The Fruit in the Wine

This Autumn's Quinces

It fascinates me that so many different fruit aromas and tastes should be present in wine. After all, it is merely grape juice fermented, perhaps with added sugar and a bit of oak flavouring, but there is so much more in the best wines, that is, wines made of grapes grown in the right place by people who take great care of what they do. Fruity aromas in white wines are extremely diverse - citrus, apple, quince, peach, apricot, pineapple, mango, passion fruit, becoming more and more tropical depending on the grape or the degree of exposure to strong sunlight and high temperatures. This is possible because of the complex chemistry of wine, which combines hundreds of different compounds in a myriad ways to give the heady  nose of the very best wines. The grape variety itself contributes a sort of signature but can express itself in a multitude of different ways. Very often the concentration of the compound or compounds producing the effect is only a few microgrammes per litre ! This is why wine is so fascinating. It has potentially the ability to be unique - of its place, of its maker, of its season...It is for this reason that as much as possible one should seek out the original and not the generic.

Of course there is more than fruit in the wine. Other aromas and tastes can evolve just as miraculously and range from the herbal, to the floral, mineral, animal etc, often evolving as the wine matures and ages.  This diversity is not confined to white wines; red and rosé and sweet or botrytised wines have their own flavour and aroma profiles and a myriad of combinations of these. There is simply too much to mention unless you write a book about it - and not to worry these books already exist.

To my mind the best thing is to simply enjoy.