What is True Ripeness?

What do we mean we say something is “ripe?”

That’s easy. When the fruit is sweet.  Right?

Well, kinda sorta.  Sure, in the purest sense of the word, when a fruit has enough sugar, it is considered “ripe,” but there’s another type of ripeness that is hugely important to making quality wine.  It’s called phenolic ripeness, which we’re going to refer to as “true” ripeness.

“True” ripeness refers to a more holistic maturity in the grapes, one where certain a certain chemical balance is achieved, where the pits themselves turn from green to brown and even the skins achieve “ripeness.”  It’s often the difference between a wine that exhibits unpleasant vegetal qualities and one that shows beautiful fruit and spice.

But here’s the thing about true ripeness in wine grapes:

It’s a tricky thing to get and, if the weather doesn’t cooperate, can require a grape grower to choose between waiting long enough to get it and picking grapes before the sugar levels get too high.  

You didn’t think this was going to be easy, did you?

Sugar in the Grapes

See, more sugar is not always a good thing. Basically, in terms of that sort of ripeness, you’re looking at a fruit that starts with high acid and low sugar and end up, eventually with high sugar and low acid.  Picking too early and the wine will end up tart and thin, picking too late you end up with a high alcohol and flabby wine. So, there’s a perfect range we’re looking for before the more complex notion of phenolic ripeness even comes into play.  But, if the process was as simple as just waiting for the sugar/acid balance to hit, you’d just measure that and call the crew in when those numbers were reached.

But, of course, it’s not.  You need to pick when the sugar/acid balance is as right as it can be provided you’ve achieved (or have come at least close to achieving) “true” ripeness.  Which can be a very difficult decision to make, and honestly what makes the difference between a bad, good, or exceptional vintage. Did you have to really cheat one of these to maintain an acceptable level of the other?  Just a little bit? Or did everything line up just right and the sugars were in just the right place when the grapes became “truly” ripe.

The Importance of Location

Now, the grower can better the odds of this lining up provided he or she plants the right grape in the right place.  Some grapes achieve true ripeness fairly early. They don’t need a long, moderate growing season to truly ripen before sugars get too high.  Grenache is a perfect example of this, which is why it’s so popular in warm climates. Pinot Noir, is absolutely not. 

Which is why you need a relatively cool area to grow Pinot Noir where the season can take its time, allowing the grapes to truly ripen before sugars get to high, and acids get too low.  Grown Pinot in a hot climate, and you’re either picking super early and getting unpleasant “greenness” in your wine, or you lose the acid all good Pinot should have. On the other hand, growing a grape that wants hot summers in a cool place and they may never get ripe at all.

These are just two examples, but illustrate why location is such an important factor in good wine. You can’t put a square peg in a round hole and when you read a wine label, you need to look at the region every bit as much as the grape.