"Vincent" > wrote in message m>...
> As I read descriptions of wines, many flavors are mentioned. Oak is one I
> undestand can come from the barrels in which the wine is aged. But what
> about other things? Do they add these "flavors" to the batch when making the
> wine, or is this just the wine taster's imagination? Examples: Blackberry,
> chocolate, tobacco, leather. Thanks in advance.

Chemistry actually backs up a lot of the claims of wine tasters. For
instance, a Chardonnay can be characterised as "Buttery". Sounds
bizzare, but a certain kind of yeast produce in fermentation the same
chemical as found in butter flavoring for popcorn!

In my school days, one of my favorite experiments was creating
"esters". From a bunch of strange chemicals, including Sulfuric Acid
and certain alcahols we produced the smell of banana (well more like
banana flavored lollies or milk).

Essentially the reaction between an alcohol and an acid produces an
ester and water (probably in quantities that won't affect taste much
at all).

When different kinds of grape are fermented, different acids can bond
with alcahol, producing different smells. The longer wine is stored in
the bottle, the more of these chemicals are produced, and the primary
fruit flavors that you might find actually eating the grapes
themselves tend to fade.

An aged wine might take on the smell of leather... just speculating
here, but an ester produced from tannic acid and alcahol might
actually fit the bill.

I guess in a sense the winemakers do put these smells in. By
extracting more tannins from the skins when they crush the grapes,
they might find that in years to come, certain flavors and smells will
be created. Generations of experience go into these sort of
formulations.

Esters are just one kind of chemical you might find in wine. I'm sure
there are plenty of references out there for those who are interested.