Solving the Mouthfeel Puzzle

During a recent fining trial one of the winemakers present likened making a good wine to building a puzzle. This got me thinking about jigsaw puzzles and who invented this fun and wholesome, pre-smartphone, activity. It turns out to be John Spilsbury, a mapmaker and engraver in 1767. Parroting this bit of trivia during the trial would have made me look very smart, but at least I cleverly observed that often the last missing piece of the winemaking puzzle is mouthfeel.

While numerous factors can negatively affect a wine’s mouthfeel, such as low alcohol content, for now we’ll focus on how to solve the mouthfeel puzzle. For more on low-alcohol wines and mouthfeel, see my earlier blog post titled “To Boldly Go Where No Other De-Alcoholised Wine Has Gone Before“.

Mouthfeel and mannoproteins 101

Current oenological advancements offer the modern-day winemaker several tools to improve a wine’s mouthfeel, thereby fitting that final, and sometimes elusive, last piece of the wine puzzle. First off, mannoproteins are ever gaining in popularity as they can be used to not only enhance mouthfeel, but also improve colloidal stability. I’m pretty sure we’re all quite familiar with the improvement in volume made possible with mannoproteins, but have you heard of HSP12?

HSP12 – a natural and powerful sweet deal

Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are present in many animals and microbes, but of course, we’re interested in those produced by our faithful wine yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. HSP12 is formed in budding yeast in response to various environmental stressors, temperature being one of them. Building your wine’s body with a mannoprotein rich in HSP12 is a great idea, seeing that this protein markedly adds to the perception of sweetness in wine. This role of HSP12 was researched by Laffort and the work done highlights HSP12 as a Laffort specificity and unique descriptor when it comes to selecting suitable yeast strains. In addition, mannoproteins are known to have a fining action on compounds causing astringency, resulting in a better balance between acidity, bitterness and astringency.

What about tannins and oak alternatives?

As prodigious as Saccharomyces cerevisiae and its various proteinaceous constituents might be, oenological tannins and oak alternatives are also well known for their ability to add structure to a wine that is lacking in this regard. To be sure, structure is the term used to describe the overall composition of a wine, encompassing key elements such as mouthfeel, taste, and ageing potential.

Judicially applied, selected oenological tannins and oak alternatives can certainly boost mouthfeel. As for aging potential improvement, ellagic tannins are a noteworthy group of tannins. If this sounds interesting, you simply must read ‘Ellagic Magic,’ which is an article based on this eponymous group.

So, that’s some food for thought the next time you take a trip down nostalgia alley by building a puzzle next to that cozy fireplace, or sip on a well-structured and perfectly balanced wine, or both.

Cheers!