Answering Some of Those Burning Questions About Wine

As someone who has worked in a tasting room, there are questions that have been asked multiple times. Most are "how many" type questions.

image from sonomamag.com

So, finally, you can sleep at night knowing how many grapes are in your glass of wine! Of course, these answers are averages.

How many?

• There are 80 grapes per cluster and 35 clusters per vine.
• Two clusters are good for one glass of wine.
• There are five glasses of wine per bottle and twelve bottles in a case of wine.
• A barrel of wine makes almost 25 cases of wine. 
• A barrel holds the fruit from 240 vines.
• There are 1,200 vines per acre. This varies quite a bit depending on spacing of the vines. Older vineyards tend to have more vines per acre as they were planted closer together as they weren't concerned with getting a tractor down the rows between vines.
  
• An acre gives three tons of grapes. This number varies from one ton to eight tons.

Other questions:

I taste cinnamon / raspberries / pears / raisins in the wine. Do you add these?
No flavorings are added. Wines put out various smells and flavors depending on the grape variety and even the soil and climate it was grown in, plus others from winemaking and cellaring in wood barrels or something else. Aging changes the flavors.

Why can't you ship wine to me?
It has to do with your state's laws. Some just plain don't allow the winery to ship. Some require a high yearly fee, sales tax collection for them, and other issues many wineries won't deal with, especially smaller ones that aren't staffed to handle this.

How long should I age this wine?
Oh boy, that is really a toughie even though most winery people try to answer it in a few words, even winemakers are guilty of this. A few of the questions for you to answer are: How good is your storage? Do you like how the wine tastes now? Have you had aged wine before (and know what to expect)? It also depends on the variety. 

What does barrel aging do to a wine?
Most aging is done in oak barrels. These allow air to seep in. Oxygen allows the wine to mature. If you've never tasted a just fermented wine before any aging, it'll taste very grapey. Wood adds tannins for structure for balance and aging. Wood barrels can give aromas of coconut, cinnamon, clove, and vanilla. The wine tastes smoother and less astringent. Again, cinnamon, for instance, isn't added, but chemical compounds are created that give off the scent. Stainless and concrete is also used to age some wine. These let more fruit come through; something you'd want in sauvignon blanc or a rosé, for instance.

I taste green apples. Is that right?
Yes, even if you're the only one. As they say, everybody is different and that includes what you taste and especially what you smell.