Wine 101: Why is complexity crucial to a wine’s success?

I think of complexity in wine like a grand symphony with different movements. Ten-year-old cabernet sauvignons are great examples of multilayered wines that often open with cassis and black cherry flavors before moving to cedar and tobacco and ending with a kiss of caramel.

With my Wine 101 column, I share what I know about wine to make it less intimidating and more of an adventure. Today we explore the concept of complexity, a characteristic winemakers say is paramount to making a great wine.

What follows are insights from some extraordinary winemakers about why complexity is so important, and how they go about making a complex wine.

Adam Lee, owner of Windsor’s Clarice Wine Co.

For a wine to be truly great, then I think complexity is a must.

Complexity comes about when you treat the grapes in more than one way. For example, like I do at Clarice, you ferment 80% of the grapes as whole clusters and 20% are destemmed, then you have done two things to the fruit and the wine has an opportunity to be complex. There are a myriad of different ways you can treat grapes differently that can lead to complexity.

One thing to note, I think, is the complexity is not enough. If a wine is complex but not pleasurable, then I would still deem it as a failure. It must be both to be successful.

Also, I think it’s worth pondering as to whether or not the addition of certain items leads to complexity or not. For instance, if you add concentrate to part of a wine — you are treating part of it differently, no doubt. But does that make the wine more complex? I’d say most likely no.

Mike Sullivan, winemaker and co-owner of Santa Rosa’s Benovia Winery

There are thousands of decisions that go into crafting a wine, and many have a direct effect on the wine’s complexity. Some begin before the grapes are harvested. Every action we take during the farming season has a direct effect on the quality of the fruit. Every time we remove a leaf in the canopy, irrigate or thin excess fruit during the growing season makes for more intense and complex wine. Every action we take (or don’t take) in the cellar has a direct effect on the wine’s complexity.

I think complexity begins with what varietal you are producing and where and how the grapes are grown. What type of soil the grapes are grown on, the weather, humidity and rainfall during the growing season have a direct impact on how complex the wine becomes. Wine is the sum of many parts and the contribution of many people. Winemakers might be the conductors but without the band, there wouldn’t be any music.

Aron Weinkauf, winemaker and vineyard manager of Napa Valley’s Spottswoode

I would say (complexity) is a tremendously dynamic topic that covers a broad range of inputs. We think it drives so many things. It drives age-ability, structure and texture and feeds aromatics and evolution. Winemakers often mention the winemaking spice rack!

It starts with terroir and farming practices interacting with rootstock, varietal and clonal material. This is driven then by farming, climate/growing conditions and picking decisions. And then the processing of the fruit, extraction methods, wine chemistry, wine aging and barrel selections, just to name some of the big choices, all contribute to complexity. All decisions at each of these stages drive complexity.

I realize this is very generic and broad, but I am a firm believer that we make many, many decisions in the lifetime of a wine, and the cumulative efforts of all of those decisions steer us toward the final goal we have in mind.

I don’t think one can overestimate the impact of vineyard design and viticultural practices on the overall concept of complexity.

Matt Duffy, owner/winemaker of Kenwood’s Vaughn Duffy Wines

Complexity is everything when we are trying to create distinctive wines. Especially as a pinot noir winemaker crafting multiple pinots each vintage, I want them to all be unique and you do this by pursuing complexity in the wines.

There are a few ways we do this. We try to give ourselves as many components as possible to use when we blend the wines. This starts at harvest when we ferment in small lots, keeping vineyard blocks and clones separate during fermentation and also through barrel aging. We don’t typically rack / blend the barrels until just before bottling. That way each barrel becomes its own unique wine due to differences in barrel age and cooperage. We then have all these unique blending components to choose from to pursue complexity in our pinot noirs.

The idea is similar in our sauvignon blanc. We’re not necessarily doing small lots / multiple vineyards. But we will use a combination of oak and stainless steel during fermentation and aging and even ferment with multiple yeast strains, all in the name of complexity.

I think complexity in the bottle means that we have wines that are evolving over time and showing us something new and exciting every time we taste them. This means finding nuances as you enjoy a single glass, or more dramatic changes as a wine ages in bottle. Complexity keeps you coming back for more, searching for the essence of what wine really is.

Mike Officer, vintner and chief winemaker of Carlise Winery

For me, since I reserve the term complexity for a wine that has developed secondary and tertiary aromas and flavors through extended aging, I don’t consider complexity as a factor in crafting a wine. Instead, we focus simply on making the most delicious and interesting wine possible that is true to the vineyard and the vintage.

Complexity is a bit of a crapshoot, i.e., it may or may not develop with time. Therefore, our goal is to create a delicious wine. First and foremost, that is done by vineyard selection. Each vineyard in our portfolio yields a wine of distinction, a wine that can only be from that vineyard. And to let that vineyard speak as clearly as possible, our winemaking is as hands-off as possible and we use very little new oak. We do not want flavors or aromas of oak on our wines.

Stu Smith, founder and general partner of Napa Valley’s Smith-Madrone

Wine complexity is super important to great wine quality. Wine complexity comes from many places: attitude, the vineyard and the winery equipment.

The attitudes and goals of the vineyard manager, the winemaker and the owner must be in alignment. Will the wine be a single varietal, a blend of various vineyard blocks and / or grape varietals? Is the owner’s personality an obstacle to the stated goals or does he respect both the vineyard manager and the winemaker’s knowledge?

As for the vineyard, are there various types of soil the vines are grown in? Where and how is the vineyard sited? Flat ground, mountain, north, south, east- or west-facing? Irrigated or dry-farmed?

Finally, the winery equipment. Are you using new style de-stemmers that prevents any stems getting into in the fermentations? Will the berries be completely crushed or lightly crushed? Will there be extended maceration (skin contact after fermentation) or not?

There are many, many other issues that could be addressed and argued over that go into making complex wines.

Anne-Moller Racke, owner/winegrower of Sonoma’s Blue Farm Wines

I believe complexity is paramount. It separates wines that are easy-drinking )(from) wines that make you stop and think. They engage you and make you fall in love with wine.

Complexity starts with great farming. Nature tries to be as diverse as possible. Her concept is: You never know who will survive, so let’s cast your net as wide as possible. That said, as farmers, we rein her in with all of our vineyard passes. From prunin, to suckering, shoot thinning, leafing, green fruit dropping, removing wings and lastly, the picking decision, which all help bring focus and complexity to the wine.

Here's my equation: 40% is site and terroir, 40% is farming and 20% is winemaking. Site gives you the potential, farming enhances that potential and winemaking understands the potential and brings it to bottle by using mindful practices in the cellar. Yeast selection, extraction regiments, barrel treatments to the final blending are all important. All three components are necessary and take time to come together.

You can reach wine writer Peg Melnik at 707-521-5310 or peg.melnik@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @pegmelnik.