. It will be fine in a year's time if you can wait that long.

Beginners Guide To Wine Tasting

Many of my guests feel the need to apologize for their lack of wine knowledge. If you're thinking of taking a Tuscany wine tour with me, you don't need to. It will be my job and pleasure to help you through the process. However, here are a few light hearted tips to debunk all the snobbery and make you feel more at ease.

Before the big day 1 to 6

1. Buy a bottle of wine and a glass so you can practice a few simple techniques. If you don't know them, you'll always be a novice. The glass is like the one below and a cheap wine suffice, but if you're considering a trip to Tuscany go for red.

2. Hold the glass by the stem or the foot. Don't ever hold it in your fist, it just looks so unrefined!

3. Fill the glass ¼ full then incline it so you can observe the edge of the liquid in transparency. Hold it up to the light, or if there's a white surface, against the surface. Observe if the edge is dark or if you can see through it. Then observe the color; is a deep red, violet or does it have a slight brown tint.

Look the part

4. If you want to look just right, you must practice the swirling technique. Get it wrong or don't do it, and you're telling everyone you're new to the game. The process gets oxygen into the wine which will help release all the aromas. The easiest way to swirl is to hold the glass to the table by the stem, and make rapid circular movements. You must aim to create a concave cone with the liquid. If the glass is correctly filled by about a ¼ it won't come out, so go about it vigorously.

5. Swirl the wine for about three seconds, then put your nose well into the glass taking a deep sniff. Wait about twenty seconds and do it again. See if you can associate the aroma with something else you know. Red wines will generally smell of other red fruits and jams. If the wine has been barrel aged there will be a hint or even a definite note of spice as well. If you can't don't worry. This is something that can take time as most of us aren't used to using our sense of smell. Women tend to have a better sense of smell then men.

Take a sip and slobber

6. Now take a sip, and very briefly hold the wine in your mouth and swallow. Now take another small sip, but this time keep it in your mouth and draw in air mixing it with the wine. You can find your own way to do this, the easiest for most people is to draw in over your closed teeth. Roll the wine around your palate for about ten seconds, then swallow. Don't be afraid to slobber, It's perfectly acceptable at a wine tasting.

At this point concentrate on the sensations you're receiving. With red wines the first thing to observe is the puckering sensation. Did you find it pleasant, or did it bother you? Now observe if the wine is acidic, bitter, sugary or dry, and how do these sensations take you. Do you like them or not? At the end of the day that's what it's all about. You either like what you're tasting or you don't and it's the same for everyone.

So that's it! You now know the basic of how to taste wine.

At the winery

You're now in the tasting room and as a beginner the best advice I can give you is to admit you're new to wine and still learning. Once you've done this you're unassailable. Never and I mean never, drink the wine like a shot. Just take your time and go through points 2 to 6, and you'll get full marks even from the most conceited snob.

If you're in doubt, just don't say anything. However sensations are personal and not really debatable. So if your smelling a sweaty horse in your glass, then say so.

However at all times just remember the following

• No one knows everything about wine.

• Don't be afraid to ask “dumb” questions.

• Wine is to be enjoyed not intellectualized.

• Expensive doesn’t necessarily mean better.

• If it doesn't have to be expensive, don't trust very cheap either.

• Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and also in his taste buds.

• Don't be afraid to experiment.