homebrewer_99
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A blanket effect?
SMITH noted that stripping the wine of its upper register of tannin pushed the wine's fruit component into a newer, plumper role. Gallen noted that smoothing those tannins broadened the texture, but it also gave the impression that the wine had been muffled slightly, as if covered with a blanket.
The question ultimately became, how comfortable were we with the change?
Like Farrell, all of us in the room had tasted thousands of wines during our careers, and we had a healthy set of assumptions as to what a wine was supposed to taste like and when. A 2003 Cabernet from Washington State, a warm vintage from a warm place, was supposed to taste a little tannic; what did it mean to strip the wine of this marker, even if that marker wasn't to everyone's taste?
Graves was perhaps the most resistant. "I bring a sommelier's bias to gizmos in general," she said. But that wasn't her only objection; she worried that it would encourage American impatience. People would turn to the BevWizard, she worried, for instant age on wines that may not be ready to drink.
"If it makes people pour wines before they're ready, just because they can, I take pause," Graves explained. "There's no need to cellar your Barolo, because suddenly you have this thing that makes it soft and round and approachable."
But Greene, a retailer, disagreed; this sort of device wasn't going to appeal to the average Barolo drinker, who knows the pleasure of cellaring wine — "the thrill of delay," as Graves put it. But it would be perfect for the casual wine drinker who wasn't crazy about tannins.
"I've got lots of customers who come in and ask for smooth wines, without that 'bite' common in California Cabernet or Petite Sirah," he said. "A thing like this that rounds out the edges would have a loyal following."
Greene, who, like many people in the wine industry, once worked in the music industry, made an elegant comparison. "It's like CDs," he said. "Compact discs are basically a 'mid-fi' format — not the best fidelity for hearing music. But they got people to enjoy music again."
Farrell, who was remarkably impassive as we hashed this out, decided then to pipe in. For whatever reason, he explained, the device was most effective on harsher, more obtrusive tannins, like those found in wines made with unripe fruit, or wines that used oak chips or staves for flavor. "This thing turns Two Buck Chuck into Six Buck Chuck," he said. Why not Twelve Buck? "I don't think so," he said.
Smaller tannins are more apt to be hard and very astringent and cover up pleasant, underlying flavors as they are negatively charged particles. Winemakers use a unique procedure called protein “fining”, whereby positively charged proteins, in the form of egg whites, are added to a drying, hard red wine to make it smoother, softer and fruitier. Such protein fining is performed on some of the best wines in the world. Similarly, many consumers perform a version of their own protein fining by adding positively charged proteins, such as milk or cream, to coffee, tea, or chocolate, which binds the protein to negatively charged tannins, making the beverages taste smoother.
Years of bottle ageing for high quality wines results in better quality and a silky mouth feel. Similarly, years of barrel ageing for top quality spirits improves their richness and mouth feel. During such years of bottle ageing of wine or barrel ageing for spirits, tannins will slowly bind together. Such larger tannins are much softer than small, hard tannins. Another technique to handle tannins is to let wine or spirits "breathe", or exposed to oxygen, such as decanting a bottle of wine several hours prior to serving. The small, hard tannins combine to form larger, softer tannins in a chemical reaction markedly accelerated by oxygen.
When these negatively charged tannins pass through the combination of aeration and a high-intensity magnetic field of the BevWizard enhancers, the tannins are encouraged to combine together. The process by which the magnetic field causes these chemical reactions is markedly increased with the simultaneous presence of oxygen. This results in a smoother, softer beverage, with more flavors, a less bitter and a longer finish.
The unique patented designs of the BevWizard Wine Enhancer and Spirits Enhancer is that of combining an aeration device with a powerful magnetic field. This combination instantly causes the hard, small tannins to bind together (polymerization), resulting in softer, larger tannins, which allow for the underlying flavors to emerge and delight the consumer!
SMITH noted that stripping the wine of its upper register of tannin pushed the wine's fruit component into a newer, plumper role. Gallen noted that smoothing those tannins broadened the texture, but it also gave the impression that the wine had been muffled slightly, as if covered with a blanket.
The question ultimately became, how comfortable were we with the change?
Like Farrell, all of us in the room had tasted thousands of wines during our careers, and we had a healthy set of assumptions as to what a wine was supposed to taste like and when. A 2003 Cabernet from Washington State, a warm vintage from a warm place, was supposed to taste a little tannic; what did it mean to strip the wine of this marker, even if that marker wasn't to everyone's taste?
Graves was perhaps the most resistant. "I bring a sommelier's bias to gizmos in general," she said. But that wasn't her only objection; she worried that it would encourage American impatience. People would turn to the BevWizard, she worried, for instant age on wines that may not be ready to drink.
"If it makes people pour wines before they're ready, just because they can, I take pause," Graves explained. "There's no need to cellar your Barolo, because suddenly you have this thing that makes it soft and round and approachable."
But Greene, a retailer, disagreed; this sort of device wasn't going to appeal to the average Barolo drinker, who knows the pleasure of cellaring wine — "the thrill of delay," as Graves put it. But it would be perfect for the casual wine drinker who wasn't crazy about tannins.
"I've got lots of customers who come in and ask for smooth wines, without that 'bite' common in California Cabernet or Petite Sirah," he said. "A thing like this that rounds out the edges would have a loyal following."
Greene, who, like many people in the wine industry, once worked in the music industry, made an elegant comparison. "It's like CDs," he said. "Compact discs are basically a 'mid-fi' format — not the best fidelity for hearing music. But they got people to enjoy music again."
Farrell, who was remarkably impassive as we hashed this out, decided then to pipe in. For whatever reason, he explained, the device was most effective on harsher, more obtrusive tannins, like those found in wines made with unripe fruit, or wines that used oak chips or staves for flavor. "This thing turns Two Buck Chuck into Six Buck Chuck," he said. Why not Twelve Buck? "I don't think so," he said.
Tannins, Magnets, Oxygen, and Taste
Tannins belong to the class of chemical compounds called polyphenols. Tannins and other polyphenols often cause a bitter, astringent sensation in the mouth and can cover up pleasant flavors, such as the fruit flavor in wine or juice, or the richness in coffee, tea, chocolate, or whiskey and other spirits. Tannins and similar polyphenols are found in many substances, especially in the skins and seeds of fruits and vegetables, as well as in the leaves of plants, such as tea leaves. There are also strong, astringent tannins in wood, such as those found in oak barrels, oak staves, and oak chips used to treat wine and spirits. These wood tannins cause both wine and spirits to have a harder, more bitter finish, and can obscure some of the underlying fruit flavors and richness.Smaller tannins are more apt to be hard and very astringent and cover up pleasant, underlying flavors as they are negatively charged particles. Winemakers use a unique procedure called protein “fining”, whereby positively charged proteins, in the form of egg whites, are added to a drying, hard red wine to make it smoother, softer and fruitier. Such protein fining is performed on some of the best wines in the world. Similarly, many consumers perform a version of their own protein fining by adding positively charged proteins, such as milk or cream, to coffee, tea, or chocolate, which binds the protein to negatively charged tannins, making the beverages taste smoother.
Years of bottle ageing for high quality wines results in better quality and a silky mouth feel. Similarly, years of barrel ageing for top quality spirits improves their richness and mouth feel. During such years of bottle ageing of wine or barrel ageing for spirits, tannins will slowly bind together. Such larger tannins are much softer than small, hard tannins. Another technique to handle tannins is to let wine or spirits "breathe", or exposed to oxygen, such as decanting a bottle of wine several hours prior to serving. The small, hard tannins combine to form larger, softer tannins in a chemical reaction markedly accelerated by oxygen.
When these negatively charged tannins pass through the combination of aeration and a high-intensity magnetic field of the BevWizard enhancers, the tannins are encouraged to combine together. The process by which the magnetic field causes these chemical reactions is markedly increased with the simultaneous presence of oxygen. This results in a smoother, softer beverage, with more flavors, a less bitter and a longer finish.
The unique patented designs of the BevWizard Wine Enhancer and Spirits Enhancer is that of combining an aeration device with a powerful magnetic field. This combination instantly causes the hard, small tannins to bind together (polymerization), resulting in softer, larger tannins, which allow for the underlying flavors to emerge and delight the consumer!
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