Wine

[thebish]

bit of christmas shopping (of the food variety) in Lidl with the missus this morning..

stumbled across some fairtrade Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot (South African - western cape)

will report back...

[ohjimmyjimmy]

Well....?

Verdict please Bish !

[thebish]

Well....?

Verdict please Bish !

hic!

[Hoboh]

Ponte Guglie Garganega 2011

Italian white

lively, fresh and appley

Nice easy drink, was at Asda on the 3 4 £10

[thebish]

Ponte Guglie Garganega 2011

Italian white

lively, fresh and appley

Nice easy drink, was at Asda on the 3 4 £10

I must learn to talk wine one day... but - if there are wines that are easy to drink - then presumably there must be wines that are hard to drink. What makes a wine hard to drink - is it code for "tastes rank"? if not - then what??

[Hoboh]

Ponte Guglie Garganega 2011

Italian white

lively, fresh and appley

Nice easy drink, was at Asda on the 3 4 £10

I must learn to talk wine one day... but - if there are wines that are easy to drink - then presumably there must be wines that are hard to drink. What makes a wine hard to drink - is it code for "tastes rank"? if not - then what??

Some wines you have to work and wait for the flavour and taste to hit I guess

[ohjimmyjimmy]

I'm not a white fanatic, but with red there are some that are more dense, richer, more conducive to sipping and savouring the complexities, and then there's the nice easy drinkable ones that you can throw down and still enjoy.

[thebish]

Ponte Guglie Garganega 2011

Italian white

lively, fresh and appley

Nice easy drink, was at Asda on the 3 4 £10

I must learn to talk wine one day... but - if there are wines that are easy to drink - then presumably there must be wines that are hard to drink. What makes a wine hard to drink - is it code for "tastes rank"? if not - then what??

Some wines you have to work and wait for the flavour and taste to hit I guess

hmm - but in practice - what is that?? what does it mean to "work" a wine??

[thebish]

I'm not a white fanatic, but with red there are some that are more dense, richer, more conducive to sipping and savouring the complexities, and then there's the nice easy drinkable ones that you can throw down and still enjoy.

ahhh - i can understand that - "easy" means glug it down fast - "hard" means sip and savour?

[Hoboh]

Take it slow and work the butt off your taste buds senses and brain to put everything together then finally critique it

[ohjimmyjimmy]

In a way, yes...easy i suppose means you can have drank half a bottle before even realising it too ! With some, if you've drank half a bottle in half an hour, you know about it

[thebish]

Take it slow and work the butt off your taste buds senses and brain to put everything together then finally critique it

maybe there's a space for you in William's discerning diners, aesthetes and supporters club after all!

[William the White]

Take it slow and work the butt off your taste buds senses and brain to put everything together then finally critique it

maybe there's a space for you in William's discerning diners, aesthetes and supporters club after all!

He'll be on the waiting list... For quite a while...

[Lord Kangana]

The compounds in red wine are more complex bish. Thats why, in general, they last longer. A five year old bottle (of good quality wine, that must be stressed, not all wine ages well) will taste different to it at 25. Many people assume that its tastes "better" after age, but the truth is it usually just tastes "different", but in a good way. Young wine often exhibits fruit characteristics, whereas the older it is, the more likely it is to display "woody" characteristics, variously described as tobacco, cigar box etc etc. In general, the tannins will also soften, so older wine tends to taste smoother on the tongue, less rough. Added to that, the different acidic compounds also change, because a tiny amount of oxygen exchange happens through the micro-porous cork.

If you're remotely interested in the idea, but don't want to spend the money or time on it, buy a bottle of Rioja thats seen some oak (crianza, Reserva, Gran Reserva) and a bottle of New World (Oz, Kiwi, Yank etc) plonk from the supermarket and taste the two side-by-side. This is real broad brushstroke stuff, but you have in those two effectively the tastes of Old and New. See which you prefer.

I could go on for hours, but I prefer old, effectively the ageing releases a plrthora of chemical compounds, giving the wine complexity. Not all people like this, some just want fruit.

Thats why red needs working at, in the main, more than whites. However, just to confuse, some whites also do the same. But differently.

You follow?

[thebish]

You follow?

it's the phrase "working at" that i can't picture... I'm not sure i am grasping that there is any more effort required in drinking it! (unless there is some kind of extra mouth-activity going on?)

I know it's just a phrase - it just seems like an odd one to me!!

I can understand having to work at a steak - because it is chewy - but not a drink!

if it is my taste-buds doing more "work" (and again - do they?? - in what sense do taste-buds put effort in?) - then that's not consciously harder work for me - I don't feel in control of the effort-levels of my taste-buds...

that's all!

is it just wine-ese for saying red wines have a fuller flavour???

[Lord Kangana]

No. Its more the complexity. I have tasting notes that have over 50 different flavours from one wine. This is the work. Its not just the simple "ooh apples", it requires a little mental dexterity to actually put a name to all of them from recall. Strangely enough (well not that strange, I hope), I enjoy tasting wine the most with my mother, as we have very similar palettes, but she is exceedingly good at putting a name to the flavours.

Lets be clear here though, this is not an experience you're going to get from 3 for a tenner wines. Thats where the working bit comes in.

[thebish]

No. Its more the complexity. I have tasting notes that have over 50 different flavours from one wine. This is the work. Its not just the simple "ooh apples", it requires a little mental dexterity to actually put a name to all of them from recall. Strangely enough (well not that strange, I hope), I enjoy tasting wine the most with my mother, as we have very similar palettes, but she is exceedingly good at putting a name to the flavours.

Lets be clear here though, this is not an experience you're going to get from 3 for a tenner wines. Thats where the working bit comes in.

so the "work" is mental (not physical) work to try to identify and name all the things it might taste of or be reminiscent of?

do people (other than Jilly Cooper) actually do this??

is there a right answer for each wine - or is it subjective? could you tell your mother she that she was wrong and the wine is NOT reminiscent of laundry on a wet thursday?

[Lord Kangana]

Yes, yes and yes.

[thebish]

Yes, yes and yes.

is one of the answers "it tastes like wine"?

[Lord Kangana]

Yes.