LARDY'S WINETASTING NOTES Technical Information
Technical Notes - The date of tasting where shown is year-month-day. Pricing information is at the date of tasting shown, size is 750 ml unless stated otherwise. When "LCBO" is followed by a number, this is the number that you would ask for at the LCBO. These will also be available at winery stores as well. Such availability is again at the tasting date. If it says winery, the wine is available only at the winery (or by direct VQA delivery to licensees where eligible). If "Winery" is underlined, this will link directly to the winery website where it can be purchased. Sugar, acid, alcohol, oak and tannin information is detailed below. VQA status is shown where known by the VQA logo.
Acidity Sugar Alcohol Tannin Oak
Linking Information on specific tasting notes:
Acidity in this wine database is expressed where available as grams of tartaric acid per litre. In general terms, white wines will normally have higher acidity than reds, and dessert wines will often have the highest levels of all. A wine with more than 8 grams per litre can cause an upset stomach or burning sensation in susceptible people. A wine with 6 grams is considerably softer. As acid increases, a wine tastes "cleaner", more "refreshing", "sharper", more "fruity", less
sweet. As acid decreases, a wine tastes "softer", "smoother", "easier", sweeter. It is a matter of personal taste. The numbers in this database (where supplied) should give one more piece of information about how it will taste. Acidity is sensed most noticeably on the sides of your tongue.
It should also be noted that acidity in wine can work with and against the sugar in the wine to produce a balanced flavour. Think of lemonade. Also, the warmer the wine is served, the less acidic (and more sweet) it will taste. You cannot know how sweet or sour a wine will taste without taking into consideration the sugar, acidity and serving temperature... Acid will make your mouth salivate, and your tongue will react at the sides and on the top. Cool climate wines tend to have refreshing natural acidity, which is what makes them so good with food. The acidity in the wine cleanses the palate between bites and makes the food taste better.
Sugar is expressed in this database as a percentage (or in some cases as a descriptive term). Where the winery provided more detailed information, a decimal has been included. 10 grams of sugar in one litre of wine is a 1 % solution. Therefore, anything from 5 to 14.99 grams would be listed as 1% (or 0.8, 1.3 etc). From 15 to 24.99 grams would be 2%. See the comments on acidity above for important information on how sweet a wine will taste. You simply can't tell by looking at the sugar levels alone. Sugar is detected at the front of your tongue.
In this database, alcohol is expressed as a percentage by volume. Where provided, a decimal has been included. The higher the alcohol, the heavier and fuller the wine will taste, and the sweeter. It will also taste "hotter". For those who are concerned about diet and calories, be aware that the alcohol content is as important as the sugar. It takes about 1.8 % sugar in the raw juice to make 1% alcohol in the finished wine (estimated). So a wine that is 11% alcohol and 2% sugar is probably lower in calories than a 13% alcohol, 0% sugar wine. Alcohol is felt all over the mouth as weight, and tasted at the tip of your tongue as sweetness.
This database does not measure the dry weight of the tannin levels in the wine, but where tannins are mentioned, think of tea. Tea is a tannic liquid. A mouthful of tannic young red wine will leave you with the sensation that you just took an aspirin with no liquid to wash it down. Your teeth will feel furry, your whole mouth will feel astringent. If you are looking to identify tannin, try making a cup of strong tea and putting it in the fridge. You will soon know the taste/feel of tannin. Try swishing a wine between your upper teeth and inside lip. When it feels furry, you have a tannic wine. Tannin and acid are often confused - tannin leaves your mouth dry, acid leaves your mouth watering. Both have a "bitter" taste.
Oak (from the tree) is a substance that is often but not always used to flavour a wine. A fruity tasting wine will often have no oak influence, and a heavily oaked wine is unlikely to have a fruity taste.
Oak influence can range from an undetectable level to "Chateau Two by Four". Many less knowledgable winedrinkers equate the taste of heavy oak with quality. Oak should be used the same way that salt or garlic would be with food - as an element that brings out the other flavours in the wine while contributing a flavour of its own. It should not taste like a clove of garlic, a pinch of salt, or, indeed, a mouthful of wood.
Oak flavouring diminishes essential fruitiness. The correct level for a wine is that amount of wood exposure that enhances the other flavours without overmatching the fruit inherent in the particular wine. This is a very tough call for the winemaker, with the best grapes, usually the smallest crops, standing more oak treatment than the fruit from bigger crops.
In the end, it is a matter of personal taste. But much of the traffic in international wine is designed to put high oak, high alcohol and some residual sugar into wines to make them taste soft, sweet and intoxicating. Clever marketing, but not great wine...
Read the wine descriptions, look at the technical information at the top. If a wine is described as oaky, tannic, 13% alcohol it will be a "big" wine. If it is described as fruity, 11% alcohol, 8 grams of acid, 2% sugar you have an entirely different beast - a light off-dry refresher.
If you put the information on the sheet together with the written description, you should soon be on your way to finding the wines you like, and using them where they shine through most clearly.
Enjoy!!!! lfw Dec 8, 2004.
Clicking on the item to the left will take you to the description on the right:
"Lardy's Winetasting Notes": to the homepage for the winetasting database
"Type of Wine": to an information page about this type of wine
Rotating Barrel Logo: to the next page in this database
Winery Logo: to the Winery Internet site or email address
Vintage & Winetype (eg 2000 Chardonnay): to the winery homepage in this database
OVA Logo: to the 
Ontario Viniculture Association Website.
VQA Logo: to the 
Vintner's Quality Alliance Website.
Quality Certified Fruit Wine Logo: to the 
Fruit Wines of Ontario website
"Tech Information": to this page
Pictures of or links to specific tasters: to their page in the database, or website
ACIDITY IN WINE
SUGAR IN WINE
ALCOHOL IN WINE
TANNIN IN WINE
OAK IN WINE
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER