Chap. 6 Balance in Wine

1. Chap. 6Balance in Wine By Prof. Liu Yanlin

2. INTERFERENCE AND BALANCE BETWEEN FLAVOURS • The taste of wine is for the most part the result of a balance between sweet and sugary tastes and those of acidity and bitterness. • Quality is always related to a certain harmony of tastes, where no one taste dominates another.

3. INTERFERENCE AND BALANCE BETWEEN FLAVOURS • Sweet and sugary tastes balance acidity and bitterness for all the wines （medium-sweet white wines，dry white wines and red wines）. • Experiments show that alcohol is paramount极为重要的 among the substances in wine which have a sweet taste.

4. INTERFERENCE AND BALANCE BETWEEN Sugar and Alcohol • It is the reality of alcohol having a sweet taste. • Ethyl alcohol is sweet even at low concentrations, but at the level at which it is found in wine its sweet taste is significant. • At a higher concentration the gentle warmth of alcohol slightly modifies the pure impression of sweetness. • Its sweet taste is not exactly the same as that of crystallized sugar结晶砂糖, it is less pure and less obviously sweet.

5. INTERFERENCE AND BALANCE BETWEEN Sugar and Alcohol • Alcohol heightens提高 the sweetness of sugar. • But there are subtle differences of taste between the various sweet substances, just as there are among different acids, different salts and even the different bitter substances.

6. INTERFERENCE AND BALANCE BETWEEN Sugar and Alcohol • This is best demonstrated by comparing the taste of three solutions containing 20g/I of saccharose; one without alcohol, one with 4°and one with 10°of alcohol (80g/l). • It will be quite clear to everyone that sweetness is considerably increased in the presence of alcohol; in the first case the solution will seem almost twice as sweet. • On the other hand 20 g/I of sugar do not diminish the impression of warmth given by 10°of alcohol.

7. INTERFERENCE AND BALANCE BETWEEN Sugar and Alcohol • Anyone who has done this exercise cannot deny the considerable sweet influence of alcohol. • The first impression of wine on the palate, the softness of the attack, is certainly due above all to alcohol.

8. INTERFERENCE AND BALANCE BETWEEN Sweetness and Acidity • The sweetness and bitterness or sweetness and saltiness mask each other, due to the phenomena of interference冲突, competition竞争 and compensation补偿. • These tastes diminish each other reciprocally相互的, but not however to the extent of cancelling each other out and being able to produce a tasteless solution from a combination of two substances. They will remain perceptible side by side, simply weakened to some extent.

9. INTERFERENCE AND BALANCE BETWEEN Sweetness and Acidity • If one acidifies a sweet solution its sweet sensation is diminished, and conversely if one sweetens an acid solution its acid impression is diminished. • However, both the acidity and the sweetness can be distinguished at the same time. • We normally sweeten strawberries, fruit salads or lemon juice to make their acidity more tolerable. • These ideas are common enough and there is no need to dwell on详述 them.

10. INTERFERENCE AND BALANCE BETWEEN Sweetness and Acidity • At certain relative levels of concentration it is possible to say that the taste of sweetness is as strong as that of acidity; as in a solution with 20 g/l of saccharose and 0.8g/l of tartaric acid for example. • If you increase the quantity of acid the acid taste becomes dominant, and the reverse is the case if the quantity of sugar is increased.

11. INTERFERENCE AND BALANCE BETWEEN Sweetness and Acidity • A drink based on fruit juice often needs to be acidified with citric acid in order to appear balanced. • In reality the point of balance varies according to the individual‘s sensitivity to the two tastes, but personal criteria标准 for deciding what this point is also depend on habits and acquired tastes. • The era of solid fixed acidity, the prime requisite 必不可少的for long ageing, has given way to the era of low total acidity, the essential factor for a supple texture.

12. INTERFERENCE AND BALANCE BETWEEN Sweetness and Bitterness • The sweetness of 20 or 40g/l of saccharose （32 g/l of alcohol） masks the unpleasant bitterness given by 10 mg/l of quinine sulphate. • We sweeten tea or coffee for the same reason, but in this case to compensate for the bitter tastes of caffeine咖啡因 and tannins. • Bitterness continues to be perceived in the presence of sugar but the overall impression is no longer disagreeable. • Bitterness also adds savour to a sweet solution.

13. INTERFERENCE AND BALANCE BETWEEN Sweetness and Astringency • Sugar has the same effect on the astringency of tannin. • Its presence delays the moment when the bitter and astringent sensations begin to appear, and the greater its concentration the longer is the delay. • When tasting a 1g/l solution of tannin, the tannin is perceived immediately; with 20g/1 of sugar its perception is delayed for two or three secondsbut the final impression is not diminished. • With 40g/l of sugar, its action masks the tannin for five or six seconds and the astringency is also tempered缓和的. • Alcohol on the other hand, far from attenuating削弱 the astringency, tends to accentuate强调 its unpleasantness on the finish.

14. INTERFERENCE AND BALANCE BETWEEN Sugar and Salt • Small quantities of sugar weaken the taste of salt; a little salt on the other hand brings out sweet tastes, a fact well known and put to good use in baking. • The salt taste in wine is far from negligible. • One can clearly notice the taste of salt which increases the savour and freshness of the bitartrate solution.

15. INTERFERENCE AND BALANCE BETWEEN Unpleasant Tastes • Another important concept is the effect of the sum total of unpleasant tastes. • Bitterness and astringency reinforce acidity and make it excessive; acidity masks bitterness to begin with, but this only makes its appearance，on the aftertaste even more pronounced. • And salt simply accentuates加强any excess of acidity, astringency and bitterness.

16. INTERFERENCE AND BALANCE Unpleasant Tastes • This cumulative积累的 effect also shows up in another form. • During the course of repeated tasting, the more one tastes the same solutions which are acid or bitter, or both, the shorter is the period of latency before these tastes are perceived and the more aggressive they appear.

17. INTERFERENCE AND BALANCE BETWEEN FLAVOURS • When tasting individual solutions of the four primary tastes one quickly realizes that sweetness is the only one which is a pleasant sensation and which we actually want. • In reality we only like things which are sweet and sugared, often without realizing it. • It is an alarming fact that the appetite for sweetness and sweet things is on the increase with the young, and the levels of sugar in soft drinks is tending to rise. • Sugar has been called the "soft drug".

18. INTERFERENCE AND BALANCE BETWEEN FLAVOURS • We accept other tastes only to the extent that they are weak or weakened by the presence of sugar. • They are however indispensable不可缺少的 for giving breadth of flavor to a blend, which is appreciated all the more for combining the tastes of salt, acid and bitterness balanced by a judicious level of sweetness. • By comparison a simple sugar solution appears insipid平淡的 and unappealing. • We like the complexity of flavors where sweetness protects us from excess acidity and bitterness. • As for salt, it is a means of giving relief to the rather sickly sweetness of pure sugar.

19. INTERFERENCE AND BALANCE BETWEEN FLAVOURS • 在我们分别品尝四种基本呈味物质的溶液时，会发现只有甜味才使我们感到舒适，才是我们喜欢的味道。 • 实际上，我们比较喜欢那些柔和、圆润和甜的东西；而对于其它的味感，只有当其味感很弱，或者被甜味掩盖减弱时，我们才会接受它们。 • 但是，其它的这些味感对于使混合物具有味觉厚度又是必需的。比如我们更喜欢同时具有咸、酸、苦味的，但又被适当的甜味掩盖的饮料(甜味↔酸味+苦味 味感之间达到平衡)。与这些饮料比较，单纯的糖液就没有什么滋味和诱感力了。

20. INTERFERENCE AND BALANCE BETWEEN FLAVOURS • These concepts of the balance of flavors, fundamental to explaining the taste of wines (or more precisely for defining their support structure) and which apply equally to all our food and drink, can be represented in by the following way: Sweetness ↔ Acidity Sweetness ↔ Bitterness Sweetness ↔ Bitterness+Acidity

21. INTERFERENCE AND BALANCE BETWEEN FLAVOURS • This formulation will be useful in the following sections. • For the sake of simplicity the incidence of salt may be omitted from these equations, bearing in mind that the levels of salt in wine are small and somewhat more constant than those of other flavour constituents. • Salt does not improve wine even though its addition was both practised and authorized in the past. • Experiments show that any addition of salt beyond the level which modifies the wine‘s flavour, always accentuates强调，加强 any hardness and harshness.

22. INTERFERENCE AND BALANCE BETWEEN FLAVOURS • Quality is always related to a certain harmony of tastes, where no one taste dominates another.

23. 味感之间的相互作用及葡萄酒的味感质量 (一) 不同味感之间的相互掩盖 不同味感之间能相互掩盖，从而味感减弱，但不能相互抵消。 (二) 不良味感之间的相互叠加 (三) 葡萄酒的味感质量决定于呈味物质味感之间的平衡 在一定浓度范围，各种呈味物质的味感可达到一个平衡，在这种平衡条件下，人的味觉反应舒适，说明这些物质之间或其构成的整体的味感之间是平衡的，和谐的。

24. 味感之间的相互作用及葡萄酒的味感质量 (一) 不同味感之间的相互掩盖 不同味感之间能相互掩盖，从而味感减弱，但不能相互抵消。 1.甜味和酸味可以相互掩盖： 在糖液中加入酸，会减弱溶液的甜味；相反，在酸液中加入糖，也会减弱溶液的酸感。但是，甜味并不因加入酸而消失；反之亦然。在该溶液中，我们仍然可以同时感觉到甜味和酸味，而且可以只注意到甜味或者只注意到酸味。

25. 味感之间的相互作用及葡萄酒的味感质量 (一) 不同味感之间的相互掩盖 不同味感之间能相互掩盖，从而味感减弱，但不能相互抵消。 2.甜味与苦味可以相互掩盖： ——20-40g/L的蔗糖，可以掩盖10mg/L硫酸奎宁的使人难受的苦味。 如在咖啡中加糖，主要是掩盖咖啡的苦味，但在有糖的情况下，苦味仍可被感知，但一般不再使人难受。 —— 4%的酒精可以掩盖10mg/L的奎宁的苦味

26. 味感之间的相互作用及葡萄酒的味感质量 (一) 不同味感之间的相互掩盖 不同味感之间能相互掩盖，从而味感减弱，但不能相互抵消。 3. 甜味与涩味可以相互掩盖： ——糖的存在，可以推迟苦味和涩味出现的时间，糖的浓度越高，这一作用越明显 ——但是，甜味物质酒精对涩味的作用不同于对苦味，酒精不仅不能掩盖涩味，而且在后味上会增加涩感；同时高浓度时还伴有热感、苟性感(不良味感叠加成为主要矛盾)。

27. 味感之间的相互作用及葡萄酒的味感质量 (二) 不良味感之间的相互叠加 1. 苦味和涩味可以加强酸感，使之后味变得过强；酸味可加强涩味(涩味则始终被酸加强)，酸味开始可掩盖苦味，但在后味上会加强苦感。 2. 咸，只会突出过强的酸、苦、涩味。 3. 甜味物质酒精因其高浓度时的热感、苛性感等不良味感的表现，使其不能掩盖涩味，而且在后味上会增加涩感。 4. 不良味感的叠加作用还表现在重复品尝的过程中。如当重复品尝同一种具不良味感的溶液(如同一种酸溶液)的次数越多，这些不良味感出现就越快，表现也越强烈。

28. 小结：味感之间的相互作用及葡萄酒的味感质量小结：味感之间的相互作用及葡萄酒的味感质量 (一) 不同味感之间的相互掩盖 不同味感之间能相互掩盖，从而味感减弱，但不能相互抵消。 (二) 不良味感之间的相互叠加 (三) 葡萄酒的味感质量决定于呈味物质味感之间的平衡 在一定浓度范围，各种呈味物质的味感可达到一个平衡，在这种平衡条件下，人的味觉反应舒适，说明这些物质之间或其构成的整体的味感之间是平衡的，和谐的。

29. THE BALANCE OF FLAVOURS IN WHITE WINES • Because they possess little or no tannin, white wines have a simple balance of flavors by comparison with red wines. • Their support structure is sweet and acid substances. • The formula "sweetness ↔ acidity" represents their basic taste structure. • In the case of dry wines, alcohol alone, and in the case of sweet wines alcohol and fermentable sugars, are the elements of sweetness which counterbalance平衡，弥补 the acidity. • Glycerol also plays an insignificant role in the banlance.

30. THE BALANCE OF FLAVOURS IN WHITE WINES • Because of this simplicity of constitution, tasting white wines seems simpler to the beginner who easily getslost amid the tangle混乱状况 of complex sensations in red wines. • Hence it is recommended to begin learning to taste with white wines and thus to move from the simplest to the most difficult.

31. THE BALANCE OF FLAVOURS IN WHITE WINES • White wines, particularly when they are dry, generally have simpler "shapes" or "images" on the palate than those suggested by red wines; they lack the dimensions of bitterness and astringency. • Furthermore, the relationships between support structure and aromas are easier to grasp in white wines because their aromatic aftertaste is not masked by lasting impressions of tannin.

32. THE BALANCE OF FLAVOURS IN WHITE WINES • Some rose wines made with very short maceration have more in common with white than red wines and so present a similarly uncomplicated taste image. • A distinction should be made between dry white wines containing no residual sugars, and white wines whose fermentation is incomplete, which still contain grape sugars to a greater or lesser extent, or which have been sweetened with must.

33. THE BALANCE OF FLAVOURS IN WHITE WINES • For dry white wines the balance is simply bipartite双向的and can be written: "alcoholic degree ↔ acidity". • Alcohol represents the principal element of sweetness balancing the acidity. • However, do not expect anybody else to translate this balance into precise figures indicating what levels of acidity correspond to which degrees of alcohol. • This is not possible because the equivalence等式 is not linear, and many other chemical factors intervene介入, quite apart from any questions of personal taste.

34. THE BALANCE OF FLAVOURS IN WHITE WINES • Alcohol does not have a chemically neutralizing effect on acidity. • Its flavour is complex; it gives both strength and softness, two antagonistic相反的sensations, and at higher alcoholic levels its caustic effect, the impression of warmth which it conveys, counters the effect of sweetness, reinforcing vigour and firmness rather than sweetness.

35. THE BALANCE OF FLAVOURS IN WHITE WINES • Furthermore, for a given level of titrated acidity an acid‘s taste may vary according to its salified 使成盐的fraction (its pH in the final analysis) and what type of acid it is. • A wine's acidity is acceptable or not according to whether it is mainly malic or mainly tartaric. • A white wine which has undergone its malolactic fermentation always seems less acid than another wine of the same acidity which has kept its malic acid.

36. THE BALANCE OF FLAVOURS IN WHITE WINES • At present, mainly for viticultural reasons, the acidity level of the same wines is easily 5, even 5.5 g/l, and I now have to recommend practices which will ensure a reduction in acidity. • My viewpoint has not changed: I aim to make white wines of 11°to 12°with a total acidity of 4 to 4.5g/l. • However the means of achieving this are not the same after twenty years, as the raw material has itself changed; but the producer finds it difficult to understand my change of advice on vinification.

37. THE BALANCE OF FLAVOURS IN WHITE WINES • Using the ideas of MaxLéglise, the specialist in those sublime white burgundies, the various balances which govern the supporting structure of dry white wines can be graphically represented by the diagram below. • The rising acidity axis intersects that of increasing alcoholic degree, thus defining four categories corresponding to various types of dry white wine:

38. AC＋AL＋: hot, alcoholic, vigorous, firm, hard. 酸高，酒度高；热感、燥辣感强、浓烈、粗糙的葡萄酒。 • AC＋AL－ : light, weak, thin, acidic, green. 酸高 酒度低；清淡，瘦弱，酸，并具有生青味的葡萄酒。 • AC－AL＋: alcoholic, supple to mellow, rich to heavy. 酸低 酒高；浓烈，柔和至圆润，肥硕，甚至浓重的葡萄酒。 • AC－AL－: little, flat, thin, insipid. 酸低 酒低；寡味的葡萄酒。 THE BALANCE OF FLAVOURS IN Dry WHITE WINES

39. White Wine Balance Unctuous油质的；Hollow空洞的Meagre瘦弱的；Aggressive

40. White Wine Balance Unctuous油质的Hollow空洞的Meagre瘦弱的Aggressive

41. THE BALANCE OF FLAVOURS IN WHITE WINES • Medium sweet and sweet white wines, rosé wineswith some sweetness pose more complex problems of balance between sweetness and acidity. • For these wines the formula "sweetness ↔acidity" can be written" alcoholic degree + sugar ↔ acidity". • Three factors are involved and the relationships are tripartite三重的. To the balance between sweetness and acidity is added another balance linking sugar and alcohol: "alcoholic degree ↔ sugar", meaning that the richer a wine is in sugar, the higher it needs to be in alcohol too in order to appear harmonious. • The sickly sweet taste of sugar needs to be compensated by more warmth and vinosity. • The imbalance of minor white wines which seem too sweet can be explained by saying that their sweet taste dominates everything else.

42. THE BALANCE OF FLAVOURS IN WHITE WINES

43. THE BALANCE OF FLAVOURS IN WHITE WINES • Other consequences of these balances are: dry white wines, being devoid缺乏的 of tannin, can support much higher levels of acidity than red wines; in certain dry white wines which are called tendre (gentle, delicate), small quantities of sugar, 3 to 5g/l, are enough to mask an acidity which would be too strong in a totally dry wine; sweet wines can take more acidity than wines without sugar. Thus Sauternes usually have a total acidity of 4.5 to 5.0 g/l. • Inadequate acidity or excess sweetness make these wines seem flabby软弱的, syrupy糖浆似的 and lacking in backbone.

44. Unctuous油质的Hollow空洞的Meagre瘦弱的Aggressive好斗的，有闯劲的Limp柔软的Meagre瘦的，贫弱的Sustained持续的Nervous强健有力的Unctuous油质的Hollow空洞的Meagre瘦弱的Aggressive好斗的，有闯劲的Limp柔软的Meagre瘦的，贫弱的Sustained持续的Nervous强健有力的

45. THE BALANCE OF FLAVOURS IN WHITE WINES • The impression left by a sweet wine should be similar to that left by eating fresh, firm grapes. • The sweetness tones down the acidity and turns it into freshness, whilst the light tingle of acidity corrects the thick, heavy impressions of sweemess. • The aromatic aspect of the wine is thus brought out by a favourable relationship of flavours, it must emphasize once again that olfactory sensations are involved in this balance. • The harmony of the support structure is complemented by a harmony of aroma and bouquet. • An intense aroma or a very fine bouquet can mask possible faults in the support whereas they are more apparent in wines which are poor in aroma and bouquet.

46. THE BALANCE OF FLAVOURS IN WHITE WINES • Some rare, great white wines are so rich in aromatic elements that their flavour is harmonious even if their acidity is marked or even if it is weak. An intense aroma can thus conceal defects in structure. • Aromatic wines gain personality from what would be a lack of balance in other wines. • And conversely, whatever the balance of their support structure, it is not possible to give neutral and odourless white wines an acceptable and attractive balance on the palate precisely because they lack odour constituents.

47. 白葡萄酒味感的平衡（小结） • 1.白葡萄酒包括：几乎不含糖的干酒和含有源于葡萄或人为添加的还原糖的葡萄酒。如半干、半甜、甜、利口、自然甜型葡萄酒等。 • 由于白葡萄酒很少含或几乎不含丹宁，所以它基本不具备苦味和涩味，其支撑体主要由甜味和酸味物质构成： • (一) 干白葡萄酒的味感平衡 干白葡萄酒的基本味感结构由两部分构成，即是酒精和酸的平衡。 平衡式 为：酒度↔酸度 • (二) 甜白葡萄酒的味感平衡 甜白葡萄酒的甜味与酸味的平衡关系比干白葡萄酒的复杂，其味感结构有三部分参与：酒精、糖、酸。其基本平衡是酒精和糖与酸的平衡，可将甜酸平衡式为： 酒度+糖度 ↔ 酸度 

48. 白葡萄酒味感的平衡（小结） 2. 由于白葡萄酒后味的香气不会被丹宁的持续性所掩盖，白葡萄酒的支撑体与香气的关系更容易被感知， 与红葡萄酒比较，白葡萄酒的味感结构较简单，特别是干白。因此，初学品尝者更愿意接受白葡萄酒，在新兴的葡萄酒生产国，多数消费者也更喜欢白葡萄酒。由于同样原因，葡萄酒的品尝训练，也应从白葡萄酒开始，由易到难。 3. 由于白葡萄酒不含丹宁，白葡萄酒比红葡萄酒忍耐酸度的能力强。这是由于它们的平衡关系不同：红葡萄酒：甜味↔酸味+苦味；白葡萄酒：甜味↔酸味。 而且含有少量还原糖(3-4g/L)的白葡萄酒忍耐酸的能力较绝干高，少量的糖可掩盖对于绝干酒来说可能偏高的酸味。 甜型葡萄酒(因其含有较多的糖)忍耐酸度的能力较干型葡萄酒更强一些。其甜润感使酸味缓和，并使之转化为清爽感，而酸的轻微刺激，可减弱甜的浓闷感。这是由于它们的平衡关系不同：干白：酒度↔酸；甜白：酒度+糖↔酸 4. 香气的质量影响味感的质量与表现。

49. THE BALANCE OF FLAVOURS IN WHITE WINES 在白葡萄酒中，注意： 酒精度对平衡的作用； 糖度对平衡的作用； 酒精、糖、酸的相对平衡状况； 香气对平衡及质量的影响。

50. THE BALANCE OF FLAVOURS IN RED WINES • Red wines are wines made by the maceration of red grape skins and grape pips. • The more or less bitter and astringent flavours extracted from these solid tissues are specific to red wines. • And in their case the sum of sweet flavours must balance the sum of acid flavours plus those that are bitter and astringent, a balance which can be briefly expressed as: sweetness ↔ acidity +bitterness.