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In recent years, the complex world of wine has also become an economically significant topic for the book market; there is hardly any other explanation for the number of briskly written and attractively designed wine books, the many guides to enjoyment and connoisseurship, the regional wine guides and representative "coffee table books". At the same time, the role and significance of aromas are increasingly coming to the fore in many publications, some of them as independent publications. The elementary contribution of aromas to wine typicity and thus to wine description has been known for a long time - after all, in the old tasting formula "COS", smell - "odour" - represents the second important level between "colour" and "sapor" (taste).

Two current publications are dedicated to aromas - as a textbook on "wine mistakes" with possible avoidance strategies and as a general grape variety typology in its significance for wine and food - in an equally exemplary and instructive manner. Another book, already published two years ago and yet highly topical, shows what actually happens and must happen in the brain so that aromas and other facets of wine can be perceived at all.


Edmund Lemperle: "Identifying wine faults: Determine, Avoid, Remedy" - A textbook not only for winemakers

Before enjoying wine - and thus the pleasurable perception of diverse aromas from the grape variety, cultivation, fermentation and storage - there is the perfection of craftsmanship in avoiding the mostly aromatically perceptible wine faults. Edmund Lemperle - former head of the department for chemistry, microbiology and oenology at the state viticultural institute in Freiburg/Breisgau - shows in the proven wine reference book series of the Ulmer-Verlag (Wein und Rebe) in a forceful way how much "knowledge of the causes of wine faults and wine diseases and of the viticultural and cellar-technical avoidance strategies", i.e. the "chemical and microbiological connections", can contribute to "understanding and avoiding the possible impairments of the wine".

Wine faults (e.g. "Böckser") as "untypical changes that reduce the enjoyment value and also lead to complaints" can occur during the production, processing and fermentation of the grapes. Wine diseases are "detrimental changes that occur as a result of the metabolism of micro-organisms in the original wine constituents" (acetic souring etc.). For faults as well as for diseases it is true that not all of them can be "remedied by treatments permitted under wine law" - and if they are not intervened with in time they can "lead to wines that are not marketable" or "to the complete spoilage of the wines". The range of impairments with different "threshold values" is so wide that it almost seems to border on a miracle that marketable wines can be produced at all on the long path of wine creation: Whether it is undesirable grape variety aromas (e.g. foxy), fermentation disturbances (caused, for example, by temperatures that are too low or too high, the use of vinegar-rotten grapes, too large containers in the fermentation tanks, too much sulphurisation, etc.), mousetone and buckering - undesirable chemical processes, substances and bacteria seem to be lurking everywhere just waiting to start their damaging business.

Lemperle makes it clear that in the case of many wine faults, unfavourable weather and the resulting damage are not the only decisive causative factors. Often enough, the conditions are created by the producers themselves: Deficiencies in soil cultivation and fertilisation, residues of sulphur-containing pesticides (can lead to boil), too high yields and insufficient ripeness (lead, for example, to an unripe, grassy pepper note), too much mechanical stress on the (possibly rotten) grapes (often results in "medicinal clay" and UTA/untypical ageing note), insufficient cleaning of equipment and pipes (hoses) in the grape reception area (frequent basis for horse sweat note), etc. Above all, Lemperle cites a lack of hygiene in the cellar as a frequent source of the most diverse complaints.

"Wine faults cost money!" is the message with which the publisher addresses the target group initially in view: the book "enables the winemaker and cellar master to quickly recognise an emerging problem and shows ways to avoid or correct it" and "helps everyone who makes wine to save time and money". In fact, however, the significance of this book goes far beyond the diverse assistance it provides to wine producers: it represented consumer education in the best sense of the word. On a high professional level, in always matter-of-fact, sober language, it shows how much the cultural asset wine is endangered by wine faults and wine diseases in the vineyard and in the cellar.

It teaches consumers how to better understand and interpret aromatically striking, sometimes even disconcerting or downright disturbing aroma impressions, and thus opens up the possibility of having a more informed discussion with producers. Ultimately, this textbook also increases respect for the complicated cultural product wine, which is not a "pure natural product" but just as much a cultural achievement owing to protracted care as an industrially produced instant drink from a family of grape varieties differentiated by clones. "Identifying Wine Defects" is an exciting reference work also for the many wine enthusiasts who are unable to understand the underlying "chemistry" described in formulas.

Edmund Lemperle: Identifying wine faults: Determine, Avoid, Remedy. Stuttgart: Ulmer 2007, 128 pages, 22 tables, 17 colour photos on plates, 72 b/w photos and drawings, paperback. Extensive subject index. ISBN 978-3-8001-4947-6; 19,90 Euro


Guy Bonnefoit: "Fascination Wine & Flavours"

An outstanding work on the " Fascination of Wine & Aromas" by Guy Bonnefoit, a long-time sommelier and lecturer on the harmony of food and wine, has recently been published by Gebrüder Kornmayer (Dreieich): " Bonnefoit Deutschland". On 830 pages, separated according to general grape variety typology and their regional aromatic expressions, it lists in tabular form with over 800 aromas the olfactory and taste experiences from over 10,000 tastings of German wines from all wine-growing regions. This unique German aroma atlas - the result of decades of concentrated tasting work - is supplemented by more than 8,000 recommendations of food to go with the wine as well as information on, for example this winner of the "Gourmand World Cookbook Award in the category Best Book on European Wine" deserves a closer look - after all, no book as comprehensive as this one has ever been dedicated to wine aromas, which the former sommelier world champion Markus Del Monego, quoted by Bonnefoit, regards as the "key to success" for harmonising food and wine.

Bonnefoit divides his aromatic finds into the four main categories of "fruit", "plant", "spice" and "miscellaneous" (as a result, a structural simplification of the "aroma wheels" of the German Wine Institute). The aroma catalogue differentiated in this way is ultimately intended to serve as an everyday tool for sommeliers and chefs, who are each to bring wine and food together in the aromatic analogy process (the familiar principles such as "wine determination by the dominant product" or "acids and bitter substances add up in each case" etc. do not play the decisive role here). Winegrowers, in turn, can use the aroma tables to check the possible aroma spectrum of their wines for "typicality" in the course of their development.

Bonnefoit, for example, succeeds in naming 100 different aromas for the aroma spectrum of the Baden Spätburgunder, 21 of which (highlighted in colour in the text) can be counted among the dominant, "typical" impressions: Ripe notes of dark forest fruits, red berries and spicy-animalic notes predominate, but "naturally" notes of "banana" or "coffee" also appear: Pinot Noir lovers will certainly find themselves here with their sensory impressions; moreover, the tables can and should be supplemented with one's own sensory experiences. In Bonnefit's "Table of aromas and flavours mainly found in wine", however, the "Miscellaneous" section also includes aromas that are often indicative of classic wine faults and quality-reducing ingredients: For example, aromatic notes of "chlorine" can indicate cleaning with chlorine-containing agents, of "vinegar" can indicate acetic souring (the most frequent and most dangerous wine disease) and of "wine cellar" (musty mould taste, cellar tone) can indicate powdery mildew or sour rot. Here it would be helpful for every wine lover - whether "amateur" or "professional" - to name the aromas indicating wine faults as such and not to count them indiscriminately among the "harmless" or "typical" aromas.

Against the background of his aroma passion, Bonnefoit takes an unequivocal stand on the undoubtedly widespread practice of aromatic "support" of the wines during ageing: "In my opinion, what levels the wines even more today is, among other things, the use of identical cultivated yeast strains for fermentation. The microclimate usually includes the natural yeasts that live nearby and sit on the berries." He advocates spontaneous fermentation ("optimal in taste and most natural"), as it best supports the character of the wines by the terroir; the use of this term anyway "only gets its true meaning when working without cultured yeasts." Since today it is possible to order dry cultured yeasts from catalogues for any desired aroma expression - "exotic fruit notes" for example. for Müller-Thurgau, for example, or "fruity and spicy" for Pinot Noir - it is often difficult to determine to what extent the aromas described by Bonnefoit actually come from the "natural", primary aroma potential of the grapes, which are to be attributed to the secondary (fermentation) and tertiary aromas (storage) - and which are mainly due to the targeted use of yeast.

This German aroma atlas thus presents a sensory ideal that tends to be found more in wines that have been vinified without controlled fermentation with pure-breeding yeasts - or at least without their variants for explicit aroma profiling. So we are talking here about organic viticulture; or at least about those winemakers who do not use all the possibilities and see themselves as "close to nature", even if without an explicit organic label. Yet for Bonnefoit it is above all "wines from biodynamic cultivation" that "clearly" show "that they have much more character and reveal the peculiarity of the area." Here it would be exciting for the reader to know how many of the wines tasted come from organically working winegrowers. Against the background of many aromatically considerably "supported" wines, Bonnefoit's sensory effort at the same time makes it clear that aromatic-sensory descriptions are not absolute truths and often have to be put into perspective: Most fragrances may be clearly established by means of sensory experience, gas chromatograph and "sniff detector"; their origin is by no means always "clear".

The question of which food goes with the wine already present is answered extensively in Bonnefoit's reference work on almost 700 pages. For example, for Pinot Noir from Ihringer Winklerberg (Kaiserstuhl/Baden), there is a list of dishes that harmonise with the aromas, ranging from grilled salmon in red wine sauce to pheasant with carrots to matured Münster cheese. But the reader who is looking for a suitable wine for a dish that has already been determined has to be very patient: If an accompanying wine for "roast venison" is to be found via the food register, he will find three recommended wines on pages 152, 153 and 183. This can be looked up quickly. For "hare stew" there are already 23 mentions, and for "saddle of hare" 118 wines are recommended. The "Suggestions for the harmony of wine and food" preceding the wine aroma description are too brief compared to the extensive main section. Since the lexical diversity of wine aromatics has obviously reached the limit of practical usefulness, the subsequent delivery of an electronic database with a quick indication of the possible combinations would be desirable as a subsequent "update". The "aromatic focus" of the book makes it clear that Bonnefoit was primarily concerned with the encyclopaedic listing of actually or possibly sensory perceptible aroma and taste impressions, to which the dishes with analogous aromas should correspond.

All in all, Guy Bonnefoit's work stands out from the flood of wine literature in many ways: it does not promote "quick enjoyment", nor does it see itself as a zeitgeisty, quickly comprehensible and consumable contribution to the fashionable topic of wine; rather, it is an almost outmoded appeal to wine lovers to spend effort on wine analysis and to devote themselves to the means of enjoyment in a disciplined and reflective manner. In Bonnefoit's words: "Drinking wine with understanding is intellectual work." In a world addicted to fast pleasures, the passionate sommelier testifies to an almost refreshing conservatism: enjoying wine should be done with deliberation, with connoisseurship and, above all, with a willingness to differentiate. The book and its author are characterised by respect for wine as a cultural asset: "Every wine is unique in its own way. Wine embodies a personality that needs to be explored." Perhaps Bonnefoit's passion pushes his respect too far; he probably can't do much with the wine lover who enjoys himself with a wine "just like that", without any analysis, while blithely uncorking it: "Open the bottle with the necessary reverence", he recommends to the connoisseur of "venerable" wines. Nevertheless, "Bonnefoit Deutschland", says the chef of the Osnabrück restaurant "la vie", Thomas Bühner, quoted in the book, "helps to achieve a degree of perfection in putting together dishes and matching wines that would never be possible without his detailed notes"

Guy Bonnefoit, Fascination Wine & Flavours: "Bonnefoit Germany", Dreieich: Verlag Gebrüder Kornmayer 2007, 830 pages, hardcover with slipcase, extensive index appendix. ISBN 978-3-938173-27-5; 49,80 Euro. According to the publisher's announcement, the next volume: "Bonnefoit France" is scheduled for the 4th quarter of 2007; "Austria" and "Italy" are to appear in 2008.

Click here for the second part of the reviews

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