{"id":4384,"date":"2021-03-30T11:11:19","date_gmt":"2021-03-30T15:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wtso.com\/blog\/?p=4384"},"modified":"2022-07-18T16:34:32","modified_gmt":"2022-07-18T20:34:32","slug":"what-makes-a-wine-taste-earthy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wtso.com\/blog\/what-makes-a-wine-taste-earthy\/","title":{"rendered":"What Makes a Wine Taste Earthy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Curious what sommeliers mean when they describe a wine as earthy? Don\u2019t fret\u2014you\u2019re not sipping on dirt and pine needles. Here\u2019s what makes a wine taste earthy!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

When you\u2019re at a wine tasting<\/a> or first learning about wine, you may hear people throwing around a lot of different descriptors. In a previous post<\/a>, we talked about some of the common descriptors, and in this piece, we\u2019re going to delve into a term that tends to correspond with red wines\u2014earthy. Read on to discover what exactly makes a wine taste earthy.<\/p>\n

When we first hear someone describing a wine as earthy<\/em>, we may think, \u201cWho wants to drink something that tastes like dirt?\u201d However, when you taste an earthy wine, it\u2019s not like you\u2019re getting grit and crunchy leaves in your mouth. The term encompasses many different aromas and tasting experiences. Let\u2019s dig in!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Understanding Tasting Notes<\/h2>\n

Some wine labels will include tasting notes where you may read descriptions like, \u201cNotes of chocolate, ripe plum, and forest floor.\u201d That may, at first, seem concerning\u2014nobody wants to sip up pine needles with their wine!<\/p>\n

But this phrasing doesn\u2019t mean the wine includes<\/em> grapes, plum, chocolate, and sap\u2014these wines typically only have grapes in them. The flavor compounds are simply reminiscent of the other flavors and aromas. We notice this both through taste and<\/em> smell.<\/p>\n

Orthonasal vs. Retronasal Olfaction<\/h5>\n

Tasting and flavor notes can refer to a taste, a smell, or both! We experience scents in two different ways\u2014through orthonasal olfaction (smelling through your nose) and retronasal olfaction (smelling from inside <\/em>your mouth). Both of these impact flavor notes. So how does that impact how we understand tasting notes for earthy wines<\/a>?<\/p>\n

What an Earthy Wine Means<\/h2>\n

\u201cEarthy\u201d tends to be a sort of umbrella term for red wines. It can have both positive and negative connotations, depending on the winemaking process. For example, some Pinot Noirs are described as earthy, meaning that the fruit flavors often present in this light-bodied red<\/a> are balanced out with a scent similar to a wet forest floor. It\u2019s still a positive experience, but your orthonasal olfaction gives you the earthy flavor note.<\/p>\n

What Makes a Wine Taste Earthy?<\/h2>\n

The different compounds in a wine impact the flavor notes we experience. These compounds can change based on various elements, but a significant factor of earthiness comes from the soil in which the vines grow. Grape ripeness also plays a role\u2014underripe grapes come across as more herbal and vegetal, leaning toward that earthy description.<\/p>\n

You may also hear earthy described as \u201ctobacco\u201d\u2014this doesn\u2019t mean it tastes like cigarettes. Instead, it indicates the woody, pleasant scent of earthy tobacco leaves, and it typically results from bottle aging<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarthy Wines\u201d<\/h2>\n

Below are some wines you may typically see described as earthy:<\/p>\n

Louis Martini Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2015
\nMoshin Dry Creek Valley Molinari Vineyard Merlot 2012
\nDonato Giangirolami Prodigo Lazio IGP Syrah 2015
\nDomaine Nicolas Rossignol Volnay 1er Cru Chevret 2017
\n92 Pt. Marianot Garblet Barbaresco by Giorgio Sordo 2017
\nMontes de Leza Rioja Tempranillo 2018<\/p>\n

Here at Wines \u2018Til Sold Out<\/a>, we offer a variety of red wines<\/a>, so you can experiment with finding earthy wine notes. We offer you discount wine online so that you can feel good about purchasing a variety of bottles to suit your tasting needs. Peruse our selections<\/a>, and see what strikes your fancy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Curious what sommeliers mean when they describe a wine as earthy? Don\u2019t fret\u2014you\u2019re not sipping on dirt and pine needles. Here\u2019s what makes a wine taste earthy! When you\u2019re at a wine tasting or first learning about wine, you may hear people throwing around a lot of different descriptors. In a previous post, we talked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":4391,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[339,336],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wine-101","category-wine-learning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wtso.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wtso.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wtso.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wtso.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wtso.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4384"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.wtso.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5891,"href":"https:\/\/www.wtso.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4384\/revisions\/5891"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wtso.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wtso.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wtso.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wtso.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}