Wines that make you smile

In a recent article, sommeliers from some of the world’s top restaurants were asked what they looked for when choosing wines for their wine lists. I was expecting some rather dense, highfalutin answers but the approach of André Bekker from Frantzén in Stockholm struck a chord. He looked for wines that made him smile.

“When I’m smiling from the first sniff of the aroma then I usually know that it’s going to be good, and I get quite excited” he said.

As a top sommelier, this guy probably tries 20 decent wines every day but it just takes one sniff for him to realise that a wine in his glass is something special.

This highlights just how important a first impression is when assessing the quality of a wine. When a wine is really good it just takes one sniff, one sip, and the bright lights go on! This isn’t the result a detailed analytical process – that can come later. This is an immediate, emotional response; pleasure receptors fire up; and something deep in the right-hand side of your brain makes you say ‘wow’. And it all happens in a few seconds.

Bekker then goes into the many characteristics of wines that get him smiling, suggesting that complexity, balance and length are the most important. “Good quality wines have more complex aromas and flavours ... Higher quality wines have a good balance between acidity, tannins, sweetness, alcohol and fruit concentration. When one of these components dominates or is lacking the wine is not in perfect harmony”.

He also mentions other characteristics that help him make his choice, such as intensity and elegance. These two things are sometimes at odds, intensity often linked with power and weight while elegance may be associated with delicacy and fineness. But when elegance and intensity magically appear together there is something special in the glass.

Bekker also likes to see ‘typicity’, the wine being a classic expression of the variety and/or region from which it comes. A pinot noir should taste like a pinot noir. And a pinot from Tassie should taste like it comes from Tassie.

A really good wine is not a simple thing as so many factors come seamlessly together to make it good. Dissecting such a wine, delving into all those characteristics, analysing them one by one, is an intellectual challenge and interesting to some.

Alternatively, you can just smile.