What does complexity in a wine mean?

They mean exactly that. It has several layers of flavour that open up as you drink the wine. We can illustrate this with a simple, non-wine example. Mix some white sugar in a glass of water and taste it. You’ll find sweetness there and nothing else. This is a simple, uncomplicated flavour.

Now pour yourself a glass of he world’s most famous cola drink and your palate is assaulted with several sensations. It has sweetness, to be sure. But it also has acidity to leave the palate clean. And it has bubbles to tickle the tongue. It’s a relatively complex drink, and that’s one of the reason it’s the world’s best known brand.

In wine we look for similar complexity—a touch of fruity juiciness, but balanced by some crisp acidity and maybe a little smoky aroma in the background from a toasted oak barrel.

A good wine unfold as it lies in your mouth, opening up page after page of different flavours, like a good book. That’s complexity.


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