The Wine Bore Thread

[portsmouth68]

	Quote:	Gastro Gnome
	It doesn't say what the name of the app is . . . just trying to find it on the App Store. Ah . . . just found it: 'Les Vins du Valais'.

Damn it. its free....

I was going to leave a pun that unlike Swiss wine being acidic this app leaves a bitter aftertaste in the mouth because it is so expensive but I can't.

[PlantHead]

Fort Simon Estate 2003 Shiraz - 19.95 chf

March 26th, 2010 Purchased from Globus, Bellevue
Recommended to me by a friend, this wine comes from South Africa, an area I had always thought of as definitely not a wine area. In fact wikipedia tells me that they have been growing wines there since 1659 and that the reason their wine has received almost no attention is because of Apartheid in the latter half of the 20th Century.
Whatever, we drank it with a pea risotto and it tasted great, definitely a wine that needs to be drunk with food.
It’s a dark red wine, not inky black but certainly a ruby red; once again the smell was wine, maybe smokey wine but basically wine; I get no smell of cherries or spiced fruits. I am getting the impression that either people who write about wine make their own smells up or my nose is distinctly broken.
Shiraz/Syrah is supposed to taste of chocolate and black pepper when young and develop a more earthy taste as it ages, likened to leather and truffle. Thankfully I get no hint of old shoe and for once I can genuinely say that I could taste a sort of caramel flavour. It’s quite an intense taste which thankfully does not linger n the tongue, however it is not a light airy summer wine, definitely one for the winter with a fire and a good meal.
The price makes this a good wine but I doubt I would buy it again. It’s nice but reminds me of a lot of other easy drinking reds from Australia.

[Gastro Gnome]

	Quote:	PlantHead
	this wine comes from South Africa, an area I had always thought of as definitely not a wine area. In fact wikipedia tells me that they have been growing wines there since 1659 and that the reason their wine has received almost no attention is because of Apartheid in the latter half of the 20th Century.

Thanks for the wine write up.

South African wine has received a huge amount of attention over the last ten years or so.

Even in 2003, Jancis Robinson was writing this kind of thing:

http://www.jancisrobinson.com/articl...lafrica03.html

[portsmouth68]

	Quote:	PlantHead
	once again the smell was wine, maybe smokey wine but basically wine; I get no smell of cherries or spiced fruits. I am getting the impression that either people who write about wine make their own smells up or my nose is distinctly broken.

Its all to do with how you smell the wine. When you smell it give it a real big prolonged sniff not just a little sniffle.

Its the same with tasting, open your mouth a touch and draw in air whilst circulating the wine in the mouth. Take care not to dribble it ! I often run wine courses on how to taste wine and many people start out thinking this way but with a little guidance, an understanding of what to look for and practice it is possible to start to recognise these elusive characters.

Then I must admit there appears to be a lot of crap spoken about this wine stuff. 'Wine without W**K'.. that what we want!

[Jase]

over Easter in Davos we actually found a Swiss white wine that we really liked (few and far between)

Malanser Sav Blanc

so good that we want to do a back to back tasting with some of our other Sav Blancs - to see if it was really that good or just the relaxed Easter spirit that helped us enjoy it more

always good to keep your opinions and ideas open to new things

[adrianlondon]

	Quote:
	'Wine without W**K'.. that what we want!

Yeah, it makes it go cloudy.

Anyhoo ... do you ever run these wine course thingies in or near Basel?

[portsmouth68]

	Quote:	adrianlondon
	Yeah, it makes it go cloudy. Anyhoo ... do you ever run these wine course thingies in or near Basel?

No but if you organise a venue and 8 people and pay for the wine I am more than happy to come up......

Total cost is normally around 200 / 8 = 25 each...

[Wollishofener]

	Quote:	portsmouth68
	IMO your information is wrong. Younger wine benefit from breathing more so than older wines which if exposed to too much air could fall over pretty quickly. Not all wine benefits. There's not much that can happen to a 3 year old Australian Shiraz in 3 hours. The attached picture is of some corked and one screw capped wine showing the impact that oxygen makes penetrating in and through the cork which is also minute. The screw cap doesn't show any prebloms not only because of its closure but because the wine is made reductively.

Your statement is astonishing in a way, even if confirming my personal experience.
- That younger wine profits from breathing, alright
- But what causes older wine from "falling over" from too much ... ??
- Why do 3 hours of breathing have minimal impact on a 3yrs old Sh. ??
- under what circumstances is the screw capped wine profiting ?
- under what circumstances is the corked wine profiting ?
--- and as you mentioned "acidic"
- why are those from the Valais by average far more acidic than those in the Vaud ?
- has it to do with the height-above-sealevel ?

[Wollishofener]

	Quote:	baboon
	Eh? Um...Italy, France and Spain all had Med coastlines last time I checked! I had an excellent 20 year old Brunello a month or so back....

You CAN do so with a Brunello but rather abstain in case of a Primitivo etc from Southern Italy. You CAN do so with some wines in Spain and Portugal, but generally rather abstain. You CAN do so with wines from Greece and Turkey, but I would rather advise against. I however strongly advise against too long storage in case of wines from Sicily, the Alentejo, the Maghreb, Malta, Crete or Egypt.

[crfesi]

If someone hosts a wine tasting I would love to come. I would host one, but my apartment is too small for entertaining. I'm interested in any events in the German side of Switzerland...Luzern, Basel, Baden, Zurich. I live in between. Wine and cheese party would be nice sometime Of course the host should charge for the tastings or have everyone bring a bottle and a cheese.

[Tom73]

Anyone knows where to get a spaetlese gewürztraminer for arount 10-15 Sfr.?

Thank you for your ideas.

[portsmouth68]

	Quote:	Wollishofener
	Your statement is astonishing in a way, even if confirming my personal experience. - That younger wine profits from breathing, alright - But what causes older wine from "falling over" from too much ... ?? - Why do 3 hours of breathing have minimal impact on a 3yrs old Sh. ?? - under what circumstances is the screw capped wine profiting ? - under what circumstances is the corked wine profiting ? --- and as you mentioned "acidic" - why are those from the Valais by average far more acidic than those in the Vaud ? - has it to do with the height-above-sealevel ?

Were these questions that you really wanted answered or is this a test?

[Wollishofener]

	Quote:	portsmouth68
	Were these questions that you really wanted answered or is this a test?

No test, but real questions, some actually resulting from some of YOUR statements. So that I would love to hear your answers !

[portsmouth68]

	Quote:	Wollishofener
	Your statement is astonishing in a way, even if confirming my personal experience. - That younger wine profits from breathing, alright - But what causes older wine from "falling over" from too much ... ?? - Why do 3 hours of breathing have minimal impact on a 3yrs old Sh. ?? - under what circumstances is the screw capped wine profiting ? - under what circumstances is the corked wine profiting ? --- and as you mentioned "acidic" - why are those from the Valais by average far more acidic than those in the Vaud ? - has it to do with the height-above-sealevel ?

In answer to your question. Red wine benefits from controlled contact with oxygen so it should come as no surprise that a red wine which has the ability to age would improve if allowed to breathe. Wines that are young have the intensity of flavour to compensate for any reaction and this is why younger 'quality' wines are able to sustain the onslaught of rapid oxidation.

Older wines have much more subtle flavours and have already been exposed to controlled oxidation either through dissolved oxygen in the wine or through microscopic amount of oxygen that flows through the cork and because these wines are much more delicate any prolong exposure to oxygen will degenerate them much quicker and we see this failing over effect.

Screw caps benefit mostly aromatic styles of wine for exactly the same reasons. Oxygen exposure is prone to reducing the aromatic characteristics of a wine and by placing wines in screw cap we are ensuring that they are anaerobically sealed.

Corks on the other hand allow for both a controlled (good corks) and uncontrolled (bad corks) exposure to oxygen. Red wines are able to withstand higher levels of exposure and are therefore less likely to be placed in cork although the practice is starting to be common in Australia and New Zealand.

Uncontrolled oxygen exposure is the natural enemy of wine and can cause changes in the acidity types and characteristics of tannin and flavour development.

Wines in any particular region can be higher than acidity than in other regions for a number of different reasons.

Typically it is climate (cooler climates typically produced higher levels of acidity. Altitude typically produces cooler climates but more acidity could also be attributed to grape varieties, viticulture practices as well as wine making techniques. In short there is rarely one simple answer to anything.

Wines that are made sweeter in style may taste like they have lower levels of acidity even though they often don't.

I hope this helps!

[Vince]

A few wine tips:

• Lagrein. Great red from Italy, South-Tyrol/Alto Adige area (close to Dolomites). You don't see it much, if you're lucky you come across it. Great full-bodied red wine, for ca. CHF 15.- that tastes much better than many French wines 3 times that price
• Primitivo, Negroamaro (southern Italy)
• Wine from Valtellina area, north-east of Lake Como region.