You know you’re a cute little heartbreaker
Foxy…
You know you’re a sweet little lovemaker
Foxy…

If only it were true for wine. As much as Jimi Hendrix intended his words as a great compliment to the young woman that was the subject of his song, using the word “foxy” about a wine most decidedly does not mean beautiful and alluring. The term foxy in wine refers to a negative flavor/aroma component, and more specifically a pejorative term about non-vitis vinifera vines, i.e. American vines as well as American Hybrid grapes (Eurasian vitis vinifera cultivars that have been crossed with other American vitis species). The Concord grape variety (best known to the consumer as the material for jellies and jams, and for heavy, sweet, Kosher wines like Manischewitz) is often seen as the poster child grape variety for the foxiness.

It’s not all that involved really…the term foxy has its roots in the smell of actual fox hides - that “animal”, “musky”, or “funky” smell that is more reminiscent of the smell of a wet dog than a fermented fruit juice. Though foxiness is most closely associated with American and hybrid grape varieties, hybrids such as Seyval Blanc (white) and Norton (red) are completely devoid of any trace of foxiness. Likewise, there are occasionally 100% vitis vinifera wines that can show traces of this aroma.

The source of foxiness in wine, until quite recently, had not been precisely isolated, but within the last decades, a compound called methyl anthranilate has been tapped as the likely culprit, though even more recently another compound - o-amino acetophenone has also been cited as another possible source for this stinkiness. That being said, some fairly successful techniques have been developed to diminish foxiness, namely earlier harvest dates, and more extended cask aging. But despite this, the future of grape varieties that are prone to foxiness is still quite limited, and is likely to remain that way as more and more people become familiar with high quality vitis vinifera wines.

TOM CIOCCO