Rowlands S. - The Periodic Table of Wine

Contents

You can never take what you love too seriously and The Periodic Table of Wine celebrates this fact.

Instead of hydrogen to helium, here youll find buttery oaked Chardonnay to deep-red and rich Amarone.

This elemental guide arranges 127 popular and widely available white, ros and red wines with expert logic.

After leaving her job as an actuary, Sarah Rowlands trained at Leiths School of Food and Wine and then worked in a Michelin starred restaurant. During this time, her love of flavour and flavour pairings lead to her developing a passion for wine. She now works freelance, hosting wine tastings, working at wine fairs, acting as an associate judge for the International Wine and Spirit Competition, an examiner for the Wine Spirit Education Trust and travelling the world to taste and learn about new and little known wines. She also gives cookery lessons and breadmaking courses.

Molly,

I love you so much

they havent even invented the maths yet.

You can never take what you love too seriously

Periodically, were all geeks about the things we love and the Periodic Table Series has been created to celebrate this universal fact.

Inspired by The Periodic Table of Chemical Elements, our experts have applied scientific logic to an eclectic range of subjects that regularly baffle beginners and fire-up fans. The outcome of this experiment is the essential guide you hold in your hand.

Geeky? Absolutely.

Hugely satisfying? Categorically.

The Periodic Table of Chemical Elements orders all the known matter that makes up our world, from hydrogen to helium, by chemical properties and behaviour to give scientists a handy overview of a rather complex subject.

Welcome to The Periodic Table of Wine. The table has been designed to give a visual overview of how different styles of the worlds most popular wines roughly relate to each other. The descriptions later in the book contain more details about the elements of the table.

Dip in and dip out. Use the table practically and get family and friends together to smell and taste wines. Use it as a fun way to gain a deeper understanding of wine attributes, grapes and regions. See if you agree with the relationships. Where does your wine sit? Open more than one wine at a time by asking your friends to bring a different bottle. Use all your senses eyes, nose and taste, in that order to notice the differences. Decide which wine you think has the fuller body, or is the fruitiest. Is it spicy or floral, or does it taste greener like herbs, or like minerals such as stones or chalk? Does your wine sit right in the middle of things? Add a rating to indicate how much you liked each wine you tasted and you could find that a pattern emerges, revealing that your favourite style(s) rest in particular areas of the table.

It is not really surprising that there are so many different wines available, but this can make choosing wine confusing. A little like chefs, winemakers all have their own recipes, numerous processes and various techniques they use in production, from the way the grapes are grown and picked to every step of winemaking. Different grapes grow in different countries too. On top of this, the soil, climate, the vintage (the year a wine was made) and the age of the vines all affect how the final wine in the bottle looks, smells and tastes. Sometimes even neighbouring vineyards make wines with varying characteristics, and each commands a different price.

Knowing what is behind the name on a label is a big help in understanding what the wine in a particular bottle will taste like. For this reason, the table represents a bringing together of the most common names found on wine labels and relates them by their general characteristics (body, flavours and aromas): hence the style of the wines. The descriptions contain information to clarify what each name means and should help you know what style of wine to expect. This should remove some of the questions and uncertainty you might have about purchasing an unknown wine while increasing your buying confidence, which should lead you on to some delicious new discoveries. So pop a bottle into your shopping basket and start sipping and discovering.

If you know you already like a certain wine, find it in the table, either directly or via the index. The wines closest to it in the table (above, below, left or right) are similar but have different styles you may also appreciate.

Remember: wine is not an exact science, so additional wines to try are also suggested in each description. Some are way more adventurous than others, and you might enjoy researching those as well.

Wine elements, at their most basic, can be divided either into grape varieties or appellations; youll find that these are the most common way wines are sold around the world. These label names are key pieces of information that point towards what is in the bottle. Thus a label may show the grape variety that was used to make the wine or varieties, if the bottle contains a blend or mix of more than one grape variety. Look for names like Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot. Alternatively, the wine might be labelled using a protected name known as an appellation, under which wines from a defined region may be sold (see Old World/New World, ).

Not all wines are included, but the wines you are most likely to come across are. While they can influence style, brand names, winemakers and vintages have not been included in the table as they cannot always be found locally, plus they represent an additional layer of detail within or behind a single element or building block of the table but they can be explored further by delving within an element to reveal this deeper layer of diversity. Perhaps you would like to conduct your own research by tasting different wines that fall into one element for yourself. The elements of the table have been designed as a starting point for the enjoyment and understanding of wine, by giving a broad overview of how the main wines made around the world relate. The graphic representation is a simplified bringing together of a diverse subject to provide a good foundation upon which your wine knowledge can build.

The columns broadly illustrate how wines vary by the weight or the feel in the mouth when you taste them. This is called body. Full body is heavier, giving a weightier feeling on the palate in the form of big, bold flavours, textures and tannins (especially in red wines). Full-bodied wines can range from rustic to full of finesse or opulent, if you like. A powerful and elegant wine is a sign of quality, especially if it is also described as having complexity, meaning lots of layers of lingering flavours. Wines that tend to be full-bodied are placed in the outside columns of the table. They are a good match for flavourful dishes. The wines towards the centre of the table are lighter-bodied and more delicate on the palate useful when looking for a neutral-tasting, refreshing drink. This subtler style is popular as an apritif in hotter weather or when sipping on its own, and it pairs well with lighter cuisine because neither overpowers the other.