As I mentioned in my previous post, we wanted to have a tasting of wine with distinct differences. So we ended up focusing on the concentration part of the wine.
At first, I thought that’s pretty easy, I thought it’s about the concentration of flavour, whether it is weak or powerful. However, as Vincent W explained to me, it’s not exactly that; one wine could have stronger or bolder flavour, but with less concentration than another one. It is like the concentration of juice made from frozen orange juice; the more water we have, the less concentration the orange juice becomes.
However, that is not quite a good analogy, as water is not part of any wine making process. I continued to press, so are we talking about the concentration of the grape itself? Is it like talking about “concentration” of the orange (for fresh-squeeze OJ)? It’s like trying to say how much is stuffed inside an orange, stuff like seeds, pulp, juice, or even the skin.
Some other terms came to my mind, such as the body (as in weight, light like skim milk, heavy like cream), or depth (as in complexity, like deep or shallow, of layers of flavor) I would think depth (or complexity) is closer to what Vincent means by concentration, just amount of stuff in the wine. With that in mind, I wonder if a blend wine (with a mix of different grapes) will give more “stuff” because of different flavors coming from multiple kinds of grapes.
In our tasting, the 3 wines were Cabernet Franc, Syrah, and Shiraz. We all agree that Cabernet Franc was the least concentrated, and the Shiraz was the most concentrated. But then I think we were really thinking about the strength of flavor, and in this case, it’s really a no-brainer. Australian Shiraz is always bold and strong in flavor.
I do think concentration (or depth) is an attribute for more advanced drinkers to discuss. With me having tasted so little of wine, I still need to learn to tell just what kind of flavor I can taste from one wine. Or, as many wine writers say, not to think too much, just drink and enjoy the wine.
