When we look at a bottle of wine, all we see is wine. Yet what wine is actually composed of is much more complicated. It can be simplified into a few components, namely: water, alcohol, acid, tannin, and sugar. These four things, along with some minerals and the components that actually give the smells we associate with certain wines, make up what is in the bottle. Below is an infographic representation of the content of a bottle of wine.

Puckette, M., Hammack,J. (2018). Wine Folly: Magnum Edition: Master Guide. [Kindle Edition]. Avery Publication. p.13

Notice that the majority of the bottle of wine is actually water! Alcohol is the second major component of wine, yet that is still only between 10% and 16% of the bottle. So what we smell, taste, and experience in the bottle of wine actually only makes up a small portion of what is actually in the bottle. Even this small portion of the content of a bottle can change the entire way a wine tastes. 

Within that small portion of the bottle is a variety of different components which add to the flavor and complexity of the wine, and each wine has a different flavor profile. However, there are five essential components to each wine that provide the basis of the wine’s character. When you are evaluating a wine, or explaining a wine to someone else, the following traits should be the first that are highlighted.

Puckette, M., Hammack,J. (2018). Wine Folly: Magnum Edition: Master Guide. [Kindle Edition]. Avery Publication. p.32

In the following lessons we will explore the concepts of sweetness, acidity, tannin, and alcohol in greater depth. For a brief overview of all these difference aspects of wine, view the video below with Madeline Puckett from Wine Folly:

Puckette, M. [Wine Folly] (Jul 31, 2018). Wine Folly: What is Wine? Part 2 (Ep.2) [Video.] YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyuu4yAmlqM

Discussion Question: Post a comment below this update telling us what you plan on using the content of this course for. Are you curious about the wines you are drinking? Or do you work for a restaurant and want to understand more about what you are selling? Maybe you have a friend who is a connoisseur and you would like to know about what he or she is talking about?

Journal Entry: Share an update in the course community where you share one white and one red wine you find dry, as well as, one white and one red wine you find sweet. Tell us a little about why you find those wines dry or sweet. Try to be as detailed in your descriptions as possible.

Puckette, M. (2015). Sugar in Wine Chart. https://winefolly.com/deep-dive/sugar-in-wine-chart/

Many claim when it comes to wines that sweetness is in the eye of the beholder. While it may be true that many wines can have flavors that may associate themselves with sweetness in our minds, they may not actually have any sugar in the bottle at all! In turn, the term "sweet" has come to mean different things to different people, as with the term "dry". The same wine tasted by two different people can be stated to be dry by one and sweet by the other. This can make it very difficult to narrow down a selection of wines simply because the terms being used are not specific to a measurable quality. 

In some instances, people have also come to use the term "dry" to mean "good quality" and "sweet" to mean "bad quality". However, there are plenty wines with higher amounts of sugar which are very good quality, some of which sell for multiple hundreds of dollars a bottle and can age for decades. Likewise, there some wines deemed "dry" because they are of a good quality, which actually have some sweetness to them. Once again, these definitions of dry and sweet can be very misleading and cause a lot of confusion in the end. 

So what do the terms "dry" and "sweet" actually mean? In the professional wine world, sweet wines are wines which have some of what is called "residual sugar" left in them. Essentially, when making wine, yeast is added to grape juice and proceeded to devour any sugar it can get to, leaving behind alcohol in its wake. Sometimes, the wine maker decides to kill off the yeast before its done and leave some sugar in the finished wine. This is done for a variety of reasons, but the most famous is in the case of Riesling. Riesling, as we will explore in the next lesson, is a grape with a high amount of acid in it. Just as lemon juice is magically made drinkable by the addition of sugar in the case of lemonade, leaving some sugar in a high acid Riesling can make it easier to drink. Another reason there may be sugar left over is due to the yeast naturally dying off before they get a chance to finish off the sugar. This can happen when the grapes have too much sugar in them when picked. Yeast cannot live if the alcohol gets above (usually) around 16%. If there is so much sugar in the grape juice that the alcohol gets that high, the yeast will die off, possibly leaving some sugar in the finished wine. Below you can see a video with Madeline Puckett from Wine Folly explaining a little bit more about sweetness in wine:

Puckette, M. [Wine Folly] (Aug 22, 2018). Wine Folly: Sweetness in Wine (Ep.5) [Video.] YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftp3xAayQJQ

Discussion Question: Thinking back to how you have referred to wines in the past, how have you used the terms "sweet" and "dry"? 

Journal Entry: At home, fill a container with a gallon of water. Add one teaspon of sugar to that and stir until the sugar is dissolved*. Then, taste the water. Does it taste sweet? Keep adding sugar, one teaspoon at a time until you can taste the sweetness. Record how many teaspoons it took to get to that point. Then, using an online search engine, look up how much sugar is in a carbonated beverage that you find to be sweet. Write a journal entry comparing the amount of sugar you had to add to the water before it tasted sweet, the average sugar content of a dry wine (approximately 6grams per liter from the infographic above), and the sugar content of the soda. How might all of that information influence your purchasing decisions with wine in the future?

*This exercise can be done with sugar alternatives such as stevia. However, the sweetness of some of these is not directly comparable to sugar. For example, agave nectar is approximately 30% sweeter tasting than sugar is. So, be ready to compensate for the difference in sweetness. For some tips on how to convert if you are using a sugar alternative, click on the link below:

How to Measure Sugar Alternatives

Puckette, M. (2015). Understanding Acidity in Wine. https://winefolly.com/deep-dive/understanding-acidity-in-wine/

Last lesson we started to break down the different structural components of wine, starting with sugar. In this lesson, we will take a look at the second major structural component of wine: acidity. All wines have some amount of acid in them, how much acidity and what kind of acid determines the overall flavor and structure of the wine in question. Three major acids in wine are malic, tartaric, and lactic acid. Malic acid is what you can find in green apples, it is tart and makes your mouth pucker. Tartaric acid generally is a little more mild, but still has a sharp tart taste, helping to enhance flavors like citrus. Lactic acid is acid acid found in milk and creates a more creamy or yogurt style character in the wine. Unlike the other two acids previously mentioned, lactic acid does not naturally occur in grapes. It is introduced into the wine through a later process which converts the malic acid found naturally in the grapes to lactic acid. All three of these acids play crucial roles in the structure and flavor of the wine. As a general rule, the hotter the climate (and thus the riper the grapes), the less acidity the wine will have. So wines made from grapes in a cool climate like Germany or Northern France, will generally have a higher acidity than wines made in hot climates like California or Australia.

Acids help to enhance certain flavors in the wine in question. Some of the chemicals we associate with flavors bind with certain acids, creating a more intense flavor profile for the wine. Additionally, acids help to create balance in a wine. We touched on this in the last lesson when we talked about Riesling, a high acid grape variety, which is balanced by leaving some residual sugar in the wine. Similarly, if a wine has a high amount of alcohol or sugar, but a low acidity, the wine will be flat, flabby, and overwhelming after a glass or two. Acidity can help to balance out the wine, creating a better experience. For more information about acid in wine, watch the video below with Jacky Blisson, MW (Master of Wine):

Blisson, J. [Jacky Blisson, MW] (Oct 31, 2018). Mastering Wine: Acidity in Wine & Why it Matters. [Video.] YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw1fRO2OqxA

The final important point about acidity in wine comes with wine and food pairing. Acid, when it hits the palate, makes us salivate. One of the reasons that light, crisp white wines and sparkling wines are generally at the start of a meal is because it stimulates saliva production and gets you hungry for dinner!

Discussion Question: Have you ever had a food or beverage that was too rich for you? How would the addition of something acidic help? What would you add to balance it out? Example: A hearty, fatty short rib can be overwhelming and rich. Adding a barbecue glaze with a good amount of acidity from something like apple cider vinegar can help to make it a little less overwhelming.

Journal Entry: At home, fill a cup with water. Add a squeeze of lemon to the water. Then, taste the water. Does it taste tart? Keep adding lemon juice, one squeeze at a time until you have drained the lemon. Write a journal entry comparing the effect of the lemon water on your palate as you added more juice. How might the difference between the first squeeze of lemon and the last information influence your purchasing decisions with wine in the future?

Puckette, M. (2015). What Are Wine Tannins? https://winefolly.com/deep-dive/what-are-wine-tannins/

Tannins are probably the least understood structural element of wine. Tannins are the things in red wine that give it a bitter or astringent taste. They come from primarily the skins and seeds of the grapes, but can also come from the oak the wine may be aged in. Red wines with a high amount of tannins produce that sensation in your mouth that your gums and cheeks are drying out. So the question also becomes: why are they desired in wines if they are bitter and dry your mouth out?

To begin with, tannins are a preservative element in wine, allowing for the wine to age well over time without spoiling. As a tannic red wine ages, the tannins take up oxygen in the bottle and clump together, falling out of the wine as sediment in the bottle. So as a wine ages, it actually becomes less tannic! 

Additionally, tannin provides an important element to consider when pairing wine with food. Tannins become softer and less bitter when paired with fat in foods. That is why the "rule" is red wine with red meat. The more fat in a dish, the better it will pair with a highly tannic wine. 

Finally, tannins also contain the health benefits we hear so much about with wine consumption! A compound called reservatrol has been shown to have heart health benefits when consumed in moderation over time. So highly tannic wines, when consumed in moderation, can contribute to a healthy heart!

Puckette, M. [Wine Folly] (Aug 28, 2018). Wine Folly: Tannins in Wine (Ep.6) [Video.] YouTube. https://youtu.be/ozDdFKr-mKQ?t=175

So, how can we tell if a wine has high, low, or no tannins? To begin, all red wines have some amount of tannin. The process that makes a red wine red is always going to provide tannins for the wine. As such, the only wines with no tannins are white wines with no oak aging. Outside of that, detecting how much tannin a wine has comes down to how it feels on your gums and cheeks when you swirl the wine around your mouth. If, after you swallow, you feel as if your gums are trying to pull away from your teeth, then the wine is highly tannic. If, on the other hand, you don't get much in the way of a bitter or drying sensation, the wine is low in tannin. 

Discussion Post: In the video for this update, Madeline Puckette listed off a few other things we see or eat that also have tannin. Do a little research of your own and share another food item you are familiar with that also has tannin. What about eating or drinking that item could tell you it has tannins? For example, in the video Madeline Puckette says that apple skins have tannins in them (Puckette, 2018, 1:39). To me, apple skins can be very bitter. That bitterness is probably because of the tannins in the skins.

Journal Entry: At home, brew four cups of green tea. In the first cup, steep the tea for 30 seconds. In the second, steep the tea for 1 minute. In the third, steep the tea for 3 minutes. In the final cup, steep the tea for 10 minutes. Record how each cup makes your mouth feel after swallowing, but be sure to leave some tea in each cup. After you taste the cups with only green tea in them, add one teaspoon of half and half or cream. Record how each cup feels in your mouth after the addition of the cream. Write a journal entry comparing the effect of the tea on your palate as you taste each cup, as well as how the addition of cream changed the sensations experienced with just the tea. How might the difference between the first cup of tea and the last influence your purchasing decisions with wine in the future? Considering the difference in the tea after adding the cream, how would buying a wine specifically for a dinner with a lot of fatty foods change your buying decision?

Puckette, M. (2015). Wine: From the Lightest to the Strongest. https://winefolly.com/tips/the-lightest-to-the-strongest-wine/

Aside from water, alcohol is the most plentiful structural element in wine. It's no surprise then that alcohol tends to be the element that the other portions of the wine are adjusted to acommodate. Wine ranges, as seen in the infographic above, from less than 10% alcohol to up to 16% alcohol in table wines. Anything more than 16% alcohol is usually classified as a fortified wine, such as port. We won't be discussing fortified wine in this course, so we will focus on the wines ranging from 10%-16% alcohol. 

Historically, alcohol was what made wine as plentiful and wide spread as it is today. In ancient times, water was vastly unsafe to drink. As such, any refreshment had to come with some amount of alcohol in it to kill any possibly harmful bacteria. As we saw in the lesson on sugar content, the production of alcohol comes from yeast consuming sugar and leaving behind alcohol in its wake. Yeast is literally all around us, including in the air of a vineyard and on the skins of grapes. All that needs to be done to start the production of alcohol for wine is to break the grape skins and give the yeasts access to the sugary juice inside the grape. In modern days, this process is more tightly controlled to ensure the production of the right flavors during fermentation, but historically wine was one of the easiest alcoholic beverages to make. 

In terms of the structure of a wine, alcohol on it's own gives a sensation of heat on the palate and in the chest. However, alcohol also factors into the other aromas and flavors of a wine. Some flavor components are enhanced by alcohol, like the sensation of pepper. Meanwhile, some components of wine can be stifled by high amounts of alcohol, like delicate floral aromas. In the end, the balance of alcohol with other sturctural elements of a wine is essential to the overall taste of a wine. Leaving more sugar in a wine with high alcohol, for example, can help to temper some of the "heat" that a high alcohol wine can have. Conversely, a low alcohol wine with sugar needs to have a high acidity in order to balance the flavors. Lacky Blisson, MW goes over some of the indications of higher or lower alcohol in wines in the video below:

Blisson, J. [Jacky Blisson, MW] (Nov 8, 2018). Mastering Wine: Role of Alcohol in Wine [Video.] YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0X8EnyKvaQ

Discussion Post: Below is an infographic illustrating the different sizes of alcoholic beverages all containing one "standard" drink. In theory, if you are drinking one 12 ounce beer which is 5% alcohol, that drink has the same amount of pure alcohol as a 1.5 ounce shot of a 40% alcohol vodka.

Indiana University: Division of Student Affairs. (2020). Alcohol Awareness: Party Smarter. https://alcohol.iupui.edu/party-smarter/index.html

Considering this, reflect on your past experience with each type of beverage in the graphic. What differences did you see between drinking the light beer and the liquor? How about the difference between drinking a regular beer versus a craft beer? Did you notice the difference in alcohol concentration? If so, how could you tell?

Final Project: For your final project, you will revisit the wines you wrote about in your first journal entry in lesson 1. Taste all of the wines to evaluate their structure. Make notes as you go. Then, in the Creator section of CGScholar, write a thorough evaluation of all four wines in terms of the structural elements of sugar, acid, alcohol, and tannin. Use quotes from your own updates as well as the content of the course to substantiate your claims. Finally, evaluate what made you think of the wines you chose as "dry" or "sweet" prior to taking the course. Would you still consider those terms to be approriate for the wines in question? If not, what could be better terms for the wines?

For the final project, you will be reviewed and will be reviewing the analysis of your peers. The review will follow the rubric below:

Final Project Rubric

So, what do these structural elements actually mean for wine drinking and tasting? We've touched before on the importance of balance in a wine. If a wine has too much sugar without the acidity or alcohol to balance it out, it will be cloyingly sweet. If a wine has too much alcohol without enough sugar to balance it out, then all you will be able to taste is the alcohol. Each of the four structural elements we have discussed need to balance each other out to make a pleasurable wine and allow the aromas of the wine to come through without overshadowing them. 

Below are two videos from the experts we have seen throughout the course and how they approach tasting wine. Though they are primarily focusing on flavors and aromas, make sure to note their focus on the structural elements we have seen so far. 

Puckette, M. [Wine Folly] (Aug 8, 2018). Wine Folly: How To Taste Wine (Ep.3) [Video.] YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrUwjq6daCQ

Blisson, J. [Jacky Blisson, MW] (Oct 17, 2018). Mastering Wine: How to Taste Wine Like a Geek! [Video.] YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ng_0cMmZQM&list=PLFtVHtOHWyA9TnGaMTEne8Cw0gl8avwIG

Now that you can better understand the basic structural elements of a wine, you can be more informed in your purchasing decisions as well. If you have realized that you enjoy a wine that is high acid, low in tannin, and with no perceptable sweetness; try going into your local liquor store and asking the sales associate for help finding a dry, crisp, white wine or a dry, crisp, low tannin red wine that you've never tried before. Or perhaps read through some of the wine descriptions written by professionals that stores like to post. Pick out one that you don't recognize but the description sounds appealing to you.

Discussion Post: How do you think you might apply the knowledge you gained during this course? 

Final Project Peer Reviews: You have been assigned one of your peer's final projects to review. Use the rubric to give feedback to your peer about the wine evaluation they submitted. Be supportive but honest. If they missed an element in their review, they may have only a partial picture of what the wine is like. Then, pick one of the wines which he or she reviewed. Write up your own evalutation of the wine for your peer to compare to his or her own evalutation. If you cannot find the same wine in your area, contact the instructor for a suitable replacement.

As a reminder, the reviews should follow the following rubric for review criteria:

Final Project Rubric