The Relationship between Wine Color and Flavor
Blue and red rooms positively influence the wine drinking experience concluded a recent scientific study*, but the subject of wine color itself is rarely explored beyond a cursory mention of hue and depth. Such perfunctory descriptions may be fashionable in conventional wine speak, but wine color has a greater story to tell since it is often indicative of good flavor.
I like deeply colored red wines because they express ripe aromas, silky textures and a rich mouthfeel. In addition, there’s something gratifying about drinking darker wine.
Color evolves over time for any given wine. Most whites are pale straw upon release, then take on a golden hue with age. Reds lighten gradually, transitioning from dark red and purple to red brick, and in some instances, a blush red.
White wine color is usually a function of winemaking and cultural practices rather than grape variety. For example, a deep golden hue may result from the influence of barrel fermentation, prolonged aging in new barrels, or grape exposure to excessive sunlight (possibly too much leaf removal).
Grape skins are the dominant influence on red wine color. Young reds are showing even darker shades in recent years, and can be attributed to several factors:
• Improved cultural practices (deficit irrigation, optimum vine balancing, and dappled sunlight on fruit)
• Winemakers are using modern filtration methods such as cross-flow (with particles in suspension, unfiltered wine reflects more light than the same volume of filtered wine.)
• Better selection of rootstock and improved clones produce smaller berries, darker skins, and healthier vines.
• Gentler fruit handling during harvest and fermentation stabilizes color throughout the life of a wine.
Red wine color has been affected by changes in modern drinking habits: People are drinking riper and younger — hence darker — red wines today.
The correlation between wine color and flavor is quite evident in the cellar where workers taste at various stages of development, but anyone can acquire this awareness via a casual experiment. I suggest a collective blind tasting of three dry whites and three dry reds (all at the same temperature) to simply determine whether each is white or red based on taste alone, and thus demonstrate the importance of color in our enjoyment of wine.
If the old adage about first impressions is true, then wine color can certainly influence our perceptions. Color is usually the first thing people notice about wine, so there is every reason to believe it can make a lasting impression.
* Dr. Daniel Oberfeld-Twistel of the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany
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