Designation for the taste or overall impression of a wine in the context of a wine address. This is mainly used for red wines that have a full, round and juicy fruit taste (blueberries, blackberries, cassis, raspberries, cherries). They are characterized by mild tannins, other typical red wine notes of leather, coffee or tobacco are less pronounced. From the 1990s, such wines, often made from the preferred varieties Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah, have become popular because they cover a wide range of consumer tastes.
They are especially popular overseas, where they are vinified using methods that are sometimes only permitted there. By adding oenological tannins also in liquid form (forbidden in the EU), which tastes softer, the drying wood tannin is replaced. Likewise, essences (also banned within the EU) are added to make the wine softer, rounder, sweeter-fruity, chocolatier and more vanilla-like. A technique that is also common and allowed in Europe is cryomaceration (cold maceration), but it is not without controversy.
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Thorsten Rahn
Restaurantleiter, Sommelier, Weindozent und Autor; Dresden