{"id":7059389,"date":"2026-09-17T00:11:02","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T00:11:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/uncategorized\/tombarraswinecommentary-understanding-a-wines-texture\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T00:11:02","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T00:11:02","slug":"tombarraswinecommentary-understanding-a-wines-texture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7059389","title":{"rendered":"TomBarrasWineCommentary: Understanding a Wine’s Texture"},"content":{"rendered":"


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This article was originally published in November of 2014.\u00a0 It is still read worthy. Enjoy!<\/p>\n

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My wife recently asked my opinion on a colorful, acrylic painting that she was working on.\u00a0 I am always available to critically evaluate someone else\u2019s creative efforts\u2014irrespective of the medium\u2014particularly when I have zero training or expertise in it. \u00a0And so, I delivered my pontification.\u00a0 \u201cThe orange pumpkin looks a little flat and one dimensional.\u00a0 It needs more\u00a0depth and<\/i>\u00a0texture<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0 She resisted slightly, invoking technical issues which I did not understand, but eventually she relented and accepted my assessment and modified it to its current excellent state.
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Even though they routinely slide past our consciousness unobserved, textures are a vital, recurring part of our lives. We are all aware of the multi-dimensional textures in music, art and architecture whereby multiple components are interwoven to achieve a cohesive and very pleasing result. Textiles are a veritable gold mine of textural examples with their varieties of fibers and weaving options that yield fabrics that are smooth or rough, silky or coarse and firm or delicate, to name just a few.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n

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Also, notwithstanding their daunting challenge, I must admit that even the 144 MacKenzie-esque bunkers on the California Golf Club course deliver a very artistically textured, visual appeal. \u00a0However, for a more relevant analogy, let\u2019s go to the world of food, where wine often assumes center stage.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Textures in food preparation are detected via our tongues, teeth, lips and palate, and depending on one\u2019s predisposition to certain types, they can either pleasing or off-putting.\u00a0 Consider the creamy bliss of gelato, the crunchy enjoyment of granola, the chewy pleasure of a French baguette or the delicate, umami delight of a mushroom laden risotto.<\/p>\n

Those textural qualities, however, are not universally appealing.\u00a0 Our son-in-law would routinely push the mushrooms to the side and proceed with what remains. I have several friends who avoid bean soup because of its soft, mushy texture, while I, on the other hand love it, and often make a flavorful, soul-satisfying, cannellini bean soup.\u00a0 And while many of you might enjoy Ceviche, its texture is one that I find particularly unappealing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Daniel Patterson, Chef and owner of Coi, a well known, Michelin-starred restaurant in\u00a0San Francisco<\/st1:place>, asserts that \u201cafter seasoning, texture is the most important element of our cooking.\u201d\u00a0 He identifies it as the \u201cdelivery system for flavor.\u201d\u00a0 And inasmuch as wine is food item, at least for most wine enthusiasts, I would propose that texture\u2014how that wine \u201cfeels\u201d in your mouth and impacts your palate\u2014is similarly quite important.\u00a0 It is really of little importance if the wine\u2019s appearance and aroma attract your interest, if it soon vanishes because the mouth feel is abrasive, bitter, tart or otherwise distasteful.<\/p>\n

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The elements or components that define food texture are rather clear cut.\u00a0 But how about wine?\u00a0 What determines or defines the fabric of a wine\u2019s texture\u2014how it\u00a0feels<\/i>\u00a0in your mouth? \u00a0If you\u2019re thinking\u00a0structure<\/i>\u00a0(alcohol, acidity, tannins and residual sugar), you\u2019re right on.\u00a0 Add to that, oak seasoning, a stirring of the lees and numerous other style modifiers that can be found in the winemaker\u2019s tool box, and it is with those elements that he\/she \u201cweaves\u201d the fabric that more fully defines and characterizes the color, aroma and flavor basics.<\/div>\n

\u00a0It is here that a wine becomes a mouth-coating, buttery Chardonnay; a rich, ripe, fruity Zinfandel; a juicy and succulent Fume Blanc; a smooth and supple Merlot; an elegant and velvety Pinot Noir; or a muscular Cabernet. \u00a0A wine\u2019s character and qualities are revealed by the fabric of its texture, and being sensitive to and mindful of that can add an extra dimension to one\u2019s wine enjoyment as well.<\/div>\n
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Lastly, I should also mention that a wine\u2019s age (young or mature) will also reveal a very special texture.\u00a0 At a recent visit to Kermit Lynch\u2019s\u00a0Berkeley<\/st1:city>,\u00a0CA<\/st1:state><\/st1:place>\u00a0retail outlet with my good friend Tom Engler, I purchased a nine year old Grand Cru Beaujolais (C\u00f4te-de-Brouilly\u00a0from Nicole Chanrion)<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>that was touted in Kermit\u2019s recent mailer.\u00a0 2005 was not an exceptional\u00a0Beaujolais<\/st1:place>\u00a0vintage like 2009 was, and I was ambivalent about the wine\u2019s prospects (and its $40 price tag from a producer that I did not know). \u00a0But with Kermit\u2019s assurance and the young man\u2019s persistence, I acquiesced and purchased one bottle (with the expectation that if I liked it, I would return and buy a few more). \u00a0<\/div>\n

Two weeks later, after it rested comfortably in my temp-controlled wine vault, I put it to the taste test with Tom and our wives.\u00a0\u00a0While in its youth it may have been an in-your-face, fruit bomb, maturity\u2014with its inexorable pace\u2014brought forth a more reserved, finely textured Grand Cru.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0In this instance, Chanrion\u2019s C\u00f4te-de-Brouilly\u00a0was as Kermit claimed, \u201c. . .\u00a0 elegant and delicate with a complex bouquet of spices and forest floor.\u201d I can debate the latter, but agree with the former.\u00a0 The wine exhibited an aromatic, suave and savory quality that elicited scrutiny and thoughtful discussion from the four of us.\u00a0 Quite revealingly, the bottle was empty in fewer than twenty minutes, with Tom and me doing most of the \u201cheavy lifting.\u201d\u00a0 Alas, I came up empty handed in my efforts to purchase more bottles (to share with other friends), for the wine had sold out quickly. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article was originally published in November of 2014.\u00a0 It is still read worthy. Enjoy! My wife recently asked my opinion on a colorful, acrylic painting that she was working on.\u00a0 I am always available to critically evaluate someone else\u2019s creative efforts\u2014irrespective of the medium\u2014particularly when I have zero training or expertise in it. \u00a0And […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7059390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7382,159374,5715,16718],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7059389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-texture","tag-tombarraswinecommentary","tag-understanding","tag-wines"],"yoast_head":"\nTomBarrasWineCommentary: Understanding a Wine's Texture - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7059389\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TomBarrasWineCommentary: Understanding a Wine's Texture - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This article was originally published in November of 2014.\u00a0 It is still read worthy. 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