This Woman Knows How to WINE

Most everyone I know has made a volcano from paper mache with vinegar and baking soda to create the magma; but, how many of us, at the age of nine, tried to make wine using their grandmother's grapes? Sharon Fenchak did just that. (Oh! And she also made the volcano.)

"I've always been fascinated with fermentations," says Fenchak, one of the two Winemakers at The Biltmore Winery for nearly 15 years, "and the idea that yeast and bacteria can change things." That led her to eventually obtain a Bachelors in Food Science from Penn State, and a Masters from U.G.A.

Her early fascination with the science of transformation was further enhanced while stationed in Italy during a stint in the Army. Her family in Pennsylvania weren't really drinkers, so it was a bit of an eye-opener to see most folks in Italy drinking wine regularly with meals.

Sharon, with fellow winemaker Bernard Delille

But that just adds to the complexity of this woman. She is petite, physically fit, a huge football fan (you have to be if you've gone to both Penn State and the University of Georgia). She is not what one would picture as a winemaker at the most-visited winery in the U.S. .  One probably pictures Bernard Delille quite easily; after all, wine making is almost genetically encoded in older men from France, right?

The Biltmore Estate Winery

I am asked most everyday I work in the Biltmore Winery Tasting Room what my favorites are; Fenchak can't really name favorites, since she learned early on that wine is meant to go with food, and a favorite would all depend on what's cooking. "I am currently very pleased with our Biltmore Blanc de Noirs," speaking of The Biltmore Wine Company's award-winning Pinot Noir-based sparkling wine (methode champenoise). It recently received a 97-pt rating from the Beverage Tasting Institute, to go along with Golds at Lodi and Monterey competitions and a Double Gold at the Taster's Guild International Wine Competition. Impressive credentials, great sparkling wine, and at a great price (~$24.99).

Also on her "currently enjoying" list is the Biltmore Limited Reserve Malbec. Personally, I enjoy this rich and intense, yet smooth wine with a nicely seasoned roasted chicken.

When I asked Fenchak about creating a particular style in the wines (e.g. a South American or French Malbec), she quickly points out that the grape tells her what style it wants to be. These aren't South American grapes or French grapes, but Californian.
"The quality of the wine is the quality of the grape," Fenchak added. I took it that she also meant that for the particular style that is achieved.

 

A typical day for this winemaker is never typical. It all depends on the season. Imagine being a winemaker with not only 94 acres and six varietals to work with, but one that travels to California and Washington (among other areas in the U.S.) regularly to source the best varietals in order to offer over 30 wines in quantities approaching two million bottles a year! That is a lot to do, and she and Delille do it very well.



I hope, as I'm sure Fenchak and the entire Biltmore Wine Company hopes, that she will be continually fascinated by the transformation of making all these different wines for all the different people who cross over this special threshold in Western North Carolina.




Special thanks to the Biltmore Company for providing these photographs.

Warning! This Is Going To Be Dry (like my humor)

What are tannins? I can't tell you how often, in my tasting-room role, I'm asked this simple question. The problem is that you can give a relatively simple answer like:

Tannins: a group of chemical compounds or phenolics found predominantly in the skins, seeds and stems of grapes. Tannins are vital to a wine's profile as they are partly responsible for its taste and sensory properties. They also play an important part in stabilizing the color of red wines by binding with the anthocyanins. Tannins in wine are also derived from oak, during both barrel maturation and barrel fermentation.

But then the guests stare at you with a blank face until they further qualify their original question while reading some of the descriptions on our wine menu:
"So what's the difference between this, pointing, 'with moderate tannins,' this, again pointing, 'soft tannins,' this, almost stabbing the menu with their finger, ' well-structured with integrated tannins,' and, finally, this 'with lingering tannins'?"
I certainly can't blame the relative newcomers or even the more advanced wine geeks for needing more information on this enigmatic element of red wines. I'll give it a try though.

Two of the basic truths of these terms are that "grippy" tannins (i.e. those that make your lip adhere or grip to your teeth) only come from the grapes themselves, while soft or smooth tannins originate from the oak in the aging process. And, speaking of the aging process, tannins are what allow many red wines to age gracefully. The tannins are said to diminish or soften with time, so that a wine that tastes very harsh when young can reasonably be expected to age well in 7-10 years or more.

Here's a partial list of higher-tannic wines, and therefore, those that can be cellared a few years with a beneficial softening of those harsh young tannins (maybe that's why my father would say he would "tan my hide!"):

Cabernet Sauvignon
Nebbiolo (i.e. Barolo, Barbaresco)
Tempranillo
Syrah
Montepulciano

Now for those wines with lower tannins:

Pinot Noir
Zinfandel
Barbera
Gamay (i.e. Beaujolais)
Merlot

Interestingly, the thicker the skin of the grape, the greater concentration of tannins.