Lately I’ve been tasting and reading reviews on wines that have licorice as part of the flavor component. Is this flavor coming from the barrel, grapes, winemaking techniques, etc.? Last night I had a wine that distinctly had Licorice in spades, while we also had a Lynch Bages 2005 that exhibited no licorice at all and I admit preferring the Lynch Bages over the Napa Cab. Thanks.
Which Napa Cab?
You can get black licorice in Barolo that sees no new oak, so there must be some source of the aromaa/flavor in grapes.
Chiarello Bambino 2010; Winemaker TRB.
I have certainly tasted anise and coriander in some super terrific Rieslings.
Can’t speak to the cause, but as the the flavor: anise is not really the same as licorice. Licorice is a root that you can chew. Anise is used as a substitute flavor to make candy taste somewhat like licorice.
I too find the flavor in certain wines, as with Barolo, it seems to be wine with minimum new oak. Certain zins from Sonoma Valley and some of the Tablas Rhone blends have it.
Vosne Romanée, especially La Tache, for me has licorice. Don’t like it except in wine!
We see it in Pinot Noir from our vineyard all the time and we don’t add anything (yeast, ml bacteria, enzymes, ect) . I see it in neutral barrels more than new oak so I don’t think it comes from oak. I see it in both whole cluster lots and destemed lots. I think it comes from the grapes or more accurately the vineyard.
I’ve noticed it in very ripe Cabernet like Caymus SS, and it’s pretty common in Merlot.
Here’s an interesting discussion of this with some winemakers’ comments and observations from Mel Knox, the great barrel broker who probably knows more than anyone in American about oak. It sounds like it may be oak in some cases and ripe fruit compounds in other cases.
I see it in N-S-G all the time.
Licorice = overripe/picked late. I can’t tolerate anything that has more than a whisper of it although I’ll admit to hating actual licorice too.
+1000
I actually love it in small amounts when the rest of the wine fits and is not overripe. the question I have is–is licorice on a spectrum that includes tar, particularly as found in Barolo, or are these separate components?
Mike,
the type of yeast brings licorice out from the grape … we know that heat in fermentation if too low will cause more licorice … we know higher heat ferments to a point impart the nice flavor not the harsh flavor of licorice… we know the toast of the barrel imparts flavors of licorice …
licorice comes from grapes and wine barrels is the short answer to the question…
Seriously Keith? find noticeable amounts of licorice in almost every Nuits-Saint-Georges I’ve ever had, so much so that if I pop one and it isn’t there I’m disappointed. Same with Latricieres-Chambertin. Oh well.
VP’s pretty much always have a licorice note to them…
It’s a signature of sorts in Cabs and Merlots from the Saratoga/Cupertino area of the Santa Cruz Mountains, especially when less ripe. Standard in cooler vintages of (older) Mount Eden/Martin Ray Cabs, Vidovich Cab, occasionally in others, got in in the inaugural House Family Merlot.
Thanks for the replies. I wonder how wines with a noticeable licrorice flavor when young will age in the medium term (5 to 7 years); will the flavor become more prominent with time or less? For a young wine, this is a pretty big wine with tons of fruit.
That has not been my experience. I’ve seen many wines with licorice notes that few would call overripe.
My opinion is it is specific vineyards.