Aromatic Grape Varieties- random thoughts and further queries

Hi everyone,

Yesterday, I opened a 2017 Porter Bass Pinot Noir (TN here: TN: 2017 Porter Bass Pinot Noir - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers), and the smell of the wine filled the room from the moment the cork was pulled. Bam! It was really lovely. The word that came to mind immediately was “aromatic”.

But that got me thinking about aromatic grape varieties, and I realized that all varieties I know of that are typically described as aromatic are white: Sauvignon Blanc, Gewürztraminer, Riesling, Muscat, Viognier, etc. I’ve never heard of an aromatic red grape. I’ve certainly never heard Pinot Noir described that way.

That got me wondering about what makes a grape aromatic. A bit of googling revealed that the responsible class of compounds are terpenes. A chemistry nerd aside: looking at the chemical structure of terpenes shows that they have alternating single and double carbon-carbon bonds, which makes a compound “aromatic” from a chemical point of view. That means terpenes are both chemically aromatic in terms of bond structure, and colloquially aromatic since they have a strong smell. Interesting. Most chemically aromatic compounds are colloquially aromatic, but many colloquially aromatic compounds are not chemically aromatic. OK, chemistry digression over.

First of all, is it really true that a high level of terpenes is the only criterion for an aromatic grape variety? Seems like there should be other compounds responsible as well. Are terpenes really so dominant over other compounds in determining the overall smell of a wine? And why do we not talk about aromatic red grapes- do terpene concentrations differ between red and white?

I also wonder if, conversely, a lack of terpenes is what makes a grape “neutral”, the classic example of course being Chardonnay. According to an article in Decanter “The total concentration of monoterpenes in Muscat and Torrontes wines were about four times greater than in Gewürztraminer wines, six times greater than in Riesling and Viognier wines, and over 30 times greater than in Chardonnay and Pinot Gris”.

Thanks!
Noah

It seems red varieties that are more aromatic aren’t considered serious. The same is somewhat true with white grapes, with even the greatest varieties having a lot of people who object to them.

With reds, I think some of the problem is winemaking. In that, I mean with old school winemaking they can start fading quickly without much age, or even before release. Some seem a bit deficient in one thing or other, as if they were treasured for their aromatics - that’s backed up by many being used as a tiny percentage of a field blend, so they contributed “just enough” pretty aromatics without standing out, and the wine is stable from the other grapes’ properties. Some have been traditionally used for sweet wines, which helps preserve the aromatics. There’s a few in the Piemonte. You can find some particularly good lightly sparkling Brachetto for cheap. it’s like a good, red version of Moscato di Asti. Dry, still versions I’ve had have been a little flat and faded. Ruche is another, but it seems more stable, though I doubt it would age well. I gather those two are traditionally served as special occasion celebratory wines, though other uses, like brunch come to mind. (Black Muscat is a 19th century cross that spread broadly throughout Europe as a blending grape. It’s a dead ringer aromatically for Bracchetto. I made a dry one (with a little blending for just enough tannic backbone) and it paired wonderfully with Burmese food.)

Grignolino is another, and it does have the substance to age well. There are some excellent Italian versions. Heitz made it until recently. Earlier versions seemed a bit much rose petal - too concentrated, so pithy and astringent. More recent ones seemed like they solved that by hanging a heavier crop. One vintage was stunning. The rose I had was nearly as good as the better red and far superior to the other.

Maybe the most well rounded is Touriga Nacional. It’s not over-the-top in aroma, but there’s a lot there, as well as everything else you’d want in a grape to both show well on release and age forever.

Something I’ve noticed anecdotally is a lot of grapes show optimal aromatics before they are otherwise optimally ripe. That makes sense because these are the most volatile aromatic compounds, and their purpose in nature is to attract birds from miles away to where they were growing in forest canopies. (On a side note, birds and bees have strong preferences for some varieties over others. Fiano and Black Muscat, for sure.) These compounds dissipate with hang time and during fermentation and barrel aging. So, the puzzle to solve is balancing how to retain as much aromatics while making a wine that isn’t too punishing on the palate. A lot of Italian wines made for the Italian market are more aromatic and harsher in the mouth than French. It’s a good trade-off if you have them with food that tones down the tannin and acid. But, that’s a traditional rustic thing, no longer necessary. I think there’s some market for light aromatic reds that are best consumed within 6 months of release. Seems like a dangerous prospect, business-wise, going too heavy on something like that. The covid disruption knocking out restaurant sales, for example.

Carbonic maceration is a good way to bring out more aromatics (it creates new precursor compounds the yeast act on). Set aside the bad ones dominate by bubble-gum and banana - that was from a terrible yeast choice. You can go full carbonic, which is in a closed vessel, then press and let the wine finish fermenting and age in stainless. So, you can avoid harsh extraction and maximize aromatics. If you’re in the harsh zone (or other reasons) you can do a very gentle whole cluster ferm, so a large portion of the berries remain intact and there’s just enough juice to cover the must. The stems will raise the pH. You can press early enough to avoid harsh extraction, then out it into stainless to retain aromatics.

Fermenting in concrete tanks holds onto aromatics well. A gentle destemmer that doesn’t break open too many berries also helps.

Also, I noticed a lot of the American hybrid and native grapes my friend made when he was at Terre Vox were particularly aromatic, and quite unique/distinct and attractive. Many (not all) were quite light bodied due to early picking/low ABV. Fascinating stuff.

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A few things.

First of all, while Touriga Nacional is wonderfully perfumed in its own right, I don’t think it’s considered to be an aromatic grape variety. Same with Grignolino. There are also some wonderfully perfumed red varieties in Greece, like Mandilaria, Mavrotragano and Moschomavro. However, I think only Moschomavro is officially considered to be an aromatic grape variety. With white grape varieties it seems more clear-cut which grape varieties are aromatic and which aren’t, whereas there seems to be more gray ground with red varieties.

Secondly, Ruchè does age wonderfully. Perhaps not the cheapest and most unpretentious bottlings, but a well-made Ruchè can age remarkably well at least for a couple of decades. And the more serious Ruchè wines are consumed locally similarly to any other serious reds, not as some special occasion reds. They’re quite similar to more serious Grignolino wines, but often showing more aromatic character.

Other than that, I pretty much agree with all the rest. I think it’s true that most of the red aromatic varieties don’t seem to make very serious or ageworthy reds. However, they can add some wonderful aromatic lift when blended into more structured wines.

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What do you mean when you write that something “is officially considered to be an aromatic grape variety”? What is the relevant officialdom? How do those officials discriminate, as you suggest they do, between ‘perfumed’ and ‘aromatic’?

There is no true officialdom, but as Noah wrote, when speaking of “aromatic” grape varieties, normally the term is used to refer to varieties with atypically high levels of terpenes - the class of compounds that make the wine smell of roses, lychees and/or musky flowers. To my understanding Ruchè and Brachetto are such kinds of varieties, but Touriga Nacional or Grignolino are not - although it might be that I’ve missed out on some information or then there hasn’t been made much research into the chemical makeup of these varieties.

However, there is no question that varieties like Touriga Nacional or Grignolino wouldn’t have a very distinctive aroma profile. But then again, so do varieties like Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon, yet nobody is listing these varieties as “aromatic varieties”.

Clearly there are chemical differences between grapes; also winemaking can make a significant difference.

That being said, I’m not sure why it’s surprising to the OP that a Pinot had robust aromatics.

Perhaps I missed it above, but has Lacrima been mentioned? Right up there with the most aromatic red winegrape varieties I’m familiar with.

You want terpenes? Tet my new Malvasia Bianca!

Some great points made - the process from beginning to end with most red winemaking tends to minimize many aromatic compounds that may be present in the grape at harvest. Open top ferments or pumpovers; warmer fermentation temperatures; aging in oak vs stainless steel; new or newer oak vs truly neutral oak; longer elevage for reds then whites most of the time - ALL of these factors are important to consider.

Cheers.

These are definitely key processes which a winemaker needs to remember if they want to retain all the aromatic qualities of annaromatic variety! Be they terpenes or other fragrant chemical compounds.

However, one can’t make a non-aromatic variety into an aromatic one with them.

And that Malvasia is really a weird thing! Malvasia Bianca is known to be a very neutral, bland and uninteresting variety, yet I’ve had several US Malvasias that have been anything but! I wonder if there has been some sort of mix-up, ie. the Malvasia known as Malvasia Bianca in the US is not the variety commonly known as Malvasia Bianca everywhere else? (I’m thinking of Malvasia di Candia Aromatica, known simply as “Malvasia” in northern Italy but is known to be a very aromatic variety, making distinctively floral wines).

I doubt that simply with just winemaking processes a winemaker would be able to transform a neutral, bland variety into something so distinctively aromatic.

I will tell you that the grape itself ‘tastes’ aromatic in the same way muscat and Gewurztraminer do . . .unlike any other white varieties that I’ve previously worked with.

Cheers.