Wine Tasting

[peter eldergill]

I'm having a couple of friends over for a wine tasting but I'm a total noob.

Does anyone know where I can find a list of words that can be used to describe the various flavours of wine?

Also, is there a specific way of getting one flavour of wine out of your mouth before trying another one? I'm planning on having some cheese as well, but I'm not sure if that will wreck the flavour of the wine

Any insight might be helpful!

Pete

[Moose]

If you really want to have fun, have them sample unlabeled wines from decanters and see if they can't identify the high-priced one from the taste. The secret being both wines are the same.

According to something I read in Swift (James Randi's weekly newsletter) a while back, a team of skeptics pulled this trick at a major wine tasting. Successfully. The professional tasters had wildly contradictory opinions on which wine was clearer, fruitier, had a better nose, etc. Apparently none realized the wine was the same.

Sorry Peter, I really can't help you. I just wanted to throw this out there for general amusement.

[Matherly]

For cleansing your palete, I recomend water and those little flavorless crackers (they're almost like communion waffers)

As for descriptions, I always fall back on compairing it to foods. Chocolate, peach, spicy, etc.

[Ronald Brak]

The four categories are Appearance, Bouquet, Taste and Aftertaste. You should describe each using only adjectives you are familiar with and would use in your daily life. For example, if I was tasting a wine I might give the following description.

This wine appears to be urine and judgeing from the bouquet I would say it came straight from Satan's bladder. The taste is surprisingly like vinegar with a dash of motor oil, which made me think I was getting off lightly, however the aftertaste is almost but not quite like a mouthful of sufurous ash from the slopes of Mount Vesuvius. I say almost because it's not quite as pleasant.

[Roy Batty]

:)
Will you be serving Australian table wines (http://www.phespirit.info/montypython/australian_table_wines.htm)? :razz:

[Ronald Brak]

Will you be serving Australian table wines?

No, but to create a congenial atmosphere for wine tasteing I will be lighting a few table candles. Of course, in Australia, a table candle is where you throw a bucket of molten wax over a table and set it on fire.

[Ronald Brak]

Some wine taster translations:

A fruity little wine. - Tastes like it was fruit a week ago.

A cheeky little wine. - Taste like the yeast used came was scraped off someone's butt cheeks.

Refreshing - Drinking this wine has caused my body to release adrenaline in anticipation of the fact that I may soon die.

A full bodied wine. - Tastes like mobsters used the winery to dispose of a body.

A precocious wine. - May appeal to 14 year old street children.

A lingering aftertaste. - I am no longer capable of crawling to the toilet to wash my mouth out.

[tofu]

LOL Ronald!

According to something I read in Swift (James Randi's weekly newsletter) a while back, a team of skeptics pulled this trick at a major wine tasting. Successfully.

I'd be willing to bet that they used recent vintages. It's true, you can go to your grocery store and get a cheapo wine from 2004, and you can go to a wine shop and get an expensive wine from 2004 and they will be of similar quality. But if you keep the wine for a long time, I think you'll be able to tell the difference. The cheapo isn't going to age well.

A lot of people who drink regularly find that it's easy to get a collection going. You buy one bottle and if you like it you go back and buy five or six more bottles and put them away. In no time, you will find yourself with a lot of old wine collecting dust. That's when quality starts to matter.

[Tog_]

Three bits... I was writing a story for an E mail mystery game and needed to find out about wines. I found a guy that had a PhD in wine tasting that answered many of my questions and seemed like he genuinely wanted to help. All I can remember for sure about him was he was also a Macintosh computer fanboy, and I think he lived in Colorado. I can't seem to find any of the emails we exchanged. You may be able to find him. It was 10 years ago, but someone with better search fu than I might be able to find him. I did look but no luck right off.

Bit 2. Mythbusters did a blind test with vodka. The myth was that if you run cheap vodka through enough filters it will taste as good as expensive vodka. They had 7 brands some filtered and some not. They also had a professional taster come in. Everyone agreed that the filters help the cheap stuff, but the professional taster sorted them by quality and got them all right as I recall. Certainly more than he could of by chance.

Bit 3. My uncle used to make his own wines. They were not good for the first few years. We pulled a bottle out that was about 15 to 20 years old, and it was actually very good.

[peter eldergill]

Thanks for reminding me about python...I was planning on playing that before the tasting, along with "The Cheese Shop"

We will be sampling Australian Shiraz (This is a bottle with a message in it, and the message is beware... this is not a wine for drinking, it's a wine for laying down and avoiding HA! Classic)

Pete

[Donnie B.]

I saw that Mythbusters episode, and I was totally astonished that the expert managed to tell the difference between different vodkas, of all things. There are far fewer differences between them than there are between wines. (Yes, as I recall he did get them in the right order, except maybe one reversal in the middle of the group.)

Consumer Reports regularly rates wines, based on a combination of expert and trained-but-amateur tasters. Of course they do completely blind tests. They find considerable differences but they don't correlate well to price. They often rate certain relatively inexpensive wines ($10-15 / bottle) as highly as much more expensive ones.

[Roy Batty]

Thanks for reminding me about python...I was planning on playing that before the tasting, along with "The Cheese Shop"

We will be sampling Australian Shiraz (This is a bottle with a message in it, and the message is beware... this is not a wine for drinking, it's a wine for laying down and avoiding HA! Classic)

Pete
No worries. Of course the irony of it (can a wine taste Ironey?), is that Oz wines have got really good in the last decades. I still vaguely remember a wine tasting tour of 3 vineyards in the Barossa Valley several years back, Hic!!! :D

[Dr Nigel]

No worries. Of course the irony of it (can a wine taste Ironey?), is that Oz wines have got really good in the last decades. I still vaguely remember a wine tasting tour of 3 vineyards in the Barossa Valley several years back, Hic!!! :D

If you can still remember it, you weren't trying hard enough! :lol:

[Maksutov]

Hosting a wine tasting is really simple.

Just act like a snob and use high-falootin words you'd not normally use.

Also make sure you know which wines cost the most so those can receive the most excessive positive reviews.

On the other hand, why not just have a get-together and drink some wine along with a good meal, instead of swishing it around in your mouth and then spitting it out?

BTW, very old wine is great for cooking. It works well with fried potatoes. But plain (preferably malt) vinegar is cheaper.

Re the Mythbusters vodka schtick, I (and most likely Mr. Randi) would like to see the expert do that twice.

Well, back to the business at hand. Barkeep, gimme a Sam Adams Triple Bock.

[Matherly]

Consumer Reports regularly rates wines, based on a combination of expert and trained-but-amateur tasters.

That reminds me, on Fridays The Wall Street Journal has (or at least had) an excellent wine column. The cool thing about it was the requirement that all bottles of wine had to be under $20.

[Ronald Brak]

Re the Mythbusters vodka schtick, I (and most likely Mr. Randi) would like to see the expert do that twice.

I don't find it too surprising. A trained human nose can be very sensitive. My father cooks with his nose. It's quite amazing.

And in certain countries people take their vodka very seriously.

[Moose]

Consumer Reports regularly rates wines, based on a combination of expert and trained-but-amateur tasters. Of course they do completely blind tests. They find considerable differences but they don't correlate well to price. They often rate certain relatively inexpensive wines ($10-15 / bottle) as highly as much more expensive ones.

I wouldn't mind seeing their methodology.

[Fazor]

I love wine, but most of mine comes from a box ;). Nifty little despensers, they are. I like Reunite (I believe pronounced Re-un-ee-tee) Lambrusco. We also found a soft White Table wine by Oscar which is pretty nifty. I'm a fan of white zinfendels and Reisling also.

As far as terms I use when tasting wine, it's either good, so-so, or awful. :) I don't care about a wine's "boquet" if it tastes like moldy feet. And as far as I'm conserned, taste and aftertaste all are just one catagory: again, good taste and bad aftertaste == bad. Bad taste and good aftertaste == bad. Why break them down to two seperate catagories? Either you like drinking the wine or you dont.

[Donnie B.]

As far as terms I use when tasting wine, it's either good, so-so, or awful. :) I don't care about a wine's "boquet" if it tastes like moldy feet. And as far as I'm conserned, taste and aftertaste all are just one catagory: again, good taste and bad aftertaste == bad. Bad taste and good aftertaste == bad. Why break them down to two seperate catagories? Either you like drinking the wine or you dont.^^^^ Reverse snob! ;)

[Fazor]

^^^^ Reverse snob! ;)

Or am I just a snob who's got bad taste. ;)

[Moose]

Dan Fielding: Oh great! You found the wine I was looking for.
Room service attendant: Yeees, it's not one of our usual vintages. Shall I unscrew it for you?
.

[Laguna]

I had some good simple wines that I had to unscrew...
Just stay away from those sold in tetrapack.

[peter eldergill]

On the other hand, why not just have a get-together and drink some wine along with a good meal, instead of swishing it around in your mouth and then spitting it out?


I can assure you, I will not be expectorating... (I thought I'd throw in a snobbery word that I don't often use)

Nobody that's coming knows anything about wine, but since we're all teachers, we can pretend that we do! HA! teachers...

Pete

[Cylinder]

I'm having a couple of friends over for a wine tasting but I'm a total noob.

Does anyone know where I can find a list of words that can be used to describe the various flavours of wine?

Wine Spectator has an excellent guide (http://www.winespectatorschool.com/wineschool/Tasting_Guide) that I like to use when hosting. After a couple of tastings, you'll be able to decide what wine qualities you most prefer and be better able to articulate it to your vintner or server.

[LurchGS]

I'm not surprised at OZ wines - but it depends on the taster's preferences, I think. For instance, back in the day, I had a strong preference for dry wines. I could almost always tell California wines from Oregon wines (which I preferred).

But the blind taste test reminds me of a story I've heard. Not seen any documentation so it may be apocryphal:

Apparently there is an annual blind beer-tast test, where the largest (i.e. most common) US beers are given to unsuspecting beer drinkers who have a stated preference for one of the test beers.

One would think Budweiser or Coors would come out on top, ne? As the story goes, 'tain't so. It's Schlitz.

Don't ask me - I never could stand the taste of the stuff.

[Maksutov]

I'm not surprised at OZ wines - but it depends on the taster's preferences, I think. For instance, back in the day, I had a strong preference for dry wines. I could almost always tell California wines from Oregon wines (which I preferred).I like dry wines from Chile. A 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot Frontera Varietal Blend from Concha y Toro is fine tasting, goes well with beef dishes, and is very reasonably priced.But the blind taste test reminds me of a story I've heard. Not seen any documentation so it may be apocryphal:

Apparently there is an annual blind beer-tast test, where the largest (i.e. most common) US beers are given to unsuspecting beer drinkers who have a stated preference for one of the test beers.

One would think Budweiser or Coors would come out on top, ne? As the story goes, 'tain't so. It's Schlitz.

Don't ask me - I never could stand the taste of the stuff.I heard about a similar test where the products were Coors Light and carbonated water. 95% of the judges thought the water tasted more like beer. The remaining 5% were cowboys from Wyoming who wanted Kool-Aid, and accepted the Coors Light as a substitute.

[LurchGS]

I drink no more - but I'd have loved to try a Chilean wine, back in the day

[Ronald Brak]

I'm not surprised at OZ wines - but it depends on the taster's preferences, I think.

Are you not surprised in a good way or a bad way? Australian wines are as good as any in the world. In case you're not from the UK I'll mention that Monty Python and Mister Batty are British and therefore morally obliged to slag off Australians and vice versa. We wouldn't have it any other way. It's how we show our affection for each other.

[Maksutov]

Are you not surprised in a good way or a bad way? Australian wines are as good as any in the world. In case you're not from the UK I'll mention that Monty Python and Mister Batty are British and therefore morally obliged to slag off Australians and vice versa. We wouldn't have it any other way. It's how we show our affection for each other.OZ Shiraz is hard to beat.

[LurchGS]

Good way - I grew up in an era / and environment where there was French wind and there was Boon's Farm..

[Maksutov]

[edit]I'm planning on having some cheese as well, but I'm not sure if that will wreck the flavour of the wine

Any insight might be helpful!

PeteCheese after the tasting as either an appetizer, or post-dinner snack, works well. I am unabashedly chauvinistic re cheese. My favorites are these, in order of preference:

1. Granville Dreadfully Extra Sharp Cheddar (http://granville.stores.yahoo.net/2blocofgranc.html)
2. Crowley Extra Sharp Colby (http://www.crowleycheese-vermont.com/)
3. Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar (http://www.cabotcheese.com/pages/products/aged.php)

Re 1., when I lived just south of Granville, we'd know upon entering the store when the Dreadfully Extra Sharp Cheddar was ready. Our noses would tell us. Then the store personnel would plead with us to buy all we could so they could breathe again.

Re 2., Healdville, VT's a beautiful place, and is enhanced by the presence of the Crowley Cheese Company. The cheese is made by hand. Each batch has its own special character.

Re 3., Seriously's baby brother, Extra Sharp Cheddar, is actually available at a few stores in Mississippi. One whiff, bite, and melting on the tongue, and it's like I'm back in New England.

I like all of these with dry, full-bodied red wines. Most dry whites go well with them too.

[Maksutov]

Good way - I grew up in an era / and environment where there was French wind and there was Boon's Farm..What kind of haricots were the French eating?

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/566/iconwink6tn.gif

[Tog_]

But the blind taste test reminds me of a story I've heard. Not seen any documentation so it may be apocryphal:

Apparently there is an annual blind beer-tast test, where the largest (i.e. most common) US beers are given to unsuspecting beer drinkers who have a stated preference for one of the test beers.

My dad told me of a test they did at a bar one night. He is a devout Bud man. Nothing else will be tolerated. They lined up several of the various draft beers and, according to him, not one person could tell the difference between any of them. Exept Miller Light, which was unanimously voted the worst of the bunch. This would have been late 70s early 80s or so.

He ws really diassapointed that he couldn't tell the difference between Bud and anything else, but he still won't drink anything else.

[Damien Evans]

Are you not surprised in a good way or a bad way? Australian wines are as good as any in the world. In case you're not from the UK I'll mention that Monty Python and Mister Batty are British and therefore morally obliged to slag off Australians and vice versa. We wouldn't have it any other way. It's how we show our affection for each other.

I am in total agreement with you, and i wouldn't have it any other way either

Just remember, we got all the sun, they got all the rain

[Roy Batty]

If you can still remember it, you weren't trying hard enough! :lol:
We were the last three to stagger off the coach in Adelaide. The driver dropped us off right outside our hotel, he was a great sport :)

[peter eldergill]

Wine Spectator has an excellent guide (http://www.winespectatorschool.com/wineschool/Tasting_Guide) that I like to use when hosting. After a couple of tastings, you'll be able to decide what wine qualities you most prefer and be better able to articulate it to your vintner or server.


I knew I could count on you guys. I've pronted out several things from that website

Thanks.

We're all amateurs, but I hope to have some fun!

Pete

[Maksutov]

o did it go?I knew I could count on you guys. I've pronted out several things from that website

Thanks.

We're all amateurs, but I hope to have some fun!

PetePete,

How did it go?

Or did the elderberry wine do everyone in?

In which case, I'll take my medium rare...

Curious by nature, George by no parental input.

[Jens]

I heard about a similar test where the products were Coors Light and carbonated water. 95% of the judges thought the water tasted more like beer. The remaining 5% were cowboys from Wyoming who wanted Kool-Aid, and accepted the Coors Light as a substitute.

According to this article (http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Health/Story?id=728070&page=1), ABC news did a blind taste test of tap water against 4 brands of mineral water, and the tap water came in third. Evian came in last, apparently.

Just generally speaking, I can definitely tell the difference between an expensive, good wine, and cheap wine. But that doesn't mean I can tell all the shades in between. At home we usually drink Hardy's Cabernet Sauvigon (pretty inexpensive) and it's actually quite good. But to think that tasters can actually identify specific years and stuff like that seems pretty suspect to me. There's just too much out there.

I don't know if this is true, but I remember hearing a story about somebody who could taste the difference between lots of varieties of apples. I know that I can reliably tell the difference between some kinds (say between a Granny Smith and Starking), but that doesn't mean that somebody could put 20 apples in front of me and I could properly identify them.

[Doodler]

Re the Mythbusters vodka schtick, I (and most likely Mr. Randi) would like to see the expert do that twice.

Heh, I think after doing it twice, the expert would have a little trouble telling the mythbuster boys apart...

[Maksutov]

Heh, I think after doing it twice, the expert would have a little trouble telling the mythbuster boys apart...Hair of the dog, eh?

[Trebuchet]

Heh, I think after doing it twice, the expert would have a little trouble telling the mythbuster boys apart...

I'd have to review the episode but I don't think the expert was swallowing it.

[Ronald Brak]

But to think that tasters can actually identify specific years and stuff like that seems pretty suspect to me. There's just too much out there.

There is no particular reason why people couldn't identify a very large number of wines by taste and smell if they were willing to make the effort to learn the different varieties. The human nose is better at distingushing between different scents than most people realize. I guess an analogy would be that I can identify and name perhaps 30 different colours but an artist who has put effort into into learning them might be able to name hundreds.

Of course this does not mean that some people might not find it easier to simply lie about their ability than go through the trouble of developing it.

[peter eldergill]

o did it go?Pete,

How did it go?

Or did the elderberry wine do everyone in?

In which case, I'll take my medium rare...

Curious by nature, George by no parental input.


It was loads of fun! My wife had set up 5 wines wrapped in white paper so we couldn't see the labels (not a great idea, actually, as the paper tended to slide off as you picked up the bottle, which could have neded up on the floor....no mishaps, though)

There was a definite taste difference between them, and the most expensive one did taste the best (It was about $30 CDN)

I started the evening with Monty Pythons "Australian Wines" sketch, although only half the people were rolling on the floor

Eventually, it just ended up as a wine and cheese party, which is fine with me! I have way too much cheese in the fridge at the moment. I hope someone else will do the same party at the end of May

Pete

[Donnie B.]

I have way too much cheese in the fridge at the moment.You could always open a cheese shop. (http://www.phespirit.info/montypython/cheese_shop.htm)

[peter eldergill]

I was going to play that one as well, but i didn't bother due to the lack of reaction to the first sketch

[TriangleMan]

My anecdote about wine tasting is from when I worked for a viticutural lab at Agriculture Canada. The research involved growing various types of grapes under specific conditions but regardless of how well the grapes grew if the wine produced by them wasn't good then there was little point in using those methods for growing. So wines produced by the experimental grapes would always go through a double-blind taste-testing by various people who would grade the wines on various scales (fruity, sweet etc). My job was to enter the data into the computer for statistical analysis.

There never appeared to be any correlation between the data! One tester would give a wine an 8 for sweetness while the next person would give it a 2 and so on. Entering the data I'd wonder if people were even trying the same wine. This happened over and over again, I don't recall ever entering wine tasting data that had a reasonable correlation between tasters' opinions. So needless to say I'm not convinced about the skill of "expert" wine tasters, or that expensive wine is necessarily better tasting than cheaper stuff. Better to just drink wines that you like and not worry about whether they are cheap.

[Delvo]

OK, with some of the more off-the-wall hifalutin' details people spout off about wine to try to distinguish them from each other to a very fine level of precision, I can understand how those would be essentially random and self-deluded. But how can people possibly fail to agree on something as basic as "sweet" or "not sweet"? We don't seem to have that problem with any other sweet or non-sweet foods, beverages, and such.

[Dr Nigel]

Maybe "sweet" or "not sweet" were the wrong terms to use.

I would only ever use the term "sweet" to refer to a sweet white wine; it is completely inappropriate to use it for a red. Red wines will often be reminiscent of other fruit (e.g. gooseberries, raspberries or citrus fruits); they can be described as "light" or "full-bodied" (which is often a reference to the viscosity and texture of the liquid as it feels to the tongue); and so on. Some wines have very complex combinations of scents and flavours.

For example, the first time I ever tasted a St. Emilion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Emilion) Grand Cru Classé, I spent a long time just enjoying the aromas before taking my first sip.

[Delvo]

Hang on there... a drink that's not sweet (red wine) is reminiscent of things that are defined by their sweetness (fruits)? :confused:

[HenrikOlsen]

Hang on there... a drink that's not sweet (red wine) is reminiscent of things that are defined by their sweetness (fruits)? :confused:
Say that to a lemon:)

[TriangleMan]

But how can people possibly fail to agree on something as basic as "sweet" or "not sweet"? We don't seem to have that problem with any other sweet or non-sweet foods, beverages, and such.
From what I recall in the double-blind tastings the degree of "sweetness" in a wine is a more subtle measure than the difference in other foods, it is not like trying to differentiate between lemon juice and lemonade. I think the tasters were trying to use their memory of similar wines as a 'base': e.g. was the Chardonnay from our vineyard sweeter or less sweet than other Chardonnays. They were not measuring "is the Chardonnay more/less sweet than a dessert wine".

I'm not entirely sure of the above though as I never did taste testing. I do recall that tasters had to attend a couple of sessions with the researchers prior to tasting, I think to try other wines in order to establish a baseline. Again I'm not sure why the researchers bothered as the results seemed to be poorly correlated.

[TriangleMan]

I would only ever use the term "sweet" to refer to a sweet white wine; it is completely inappropriate to use it for a red. Red wines will often be reminiscent of other fruit (e.g. gooseberries, raspberries or citrus fruits); they can be described as "light" or "full-bodied" (which is often a reference to the viscosity and texture of the liquid as it feels to the tongue); and so on.
Yes, I recall that for reds there is contention as to what some people consider "sweet" is actually the "fruitiness" of the wine and that they confuse the two flavours. I'm not a wine person so the subtleties are out of my understanding.

[Damien Evans]

Not much of a market for wine in Qatar anyway, is there?

[TriangleMan]

Not much of a market for wine in Qatar anyway, is there?
Not to the extent that there is in the West but it is available. Wine is sold at bars/restaurants in hotels, and residents can get a permit to purchase alcohol from the liquor store for home. The liquor store has a surprisingly large selection of wines but I don't buy wine so I don't know where it is mostly imported from.

[Maksutov]

Hang on there... a drink that's not sweet (red wine) is reminiscent of things that are defined by their sweetness (fruits)? :confused:To draw a comparison, there is the habanero chile. It has a very fruity aroma and lends this to any chile it's used with.

But take a bite of a habanero and, well, it ain't fruity!

[Damien Evans]

Not to the extent that there is in the West but it is available. Wine is sold at bars/restaurants in hotels, and residents can get a permit to purchase alcohol from the liquor store for home. The liquor store has a surprisingly large selection of wines but I don't buy wine so I don't know where it is mostly imported from.

so it's not as restrictive as, say, Saudi Arabia?

[TriangleMan]

so it's not as restrictive as, say, Saudi Arabia?
No, Qatar (and UAE, Bahrain and Oman) is nowhere near as restrictive as Saudi Arabia.

[Maksutov]

No, Qatar (and UAE, Bahrain and Oman) is nowhere near as restrictive as Saudi Arabia.So what's the deal?

In Saudi Arabia they blindfold you before they whack your infidel head off, whereas, in Qatar, UAE, Bahrain and Oman, they let you see the scimitar?

Bummer, no virgins.

[TriangleMan]

So what's the deal?

In Saudi Arabia they blindfold you before they whack your infidel head off, whereas, in Qatar, UAE, Bahrain and Oman, they let you see the scimitar?

I think going into detail about the various Middle East countries would sideline a thread about wine and wine tasting a bit too much. I recommend reading up on the various countries to get a feel for the differences.

To be somewhat on topic: wine is available in Qatar with some restictions; Dubai, Oman and Bahrain have pretty much no restrictions; and wine is not available in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia except under rare conditions such as in an embassy.

[JohnD]

Peter,
It's quite true that there is more snobbery and flimflam about wines than about any other food. In part that is because we lack words to describe flavours, except by comparison. Hence the references to "boot-black", "cats-pee" (really!) and the ritual.

But wines are great! They really do have a multitude of flavours and aromas (I'm not being silly - you taste one and smell the other), but you need practice and experience to savour them all. I suggest that you get two or three wines only for your party and taste them with a meal - wines are supposed to be drunk with food. Forget the ritual, but do look at the wine in the glass, smell it and roll it in your mouth before drinking to get the full effect. Don't even think of spitting!
Agree that one of your friends choses the wines at your next meal, and talk about them, briefly, before getting on to more important matters. If your friends do know wines,get them to talk about it. If they are flimflams, you will soon see that they are.

Careful with that Shiraz! It really is the sirloin steak of wines, full of flavour and 'bite', but for some people it'll take their head off the next day! I'm one of those, which is a sadness to me. If you don't mind a blended wine, try the Australian Oxford Landing Sauvignon/Shiraz, which I happen to be drinking now. Most of the bite, but it leaves my head on!

Enjoy!
John

[Dr Nigel]

It's quite true that there is more snobbery and flimflam about wines than about any other food...


Hmmm, maybe you should avoid attending a dégustation of French cheese...

[sarongsong]

...Nobody that's coming knows anything about wine, but since we're all teachers...Ah---Science Project! http://bautforum.com/images/icons/icon6.gifApril 24, 2007
...although the health benefits of resveratrol found in red wine have been well documented, no one has systematically measured its levels in particular wines before...using new state-of-the-art High Performance Liquid Chromatography...They plan to be able recommend the healthiest bottle of wine among those they have tested...
News-Medical.Net (http://www.news-medical.net/?id=24103)

[Dr Nigel]

Hmmm. That project looks like it is severely in need of my highly specialised skills...

:)

[Maksutov]

Ah---Science Project! http://bautforum.com/images/icons/icon6.gifNo wonder so many of the older rednecks around here are so healthy. Had to be that steady diet (especially on Friday and Saturday nights) of boiled peanuts washed down with red Ripple, followed by chasers of Budweiser.

Now that Ripple's gone, I guess they must go with Killian Red with the Bud follow-ups, or just Bud. Nothing's changed re the bald peanuts.