Poop Shute

Wine tasting

While visiting the newly-wed Crohns this weekend they took us to this amazing little wine and cheese shop within a short walk from their house. It's called Gouda and Vines and it was really very cool.

The guy running the tasting explained to us that we'd be tasting Pinot Noirs and the reason he chose that particular varietal is because of the insane popularity that these wines have experienced since they were heavily featured in the movie Sideways. On the flipside of that, the movie seems to also have provoked a sharp decline in the sale of Merlots. A line in the movie goes "I'm NOT drinking any fvcking Merlot!" Since that tasting I have done some reading about wines on my own, and there is nothing wrong with Merlot. It's widely considered to be one of the easiest reds to drink, and many Merlots are made in a style that is popular with "new" wine drinkers, so that is why some wine snobs will look down on it. BUT my reading also yielded that a good Merlot paired with the right food is a treat for even a wine veteren. But people avoid it because a movie said so. Hilarious.

The tasting was a lot of fun because he would tell us the conventional knowledge for each of the brands that we tried, and then we'd all compare our opinions about what each of tasted and smelled. We found that some of us were more sensitive to certain aspects of wine than others.

The Poppy, for example, was too strong for me. Too sharp is the word I kept using. This surprised the wine guy. Then the next wine, The Marlowe was much easier on my palet, whereas everyone else said it was a bolder, fuller flavor. Again, the wine guy was surprised by my reaction. I explained that it was softer on my mouth, for lack of a better word. It tasted more like wine and less like alcohal than The Poppy, and sure enough the Poppy was higher in alcohal content. The wine guy smiled and nodded, explaining I'm more sesitive to the alcohal taste. Everybody else liked the Marlowe more as well, but for different reasons. They all felt The Poppy was a weaker, softer flavor. I saw The Marlowe as lighter and softer, because I could actually taste the flavor instead of just alcohal burn.

Then there was The Campion. Mmmmm. It was a large flavor, very full, but at the same time smooth and soft and had a flavor that had a hint of a black cherry. Everyone agreed that this was the best of the first three. After this one, we went back and tasted the Marlowe and Poppy again and they tasted like water by comparison.

The final label was Alma Rosa. Blech. We all agreed that this wine had the biggest flavor of all four, but some of us liked it more than others. I had heard the word spicy used to describe wine before, but I had never had one. Spicy isn't a completely accurate word to describe the sensation of this wine, but it's as close as you can get. I like spicy foods, but spicy wine is not my scene. Meg loved it, so she finished mine too.

We brought home a bottle of The Campion and a really nice bottle of imported Sake. We spent WAY too much money, but my birthday cash from my parents covered a big chunk of it.

I can't wait to learn more about wines. It's such an interesting world.

COMMENTS:

joey,
the privacy smashing power of the internet grows with each passing day i.e myspace.I would like to be able to speak/share without a simple/accidental internet search leading to my i.d. and consequently prevent me from getting a job/promotion or custody of my beloved daughter in the future.
Prime Numbers is (e)volving. On that note, a fellow blogger was recently placed on the governments watch list as a dangerous person without due process thanks to the patriot act and is now being treated like a felon in his home state simply because of posts on his website. this has resulted in some deep obstacles providng for his family.
Pleae feel free to unlink me if my new directions is not your cup of tea, I will not be insulted.
I will be looking into what causes the pop up.....
like the hulk but smaller and brown, {m}
mulk 05.09.06 - 6:00 pm

Fair enough, but in future I would appreciate it if you responded in the comment thread that the response is relevant to. I check the comments for the last three or four posts almost every day.
Joey 05.09.06 - 9:43 pm

was that not you inquiring mr. moore?
mulk 05.10.06 - 12:26 pm

p.s. winespeak - "varietal" is an adjective often used incorrectly as a noun, and refers to a wine made from a certain type of grape such as a merlot or a chardonnay - for example, "a verietal wine"
mulk 05.10.06 - 1:04 pm

Well, Mulk, the great thing about language is that it's dynamic. Popular usage actually changes things. The dictionary might list "varietal" as an adjective, and maybe it used to only be used as such but in my own readings on several wine websites I constantly see varietal used as a noun, and I see it used that way by vintners and professional wine reviewers, so I think it's fine.
Joey 05.10.06 - 1:51 pm

Oh, and using it in this way is just basically shorthand for the way you mention anyway. Saying Pinot Noir is a varietal is just a shortcut for saying it's a varietal wine.
Joey 05.10.06 - 1:54 pm

Thank You Joey for being part of the problem instead of the solution. I expected better from you, forgive me.
mulk 05.10.06 - 6:07 pm

I hope you're kidding, but I can never tell with you, you wily devil. :-)
Just to cover both bases, here are two replies for you.
1) HAHA! You crack me up, mulk.
2) If you are referring to my comment about popular usage, then you're only going to get more and more angry the older you get. You should just move to the mountains and live in a cave alone where language will never pester you again. It will save you some bother.
ALL LANGUAGES CHANGE ALL THE TIME.
The MLA rules change every damn year. Ending a sentence with a preposition is no longer a big no no, and neither is saying "Me and mulk" instead of "Mulk and I."
Ask France, they know what I mean. They tried to ban the use of slang in any printed medium to avoid the evolution of their native tongue. It didn't work.
And anyway, all this stuff is besides the point. Like I said, this example isn't even really a change, it's just a shorthand. Saying "a varietal" instead of "a varietal wine" is like saying "a stealth" instead of "a stealth bomber."
Nothin' but love fo' ya, mulk.
Joey 05.11.06 - 4:07 am