newslug.jpg (51625 bytes)

Since You Asked

This is where we try to answer questions that you have asked about wines, beers, or spirits, the trade in Atlantic Canada, food and wine pairings, the meaning of life, or whatever else appeals at the moment.

Send questions to:  john.chamard@mainbrace.ca    

A question from L.C. of Fredericton:

"Occasionally we don't finish the bottle of wine (or second bottle of wine) that we have opened for dinner.  How can we keep it from spoiling?"

The "spoiling" that you ask about is oxidation, which happens when wine is exposed to air.  Wine in a corked bottle oxidizes very slowly over time, and this is what causes it to change and mature with so-called bottle age.  But when you have opened the bottle and left some wine in it, that wine ages much more quickly and may be over-mature ("spoiled") by the time you get back to it.  

With very tannic wines such as some Bordeaux reds or traditional Spanish reds this is not a problem. In fact, you would probably want to decant them before drinking to provide some aeration (oxidation).  It used to be said of such wines that the people who got the best taste were the wait staff who cleaned up the morning after the dinner because by then the leftover wine had had lots of time to breathe and was fully ready to drink.  But for all but the biggest reds, leftovers pose a problem.  

Here are some solution, starting with the most high tech:

The easiest and best approach, of course, is to finish the wine with your meal. Or, even better, invite friends over and share the wine so that there is none left over in the first place.  Or invite a bunch of friends and have more than one bottle.  Or . . . .

Question from a number of site browsers (January to March 2001)

"How long should I wait before I drink my red wine?"

Over the last month or so I have tried and discarded three wines from our cellar. The Cuvée D’Amour 1980 from Grand Pré was so far past its prime as to be more like vinegar than wine, the 1988 Mitjans Cabernet Sauvignon had lost all of its fruit leaving only acid with no balance at all, and the 1992 Santa Ana Cabernet has picked up some distinctly unpleasant characteristics as the corks decayed. All three wines were quite enjoyable at an earlier age, so the fault lay not in the grapes or in the winemakers or the wines, but in our sense of timing.

So when should red wines be drunk?

First, it should be recognized that wine changes over time, from fruity in youth (what some critics have called "Welch’s grape juice with alcohol") through well-balanced between fruit and acidity to mellow and rounded in old age, a progression not unlike that of some acquaintances of ours.

Second, different grapes, different wines, and different vintages of the same wine age at different rates. Some pass from bright youth to senility and death in only a few years. Others are still sprightly (if somewhat stooped) after many decades. Moreover, wines that are stored in temperatures too warm or too variable tend to age more quickly; and wine in small bottles ages more quickly than wine in large bottles.

Third, each of us has our own taste. Some of us prefer the relatively simple, up-front fruit of quite young reds. Others seek out the finesse of well-aged wines. And, of course, there are all sorts of tastes in between the two extremes.

With so many variables in play, many of them either unknowable or at best only partly known, it is hard to decide just what to do. The beginning of wisdom on when to drink reds lies in knowing what you like, and this means trying, at least once, a variety of ages on the same wine. For those who have only drunk wines fresh from the grog shop it is a revelation to try a really well-aged red.  If it turns out that you prefer very fruity, young wines, your problem is solved: buy, take home and drink. If you prefer wines with more or much more bottle age, you may end up, like me, disappointed that some have gone over the hill while you waited for the perfect time to broach them.

But there are ways to avoid (or at least minimize) your disappointment.

The first rule is to consider the occasion. A great celebration calls for the best wine in the house, even if it may be a touch young.

Then consider who you are drinking with. For companions who are less wine-savvy, perhaps you should choose a wine more youthful (and less valuable). With wine lovers, bring out something they will appreciate.

Hugo Rose (Decanter, December 2000 / January 2001) quotes Barolo grower Elio Grasso who suggests: "Drink a good wine young for the pleasure of contemplation on its possibilities. Drink a mellow wine with friends for sheer enjoyment; this is not a time for solitary meditation."

Then consider your age. Hugo Rose says that he "can think of no sadder fate than to die prematurely, having carefully nurtured my best bottles, saving them for the right moment."   I’ll drink to that!

Question from Peter R. of  Bayers Lake, Nova Scotia (July 2000)

"What causes changes in the retail price of beverage alcohol products?"

Good question Peter!  I can think of at least four reasons for price changes:

  1. The supplier of the product changes the price charged to the liquor commission or corporation. This may happen because supplier costs have changed (the cost of bought-in grapes, for example, can change dramatically from one crop year to the next), or for some competitive reason.  The supplier may want a retail price either higher or lower than some competitor, so a change in the competitor's retail price triggers a change.  Or the supplier may want to establish or maintain "price lines" within a range of products, so prices would be adjusted to move the retail of all products in the line to, say, $11.99, $13.99 or $15.99 (some might go up and others down to achieve this). Or the supplier might want to establish or maintain a "convenient" price.  Thus if a product for some reason (see below) ended up at $16.08, the supplier might adjust his selling price to get the retail to $15.99 which somehow seems a lot less than sixteen dollars and some odd cents.
  2. The government changes its tax structure or imposes or removes extra charges.   For example, the change to a Harmonized Sales Tax to replace Provincial sales taxes in some Atlantic Canadian provinces caused prices to change.  The imposition of a bottle deposit fee raised the retail shelf price by the amount of the fee.
  3. The liquor commission/corporation changes its pricing formula.  Each corporation/commission has its own formula, which explains in part why prices for identical products vary from province to province.  A year or so ago, the Nova Scotia Liquor Commission changed its pricing formula with respect to spirits which caused a substantial reduction in the retail price of many liquors.  Or, there may be a change in what is included in the retail shelf price.  In British Columbia, for example, the bottle deposit is not included in the retail price (so what you see on the price tag is not what you pay).  In liquor stores in Atlantic Canada, the sticker price is the total price of the product.
  4. Exchange rates change. This can operate in two ways: If the supplier charges in foreign currency and that currency fluctuates against the Canadian dollar, at some point the fluctuations get reflected in retail prices.  For example, of late the French Franc has declined relative to the Looney.  Prices of French wines sold for French Francs declined recently in Nova Scotia to reflect the declining value of the French Franc.  Even if the supplier charges for his product in Canadian dollars, exchange rates will have an effect on retail prices.  For example, many California wineries held their prices in Canadian dollars even as the Looney slid from about $.90US to below $.70US (which meant, of course, that they were getting at least 20% fewer US dollars for their wine.)  Eventually they gave up hope that the Canadian dollar would recover any time soon, and began raising their prices.

To make this already depressingly complicated subject worse, more than one of these causes may be operating at or about the same time.  For example, exchange rate changes may push a wine to an "inconvenient" price (such as $10.76), which could cause a supplier to try to adjust to $10.99

So there you are, Peter.  Thanks for the question.

JC

Question from Beverley A. of Moncton, New Brunswick (October 2000)

"I bought a bottle of wine and on the back label it said, ". . . underwent malolactic fermentation."  What is malolactic fermentation and why should I care?"

After grapes are picked in the vineyard, they are crushed, then fermented and aged, and then bottled.  During fermentation, yeasts turn much of the sugar in the crushed grapes to alcohol and carbon dioxide.  Between the fermentation stage and aging, many winemakers subject the wine to another step: malolactic fermentation. 

During this step the malic acid present in the wine is converted to lactic acid.   This has the effect of reducing the sharpness of the wine and introducing a smooth, sometimes even buttery flavour.   (Lactic acid is the acid present in milk and milk products.)

Why do winemakers do this?  Although the process has been known for some time, it is only within the last twenty years or so that the demand for easy-drinking, approachable wines has led wineries to strive for smoother wines that can be consumed with comfort without long aging to mellow out their flavours.

Thanks for the question, Beverley.

JC

Last updated March 2, 2002