Buy wine online at Wine Chateau.Up until I was around 24 years old, I loved to rub my fingers across the silky edge of a blanket. Something about it was therapeutic and to be honest, it put me in sort of a trance. I don’t expect you to relate, but I think you can understand how silk feels to the hand. But how can we translate that feeling to a mouth full of wine? I don’t use this descriptor often, but when I sense it I write it down. I also have seen it used by many other wine writers. What do I mean when I use the word “silky”?
Silky: Like silk, wine can actually be slick in the mouth. Sometimes I will use “silky tannins” together in the description. Tannins can be prominent in the mouth and often times add a harsher element to it. Tannins can be mouth-puckering or add a grip to the wine. When a wine is silky, the tannins have to be plush, and are not a serious part of the wines structure. When I describe a wine as silky I immediately determine that it most likely will not age for a long time. Words related to silky could be smooth or polished but not soft. Soft implies lack of structure in a wine, which silky does not. Silky is a combination of plush tannins, well-integrated acidity and ripe, dark fruit flavors. If the acidity is too bright, you do not get silky. If the fruit flavors are on the red fruit (tart) side, you do not get silky. If the tannins are prominent in a wine, it will not be silky.
When I drink a silky wine, I do not think about structure, I think about the pure enjoyment of the juice in my mouth. Like rubbing the silky edge of a blanket, it can put me in a trance. The next time you drink a wine, and it just flows across your mouth effortlessly and deliciously without a bump in the road, think of the word “silky”, and I think you will understand the term. Silky is a good term for a wine that you want to drink now, not for a wine that you want to put away in your cellar.
Cheers! Stan The Wine Man
