I believe everything in life revolves around our level of Authority. And that, as you well know, is determined by a concept called competition. For a competition to function properly, we need rules. Rules are part of the game (try playing rugby without it…) and create a level playing ground, giving everyone the privilege to compete.
We use (or rather, should use!) the same principles when it comes to wine paring. To determine the Authority of a wine we need other wines to compare it with. To keep a level playing ground, the Wine and Spirits Board determine the rules. It’s illegal to call your product wine if at any stage you added certain flavourants, e.g. methoxypyrazines (responsible for the typical green pepper/herbaceous flavours in Sauvignon blanc).
God designed grapes to naturally produce flavours of guava, blackberry, cherry, grass, green-pepper etc. Each grape variety has a built-in flavour potential. It’s our goal as viticulturists and winemakers to get each grape variety to develop into its true potential.
The flavour profiles are buried deep within the genetics of each grape variety. Planting the right cultivar in the right terroir is the first step to secure the ultimate environment for the development of such flavours. These flavour compounds develop in a thin layer just underneath the skin of the grape. So no, it’s not just the imagination of the wine-elect that they can smell paw-paw in their wine!
TAKE IT, SWIRL IT, and BLURT IT OUT! You might just be right.