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therattle
Jul 24, 2007
Soiled Meat
I care bot for fashion, I like a big,tropical-fruity, slightly acidic fresh NZ Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. I slightly prefer the full fruitiness to the French Sauvs which are slightly cooler and leaner; the SA Sauvs I find similar in style to the NZ ones but not quite as good.

I'd like a shout-out to some of the German and Austrian wines, like a good minerally dry/off-dry Gruner-Veltilner or Riesling, or a wine I had recently that I'd never heard of, a Kerner (Manny Nossing), which was fantastic. They combine a full, fruity falvour which is balanced by a mineral acidity. Delicious.

I have a question. Are you familiar with the disinfectant TCP (trichlorophenylmethyliodosalicyl)? It has a very distinctive smell to me which I cannot abide. I have noticed that certain wines, particularly reds, have that same taste, and once I notice it the wine becomes almost undrinkable. I can't recall if it is unique to a certain varietal (Merlot, perhaps), and it seems more common in French reds. What is this smell/taste? Are they phenols? In which wines do theory commonly occur, and why don't people find them utterly offensive?

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therattle
Jul 24, 2007
Soiled Meat

benito posted:

I like NZ Sauvignon Blanc with grilled prawns or salads that include some citrus, but the really brassy ones have a great function:

If you have friends or family members that are new to wine and a bit curious, put a highly acidic one in front of them. Ask them to sniff it, and they say, "It smells like wine." Then ask them to sniff it again and look for the grapefruit, and it's so overwhelmingly obvious that they freak out and learn the first step in separating the generic wine aroma from the many possible descriptors. Later you can pull out other bottles and point to pencil shavings or lychee or more subtle notes, but they'll trust you that you're not just making things up, and that if they spend enough time with the wine they might discover these things.

When I've hosted online tastings for novices, I've talked about the background of the winery and the grape composition of the wine, and everything else, but I don't offer any of my own tasting notes. I always ask them what they're smelling or tasting. If it smells like band-aids or an old church* or that magical trip to Burning Man, go ahead and list that as your tasting note.

*I've only encountered this a few times, but I always love it, and have verified the association with a few friends in different states. Your mileage may vary in other countries, but there's this style of oaked Chardonnay that occasionally has the perfect combination of oak, old books, a hint of pine oil, and candles that immediately puts me in the 5th pew at the 100 year old Presbyterian church I attended as a child.
I like the grapefruit idea!

I don't like oaked wines, especially whites, so I avoid Chardonnay.

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