I’ve always assumed the darker the colour of a red wine, the better it will be, until someone I met recently disputed this. What’s the truth?
—J.M., Ballarat, VIC
Well, Penfolds Grange is certainly dark, and so are a lot of highly rated reds around the world. Argentina’s famous malbec can be as black as night; so can Rutherglen durif. But pinot noir is one of the lightest-coloured red grapes and it can produce some of the world’s best-regarded wines – especially in Burgundy, where nearly all red wines are pinot noir. Nebbiolo also tends to be less dark and is responsible for the great red wines of Piedmont: Barolo and Barbaresco.
Colour depth in red wine is, first and foremost, a function of grape variety, but the way the wine is made, and where the grapes are grown, also have an effect.
In pinot noir, a very dark colour is a warning sign, quite the opposite of a positive quality indicator. It often signifies a wine that has been over-extracted in the fermentation (so it will be tannic), or that the grapes were overripe (leading to staleness and portiness), or that too much oak was used – either too many new barrels or too much time in them (oak tends to “fix” the colour of red wines).
So a lighter-coloured nebbiolo or pinot noir isn’t necessarily a lesser wine; it simply contains less pigment from the grape skin, which determines the wine’s colour.
A pale shiraz or cabernet sauvignon, on the other hand, is rarely outstanding; these are, typically, darker-coloured wines. That said, shiraz grown in a cool climate, such as Tasmania, tends to be a little lighter than shiraz grown in a warm place, such as McLaren Vale or the Barossa Valley.
These days, it’s fashionable to ferment pinot noir or shiraz as whole bunches, including the stems, to add complexity. Stems release potassium into the wine and this tends to make the young wine’s colour a little lighter and less purple. Deep colour is more common in young reds; they lighten as they age.
It’s only natural that we judge a book by its cover – the appearance of a wine can influence our reaction to it – but it can be seriously misleading.
Got a drinks question for Huon Hooke? thefullbottle@goodweekend.com.au
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