Following Philippe

Buttery

One of the phrases that gets used by oenophiles when describing wines is "buttery." This is a descriptor that has confused me for a long time, but after drinking a glass of a Robert Mondavi Merlot a few weeks ago while out for dinner, I believe I am finally getting a bit of a handle on the phrase.

When wine connoisseurs describe a wine as buttery, my understanding is they're describing a combination of the flavour and the texture, which comes from the fermentation process when oak barrels are used -- or more specifically, when pieces of oak are put in the fermenting wine. The Mondavi certainly had a touch of buttery flavour and texture, leading me to believe that during fermentation, oak chips (or something similar) were put in the wine.

While I'm not one hundred percent sure if my interpretation of the process of creating a buttery wine is correct or not, I am fairly sure that I have finally discovered a wine that is buttery.

Or maybe I'm an uneducated fool. A little bit of research has led me to believe that most buttery wines are white wines. However, according to the most recent issue of the Nat Decants Newsletter, buttery is a term often associated with Californian wines -- and Mondavi is a well-known Californian.

posted by Chris @ 12:53 PM