Understanding Wine

[AzRaeL]

i wonder if i have dulled tastebuds but i can't seem to understand wine.

i dont get all these wild wonderful complex flavors.

to me it either tastes agreeable or plain yucky.

[tommy]

we make them up. shhhhhhh.

seriously though, you might want to consult something like a flavor/aroma wheel.

it makes the analysis of flavors much easier than just going in blind as a novice trying to pick out "sulfur" or "blueberry".

Edited November 25, 2003 by tommy (log)

["T"]

Thats ok. Not everyone digs wine. I have friends who only drink scotch, friends who only drink beer and friends who only drink wine. Wine is a beverage like tea or coffee or organically squeezed veg juice. If you don't get it that's fine. I wouldn't worry about it.

For me, I almost enjoy the nose over the taste, but I like the buzz so I swallow.

[Mark Sommelier]

For me, there are 2 kinds of wines. The wines you like, and the wines you DON'T.

[Carema]

Smelling your world can also help. If you have never smelled honeysuckle, then how on earth are you going to pick it out in a wine. Next time you are walking down the street- smell every available flower and lick every rock in sight. Dart into flower shops and smell stuff then turn around and slink out. If you begin thinking of your world in terms of flavor and aroma components, this can help when trying to decipher wine.

Taste fruit and vegetables in ripe, unripe, and overripe states. Blindfold yourself and make your friends put spices under your nose and try to identify them. In otherwords turn your world into one big smell-o-rama scratch n sniff adventure.

Where I live there is a little skunk who visits me frequently in the summer. From him I have learned much about Mourvedre. If the squirrels came closer I would sniff them too. But they do not.

Edited November 25, 2003 by Carema (log)

[ctgm]

For me, I almost enjoy the nose over the taste, but I like the buzz so I swallow.

T, I'm with you on that one. A wine "is" part smell part taste

[budrichard]

Mark, you are right on! -Dick

[Echezeaux]

You know the world is going to hell in a handbasket when wine-tasters are looking around to have a sniff of everything, be it a skunk, squirrel, sparrow or camel.

I'm not sure I need THAT much detail in a wine description.

[Carolyn Tillie]

i wonder if i have dulled tastebuds

Consider another possibility - while not dulled tastebuds, simply untrained tastebuds.

This last weekend, I had a wine-newbie friend visit me in Napa and I did the Wine Tasting 101 course with him. A lot of it is training and learning to detect what may or may not be there. It is something one can learn and, like Carema said, learning to smell what is around you will start to train your nose into detecting specific smells.

[Carema]

You know the world is going to hell in a handbasket when wine-tasters are looking around to have a sniff of everything, be it a skunk, squirrel, sparrow or camel.

I'm not sure I need THAT much detail in a wine description.

The world is going to hell in a handbasket. And I am sniffing squirrels and honeysuckle every chance I get before the whole damned planet explodes.

[CheNiPenso]

The biggest revelation that I had when I began appreciating wine (as opposed to just consuming wine) was that there are no right or wrong answers. Two people can smell and taste the same wine and come up with very different impressions, based on personal experience, likes and dislikes, cultural influences or just plain because. Some big overarching aromas, like cherry/berry, tropical fruits and floral notes may be easier to detect, but when you get into the nitty gritty, it's all about you.

I enjoyed a nice little sangiovese last night, and the forward notes struck me as odd at first; I couldn't quite identify the combination of aromas banging around my nose. Finally, I settled on paperwhites and dark chocolate. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. :-)

[tjaehnigen]

i wonder if i have dulled tastebuds but i can't seem to understand wine.

i dont get all these wild wonderful complex flavors.

to me it either tastes agreeable or plain yucky.

We all really just make it up as we go along. One TN I posted once said, I think, 'steely, waxy bacon fat'. I call it like I see it.