The impossible favourite wine, with or without tannins | New Brief #259

There is no real answer to the eternal question “what is your favourite wine”; not for us and probably not for other wine enthusiasts. Much of the fun of wine is about discovery. Discovering new wines, new wine regions, new characters. And just as much about variety.

However, you can, of course, have a style preference, at least in general. Some prefer light, juicy wines, while others seek astringent tannins or muscular wines with pronounced oak flavours. Most people, however, don’t want the same style every time they drink wine, just as they don’t want to eat the same food every day.

Equally challenging to answer is the popular question “which wine did you prefer” after a wine tasting. Wine is very much about comparison. When you taste a producer’s production – as we did at many wineries during our winter tours to Chile, Argentina, South Africa and New Zealand – it is natural to compare the wines, even if they are so different that they should be judged on their own merits. Come to Alsace and try to decide whether you like the winemaker’s riesling or pinot gris best. Or in Bordeaux, to say which vintage you prefer, all have different styles but with their own characters.

However, it is still often a question worth asking, not least to prompt yourself (or others) to form an opinion and not just sit back and say “everything is so good” even if your preference may be different the next day.

The problem when comparing can also be that some more “low-key” wines, which are in fact very good, appear in a less favourable light when compared to fuller and more powerful wines. A symphony orchestra is more impressive and overwhelming than a cello solo, even though the latter can be more enjoyable.

You don’t have to choose, you can like everything, but some more (or less) for different occasions, different types of food, different types of company, different weather.

At a wine tasting, there will also inevitably be discussions about tannins and acidity. You can have different opinions about these. We appreciate tannins and acidity. We consider them essential and desirable components in a wine. If you are a loyal reader of the Brief, you have likely heard us mention this before. But it deserves to be repeated.

We have just returned from this year’s wine tour in New Zealand. A producer there, internationally highly regarded, wondered if there might be too much tannins in some of his pinot noir wines. We didn’t think so, and neither did he. But people don’t want tannins, he said. It’s a shame. Tannins are important. Wines with low tannin levels can be too soft and uninteresting. Although there are counter-examples, lovely aromatic Beaujolais wines or certain juicy “natural wines” to mention but two. Here, however, there is instead a healthy dose of acidity that lends freshness.

The tannins can be either discreet in the background or more prominent, depending on the style and context, but they should not feel like sandpaper.

It is the tannins, among other things, that make a wine different from other drinks you can have with your meal. In fact, it is the tannins that make wine such a perfect accompaniment to dinner. If the tannins are not present, a refreshing acidity can serve a similar purpose, providing the wine with freshness and vitality. Tannin and acidity are the pillars of a wine that we would not want to be without. The backbone of wine.

Summer in Winter Time

Last night we arrived home from the last of our wine tours, the tour to New Zealand. It was a long trip home (and going there); 24 hours of flight time and just over thirty hours of travel time in total. But it’s worth it. It’s well spent “suffering” in order to experience this very special and sometimes misunderstood (*) wine world on the exact other end of the globe from Europe. ( (*) there is far more to discover than over-aromatic Sauvignon wines)

It was this year’s third winter wine tour. January offered Chile and Argentina and February offered South Africa. It is in many ways a privilege for us to be able to share these fantastic wine countries with so many wine enthusiasts. All four countries are wonderful countries to travel in and are today thoroughly established as wine countries that produce top quality, something that you may not always realize when you see the often far too gluggable international brands that are spread from these countries on to the international markets. But oh (!) so much talent to be found there, on site.

All three tours will be back next winter. We don’t promise summer, sun, and beach in the middle of northern winter, but we can without hesitation promise summer, sun, wine and gastronomy (and a little beach if you want). See how it’s been this year in these three tour Facebook groups:

• Chile and Argentinas wine tour on Facebook
• South Africa wine tour on Facebook
• New Zealand wine tour on Facebook

Click Join and then choose how many notifications you want – everything, the most important, nothing.

New Bordeaux Tour

Our Burgundy and Rhone Valley tour has had such a success so it is currently fully booked. So, we have decided to add a new tour this coming autumn season: a new five-day extravagant Bordeaux tour.

More info on our wine tours here. “World’s Top Wine Tours“. Tours with the people who know wine and who have an unrivalled experience of wine and tours.

Travel in wine regions with someone you trust.

Enjoy the Brief!

Britt & Per

Wine editors to the national encyclopedia, Forbes.com contributors, award-winning wine book authors, wine tour advisors to the UN and national wine organisations, wine judges … and, above all, passionate wine travellers.

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