Wine 101: The Acid Test

For a long time I didn’t know how to talk about acidity in wine. I just knew when there was too much, because I found myself making a face that makes me look like a bass player in an 80’s hair band. You know the look: scrunched up nose, eyes closed, mouth puckering. It’s not pretty, and neither am I when I taste acid-y wines. But acidity is a key component of wine, especially when it comes to enjoying wine with food.

Acid in wine comes either from the grapes themselves, or from acids that are added during the wine-making process. Grapes grown in warm climates have lower acidity than grapes grown in cool climates. So a wine such as Pinot Grigio, which comes from warm Italy will have lower acidity than, say, a Riesling grown in cooler Germany. Too much acidity imparts a sharp sour taste; too little leaves the wine flat.

If you are drinking wine without food you can more easily enjoy a low acidity wine, which you may describe as supple or smooth. But if you want to drink that same wine with a meal or snack, it will likely seem dull and flabby. Why? Because acidity is key to enhancing the experience of food. It brightens any dish (like a squeeze of lemon on fish), cuts through the fat in rich food and provides a good sense of balance. This is why, in My Wine tribe tastings, we always sample wines with and without food — and note the differences. Which are remarkable.

Acidity decreases over time, so if you buy a wine today in hopes of holding onto it for 10 years, make sure to buy something with a higher acidity than you normally prefer. And beware of drinking finer wines when they are “too young” because their acids have not had a chance to mellow.

Here is an exercise from our friends at Food & Wine magazine that can help you identify different levels of acidity:

Prepare five, four-ounce glasses of water.
Have on hand 1/4 of an orange, 1/4 of a grapefruit, 1/2 a lemon and 1/2 a lime.
Set the first glass of water aside.
In the second glass squeeze the juice of the orange, in the third glass squeeze the grapefruit, in the fourth glass squeeze the lemon and in the fifth glass, the lime.
Now take a sip of the plain water. Then begin to taste the glasses in the order above: orange, grapefruit, lemon, lime. This allows you to sample increasing levels of acidity.

Feel free to experiment a bit by pouring more fruit juice into each glass so that you get a more concentrated experience. When does it start tasting too tart to you? Do you feel yourself making that bass face? Now you know how to identify the impact of acidity.

Hope this was helpful. If you would like more Wine 101s, here is an overview on oak, tannins and body. Cheers!