Popular Wine Styles I Secretly Can’t Stand (& What I Drink Instead)

Hi everybody, this is Agnesa from No Sediment and today I'm going to share some of the wine styles I personally cannot seem to fall in love with and then we will taste some great alternatives I would rather drink. In the current era expressing opinions that others might not enjoy or agree with could almost feel like walking naked in the public. You feel vulnerable because you know there might immediately be a flood of comments with a pushback at best and something nastier at worst. However, I have always enjoyed a good discussion. I don't mind if it becomes slightly heated as long as it stays respectful and there is something new to learn. In fact, I have often found that a new perspective can completely change my view on a subject. So today I'm going to talk about wine styles that I am not particularly fan of and I will explain why. It is not that these wine styles are not good in quality and I am certainly not saying that you should not drink them. I will defend your rights to drink whatever wine you want as long as it is wine and not ready to drink cocktail. But yes, these are wine styles that I personally struggle to love and then after each one I will present an alternative which we will taste together. I don't know what it is but the moment I look at the wine and see inky color, stained tears and highly concentrated dense aroma of blue and black fruits, I almost don't want to taste it. Especially if the flavor profile leans towards rich and jammy fruit. Basically, if I feel like I have to grab a spoon instead of a glass to enjoy the wine, I might taste it for educational purposes but I may not want to go back for another sip. I sometimes find it almost odd that Amarones made from dried grapes where water has evaporated and everything else is concentrated can show more freshness and liveliness than some of those extracted wine bombs from certain winemakers and regions. But I really can't fault these wines because they often do have high concentration, a long fruit-driven finish and acidity that brings balance to the rich and opulent fruit. They also seem to show no age even after decades spent in the bottle. So very often these wines score highly in competitions but stylistically they are not something I particularly want to sit down with, enjoy and meditate over. This is not to say that I don't enjoy full-bodied and concentrated red wines. Right bank Bordeaux, often significantly based on Merlot, can produce exactly that kind of style. For example, Croix de la Brie and in this case we are having Chapelle de la Brie 2022 vintage. Some of you might argue that this is quite young vintage and I agree. Of course, Bordeaux, fine Bordeaux, red Bordeaux can age really really long and usually when you are doing a blind tasting, you add extra years to it because it never seems as old as it is. But today I wanted to make my point. So I chose full-bodied, richly textured red wine. However, it does have freshness, it does have elegance, it is not just plain, you know, extracted fruit bomb. So let's taste it. And it is 90% Merlot and around 10% Cabernet Franc. Merlot as a grape variety tends to develop these really rich opulent full-bodied red wines, oftentimes with high alcohol as well. So let's taste it. We do feel that plum, really ripe blueberry and blackberry character, slight cassis as well, delicate note of pencil shavings like that graphite character, smokiness and toastiness as well, like toasty element probably coming from wood, some vanilla. And of course, I do not want to blame those grape varieties that naturally produce inky colored wines. For example, Malbec, it is usually quite deeply colored. But my issue is that sometimes grape variety does not have ability to do that. So we use, you know, whatever we need to use to extract that. This wine is more complex than it is, you know, fruit bomb baguette. Let's taste it. And as I was tasting this wine, I realized another thing. Sometimes in these really overly extracted full rich-bodied red wines, the tannin texture that could also add certain freshness to the wine is really ripe and almost melting on the palate. And that on its own is a good thing, you know, when you discuss or talk about tannins. But when it just adds more flesh to the more flesh, sometimes it is too much. And here, when I felt the tannin, I realized it adds texture, it adds mouthfeel, it adds a frame and like a backbone to the wine. It also gives a bit of grip to the fruit. You know, it is not just jolly fruit hanging out there and, you know, being ripe and delicious. It has a character. And of course, something that I always valued Bordeaux for is the elevated, you know, mouthwatering acidity. It always adds freshness to the wine and the aftertaste is lively. It is juicy. It is balanced as with any good fruit you would expect. So I will give this wine 94 points. Honestly, this one varies significantly because there are champagnes that I sincerely love despite the fact that they have no sugar added. And it does not apply equally to all the sparkling wines as well. I have noticed that Cavas, Corpinats and other Spanish sparkling wines, I actually often prefer in Brut Nature style because they offer so much more fruit ripeness that sugar almost seems unnecessary. There will be people who argue that sugar is not part of terroir. So adding it, you dilute the expression of terroir. My argument is so do additions of sugar and yeast for the second fermentation. Reducing overall sugar additions in champagne makes sense, especially in the changing climate. And I have noticed that I do prefer lower dosage now than I did 15 years ago. But what I do not enjoy is a dogmatic belief in Brut Nature, regardless of the vintage, the ripeness or the overall balance of the wine. That is something I avoid when choosing champagne for my own enjoyment. We might argue that human beings cannot perceive less than 4 grams per liter of residual sugar. So why does it matter? But it does matter because sugar is also a flavoring component. It can open up other aroma elements and it certainly adds complexity to the wine as it ages. So yes, we might not pick it up directly, but we sure notice it in the broader balance and flavor profile of the wine. Champagnes that I do enjoy? Well, those are the ones where producers adjust their liqueur d'expedition depending on the vintage, the ripeness and the overall balance of the wine. For example, Alexandre Chateaune with his brand Chateaune Tête. And I have always loved him because he adds residual sugar depending on the vintage, depending on the grape variety, depending on the wine style. He always says that it is about the balance. You will often see different single vineyards from the same vintage having different sugar levels. And I think that shows how his aim, his ultimate aim, is the balance of the wine. We have here right now Chemin de Reims, which is 100% chard. And I think at some point it also had some Arban blended in it, but at least here he's also being super transparent with his wines. We can see on the back label, we see the vintage, we see the dosage, which in this specific case is 2.4 grams of residual sugar, and we see the grape variety as well. So 100% blanc de blanc chardonnay. Let's taste it. I have always been in love with his Champagnes. I think I fell in love with the Le Bar, which is 100% Mounier. But I think he makes these really approachable, beautiful, albeit really terroir-driven wines across all his labels. And this one is driven by bright, ripe orchard fruit flavors. You have these yellow apples and maybe some florals, some acacia blossoms as well. There's some smokiness, you know, that underlines some, I don't know, earthy element here as well. Oh wow! I mean the acidity here in this Champagne is really high and vibrant. It is slightly nervy in a way, but you also have these really ripe white orchard fruits surrounding the acidity. To be honest, I do not feel the 2 grams of sugar here on the palate. This wine seems completely dry. However, it also shows quite a lot of balance. Maybe it is because of the riper fruit profile in this case, because it fills the palate quite intensely. And you do feel it lingering on the aftertaste as well. So as I told you in the introduction, it is not really about tasting the sweetness. It is about the balance. And I do think that this wine is showing itself quite beautifully on the palate. It is long-lasting. It is fruit-driven and fruit-shaped. However, I feel, you know, those structural elements on the cheeks slightly. Maybe it is from the oak aging, that smokiness, that earthy character. Overall, well-made wine. And no one could tell that it does not represent its terroir. No one could tell that, you know, those 2 grams of sugar here has overpowered the expression of Champagne. When you smell it, when you taste it, you know it is Champagne. It screams Champagne. So I will give this wine 95 points. So now let's move to the next wine I am not a fan of. Full disclosure. I will choose wines made by winemakers who care about their land, soil health, wine health, and the wider values of sustainability. I will choose wines where winemakers are investing themselves, their heart, soul, and muscle into the work. But I do not like faulty wine. I have very little tolerance to volatile acidity, faults from malolactic fermentation, and thanks to all the gods, I do not seem to pick up mousiness. I do think that with natural wine movement, tolerance towards faults in wine has increased significantly. But the honest part is that natural wine is often blamed for lazy or careless winemaking, even though it does not have to be faulty at all. So rather than dismissing natural wine as a category, I try to make empirical decisions on what I drink. There are winemakers in whole regions that have long worked with little or no additions to their wines, and so they have the knowledge, experience, and expertise to do it well. And one of them is Jura, and I do value Tissot. Today we are going to taste a Les Bruyeres 2022 Chardonnay, so single vineyard Chardonnay from Jura. And I think Jura has never really entered the natural wine or low intervention wine movement. They were always there, and maybe it is because of their wine style. You know, Vin Jaune is aged under Bois, so you could never really add a lot of sulfites to the wine, because you had to make sure that Bois would develop in these wines. You know, and Jura has always been more funky, more yeasty, not always fully filtered or fine, as opposed to the majority of other winemaking regions. So I do think that if you want to look for something really truly authentic, Jura is one of the regions to go. It does not mean, though, that they are faulty. I have to be honest with you, though, because some of my colleagues have told that some of the red wines from Tissot have showed some of that moussiness, but overall their wines have always been quite clean, really beautiful. Yes, there are some slight funkiness to them, but they are definitely not faulty, and for me that's really important. And I think another important thing is they care about their land, they care about their soil health, and they're not dogmatic. If they will need to add some of the sulfites to their wines to make them more stable, they will do that. So let's taste it. I straight away feel the funkiness. I feel some of the smokiness and toastiness on the nose here as well, but it is not faulty, like it is not, you know, overpowered by VA or I don't know, any other elements that sometimes dominate in some of these wines. This one shows a bit of that apple peel, green one, you know, maybe slightly dried apple peel character. We also have pears and white melon here, and peaches. And it is mixed with that smokiness I mentioned before. I do think that Chardonnay is a chameleon, but it always shines through, like you always feel that it is Chardonnay, despite the fact that it can be so versatile, so diverse. And here we do feel that slightly funky, slightly earthy element, yeasty mid-palate. It adds a bit of structure, a bit of, you know, body and backbone to the wine. Acidity is quite nice, beautiful. It is juicy, it is not overpowering the wine. I think I've tasted some of the wines from 2021, and there the acidity was more focused, more sharp in a way, more, you know, mouth-watering. Here it is part of the wine, and we can see that vintage also shines through. And what is really interesting, a note that I usually quite love in wines, is slight salinity, which you do feel on the finish, on the aftertaste. So I will give this wine 94 points. Let's move to the next wine that I am not a fan of. I hope I do not shatter any glass here by pointing this character out, but... And just like that, the illusion was shattered. There is a certain category of white wine, often entry-level wines at an approachable price tag, with no oak influence, and made for immediate consumption. Think of your 5.99 Pinot Grigio or 4.99 Chardonnay. Often it is not fruit, but juice or bulk wine sourced for the production of these wines, and the quality can be quite variable. To ensure high aromatic intensity and consistency, certain yeasts are used, and fermentation temperature is kept very low. This usually results in a very estery, artificial bonbon, cotton candy type of aromas. Oh man, honestly, dude, that's the meanest thing you've ever done to me. I really thought you knew. Now, I understand the reasoning here in an entry-level category from a volume-focused producer. You ensure bright aroma and consistent profile, regardless of the origin or broader quality of the grapes. However, I have seen this estery character creeping into more expensive categories as well. Some yeasts in very low fermentation temperature have the ability to strip away or simply overpower the character of the grape, and certainly any terroir expression. So I am never happy to smell these estery notes in my white wines, and to be honest, I will always choose funkiness over estery notes in my wines. So today, I have chosen to show you a wine or producer that whenever I go to Wachau, I always stay with them, and they are this nicest, sweetest family, Rixinger, and they have an amazing vineyards, some of the most praised vineyards in Wachau area. This one is Zingeriedel. I love Zingeriedel. Zingeriedel is one of my favorite single vineyard sites in Wachau, mostly though for Riesling. Zingeriedel is known for its Riesling. There are few producers who will grow Grüner Veltliner, however, and Rixinger is one of them. So let's taste the wine. This is smaragd level, so the ripest fruit went into this wine. I don't know the fermentation temperature here, but judging by the nose, it is not 10, it is not 12, it is not 14, because you feel all those fruity flavors when you smell it. You feel peaches, you feel really ripe apricots, you feel floral characters. It is not estery, and just full disclosure here, I don't mind, you know, yeast added to initiate fermentation. It is not my issue, but there are certain yeasts that are used to create certain aroma flavors, you know, and mouthfeel in the wine, and when it starts to overpower the grape variety or the terroir, this is when it bothers me. It is slightly too cold maybe, so it is just opening up in the glass as I'm speaking with you, but I feel that almost smoked apricot character. Gunerat Liner, smaragd level from Wachau usually smells to me of these apricots, and there are apricot trees all around Wachau as well. So maybe this is just my imagination playing games with me, but there's also some element of spiciness like rosemary or thyme. Let's taste it. As with smaragd level, so typical, you often have this off-dry style, so I would guess that some of the 3-4 grams of residual sugar here this wine actually has, and so typical for Gunerat Liner, we do have that phenolic grip on the finish, that bitter almond element. However, those ripe stone fruits, peaches, and apricots is what dominates the palate and finishes on the aftertaste. I will give this wine 92 points. Thank you. Thank you very much for watching this video. Let me know in the comment section below which are the wines that you cannot seem to fall in love with, I don't want to use the word hate, and make sure to watch this video next.