What is fruit forward in wine? Wine tasting notes often include fruits, from apples to peaches and even bananas. But when you see this term, what does it mean for your wine-tasting experience? And is it a good or bad thing?
Wine terms explained unpacks some weird wine terms used to describe wine. There are some truly odd ones out there, and sometimes it can be hard to even know what the tasting notes mean. These guides break down the terms so you can return to enjoying wine! So let’s dive into this weird wine term
What is fruit forward in wine?
We all know that wines have fruity notes in them. These fruit notes are often the most common ways to describe wine aromas and flavours being primary aromas (learn more about that in this article). So it makes sense that some wines would be more fruity than others right? Well, fruit forward is commonly used to describe a wine with dominant flavours in the fruity category, instead of savoury notes.
Now this doesn’t mean that the wine is sweet. This is a common misconception about these types of wines, as we think of fruit being sweet. Instead, think about the aromas of the wine. These wines will be bursting with fruity smells.
Where you’ll find it
Technically you can find fruit-forward in all grape varieties, as grapes will all have some element of primary aromas. Primary aromas (i.e. fruity notes) come from the grapes rather than winemaking, so they will be present in all wines. It just depends on whether the wine has more fruity dominant notes as to whether it can be called fruity. Some say that New World wines are more fruity than Old World, but that’s a common misconception.
There are things that winemakers can do to make a wine more fruit forward if they want to. This ranges from deciding when to pick the grapes to using oak or stainless steel for fermentation. A lot of the decisions a winemaker makes will impact the secondary and tertiary aromas in a wine, so these will impact whether the fruit is more pronounced than other notes.
Is it a good thing?
So now that you know what it is, is it a good thing? Some argue that this term indicates that a wine is out of balance and lacking complexity. Others use it to refer to simple, cheap and one-dimensional wines. But this isn’t always the case. A wine can be considered fruit forward when you open it and reveal a different palate over time. Some wines might also be better as fruit forward.
Well, like most wine terms it’s all based on personal preference. If you like fruity wines, you will love fruit forward. If you prefer wines with oak influence and more secondary and tertiary aromas (think vanilla, leather, mushroom) then you will probably prefer a wine that’s with less fruit. It’s as simple as that!