Can a wine be accurately described as feminine or masculine?

[AlexR]

That was one of the subjects under discussion last night with my neighbors, whom I had invited over for dinner. I served a wine from Ludon, where they have family ties: 1990 Château La Lagune. This looked far younger than its years and had a delightfully evanescent nose of ripe Cabernet, humus, and truffle. The wine was suave and seamless, by no means powerful, but very elegant and poised. It was as good as it will ever be, even if I’m sure its plateau will be quite long.
It reminded me of a one of the better wines of Margaux.
Anyway, although they’re from the wine country, my neighbors have only an ordinary interest in the stuff and, when I described the La Lagune as feminine, the wife was surprised. She had never heard such a reference, and it puzzled her. “Is this a usual term?” she asked. I replied in the affirmative.

The question I’ve asked above is whether wine descriptions can be gendered in order to convey a meaningful and comprehensible message – not whether they should be.
In this age of political correctness – including a movement to bowdlerize and rewrite children’s fairy tales! – there are undoubtedly people who object on principle, going on the assumption that it is wrong to ascribe characteristics to either sex (since there are strong women and dainty men, etc.). So, I will leave that issue aside. I have even heard women winemakers say that females leave a discernible feminine imprint on wines, which if I find rather hard to accept (that having been said, La Lagune has been made by a succession of women over the years!).
Getting back to semantics, and the way we speak about wines, I believe that it is both useful and going on universally understandable to describe a Chambolle-Musigny as feminine or a Châteauneuf-du-Pape as virile, a practical sort of shorthand. What is trickier is to extrapolate from those words to find out what they really mean. Would a WSET or MW student be marked down for using them? Does a woman, for example, have a different conception of what a feminine is wine is than a man? Do wine lovers in Sydney and Montevideo, with different cultures and languages, agree on what a masculine wine is?

In my opinion, any wine geek or professional can relate to the description of 1990 La Lagune as feminine. Rather than lacking punch or character, those attributes are very much present, but restrained and under control – or, as Mitterrand liked to market himself, “la force tranquille”. The French say an aromatic wine is “perfumed”. That, also, can be one of the hallmarks of a feminine wine, where the aromas are subtle, yet distinctive. As for aftertaste, such wines can be long and voluptuous, but not in your face.
In 2005, I went to Château Margaux with a visiting group from this forum. I asked the late Paul Pontalier the following question “It is often said that Margaux is the most feminine of wines. Is that true and if so, how is it true?”. There followed an exceedingly brilliant exposition in impeccable English. I very much regret that I did not record it.

And masculine wines? A big, strapping Australian wine fits the bill very nicely thank you, but that is a caricature. Ch. Latour is one of the most masculine wines in Bordeaux, and yet it is a wine of great depth and nuance. In the same way that feminine wines are not lily-livered, neither are masculine wines big thumping ones on steroids. Still, there is the idea of full bodied, straightforward wines with above average alcohol content (although this is not defining).
I’ve heard those terms around for as long as I can remember and am confident that they are here to stay. I do feel, though, that caution should be exercised in using them and that they definitely should not be overused.

Alex R.
www.bordeauxwineblog.com

[JCNorthway]

Interesting, and thought provoking, Alex. I find that I rarely use those terms myself to describe a wine. However, when someone else uses those terms, I'm pretty sure that I understand what they are describing about the wine.

[JoelD]

Good subject, Alex.

I don't use those phrases often for wine, because I don't like to compare completely different styles and regions with those terms.

However, the time's that I do use them are to compare wines from the same region, and usually for one that is out of the norm. A good recent example of this was the 2004 Charles Hiedsieck Blanc De Millenaires. Very tasty wine, lots of complexity. However just a Very masculine feel compared to most champagnes. (I also find this in there Brut Reserve, which is one of my favorite QPR champagnes).

I will use feminine occasionally as well, and funny enough it seems to happen from wines with a female wine maker. Pichon Lalande sometimes comes off this way to me. Whereas the Baron is definitely masculine in comparison(although not sure I would call it masculine compared to other Bordeaux wines).

Pomerol is another region that I would call the wines feminine at times. Especially from cooler vintages. The 1997 L'eglise Clinet was a decent example of this recently.

To sum up, I don't use often. And rarely to compare different regions. Although Red Burgs compared to Bordeaux would be an obvious example of feminine vs masculine if you chose to do so. (Probably a good tool for explaining to more novice drinkers)

[Michael Malinoski]

Good commentary. For me, I tend to use feminine and masculine mostly to compare one wine to another, like the 81 Beaucastel comes across as more feminine than the 89, or something like that. I don’t think these descriptors alone come to mind for me nearly as often. I guess one could use words like perfumed, airy, elegant, refined as more specific descriptors for feminine and words like sturdy, muscled, big-boned and so on for masculine, but sometimes when all those things come together it is easier to just use a single, hopefully understood term.
Michael

[Claudius2]

Folks
I have occasionally used the masculine/feminine dichotomy for comparative purposes. A few examples would be:

A Comparing Cote Rotie (F) vs Hermitage (M)
B Cotes Nuits Burgundy (M) vs Cotes de Beaune (F) though sometimes I’ve heard specific villages such as Chambolle Musigny and Volnay being described as Feminine and Gevry, NSG and Pommard as Masculine. A bit inconsistent of course and I used the feminine term to describe an AF Gros Pommard 1er Cru recently.

Warmer climate Aussie reds are sometimes seen as masculine and those from cooler areas are termed feminine.

I have no issues with the term at all and it makes sense even if some mixed up, bullying activists whine about it. A feminine wine is softer, more aromatic or perfumed, less powerful, muscular or tannic.
Cheers
Mark

[JimHow]

Been tied up in court, but I'm looking forward to reading Alex's notes and the rest of this thread this weekend.
Without reading anything above, yes, undoubtedly, I believe wine, especially French wine, can meaningfully be described as feminine or masculine.

[OrlandoRobert]

Burgundy is chick wine.

Bordeaux is for dudes!

Banned?

[JimHow]

You are a Bordeaux Wine Enthusiast, Mr. OB.
It is an honor to have you here.

[JimHow]

Burgundy is a sissy wine.

[OrlandoRobert]

You are a Bordeaux Wine Enthusiast, Mr. OB.
It is an honor to have you here.

There can be only one King.

#Bordeaux

[hautbrionlover]

I rarely use those adjectives for wine, but have sometimes seen them used meaningfully. For example, I have seen some St.-Juliens described as masculine - e.g., Leoville Las Cases, and others as feminine - e.g., Ducru Beaucaillou.

[Claudius2]

Jim
Well in that case I'm sipping a "sissy wine" though Barossa and McLaren Vale wines can make anything in Bordeaux look like a sissy wine.
Show me a Bordeaux with 18.5% alcohol, the viscosity of molasses and smell and taste of road tar. Sheesh.....

The sissy wine is 2012 Domaine Forey Morey St Denis (a humble village wine) which is actually quite nice.
Light to medium bodied, not a lot of tannin, moderate acidity and soft, feminine fruit that reminds me of musk and roses.

cheers
Mark