What is Crunchy Wine?

What is Crunchy Wine?

Taco Bell has Crunchy Tacos but which wines are Crunchy Wines?  It first started with Rajat Parr the Sommelier-Winemaker for Sandi Wines in Santa Barbara Central Coast who used the word “crunchy” to describe wines as a "textural thing” for a wine that has many edges with brittle tannins that "hit you all over your mouth.”  To others it is a style of crisp and taut wine with a fresh cranberry-like tang that is likely a food-wine with little winemaker intervention.  To say there is a definition but there is no formal definition.  To Parr, he cites cool-climate Syrahs and Cabernet Francs that don't age in new oak barrels. 

Another Sommelier Jackson Rohrbaugh recalls first seeing the word Crunchy from Michael Broadbent and Hugh Johnson. He thought it was a joke among friends studying to be a Sommelier. To Rohrbaugh it applies to wines that have a just-ripe or underripe quality in an appetizing way (think cranberry or fresh cherry or raspberry that still have crunchiness to them). Similar to Parr he says it is textural and tangy on the palate.  Rohrbaugh finds Gamay Noir and Mencía wines to be crunchy. 

As a wine enthusiast and wine adventurer, I want to seek out Crunchy wines to experience it for myself.  Better than going to Taco Bell!