Deep ruby - what wine are you drinking now?

[mccoy]

I'm starting this thread mainly to have some fun. Deep ruby of course refers to the intense ruby colour of hi TPs (total polyphenols) red wines.

 

In this thread we may post an image of the bottle we are drinking now. I'm starting with a Montepulciano d'Abruzzo (local grape variety grown in my area, which, with its hilly morphology, is very favourable to vineyards and olive orchards). This wine is moderately strong and tasty, 14.5% alcohol, I don't know its polyphenol content but it should be in the region of 2000 mg/L, it has been aged in oak barrels so it should contain the valuable acutissimin A. Since I read about this phenolic compound, probably I'm no longer going to drink wines which have not been aged in oak.

 

 

 

Acutissimin A is a flavono-ellagitannin, a type of tannin formed from the linking of a flavonoid with an ellagitannin.

In 2003, scientists at Institut Européen de Chimie et Biologie in Pessac, France found that when the oak tannin vescalagin interacts with a flavanoid in wine acutissimin A is created. In separate studies this phenolic compound has been shown to be 250 times more effective than the pharmaceutical drug Etoposide in stopping the growth of cancerous tumors.^[1][2][3]

 

Probably I won't be able to finish the bottle in 7 days, after which the wine is going to oxydize. What the heck, I'm going to throw it away and open another bottle! But probably I'm going to buy the coravin contraption to stop the waste.

 

Translation from google:

 

 

 

This wine is the result of a project that starts from the vineyard; it is born from the grapes of selected vineyards as part of the "Vigneto Qualità" project that the Frentana winery has been operating for several years. The vinification takes place with prolonged maceration and with temperature peaks around 30 degrees, so as to allow a complete extraction of color, tannins and aromatic precursors. At the end the wine is subjected to an aging in fine oak barrels, for a period of about 18 months, during which the wine evolves towards its maturity.

Wine characteristics
With a deep ruby ​​red color with violet reflections, the nose has a remarkable complexity of aromas, among which spicy and balsamic notes accompanied by hints of ripe red fruit, blackberry jam, black cherry in alcohol and violet. These characteristics make it an ideal companion for consistent dishes such as red meats, lamb, game, aged cheeses and also meditation wine and after dinner, with dark chocolate flakes. It is advisable to decant the wine before tasting it, to promote its oxygenation, and to serve it at a temperature of 16-18 ° C.

Edited April 12, 2018 by mccoy

[TomBAvoider]

I used to be a huge fan of Burgundy wines, for close to 20 years. But gradually, over the years, I've been drinking more and more Italian wines, and by now, it's about 90% of the wines I drink. I'm a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to grapes, and I favor southern, especially Sicillian grapes, with Nero d'Avola a particular favorite, and tasty Nocera. For health reasons, I like lower alcohol wines (12.5%), but as far as aging the wine, I think it's horses for courses - there are unique health benefits of aging, but also unique health benefits of young wines, so I just drink what tastes good to me.  

[mccoy]

Italian wines are a dang good choice, LOL, there are quite a few hi-phenolics ones.

 

Nero d'Avola is the most well known Sicilian wine, I tasted a cheap variety but I'll have to buy a good bottle to really be able to judge it.

 

I just bought a Sagrantino di Montefalco, the top one in TPs, I'm looking forward to open the bottle, but I'll have to finish the other one, wouldn't like to waste the precious Acutissimin-A

 

A few days ago I tasted a Cannonau, the longevity wine from the Sardinian blue zones. It was incredibly good, but hi-alcohol (Cannonau liquoroso, 16%)  and I really had to stop after 30 mL, luckily my wife helped me out with the glass. Incredible taste, but maybe not a very hi TPs variety, the hi-alcohol one. 

Edited April 17, 2018 by mccoy

[mccoy]

....I like lower alcohol wines (12.5%), but as far as aging the wine, I think it's horses for courses - there are unique health benefits of aging, but also unique health benefits of young wines, so I just drink what tastes good to me.  

 

Which are the health benefits of older wines, by the way  (except possibly the higher concentration of Acutissimin-A if aged in oak)? I can intuitively understand that younger wines have less polyphenols degradation 

[TomBAvoider]

The basics of wine aging:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aging_of_wine

 

In particular:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aging_of_wine#Effects_on_wine

 

The basic idea being that the composition of wine constituents change, and as a result, you get a different profile of benefits. The analogy here would be to the various effects of aging on tea from least to most: white, green, oolong, black, pu-erh. Studies performed on tea show differential effects of white/green tea compared to black, and I seem to recall a study that oddly found oolong tea to be actually health detrimental!

[mccoy]

Mmm..., this is another topic worth a discussion, as far as I read, the improvement of aging is related to the flavour mainly, it escaped to me if some beneficial compounds will be formed (again, barring the ageing in oak). Also, there seems to be a threshold beyond which esterification governs, I can only guess the polyphenols are slowly degrading that way...

[Sibiriak]

Influence of Ageing on Changes in Polyphenolic Compounds in Red Wines

 

https://www.agriculturejournals.cz/publicFiles/138033.pdf

Edited April 19, 2018 by Sibiriak

[mccoy]

Sibiriak, the article is very interesting, even because it reports some concentrations of phenolic compounds in various wines and that gives us a perspective.

The highest one was about 3000 mg/l in the Hungarian wine.

 

After aging the authors show that there is really no unique trend and as a whole there is no significant change, my only problem is that aging in this study has been only one year long.

 

Many red, polyphenols-rich wines are aged many years. The Sagrantino Montefalco wine I'm specializing upon is often pretty aged, some producers age it 3 years just in oak barrels, plus additional time in the bottle. So what happens when we are speaking of 5, 10, >10 years???

 

But the authors also write:

 

 

 Wine ageing results in higher resveratrol concentration.

 

Which is a pretty good indication and would constitute a distinct benefit of aged wines. Resveratrol definitely belongs into the set of the xenohormetics compounds , by definition and by the very small amounts per serving...

 

Another interesting reference:

 

 

Non-flavonoid groups involve the stilbenes. Average concentration of resveratrol in red wines is approximately 2-6 mg/l, in white wines the concentration is lower, approximately 0.2–0.8 mg/l (Šmidrkal et al. 2001). In the wine district of Eger the average content of resveratrol in red wines in vintages 2007, 2008, 2009 was approximately 0.5–4.5 mg/l.

 

From the above, I would expect in Sagrantino Montefalco a resveratrol concentration in the upper values of that range, even more, given that it is often pretty aged. TPs in Sagrantino are > than 4000 mg/l in 50% of the analyzed commercial bottles (a few hundreds of'em). The best brands often hit the 5000 mg/l and more and that with a pleasant, although strong taste.

 

By the way, AFAIK some Sagrantino producers sell their wines in Russia as well. I'm collecting info about the best ones.

Edited April 20, 2018 by mccoy

[Sibiriak]

Mccoy:  ...some Sagrantino producers sell their wines in Russia as well.

 

 

I'll have to look into that.   I've been drinking some oak-aged Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec wines from Argentina (Mendoza province),  and an oak-aged wine from Crimea (only 6 months ageing, though).

[mccoy]

 

Mccoy:  ...some Sagrantino producers sell their wines in Russia as well.

 

 

I'll have to look into that.   I've been drinking some oak-aged Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec wines from Argentina (Mendoza province),  and an oak-aged wine from Crimea (only 6 months ageing, though).

 

 

Cabernet Sauvignon fared pretty well in the Hungarian study, with TPs increasing with aging beyond 3000 ppms. Some guys here told me about how Russians started commercializing wines from Crimea, but as far as you told me the position of Italian and French wines is going to stay solid still for a while (at least, from the middle range upward).

 

I

[mccoy]

12 days after I opened the Montepulciano bottle, I tasted some today and I could not discern a great difference in taste compared to just opened. Maybe a sommelier could have been able to.

 

My conclusion is that I might as well keep the opened bottles in the fridge for 2 weeks, as long as I'll decide to become a sommelier.

[mccoy]

I've just opened a bottle of this 2006 Sagrantino Montefalco. The taste is extremely pungent and astringent, it sure does not lack tannins! A very strong wine, although not very much alcohol-high (13.5%), with a  surely abundant supply of phenolic compounds. It will take a while to get accustomed to its taste. There are maybe more better tasting varities, I'm going to try some more.

 

Edited April 28, 2018 by mccoy

[mccoy]

This is another bottle I opened today. It's callled Malverno, Montepulciano D'Abruzzo 80% and Merlot 20%, the latter aged in oak for 6-8 months. The taste is incredibly good, strong yet fruity and spicy. It's very easy to get addicted to this one, I've got to look out. Lots of anthocyanides, good amount of polyphenols, alcohol 14.5%. Produced by a small winery near my place. The cost is about 20 €, with a very favourable quality to price ratio..

 

 

Edited May 3, 2018 by mccoy

[mccoy]

Today I opened this bottle of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, which costed about 46 US$, the highest I ever paid for a bottle of wine. That's Shaman from Rosarubra, a winery near my place, which grows organic grapes. All wines are aged in oak and polyphenol rich. This one is aged for a longer time.

It's worth the price. The taste is superlative, very rich and satisfying to the lovers of phenolic compounds. Total phenols, stilbenes (resveratrol) and acutissimin-A abound in this wine.

 

 

Edited May 30, 2018 by mccoy

[Sibiriak]

Argentina: thousands protest in Mendoza wine region over axed water protections

Quote

Argentina’s wine-growing province of Mendoza, renown for its inky red Malbec varietal, has erupted in protest against the surprise overturning of a 2007 water protection law that had successfully kept water-intensive mining projects out of the province.  Thousands of people joined demonstrations on Monday outside the office of provincial governor Rodolfo Suarez in the capital city, also called Mendoza, after he overturned the law, known as 7722 late last week.

 

Quote

[...]Suarez further infuriated the protestors on Sunday, when he announced 19 uranium, cooper, gold, lead, silver, zinc, and iron mining projects. He argued that the projects will create tens of thousands of new jobs, and promised to use royalties for new irrigation projects.  But environmentalists warned that the mega-projects could threaten water sources that farmers and wine-growers depend on, in a semi-arid province which is already going through the worst drought in its history.

 

Quote

[...]“The modification of law 7722 will permit the use of sulphuric acid, cyanide and other toxic chemicals in the development of mega mining projects, which will generate the contamination of the province’s water,” Greenpeace Argentina said in a statement.

 

Quote

Mendoza, the largest wine-producing region in Latin America, is a semi-arid desert that gets the water for its vineyards from the snowy caps of the nearby Andes mountain range, already diminishing from the stress of global warming.

Edited December 24, 2019 by Sibiriak