New Wine Book a Flawless Exercise

Among both wine professionals and amateurs, wine faults are generally less well understood than the positive factors that make a wine great. This accessible work should fill numerous knowledge gaps for many readers.

In 2013, I studied for a Graduate Diploma in Viticulture and Enology at Lincoln University. I wish this book had been available then. It certainly would have assisted me as I – a historian by previous education – wrestled with wine chemistry.

I am not qualified to find issue with any finer technical points within the book, but I think we can have a pretty high level of confidence in Jamie Goode, who is an experienced wine writer and judge. He has a doctorate in plant biology, and consults at a high level with producers and organizations around the globe. In addition some very clever people read drafts of the work.

Flawless examines faults in wine, not just in a binary sense of perfect or bad. Goode looks in a more nuanced way at how faults can affect – positively as well as negatively – the enjoyment of a wine. It is, therefore, a philosophical work, as well as a technical one. While this is not its specific focus, it provides a backdrop for the debate between critics and proponents of the natural wine movement.

The principle of wabi-sabi is a key element of the book. This is the idea that flaws are an intrinsic part of beauty; in a zen garden, water dripping into a pool alerts us to the (otherwise) stillness. In this way Goode discusses how the definition of a fault can be subjective, and how faults might make a wine more interesting to some drinkers. Goode also outlines how faults and taints can be defined differently.

This is far from being a dry technical tome. I was happy to polish off multiple chapters at a time. The chapter titles are unambiguous and make quick dips into the book easy enough. Each chapter starts with a list of questions and answers: What is It? What is its flavor impact? What causes it? Is it always bad? How can it be prevented? These are then fleshed out in the subsequent prose. The coherency of organization along with a lighter writing style means a cover-to-cover read is not out of the question.

A smattering of tables and lists provide sensory checklists for certain compounds; these perhaps could have been repeated in, or moved to, a distinct section of the book for very quick reference. There are no illustrations, though given the topic, visual aids are of minimal use.

The first chapter presents a chronology of faults. This outlines the points in the winemaking process at which faults are likely to occur, beginning with the choices of vine and rootstock when planting the vineyard in the first place. I think this is a really useful piece of contextualization, providing a solid base from which to go into further detail.

Brettanomyces is perhaps the most obvious battleground for the wabi-sabi discussion, and chapter two is devoted to this topic (see below). A wide range of views and personal tolerances are reported, as are many variables. Examples include whether brett is affecting the taste as well as the aroma, the age of the wine, and how the effect of brettanomyces can be more benign with some grape varieties than for others. The chapter conclusion holds up brett as an example of why a nuanced approach to faults in wine is sensible.

Each subsequent chapter tackles a particular fault or group of faults, introduced clearly as outlined above. Listing these topics may be useful for the prospective purchaser: longer chapters on oxidation, volatile acidity, reduction and volatile sulfur come next, followed by musty and cork taints, then smoke taint.

Next comes a short, but revelatory chapter on geosmin, something that was completely unfamiliar to me. It is a microbial fault caused by the growth of penicillium expansum on grapes already affected by botrytis cinerea (the latter is not classed as a fault in itself). This may seem like a niche problem but, when the weather is wet late in the season, botrytis can be an unwelcome factor for all wine types, and geosmin has a much lower threshold than botrytis in terms of becoming a problem in finished wines. The taint manifests itself in earthy beetroot aromas. It is a problem Goode suggests has been underreported to date.

This chapter is followed by eucalyptus taint (like brett, appreciated even in unsubtle levels by some drinkers), light and heat damage, greenness and bug taint, mousiness and faults connected to malolactic fermentation. A penultimate chapter on recent laboratory testing examines the fast pace of advances in technology while noting the limited availability of many useful tools. This leads nicely into the conclusions, which revisit issues of perception and how some faults can be desirable in wines at certain levels in certain circumstances.

I recommend this book to prospective as well as current viticulture and enology students, WSET students, wine professionals at all levels and keen amateurs. Flawless is compact enough to easily transport as a mobile resource or a (admittedly geeky) travel read. My shelves at home contain several reviewed works that will likely never be re-opened; not so in this case.

Flawless: Understanding Faults in Wine, by Jamie Goode is published by University of California Press, $24.95, £20.00.