One of the best winery websites out there is the one for Twisted Oak Winery. They have an irreverent style and it is deftly incorporated into all the ways that they present themselves to the public. They even have a white (Marsanne & Rousanne) and red (Mourvedre, Syrah and Grenache) named “%@#$!” Pretty clever, and definitely original.
Ever on the cutting edge the Twisted Oak folks, led by El Jefe, also have a very cool blog: El Bloggo Torcido. In their most recent post they present their new wine data sheet. I wrote earlier this month about How Wine Data Sheets Should Be, and it appears* that El Jefe et. al have taken the idea and run with it. They’ve added an extra bit of information beyond what I’d proposed and were able to squeeze even more info to the graphical number line. Here’s a pic (click to enlarge it):
The more consumers being exposed to the relevant ranges of wine chemistry, the better. Empowering people with information helps them to grow more and more comfortable with wine, and that is good for the entire industry.
What El Jefe’s added is a descriptor to the ends of each number line like “dry” and “sweet” or “soft” and “crisp”. Very useful.
But I have to question the addition of volatile acidity, or, at the very least the use of the descriptors “wine” and “salad dressing” for end points of the relevant range.
A little VA is a complexing agent in wine, but the presentation of the information with “wine” on one end at a level of 0 and “salad dressing” on the other with a level of .2 implies that Twisted Oak’s own Petite Sirah is something other than wine. This is bound to cause confusion rather than enlightenment.
Overall I’m impressed that Twisted Oak is taking the opportunity to provide their customers with information in context, making the data more “news you can use” rather than “news that makes you snooze.” Good times.
* I say apparently because El Jefe doesn’t mention my earlier article in his post. He writes that he came up with the idea when he was reading a Ham Radio magazine. I know he reads this blog, so I assumed that he was at least inspired a little by the post. And even if Jefe did happen to come up with the idea on his own, it still would have been cool if he’d acknowledged that another wine blogger out there had a very similar idea. C’mon ‘mano. Chale! 
welllll….
1. Yes, absolutely: I saw your post and ran with it. It was something I was knocking around for a while and planned to roll out with the next round of vintages - in other words, after crush. Your post definitely tipped my hand, so I felt I needed to get it out sooner. I do appreciate the kick in the pants, OM!
2. The words have so far failed us regarding useful terms for VA, so we opted for Plan B: attempt humor. We are very open to suggestions!
3. We missed one by not labelling pH as “battery acid” and “Drano”. I still might…
4. I also planned to publish a quick guide to the graphs and what the ranges mean. Stay tuned.
5. Actually, the white blend is %@#$! and the red blend is *%#&@! Note that both can be nouns or verbs, but they do not rhyme….:)
6. In regards to wet tshirts, I’d be happy to!
cheers! - El Jefe
ps: Isle of Wight?
Sunday Morning Bloginations…
This blog post posts posts from other blogs. Stuff you might want to read. Or not. First, Josh over at Pinotblogger has some excellent comments (and just a tad of trash talk
on our new Geek Sheet format. If…
Like the idea. Similar things are happening in the coffee category to indicate roast level.
Knowing very little about wine chemistry, but a fair amount about wine in general, the bottom two guages seem the least informative to me. I can get my head around soft/crisp. I have a hard time with the term “wine” as one of the descriptors, however. After all, you’re trying to help people understand what this particular wine tastes like, not wine in general. I also am not sure the term “salad dressing” is a desirable characteristic in a wine. I understand there’s a sense of humor at play, but “salad dressing” actually sounds plausible and I don’t get the sense that it’s used in humor. As for pH, there are no descriptors for it at all as there are with the top two.
So here’s a question: can acidity in wine (pH, titratable, and volatile) all be rolled into a single “acidity” guage to simplify the idea for the consumer?
What about guages for body? Or tannin? Or are those subjective interpretations, rather than measurable data points?
Hey Stratton,
Unfortunately the three acid measurements can’t be meaningfully rolled into one gauge. pH mainly affects color, how inhospitable the wine is to microbes, and is a general measure of the environment that the wine is living in. Titratable acidity is the acid that causes bitterness on the palate. Volatile acidity is a measure of how much like vinegar the wine smells and tastes. Since they are all so different, no real aggregate number can be fashioned.
There are assays for tannins (the Adams assay) but unless a winemaker is doing test trials or is just curious by nature, it isn’t one of the staples of in-house lab work. However now that Vinquiry (a winery lab service company) is offering Adams assays it might become more popular.
Great questions. Hope you check back in soon.
Interesting! Thanks for the explanation on the three different acids.
Well, FWIW, I’m just not sure there’s desirable equity in telling the consumer how much like vinegar their wine smells and tastes. It’s like putting a guage on a gallon of milk indicating how spoiled the milk inside is. No matter how unspoiled it really is, the net result is that you’d be telling the consumer that the contents are spoiled, if only a very little bit. That’s a deal-breaker. I’m putting that one back on the shelf and buying the brand right next to it — one which may in fact be more spoiled, but is kind enough not to tell me.
All in favor of a change of descriptors there.
El Jefe’s idea of using terms like battery acid and drano are funny as hell, IMO. I’d have to assume the overall brand is pretty irreverent with an approach like that. If so, then that’s a match made in heaven. It communicates the sensation it needs to. It’s absurd enough that people will get it as a joke. And it’s graphic enough to have *a lot* of fun with.
Geek Sheets Go Live!…
Based on several excellent comments received from our readers (and a few rantings from our staff), I have updated the Geek Sheet format for several of our most popular wines and I have created a guide to help explain the…
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