harsh

October 2 – “Round”

by Grape Stomper Todd on October 2, 2010

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We roundly reject angular wines in this episode.

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On this day in 1950, the Peanuts cartoon strip was first published by Charles Schultz. Considered to be one of the most popular and influential comic strips in history, it had a readership of over 350 million people in 75 countries and 21 languages. Lasting 50 years, it was “arguably the longest story ever told by one human being.” The strip ended in the year 2000 when Charles Schultz passed away.

This leads us to our Wine Word of the Day: Round

Yeah, I mean round like in the roundness of Charlie Brown’s head. Well, sort of. I actually mean to talk about the wine term “round.” But still, I gotta say, the head of Brown was really round. I guess it was all about the subject matter in Charles Schultz’s comics and not the details of his artwork. But I‘m starting to digress.

Let’s get back to wine.

Sure, you can order a round of wine, enjoy wine with a round of appetizers, round up some friends and go tasting, or finish a bottle of port ‘round midnight. But today I want to explain the tasting term, “round”.

Round is a nice trait found in mature red wines that are smooth and have lost their astringent tannins. This term also applies to young wines that exhibit soft tannins and low acidity. All in all, these are mouth-filling wines, with bountiful flavor, and rich texture that are a joy to drink. Such wines never exhibit harshness like Lucy van Pelt does when she pulls the ball away just as Charlie Brown tries to kick it.

Tagged as: acidity, astringent, harsh, round, smooth, tannins

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August 31 – “Young”

by Grape Stomper Todd on August 31, 2010

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When can you “serve” a young wine?  “Let” me provide a “baseline”.

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On this day in 1979, 16 year old Tracy Austin defeats 14 year old Andrea Jaeger at the U.S. Open tennis tournament.

Which brings us to our wine word of the day: “Young”

It’s hard to find a definition for “young wine”.  However, many wine terms will blame a wine’s youth for a variety of conditions.  For instance, if a wine lacks aroma, is too astringent, or too harsh, it is often because the wine hasn’t aged long enough to fully develop its character.

How young is too young?  That’s a great question for Roman Polanski. But with wine the answer is, “it depends.”  Most white wines are meant to drink young, say within a year of their vintage date.  In fact, younger whites tend to be fresher tasting with more bright, fruit flavors.

Red wines, on the other hand, need time to soften and integrate their fruit flavors with the bouquet from the barrels.  Most red wines are considered too young to drink before they are 18- months old.  But depending on the year and how the wine was made, some red wines are not ready to drink until they are 5 or even 10 years old.  I know I wasn’t ready to drink until I was 14 years old.

Perhaps that’s why I never became a child tennis star.

Tagged as: age, aroma, astringent, harsh, tasting terms, tennis, young

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