Wine term: open-knit????

I have recently seen the term "open-knit" as a description of wine for the first time. It was explained to me as ".......the wine is soft and approachable and may not have very much structure and tannins present and likely doesn't have the potential to improve measurably with time." The explanation went on to include: "made for near-term consumption with lots of fruit and a bit less backbone. They're fleshy and loose and very tasty but perhaps, to some, not elegant or sophisticated." That helped a lot.

I "Googled" the term and found it used in several wine reviews but it didnn't come up in any of the 20+ wine glossaries I looked at. One review described an "open-knit" wine as tasting like it was "newly bottled". That sounded fairly consistent, but didn't suggest that the wine would not cellar.

The term "TIGHTLY knit" did come up, however (@ Parker's site's glossary, IIRC). ...... described as young, with good acidity & tannins, well made...... but yet to open up.

Can anyone explain the use of the term "open-knit" any better or differently than the above? The "tight" implication I get...... the "open" is less clear. What are some examples of "open-knit" wines that are crafted that way intentionally? Is (excuse me) White Zinfandel an "open-knit" wine?

Thanks.

I don't know that this will be of much help because I don't remember specifically hearing that term "open-knit," but it surely makes sense. People have talked of "tightly knit" things, including wines, for many decades. Part of the quest for language for experience not occurring naturally in words. (Such idiom can float around among wine people for many years before someone bothers to catalog it in print or online -- insightfully, if you're lucky -- and it is unlikely ever to have precise, universally agreed meaning.) Do not expect too much of online wine glossaries.

After a tasting that I reported here in a recent TN I was driving back with a wine merchant who told me he would need to translate his personal tasting notes -- the kind I posted here -- to professional tasting notes, as meaningful as possible to other readers. A challenge that some people have a knack for. Some words heard often from specialists in tastings may be unhelpful to a large readership -- grip, "reduced" sulfur, oxidation, minerality, Brett [topic of certain notorious, laborious argument threads on HTML sites], alcohol ["don't ALL wines have alcohol?"], extract. (To say nothing of those noses who will correctly identify where the barrel wood was cut from, after sniffing the wine. Seeing this for real is very cool.)

As to "open knit," not knowing that term specifically, I'd infer it a response to the established "tightly knit." Which does seem apt for some wines. Like a tightly knit fabric, they are closed, impenetrable. Maybe the parts work together to give the wine structure to age well in the long run. In contrast there is much demand for wines of a different kind, wines made for today rather than tomorrow.

-- Max