The Wine Academic

Recently, as in over the past couple of weeks, I've been wrestling with my thoughts on how malolactic fermentation and oak affects wines. It's also important to me because I want to be able to pick those sorts of things out in wine. When it came down to it, there were a couple of things that helped me frame the ideas in my mind. The BSC Wine Club (Que Syrah Syrah) tasted Chardonnays about two weeks ago. When I went to pick out wines, I purposefully selected wines that listed whether or not they were oaked, and the degree to which they were oaked. When the bottles were empty, many of my suspicions were confirmed:

1. Oak really has a serious affect on wine
2. New oak, especially American oak, adds a strong vanilla characteristic to wines
3. French oak has less of an affect than American oak, but but adds an element of creaminess
4. Used oak imparts a different texture and it's much more subtle than new oak

One of the wines really confused me though: Toad Hollow 2003 Chardonnay. It had a creaminess that reminded me of oak, but there was something about it that was cheesy, too. Not "peppery-cheesy" but "soft-cheesy" like brie or something. Anyway, when I was reading the notes on the wine, I saw that it had undergone 100% malolactic fermentation. "WTF???" you might ask…

Malolactic fermentation is a process whereby malic acid in wine is converted into lactic acid. Malic acid tastes tart while lactic acid tastes softer. If you feel like you recognize the term "lactic acid", it's probably because you took chemistry, or because you recognize it from milk or other dairy products.

So after a little research (and a lot of drinking) I felt much better about being able to discern certain flavors in wine and this is what I came up with: Oak imparts a creamy, sometimes woody texture to wines. If new oak is used, other flavors get added. Adding American oak usually results in vanilla-like flavors while French oak has less of an impact. Malolactic fermentation or "malo" also adds a creaminess to the wine, softening it, and, at least in chardonnay, can add some cheesy flavors to the wine.