mostly wine stuff

[Uncle-A]

You CAN find Burgundies like that. But the French don't let them out of the country.

They can keep them, local wine can be just as good.

 

[skibob]

They can keep them, local wine can be just as good.

For me, wine is more about exploration and discovery. If it were only about "better" or "worse" I would just buy good champagne by the truckload and forget about it (at least, I would if I were crazy rich). That said, IMHO Burgundy can still quite rightly hold claim to "best place for Pinot Noir".

 

[Tony S]

Francois Pinon,Vouvray "Cuvée Botrytis" 2005 (Drank this a few years back--a 1996 or 7? vintage--was a revelation)

So was this a sec or demi-sec or a moelleux or what?

I have had quite a few dry wines with obvious botrytis elements. Some of them have been a solution in search of a problem and ended up down the drain. (I've had a couple of white Burgs like this.) Others have been magnificent, including a "Y" (dry wine of Yquem) and most notably a couple early 80s vintages of Coulee de Serrant, before anyone really cared about the Loire. (It's now far far out of my price range.)

 

[jmeb]

I'm not sure if the 2005 is marked demi-sec or moelleux -- but he only makes this cuvee in very particular seasons when there is plenty of sugar in the grapes along with botrytis obviously. It will be dessert wine of the night.

When we tasted with him we had the 1990 which he then sold us a couple of bottles of for the outlandish price of 14euros. Honestly one of the more pleasurable afternoons of my life: drinking oodles of chenin on his patio covered in flowers, after 4 days on the bike, before coasting for Vouvray into Tours for the night.

 

[Rainbow Jenny]

Late comer to this thread. Read this charming book excerpt on “supertasters” with too many fungiform pappilae on their tongues who disliking wine. Got me thinking of how debilitating perfect pitch can be to some people (per Oliver Sacks in Musicophilia). Once again I’m wonder how much of our preferences can be trained vs. are innate.

How Science Saved Me from Pretending to Love Wine

The fault was not in my stars, nor in myself, but in my fungiform papillae.

www.newyorker.com

 

[Tony S]

The thing I always forget about Beaujolais is how insanely mineral it often is. This excellent but rather pricy one - Wednesday's Barolo was cheaper - has iodine and clamshell and kirsch in spades. As it is opening the hayfield and strawberry notes are coming out a bit. It has real tannin, too, not just Beaujolais tannin, if you know what I mean. As lovely and fresh as the fruit is, the core of this wine is rock.

Edit: Now on stage, green marijuana and some kind of smoked meat.

 

[skibob]

Late comer to this thread. Read this charming book excerpt on “supertasters” with too many fungiform pappilae on their tongues who disliking wine. Got me thinking of how debilitating perfect pitch can be to some people (per Oliver Sacks in Musicophilia). Once again I’m wonder how much of our preferences can be trained vs. are innate.

How Science Saved Me from Pretending to Love Wine

The fault was not in my stars, nor in myself, but in my fungiform papillae.

www.newyorker.com

Not all supertasters hate wine. I have tested as one, and its my profession. That said, it does make me averse to some excesses--oak in particular but also high alcohols (because alcohol is the solvent that delivers many flavor to our tastebuds). Its helpful as a winemaker, but I also admit that it shrinks the world of enjoyable (for me) wines. I am convinced that there is something in particular with Malbec that doesn't sit well with supertasters (sorry @Mendieta ). I've met a few who, like me, don't like Malbec (although it is a very useful blender) and are also supertasters. I also don't like IPAs.

 

[Tony S]

Not all supertasters hate wine. I have tested as one, and its my profession. That said, it does make me averse to some excesses--oak in particular but also high alcohols (because alcohol is the solvent that delivers many flavor to our tastebuds). Its helpful as a winemaker, but I also admit that it shrinks the world of enjoyable (for me) wines. I am convinced that there is something in particular with Malbec that doesn't sit well with supertasters (sorry @Mendieta ). I've met a few who, like me, don't like Malbec (although it is a very useful blender) and are also supertasters. I also don't like IPAs.

This is a very interesting topic. @skibob, do you ever feel that your tasting powers interfere with your ability to identify or communicate with other wine drinkers / clients? Or is it an unalloyed benefit? Do you feel like you are tasting the same basic things as others, just with more fine detail and precision? (Crayola 64 pack vs. 8 pack.) Or do you sometimes feel like you taste sun where others taste moon?

 

[skibob]

This is a very interesting topic. @skibob, do you ever feel that your tasting powers interfere with your ability to identify or communicate with other wine drinkers / clients? Or is it an unalloyed benefit? Do you feel like you are tasting the same basic things as others, just with more fine detail and precision? (Crayola 64 pack vs. 8 pack.) Or do you sometimes feel like you taste sun where others taste moon?

I think you are right on the money. I think I've learned to communicate with others despite being a supertaster. As you've suggested, to some degree I taste things differently, not necessarily better or worse. Not just the same thing, but at a higher volume. For example, I love bitter, but I don't like IPAs. In IPAs I taste an herbaceous quality that I despise, which has nothing to do with the bitterness. Wine is less "standardized" than beer, but like I said, I think there is something going on in Malbec that I don't like. A tart, resin-y quality that has nothing to do with acidity. Not as strong of a reaction as I have to IPAs, but its there. Yet, I love Malbec in a Bordeaux blend to such an extent that the idea of NOT using it just seems weird to me.

But you learn to be self-aware. Much like how you can sometimes realize when you are being unreasonable about something, I can recognize elements that jump out at me that won't be so obtrusive to others. Sometimes I just suppress those things. Other times they are an advantage. For example, I am very sensitive to TCA, which of course is an advantage.

All in all, I think I would say that we are not necessarily more finely tuned to everything, but that we are overly sensitive to some flavors and aromas (much of your sense of smell is retronasally "tasting" aromas as they enter your mouth while breathing).

 

[Uncle-A]

I think you are right on the money. I think I've learned to communicate with others despite being a supertaster. As you've suggested, to some degree I taste things differently, not necessarily better or worse. Not just the same thing, but at a higher volume. For example, I love bitter, but I don't like IPAs. In IPAs I taste an herbaceous quality that I despise, which has nothing to do with the bitterness. Wine is less "standardized" than beer, but like I said, I think there is something going on in Malbec that I don't like. A tart, resin-y quality that has nothing to do with acidity. Not as strong of a reaction as I have to IPAs, but its there. Yet, I love Malbec in a Bordeaux blend to such an extent that the idea of NOT using it just seems weird to me.

But you learn to be self-aware. Much like how you can sometimes realize when you are being unreasonable about something, I can recognize elements that jump out at me that won't be so obtrusive to others. Sometimes I just suppress those things. Other times they are an advantage. For example, I am very sensitive to TCA, which of course is an advantage.

All in all, I think I would say that we are not necessarily more finely tuned to everything, but that we are overly sensitive to some flavors and aromas (much of your sense of smell is retronasally "tasting" aromas as they enter your mouth while breathing).

I was wondering if it is all Malbec you don't care for, or is it from one region? Because Malbec from South America is probably much different than the Malbec from France or California.

 

[skibob]

I was wondering if it is all Malbec you don't care for, or is it from one region? Because Malbec from South America is probably much different than the Malbec from France or California.

Surprisingly similar. Here and in Argentina we get things more ripe than they do in France. But Malbec has remarkable similarity in the new world. Not sure I've ever had varietal malbec from France where it is almost exclusively used as a blender.

 

[SkiMore]

Got me thinking of how debilitating perfect pitch can be to some people (per Oliver Sacks in Musicophilia). Once again I’m wonder how much of our preferences can be trained vs. are innate.

I remember reading a story about the jazz pianist Oscar Peterson that made it come alive for me what it must be like to have perfect pitch. He and his band were traveling by bus one night to the next city on their tour. He was trying to fall asleep but couldn't and eventually had to ask the bus driver to either speed it up or slow it down a bit because the engine was stuck between F and F#.

 

[cantunamunch]

Alright everyone. It's June 17th and the feast of St. John the Baptist is next week. Time to fix those mediocre bottles from the wine club. Go find an English walnut tree and get some green fruit. Seriously. Do it now. And just say NO to black walnuts.

Vin de Noix

Walnut wine is a traditional drink that was very popular in the past. This is not strictly a wine made from nuts. It is obtained by macerating green walnuts

www.frenchcountryfood.com

I've heard it's possible to do it with pecans but I have yet to taste one and know nothing about the pecan growing season. So walnuts it is. Go get 'em. If you can't cut 'em with a kitchen knife they're too mature.

Surprisingly similar. Here and in Argentina we get things more ripe than they do in France. But Malbec has remarkable similarity in the new world. Not sure I've ever had varietal malbec from France where it is almost exclusively used as a blender.

This post makes me wonder about supertasters and Pinotage.

 

[skibob]

Alright everyone. It's June 17th and the feast of St. John the Baptist is next week. Time to fix those mediocre bottles from the wine club. Go find an English walnut tree and get some green fruit. Seriously. Do it now. And just say NO to black walnuts.

Vin de Noix

Walnut wine is a traditional drink that was very popular in the past. This is not strictly a wine made from nuts. It is obtained by macerating green walnuts

www.frenchcountryfood.com

I've heard it's possible to do it with pecans but I have yet to taste one and know nothing about the pecan growing season. So walnuts it is. Go get 'em. If you can't cut 'em with a kitchen knife they're too mature.



This post makes me wonder about supertasters and Pinotage.

I've had a few I like. The ones I don't like I just attribute it to a) pinotage is not very interesting and/or b) bad winemaking.

 

[Uncle-A]

This is one of the offerings for this weekend. A heavy wine with lots of fruit flavors, mostly cherry is what I tasted. Not something I would buy again.

 

[Uncle-A]

Another offering for the evening, this one my daughter picked. Nice, easy to drink a little earthy and mineral. I think she purchased it because it has braille on the label.

 

[Uncle-A]

This was the third bottle last night. Although they are known for their Pinot Grigio, the Cab was the best of the three.

 

[Uncle-A]

To finish the day today steak on the grill and this bottle of joy.

I will definitely buy more of this stuff.

 

[Tony S]

I have too many wine thoughts and questions tonight. Where to begin?

Here is a concrete one for @skibob : What is the smell that you get on a sponge or towel that's sat around damp for too long? It's obviously some kind of mildew-y thing, but it has a very specific odor. Does it have a name?

Unfortunately for me, I'm a "super smeller" when it comes to that one stench. I've been known to wash every single towel in the house in a weak bleach solution in an attempt to get rid of it, after picking up the third "clean" one in a row that reeks. No one else in the house can smell it.

Anyway, it's the thing that most often kills my first glass of wine - the smell is on the glass, but it only seems to be released with wine in it. Then it's too late.

 

[Tony S]

Next, what do people think of Alice Feiring? I've just been exposed to her for first time. I'm simultaneously fascinated and repulsed. Not willing to fork over the $68 subscription fee just to see.