Whenever you hear the term ‘‘Fruit Bomb’’, what the folks
are talking about is a modern style of winemaking, which basically accentuates
fruit that is really lush and ripe. These wines are big and in-your-face, rich,
jammy, lots of plums, blackberries and other red fruits.
Some examples of a ‘‘Fruit Bomb” can be California
Zinfandels, Australian Shiraz, or assertive California Cabernets or related Blends.
Malbecs from Argentina are going big on the fruit too as they continue to sell
to the American market that loves their fruit!
Even the Old World regions such as Spain, Italy and France are
now getting into the ball game in order to be in synch with drinking trends.
One thing for sure is that it is selling in America and most
people think that they are delicious. Even if there are cynics that say ‘‘Fruit
Bomb’’ wines are hateful, unbalanced, over-extracted, signifying that the ripe fruit
flavors come at the expense of structure, character, good food pairing and
sense of place…Whew!
It's true that to make a ‘‘Fruit Bomb’’, grapes can be left
on the vine longer to get riper flavors, and that this can result in less
acidity and higher alcohol. One thing for sure is that there is a major difference
between a wine being “Fruit Forward” and a wine being a “Fruit Bomb’’! The important
words to think about is control and restraint. Remember not every high-alcohol
wine is a ‘‘Fruit Bomb’’, and not every ‘‘Fruit Bomb’’ has high alcohol, or
sacrifices balance or structure for fruit flavors. Some wines just have a lot more
fruit than others.
My thoughts are that there should be balance. In many case ‘‘Fruit
Bomb’s’’ are the wines that keep public coming back for more wine. There are so
many great ones! I find that with a “Fruit Forward” wine there is good dominant
fruit with a lot of secondary flavors coming to the fore. So making an across
the board determination is not the way to go. A wine can have pronounced fruit
flavors and still be balanced, such as an Italian Amorone or a Spanish
Tempranillo can be; but sometimes folks will say… just because it’s a “Fruit Bomb”
it gives the the reason to guess that a wine is out of balance and lacks
complexity… which is not true at all.
Wine is in the eye of the beholder…”Fruit Bomb” or not, you'll
have to assess it by your own perspective.
