Wine

[Saras]

Do you really think there's a conspiracy, then?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Besides, no one thinks the tastes (spices, etc) actually come from the grapes themselves. They are just descriptions of how the wine tastes. What it is similar to.

[Elok]

No, "conspiracy" would imply explicit but secret communication. I think it's more of an implicit yet open consensus among wine critics to make themselves like garbage to increase their own sense of importance. I suppose it's also boosted by an infatuation with wine-snob culture which nullifies the cruddiness of the actual product; rap music has lots of fans despite being terrible by any reasonable standard, just because some people are in love with its moronic gold-spangled thug image.

Technically it could just be that they have a fondness for unpleasant things, like some kind of weird taste equivalent to S & M. It's just that the similarities to the modern art community are so plain that I'm inclined to the hypothesis I've given.

[Elok]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Besides, no one thinks the tastes (spices, etc) actually come from the grapes themselves. They are just descriptions of how the wine tastes. What it is similar to.

Then what did they come from, the barrel? Or did the yeast have a little committee meeting where they decided "hey, this juice is from [type X] grapes, let's excrete subtle aromas of raspberry, paprika and doughnuts along with the usual ethanol"?

[DirtyMartini]

Originally posted by Asher


A "martini" is made with gin, a "vodka martini" is made with...vodka.

A simple google search will tell you the phrase "vodka martini" is far more popular than "vodkatini" (which I'd never heard before).

I'm trying very hard not to let this reply annoy me. I keep telling myself that I'm not allowed to be annoyed -- I'm the one who started the martini snobbery. It's not working. I'm annoyed.

[snoopy369]

Your pee smells like sulfur (and some other stuff), not like asparagus

[Elok]

Originally posted by snoopy369
Your pee smells like sulfur (and some other stuff), not like asparagus

"Guns don't kill people, bullets kill people, and only when they hit certain organs."

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Elok


Then what did they come from, the barrel? Or did the yeast have a little committee meeting where they decided "hey, this juice is from [type X] grapes, let's excrete subtle aromas of raspberry, paprika and doughnuts along with the usual ethanol"?

Although I tend to be on your side in this argument, let me try to explain

Tastes are nothing more than combinations of sweet/sour/salty/bitter, combined with smells. When someone says they detect a 'citrusy flavor', or a 'nutty aroma', or whatever, what they mean is that they are describing what sort of taste combination it most similarly approximates; since there's no other way to describe it. "Citrusy" usually means sweet+sour, for example. Nutty = salty. Earthy=salty+bitter. Etc.

Do note that your argument is specious in any event; smells are derived from esters and other organic (and less frequently, inorganic) compounds, not from the innate nature of a product itself. These compounds are quite easily changed by chemical processes, such as occurs to transform grape juice into wine, and it is certainly possible for a new taste/flavor/smell that was not there before, to arise. In order for something to taste like citrus, for example, it would simply need to have citric acid in it ... which is a natural byproduct of metabolism in eukaryotic cells. Not an entirely unreasonable thing to expect to find in a product formed by cells waste products...

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Elok


"Guns don't kill people, bullets kill people, and only when they hit certain organs."

Asparagus, unless cooked grossly improperly , does not smell like sulfur.

The sulfur smell comes from the breakdown (organically and otherwise) of the amino acid Methionine, iirc. This will not break down during the cooking process to the point of smelling it unless you overcook your asparagus

And since you don't generally break down amino acids in your mouth, either, you still don't have sulfur...

[Felch]

I'm with Elok on the taste of most wine. I can't stand vinegar, even diluted, and wine has a lot of that same nastiness to it.

Drink hard liquor, get trashed, and forget about that yuppie nonsense.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Elok
IMO most wine tastes horrendous even when it hasn't aged a day. Merlot, for example, is always basically purple ink. The whole wine industry is run by weird wine snobs who think wine shouldn't taste like it ever had grapes in it. No, it should have "notes of oak, nutmeg, honey and guava" or some crap like that. It doesn't matter what you say it tastes like, since all it really tastes like is bad wine.

Jesus man. Is all of your experience with wine from buy stuff that comes in a box at the local ghetto mart?

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Elok
Or you can get Manischewitz or some other Jewish wine, which tastes sort of like decent wine with two pounds of sugar added.

Manischewitz literally is nothing more then concord grape juice (food not wine grapes) with a bunch of sugar added. They have some good kosher wines out there but Manischewitz isn't one of them.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

The current fad for halfwits dismissing Merlot is always fun. I like to get them on one of their rants, whilst they are similarly climaxing with joy over the lovely right-bank Bordeaux I've plied them with, completely unaware that they're drinking a really good Merlot.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

This stuff is so good, it's obscene.

http://www.waitrosewine.com/230220288/Product.aspx

I'm working my way through a case of the 2001 vintage.

This is the king of Tokaji- the oldest botrytisised wine.

http://www.waitrosewine.com/230211220/Product.aspx

And this is by far the best thing to have come out of the Middle East- all prophets and religions included.

http://www.waitrosewine.com/230201117/Product.aspx

[Dinner]

I've had the Chateau Musar but a 2000 and not a 2001. I'm currently on the hunt for an English sparkling wine but no one seems to stock them in my neck of the woods. Does anyone know where I can buy a bottle of Nyetimber Classic Cuvee? I read about them beating out several Champagnes so I'm eager to try it.