If you enjoy wine, which I’m sure you do because you’re reading a wine blog, I’m almost 100% certain you’ve seen the term balance. Maybe on the back of a wine label, in a tasting note online or spoken about at a restaurant or cellar door. The word ‘balanced’ is one of the most thrown-around wine terms I think I’ve seen. But what does balance in wine mean? And how important is it? In this wine terms explained, we’ll dive into what it actually means.
Balance is actually extremely important in wine, and is one of the most sought-after characteristics. Because when a wine is balanced, you are in for a great drinking experience.
What is balance in wine?
Balance is the harmony between all the different components of the wine and how well they come together. It isn’t about the absolute levels of each component, but how they integrate with the other components to create a whole experience.
There are five components of wine: acid, alcohol, sweetness, tannin and concentration. To get balance in wine, these components must exist in the right ratio to each other. Every component plays an essential role in creating a good bottle of wine. Too much of one will throw the wine off balance, so each needs to be just right!
These components can be influenced by the winery, but the most balanced wines are made from grapes that are intrinsically balanced.
Let’s dive into each of these components and what they bring to a wine.
Acidity
Let’s start with acidity. As strange as it might sound, acidity is an essential component in wine. Wines with too little acidity taste flabby, heavy or flat. But if it is too much, the wine will be too tart. Acidity and sugar work together to balance each other out, where the acid balances out the sweetness from sugar.
To get the balance of acidity right, grapes need to be harvested at the right time so that sugar and acid are in perfect harmony. Harvesting too late could mean the grapes have too much sugar, whereas harvesting too early means too much acidity. Cool climate regions also tend to produce higher acidity wines.
Learn more about acidity here.
Alcohol
Alcohol in wine is another very important component to balance out a wine. If the alcohol is too high, you’ll get a burning sensation on the finish. Too little in comparison to the other components of the wine and the wine might taste hollow. Alcohol is also a product of yeast eating sugars during fermentation, so if the alcohol level is low because fermentation has been stopped too early, the wine might be too sweet.
Sweetness
Grapes sugar is the highest when the grapes are optimally ripe, and this is when grapes are ready to harvest. This sugar then helps to create alcohol, and so any leftover from fermentation is called residual sugar. If there is too much residual sugar, the wine will taste sickly sweet. But too little, and the wine might taste harsh. As mentioned above, sweetness is critical in wine to balance out the acidity.
Tannin
Tannin is also important to balance in wine, but not always fully understood. Tannins leave the mouth feeling dry and come from the grape skins and seeds as well as oak barrels, predominately in red wines. These soften over time, and are crucial to ageing as they soften over time. But if there is too much tannin in the wine, it will leave your mouth feeling dry. There needs to be enough fruit concentration in the wine to balance out the tannin.
Learn more about tannin here.
Concentration
Having enough fruit concentration is essential in all wines. Fruit fills out the structure of the wine and so is critical to balancing out all the components. If there isn’t enough fruit concentration, the wine will taste weak in flavour.
In summary: balance in wine
Balance in wine is incredibly important, and so there’s a reason that so many wines mention it in their tasting notes. A wine that is balanced is really enjoyable to drink, but if one component isn’t quite right, the wine might not be as enjoyable to drink. It’s so important to get every component right in a wine.
Learning more about this is also a great way to learn more about wine as you taste it. You can look for the different components as you sip the wine, and learn more about each as you do!