Acidity in wine - the backbone that holds it all upright
People talk a lot about tannins and much less about acidity, yet acidity is the backbone of wine. It is what makes a wine fresh rather than heavy and dull. Once you learn to feel it, you will understand why one white refreshes while another sits on your tongue like syrup.
What it actually is
Acidity comes from the natural acids in grapes, mainly tartaric and malic. The cooler the climate and the less ripe the fruit, the higher the acidity. That is why wines from cool regions tend to be crisper, and those from hot regions heavier and rounder.
How to feel it
You recognise acidity not by taste but by how your mouth reacts:
- Your mouth waters. After a sip of a high-acid wine, your mouth salivates on its own. That is the surest sign.
- The wine feels crisp and light, even if it is fairly strong.
- A lack of acidity is obvious at once - the wine is flat, heavy, as if something is missing.
Biting a lemon or a green apple gives you the same watering sensation.
What acidity is for
Acidity has three jobs. It gives freshness, balances sweetness (which is why good sweet wine is not cloying) and acts as a natural preservative, so high-acid wines age better. Together with tannins and body it forms the skeleton the whole flavour stands on. I cover tannins separately in tannins in wine.
Acidity and food
This is one of the most important things in pairing wine with food. An acidic wine cleans fat off the palate and works beautifully with rich, creamy and fried dishes. It acts like a squeeze of lemon on fish. I expand on this in pairing wine with food.
Learn to judge it
In GustoNote you rate the level of acidity alongside tannin, body and sweetness for every wine, and after a few dozen entries you will see whether you prefer crisp wines or softer ones. If you are still learning to name these impressions, start with how to actually taste wine.