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August 7 - August 10, 2022
They complain about that “new glass” smell, and sacrifice marriages in the name of palate practice.
Chianti has to be made with at least 70 percent Sangiovese grapes if it carries the quality assurance of a DOCG certification (short for Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita).
began visiting free tastings hosted by wine distributors, the middlemen who sell to stores and restaurants a selection of bottles they either import themselves or first buy from importers.
“Wine,” declared the nineteenth-century novelist Alexandre Dumas, “is the intellectual part of the meal.”
1826 even includes instructions for faking French classics. (For knock-off Bordeaux, fill a bottle with equal parts Devonshire cider and port, age for one month, and serve—“the best judge will not be able to distinguish them from good Bordeaux.”)
He suggested drinks at Terroir, a snug wine bar in the East Village that blasts Iggy Pop and the Who and keeps its wine list in graffiti-covered binders.
“The greatest lie that’s been sold to the American populace is that they’re not in control of their own tastes,”
“‘Michael Jackson Really Makes Small Boys Nervous.’ So Michael is Magnum; Jackson is Jeroboam; really, Rehobaum; makes, Methuselah; small, Salamanzar; boys, Balthazar; nervous, Nebuchadnezzar.”
region, a magnum contains the equivalent of two standard bottles; a Jeroboam holds four; a Rehobaum, six; a Methuselah, eight; and from there the volume increases by four bottles per size up through the Nebuchadnezzar, which holds twenty standard bottles and guarantees a good time.)
“Pale gold, with some rim variation at the meniscus, flecks of gold and green. It’s star bright, no signs of gas or sediment, and viscosity is moderate-plus,” Dana said in a low monotone, speaking as quickly as he could.
People are here as much to network as to drink,”
deemed one Sauvignon Blanc “asparagus fart water with extra grapefruit.”
Morgan plunged into the five key attributes that make up the “structure” of a wine: sugar, acid, alcohol, tannins, and texture, also referred to as “body.”
Thick, slow tears with clear definition suggest the wine has higher alcohol levels, where thin, quick tears, or wine that falls in sheets, hint at lower alcohol levels.
We produce saliva, which acts as a buffer to neutralize the harshness of the acid.
Warmer climates lead to riper grapes with a higher concentration of sugar, which, by the laws of fermentation, will produce wines with higher alcohol.
Grapes from cooler climates generally have lower concentrations of sugar, yielding wines with lower alcohol.
Take note of how far into your mouth and throat you can feel the burning heat of the alcohol. The back of your tongue? It’s probably lower alcohol—around 12 percent for reds. The back of your throat, near your jaw? Medium, closer to 13, edging on 14 percent. Are you warm all the way down by your sternum? Could be 14 plus—high. Alcohol is a feeling more than a taste.
I’d come across a Chardonnay with a yogurty, popcorn-butter flavor and think, Ahh—malolactic fermentation.
