Depending on how you first encountered reductive notes in wine, hearing this scientific term can either elicit a giddy excitement or nervous hesitation. This is because “reductive” can be used to describe two completely different flavor profiles: one that offers notes of matchstick, smoke, and flint; and another more akin to cabbage, rubber, and eggs. (It should be obvious which one is more desirable.)
So how do we distinguish between these styles? VinePair asked Charles Gaeta of Boston’s Dedalus Wine Shop to shed some light on what factors cause a wine to lean one way or the other.
“I think the most important distinction to make is separating ‘reductive winemaking’ as a style from ‘reduction’ in wine,” Gaeta says. “Reductive winemaking has long been an important technique, particularly in white wines, that’s often employed in Chardonnay from Burgundy and Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley.” In these wines, those notes of matchstick are often revered and highly sought after. “But reduction in wine is not something we seek out — it’s the consequences of when reductive winemaking is overdone or when the wine is out of balance and the notes become a little aggressive. That pleasant burnt matchstick can easily start to smell like burnt rubber,” he adds.
You might recall from a high-school chemistry class that reduction and oxidation work in opposition to one another, so at its core, reductive winemaking is preventing the wine from seeing too much oxygen. “After the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s in Burgundy, the
