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Dennis Beacham
Dennis Beacham
Dennis Beacham is the expert ...Ask Dennis!
Dennis Beacham worked with wine and spirits importers and producers as an Account Executive in New York Advertising Agencies on a variety of wine and spirits accounts. He became a Brand Manager of wines and spirits brands for importers and producers of wines. As their U.S. representative, Dennis developed an appreciation and understanding of the passion of Italian, French and German winemakers who have been making wines for generations.
Dennis Beacham worked with wine and spirits importers and producers as an Account Executive in New York Advertising Agencies on a variety of wine and spirits accounts. He became a Brand Manager of wines and spirits brands for importers and producers of wines. As their U.S. representative, Dennis developed an appreciation and understanding of the passion of Italian, French and German winemakers who have been making wines for generations.
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| Tell Dennis your most pressing wine problems and ask him how to solve them. |
Why does one bottle of Chardonnay cost $15 and another one $45, even from the same winemaker? Can the $45 bottle be that much better?
Answer: The price starts with the source of the grapes. Let's think California, to make the explanation easy. First, your $15 bottle will come from a vineyard of large size located in an area that has a good, basic climate and soil for producing chardonnay grapes. During a visit to California's central coast, south of San Francisco, I was shocked when told that some vineyards in the Salinas River Valley are so large, grape harvest begins when the grapes are nearly ripe, so that by the time the harvest is finished, the last grapes picked won't be too overripe. And this is machine harvesting. The grapes are fermented in steel tanks with temperature control to retain the fresh flavors and "aged" in steel or concrete tanks for about 6 months before bottling.
So your $15 bottle on the shelf will appear within a year of harvest, and have fresh, fruity generic chardonnay flavor characteristics (hopefully), for your enjoyment.
The $45 bottle will come from a much smaller vineyard area, probably a named vineyard which will be shown on the label. The vines are cared for on an individual basis. They are carefully pruned so that each vine will not produce too many grapes which would dilute the concentration of flavor. The winemaker will monitor the ripeness of his grapes closely, and pick the grapes parcel by parcel, only when they reach ripeness.
The juice will be partially or totally fermented in barrels which impart extra flavors, then aged in oak barrels either used or new, for at least a year, again adding more complexity and character to the flavors.
This same process takes place for most varietals. The vineyard labor, the barrels, the aging time, are all costly. You'll notice that the more expensive versions of each producers' wines of the same vintage always appear on the shelves later than their cheaper offerings. Then we get to the shelf price. The producer decides to charge what he thinks the consumer is willing to pay.
Think of the comparison in any product category between mass produced and hand crafted.
Many Australian wines have a Bin number on them. What does the number mean?
Answer: The Bin number is like a "brand" name. They are identifying a particular wine by a Bin number because they are attempting to produce a wine with consistent flavors from one year to the next, regardless of vintage conditions, so the consumer will know what to expect. The Bin number identifies, as close as possible, that particular flavor and quality level, achieved by altering the blend of grapes and grape vineyard origins. Australians have a tradition of blending many of their wines from different vineyards because they are more "brand" oriented than American wine makers. American wine "brands" are pretty much limited to generic wines like "Hearty Burgundy", "Rhine Wine", "Golden Chablis", etc. Even the French have "Mouton Cadet".
I spent more money than usual on a Pinot Grigo recently and at first I was disappointed because it wasn't much better than my cheaper favorite. But after the second glass it was really good. Why wasn't it that good at first?
Answer:
My guess is that the first glass was from the bottle right out of the refrigerator. You must have correctly let the wine sit out of the refrigerator as you drank it. The refrigerator keeps wines colder than they should be drunk.
Generally, we tend to drink our white wines too cold. When they're too cold, the fruit flavors aren't released, so mostly what we're tasting is the acidic part of the wine's flavors, so it tastes one dimensional and out of balance.
As the wine warms, the fruit and other flavors come out and we experience the correct balance. When drinking white wines, think of their flavor weight as a guide to how close to room temperature they should be.
The lighter the wine, the cooler it can be drunk to experience the flavor balance it has to offer. From light to heavy, the flavor weight goes from Sauvignon Blanc to Pinot Grigio, to Pinot Gris, to Chardonnay and to Viognier. A good Viognier is best appreciated after 45 minutes out of the refrigerator. But beware, cheap wines won't improve much in balance as they warm; they'll generally taste too sweet.
Answer: The price starts with the source of the grapes. Let's think California, to make the explanation easy. First, your $15 bottle will come from a vineyard of large size located in an area that has a good, basic climate and soil for producing chardonnay grapes. During a visit to California's central coast, south of San Francisco, I was shocked when told that some vineyards in the Salinas River Valley are so large, grape harvest begins when the grapes are nearly ripe, so that by the time the harvest is finished, the last grapes picked won't be too overripe. And this is machine harvesting. The grapes are fermented in steel tanks with temperature control to retain the fresh flavors and "aged" in steel or concrete tanks for about 6 months before bottling.
So your $15 bottle on the shelf will appear within a year of harvest, and have fresh, fruity generic chardonnay flavor characteristics (hopefully), for your enjoyment.
The $45 bottle will come from a much smaller vineyard area, probably a named vineyard which will be shown on the label. The vines are cared for on an individual basis. They are carefully pruned so that each vine will not produce too many grapes which would dilute the concentration of flavor. The winemaker will monitor the ripeness of his grapes closely, and pick the grapes parcel by parcel, only when they reach ripeness.
The juice will be partially or totally fermented in barrels which impart extra flavors, then aged in oak barrels either used or new, for at least a year, again adding more complexity and character to the flavors.
This same process takes place for most varietals. The vineyard labor, the barrels, the aging time, are all costly. You'll notice that the more expensive versions of each producers' wines of the same vintage always appear on the shelves later than their cheaper offerings. Then we get to the shelf price. The producer decides to charge what he thinks the consumer is willing to pay.
Think of the comparison in any product category between mass produced and hand crafted.
Many Australian wines have a Bin number on them. What does the number mean?
Answer: The Bin number is like a "brand" name. They are identifying a particular wine by a Bin number because they are attempting to produce a wine with consistent flavors from one year to the next, regardless of vintage conditions, so the consumer will know what to expect. The Bin number identifies, as close as possible, that particular flavor and quality level, achieved by altering the blend of grapes and grape vineyard origins. Australians have a tradition of blending many of their wines from different vineyards because they are more "brand" oriented than American wine makers. American wine "brands" are pretty much limited to generic wines like "Hearty Burgundy", "Rhine Wine", "Golden Chablis", etc. Even the French have "Mouton Cadet".
I spent more money than usual on a Pinot Grigo recently and at first I was disappointed because it wasn't much better than my cheaper favorite. But after the second glass it was really good. Why wasn't it that good at first?
Answer:
My guess is that the first glass was from the bottle right out of the refrigerator. You must have correctly let the wine sit out of the refrigerator as you drank it. The refrigerator keeps wines colder than they should be drunk.
Generally, we tend to drink our white wines too cold. When they're too cold, the fruit flavors aren't released, so mostly what we're tasting is the acidic part of the wine's flavors, so it tastes one dimensional and out of balance.
As the wine warms, the fruit and other flavors come out and we experience the correct balance. When drinking white wines, think of their flavor weight as a guide to how close to room temperature they should be.
The lighter the wine, the cooler it can be drunk to experience the flavor balance it has to offer. From light to heavy, the flavor weight goes from Sauvignon Blanc to Pinot Grigio, to Pinot Gris, to Chardonnay and to Viognier. A good Viognier is best appreciated after 45 minutes out of the refrigerator. But beware, cheap wines won't improve much in balance as they warm; they'll generally taste too sweet.
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