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+--- Thread: What's the Deal with Caramel? (/thread-19901.html)
- Auburnwine - 01-27-2003
Several wines that I have had recently (the Coppola Claret and the Marquis Phillips Shiraz, for example) have had a distinctive caramel flavor. This seems like a new trend. And although I think that it is pleasant, I fear that it will eventually be overdone, as was the buttery toast treatment of chardonnay. Fruit will completely give way to butterscotch.
Is this a function of oaking? Do folks like it?
- Innkeeper - 01-27-2003
I don't get turned off by oak in reds as I do with whites, but it is both possible and becoming more common to overoak reds as well. That is what gives the caramel flavor as you suggest.
- chittychattykathy - 01-28-2003
Caramel comes in part from how the oak is toasted as well (temp and time). And I agree with you and IK, in saying a "little" is nice, a lot though...
- Thomas - 01-28-2003
Caramel can also indicate a little oxidation, which does occur while wine sits in barrels.