When I read a wine tasting note with the ‘jammy’ descriptor, it generally implies a negative connotation for me even if the review is positive. I guess for me it implies big, syrupy fruit. Perhaps that’s because I really like syrahs but don’t like the big, sweet, syrupy syrahs (e.g. Mollydooker-style) that seem almost guaranteed to invoke the use of the term ‘jammy’ to describe the fruit. However, I also see the word ‘jammy’ used to describe wines that I have liked too, so I’m perplexed and wonder whether the appropriate use of the terminology has gotten lost in translation somehow.
So, what does ‘jammy’ mean to you in a tasting note? Do you see it as a good thing or not? Are there certain varietals that should have ‘jammy’ fruit and some that shouldn’t?
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It means the fruit takes as if it’s been cooked, as in jam or pie. The flavors are changed by cooking, just as they evolve depending on the degree of ripeness. Raspberry jam tastes different than fresh raspberries. For me, jammy is distinct from candied, as in cherry candy cough drops.
People who like that flavor profile don’t use the descriptor, so in that sense I guess it’s a negative because it tends to be used by people who prefer a different style. But I think the meaning is relatively objective, since we’re all familiar with the flavor of jam.
I would disagree with the idea that folks who like that don’t use that: the first person I every heard use that was local lumber slinger James Orr and he used it as a superlative for sure.
Plus, in the store, many people ASK for “jammy” wines.
Big fruit with low tannins. If there is enough acidity on the finish that would put such wines closer to the favorable jammy profile. Party wine…not food friendly.
I read “jammy” as over extracted and “hot”. Usually accompanied by high alcohol levels.
very sweet cooked fruit as opposed to fresh and lively fruit.
That’s reading a lot into it and trying to make one word represent the entirety of the wine. I think John is closer to what I think of when I hear jammy. It makes you think of berry jam. Pretty simple actually.
All jam is not cooked, btw. We make freezer jam from various berries each year that is bright and fresh tasting.
Thats a bit pendantic. 99% or more of jam is cooked so I think there is a clear conotation of being cooked with the adjective.
What John said. Not necessarily a bad thing depending on the wine. If there are some tart components to offset the big jammy fruit flavors you start to have a very interesting wine.
It may tend to go with the structural qualities you and Nancy identify, Carlos, but I think it has a more precise meaning referring to the type of fruit flavors. (There are some jams, like marmelade and gooseberry than be quite acidic.) As I said, some wines have a candied fruit, some have dried fruits. I love jam, and in the right wine – a zin, say, – raspberry or blackberry jam is good.
This is my interpretation, too – big, sweet fruit.
And just because fruit jam in usually cooked, I don’t think those who use the term (R. Parker, for example) necessarily mean cooked fruit flavors.
Most customers asking for “jammy” seem to mean VERY fruit forward with low acid and tannins and a literal thickness in texture…like jam.
Jammy to me means I’m not going to like it and should avoid buying it.
first thing that comes to my mind when i think of or encounter “jammy” in wine is, over-ripe fruit, as in, been hung too long. think of eating an over-ripe raspberry. yuk. such wines i refer to as “slamma-jamma ding-dongs.”
Echoing others - cooked and concentrated RIPE fruit. The opposite of delineated and subtle.
This is it for me, including the texture/mouthfeel.