Have you ever heard someone call a wine toasty and not know what it means? This term immediately makes me think of baked goods, which makes me hungry, but toasted bread and wine don’t have all that much in common, right? It is yet another example of one of the many wine terms that are just plain confusing to the everyday drinker. So let’s dive into what it actually means so next time you’ll know!
What is a toasty wine?
Unfortunately, a toasty wine doesn’t have a lot to do with toast. A wine can have toast or bready flavours, that’s for sure. But toasty is a term used to describe certain flavours in wine. You’ll find them in both the bouquet (what you smell) and the finish (what you taste). These flavours can include bread and toast like flavours, but they also cover a lot more. Confusing right?
Basically, toasty is a term used to describe any wine that is aged in oak, giving the wine toasty flavours. You’ll find these particularly in white wines that are specifically oaked for these flavours, such as Chardonnay, but you can also find them in Red wines, and even some Sparkling wine and Champagne!
Why do wines become toasty?
How toasty a bottle of wine tastes depends on a number of factors, but one of the most important ones is how toasted the barrel or oak substitute is. The more ‘toasted’ the barrel is aka burnt on the inside, the more toasty the wine will be. These flavours bind with the alcohol in the wine and remain present with the flavour of the wine until it’s drunk.
Toasty flavours can also come from yeast being used when the wine is stored after fermentation (on lees), which is what is done to Champagne and Methode Traditionelle Sparkling Wines.
What does it taste like?
There are a number of different flavours that a wine that is toasty can have – so when you are tasting wine, make sure you look out for these. A good start would be to try an oaked Chardonnay as this often has toasty flavours. Try and pick out some of them!
Depending on how much toasting the barrel has had, the flavours will differ. If the barrels have had light toasting, the toasty characteristics will be more subtle. As the toasting becomes heavier, the characteristics become stronger flavours:
Light Toasting – Cinnamon, cloves, vanilla, coconut or caramel
Medium Toasting – Coffee, cocoa, toast, caramel, vanilla or honey
Heavy Toasting – Molasses, vanilla, smoke, crème brûlée, butterscotch, toffee, molasses
This will also depend on the variety of wine. Red wines might get more chocolate and vanilla, whilst a white wine might get honey or caramel.
The final word
So next time you hear someone describe a wine as toasty, try not to think about bread. Think instead of all those lovely flavours we look for in a wine with oak (learn more about oak here). They are all still delicious and perfectly paired with wines such as a Chardonnay.