Low acidity, dry, but not super-dry wine?

I’m in kind of a strange position (I think from lessening my weekly consumption) where I’ve kind of lost my taste for dry Bordeaux but am really grossed out by about 95% of fruity Cali wine. My go-to is always Italian, mostly Piedmont, but I know that my “highest of highs” have definitely been with lower-acidity, French wine. Basically, if I was in a random wine cellar with hundreds of bottles and had to pick one bottle at random that I was most likely to enjoy, I would go Italian every time, but if I was to pick my favorite, I would go French. But for whatever reason, it’s just too dry to me at the moment. Has anyone been in a similar situation? I have tried some Grenache and Beaujolais wines but they have been too fruity for me as well. Fruit forward in general seems to be a big turnoff, is there some sort of slightly less dry wine that has the fruit at the backend rather than the front? I’ve also tried some Cote Rotie but they came across as just OK, nothing special (though much better than Grenache-based wines). NA or Australian Syrah have come across as undrinkable fruit bombs.

Your go-to wines are Italians, primarily from Piedmont, but you are looking for low acid reds? That sort of seems odd. What makes you think you like wines with low acidity?

Acidity doesn’t translate to dryness for me. More so it’s tannin that’s the culprit.

Lack of sugar and less ripeness of fruit translates to dryness. Tannins might make the mouth feel dry, but that’s astringency, not dryness.

However, both high acidity and prominent tannins do balance out sweetness, so a wine higher in acidity and/or tannins can make a wine appear dry even with some residual sugar.

I do agree that it really doesn’t make sense liking low-acid wines and drinking Italian wines - let alone ones from Piedmont - since Italian wines are known for their high acidity.

can you give an example of some wines you’ve liked recently that shaped your description? those mean different things to different people I would say. also, do you want examples of only reds?

my first suggestion would be to look to pinots from Burgundy and willamette. it sounds to me like really what you’re not loving right now is really astringent wines, so looking for something that is earthy (like Bordeaux and nebbiolo) but without as much drying tannin might be a good sweet spot. especially since I agree with others, I wouldnt really consider any of the wines of Piedmont low acid, and only more modern Bordeaux would I say fit that description

Fino Jerez and Manzanilla are low-acid, dry white wines, although lightly fortified to what might be called “contemporary” table-wine strength (typically about 15%). Whether they are “super-dry” I would leave to your tasting.

Try Domaine Gauby, or a lean vintage CdP from Charvin. Perhaps that Grenache won’t be too fruity.

I don’t get it. How is acidity tied to dryness??

Sounds like a need for well aged old world wines. Rioja? Top Cru Beaujolais?

Hi, i think if you listed a couple things you’ve liked recently that would help us help you.

I think it’s the perceived acidity he’s talking about. Most modern Piedmont wines have enough fruit to cover most of the acidity, so it still isn’t the dominant characteristic.

The new vintage in Burgundy, 2017 might also suit you. Bertheau’s Chambolle Musigny is a board favorite. Hubert Lignier’s Bourgogne’s are classy too.

Would also say it’s worth to keep trying Cote Rotie from 2016 especially.

+1 on Rioja. If you liked Bordeaux but are now craving something a little softer, pick up some Reservas with 10-15 years on them and go from there.

What I meant is that I nearly always enjoy high acidity Italian wine, but that my absolute favorites have been less acidic wines. The “ceiling” for my enjoyment of high acidity reds is lower but the floor is much higher.

Maybe a good analogy would be that broadly speaking I enjoy far more punk bands than I do electronic music, but when I look at my favorite artists overall, there are more electronic music names in the top 20 than punk. If I were forced to pick at random an artist to listen to for an hour, I would want a punk band, because I like more of that genre percentage wise. But now I’m asking for recommendations for artists like electronic music group X, because they’re my real favorite, despite me being way pickier in that genre overall. So punk = high acidity wine, electronic music = low acidity wine. Does that make sense?

My favorites in terms of lower acidity wines have all been Haut Medoc Bordeaux, but currently I find it just too dry. My tolerance for dry wines goes up a lot when the wine is very acidic (i.e. Piedmont)

Here’s a barmy question for the scholars: doesn’t low acidity usually mean riper fruit?

my “highest of highs” have definitely been with lower-acidity, French wine

I don’t think the OP makes any sense. Maybe there’s a confusion regarding the terminology?

“Dry” means it has little to no residual sugar. “Acidity” is measurable but what you perceive as acidity and what the pH actually is aren’t necessarily related in any way.

“Fruit” is sometimes perceived as sweet, even when there is little to no sugar, because we’re used to thinking of fruit in those terms.

A great example of a low-acidity French wine would be a flabby Grenache from the south. A good Beaujolais of a recent vintage will have plenty of acidity and may also be fruity. If you had a young nouveau Beaujolais, that’s different as those are usually done by carbonic maceration, which gives the fruit a bigger role.

But the OP is confusing and I don’t understand the punk reference.

There’s a strong correlation, as sugar increasing and acidity decreasing progress with time (and other factors, so they aren’t linear functions), but there are some unusual disparities… Grape variety and site can make huge differences.