Spit or swallow? (for wine aficionados here!)

[JohnL]

I think we are creating a new language out here!

(you are articulating things very well!)

Tasting, Drinking, Swallowing, Spitting--yeeesh--it's hot I am going to get a glass of chablis and some oysters!

say--do you prefer to swallow oysters or chew them briefly and then.....

:-)

[jbonne]

Probably takes about 2-3 glasses, if not bottles, of Muscadet to do the job, eh? 

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at bare minimum.

This is why I am a bit skeptical of anyone who does not swallow some of a wine being able to provide an accurate assessment of that wine.

I agree it's hard to assess the finish without swallowing, and it's a skill I'm still working on. But I do think it can be done.

The tastings you attend sound terrific, JohnL. It sounds like most of the wines you taste at these are well outside the parameters of the average wine tasting, for which I salute you.

Trade tastings should not be mixed with general public tastings when possible.

From your keyboard to the organizers' eyeballs.

[JohnL]

Thanks!

Those tastings are held by Executive Wine Seminars here in NYC. Tasting notes are posted on Robert parker's website.

They are really fun and non pretentious events with lot's of good humor thanks to Bob Millman and Howard Kaplan who run them.

The wines are interesting --and are tasted in flights of four or less over three hours.

Each wine is discussed in depth by the group.

Recently Olivier Humbrecht led a tasting of his Riesling Brand and Rangen vinyards over several vintages old and recent. I can say I learned quite a bit!

I personally don't like large tastings of the standup variety --too much wine and too little time!

As I noted before I usually limit my tasting to several wines--rushing around trying to sample everything is just not much fun for me.

If I am tasting say, wines that are not top rank I certainly do spit a lot. I try to whittle it down to two or three I like and taste/drink those.

Antacids and lots of water in between are a must for me.

I do think that to really get to "know" a fine wine one needs to spend a little more time and contemplate it more than a quick swirl and spit.

[Really Nice!]

I'm in a wine club, which meets once a month, and I pretty much swallow it all.

However, I also visit wine country once or twice a year. When I'm out there I spit. Napa and Sonoma (and perhaps all of CA, but I don't know) have a 0.05 percent BAL. In most tasting rooms, you’ll receive about 3 2-ounce glasses of wine. In terms of health and DUIs, a drink (or glass) of wine is 5 ounces. A 160 pound male who consumes 2 drinks in one hour is at 0.05 BAL. It's a bit risky, even if you're sober, driving up and down CA 29 with all those cars darting in or out of the wineries. And in Eastern Washington the wineries are in small clusters but spread out far enough that you have to take the highway. That too can be challenging after a couple hours.

Visit three or four wineries in three or four hours and you can take in almost a whole bottle (5 drinks). It's under these conditions that I take the option of using the dump bucket rather than consuming the wine. No one takes offense.

Besides, early in my visits I found that after the third drink my wallet opened up much easier to buy wines that I could buy at my local wine shop for about 20 percent less. Keep the wallet in the pocket and spit, spit, spit.

[2roost]

Depending on the event, but I am generally a "spitter".

If it is an open room, 50 winery, 200 wine free for all I will spit for the sake of palate fatigue and alcohol consumption - 1/2 ounce times 50 in 90 minutes equals impaired.

If it is a technical event, either for work, wine club, newsletter whatever I will always spit - I've been doing this over 25 years and am well able to judge finish by mouthfeel.

At a single winery or in a tasting with a single producer where we are tasting 6-10 wines I will usually swallow a bit of the more interesting wines just for personal satisfaction.

In informal tastings at home or post work - it's swallow all the way.

[SWISS_CHEF]

Here in Switzerland, each of our importers usually puts on a big tasting once a year and they open up all of their wines for all of the retailers to try. Usually there are 3 to 5 hundred bottles open at once and you have five or six hours to "do your best". I can get through at least one hundred bottles and perhaps two, but I have to spit everything out. I must admit there are occasionally a few that I refuse to spit out. I usually even have a second taste and swallow that too....just for medicinal purposes and to confirm my original opinion of course!

I have found that you can never expect to taste objectively if you are drunk..... but it never fails. at every tasting there is a large group of people obviously overcome by the wines.

Honestly, for me the best way to try a new wine is at a table with a few friends and some good food where we can discuss it.

[Phil Ward]

<<Phil--"in the thousands" really?

You and jbonne need to lighten up a bit-i think.>>

JohnL,

20 + years in the wine business plus attending multiple day wine competitions, sales meetings/presentations, etc.

Plus, some times at home, when I am considering a new winery for the portfolio and they send multiple samples, I must spit. Although, I usually find a couple of wines to taste/consume with dinner!!

All in a days work.

Phil

Edited June 20, 2005 by Phil Ward (log)

[JohnL]

Swiss chef--I agree re: tasting/drinking a few wines with friends!

If one must taste fifty to a hundred wines in an afternoon --one has to do what one...

If one is being paid to review a large number of wines in a short period of time then one should be prudent in terms of any actual intake of the wine.

There is evidence (I cited some) that the impact of alcohol is perhaps a bit overstated when one swallows a small amount of wine from each sample.

There is also some belief that to properly assess a wine a small amount of each sample should be "swallowed".

I am not sure where I stand.

In the end--there is no reason for one to become "drunk" --especially at a wine tasting of any sort. I have rarely run across a situation where there were people drunk at a tasting (but my experience is limited here--I hate crowds-sober or otherwise!).

In the end I live by those words from a great wine taster:

"A man's got to know his limitations!"

[Phil Ward]

<<In the end I live by those words from a great wine taster:

"A man's got to know his limitations!"

>>

JohnL,

These are words I try to live by daily.

Just finished about a half of a bottle of Panther Creek PN, Shea Vnyd, 1999 and not a drop was wasted down the sink. All down the gullet with a lovely lentil soup enhanced with garlic and herbs. Yum!!

Cheers to all,

Phil

[JohnL]

<<In the end I live by those words from a great wine taster:

"A man's got to know his limitations!"

>>

JohnL,

These are words I try to live by daily.

Just finished about a half of a bottle of Panther Creek PN, Shea Vnyd, 1999 and not a drop was wasted down the sink. All down the gullet with a lovely lentil soup enhanced with garlic and herbs. Yum!!

Cheers to all,

Phil

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Phil!

That's a great wine--wish I was there to enjoy it with you (we'd have to open another half though!)

I have been thinking that it might be a nice tasting to feature the '99 vintage in Oregon and look at the Shea vinyard particularly.

[chuchelo]

I was recently in Beaune (Burgundy) and they repeatedly inform one that the custom requires spitting when tasting. No drinking. Ever. Of course, there are always some who ignore this but the French certainly do not like it. I'm not a professional by any means and I found it useful to take a mouthful and spit, then very small sip to swallow because I think it helps to hit those last tastebuds to get the complete impression of the wine. And I'm talking about tasting a dozen or so wines at a time.

[Phil Ward]

<<Phil!

That's a great wine--wish I was there to enjoy it with you (we'd have to open another half though!)

I have been thinking that it might be a nice tasting to feature the '99 vintage in Oregon and look at the Shea vinyard particularly. >>

JohnL

Actually it was a full bottle and I left the other half for the next evening. Still quite fine.

The Shea Vineyard is drinking beautifully and should continue to improve for a few years. IMHO, of course.

Phil

PS: As to spitting, conducted a Banquet wine tasting with an acct. yesterday and in the course of an hour we tasted about 16 wines and all were expectorated due to my 1.5 hour commute home. Then for dinner, my wife and I enjoyed a bottle of Ballentine Vineyards Syrah 2002, Betty's Vineyard, Napa.