This, for my friend woodsmoke - The virtuous 'cork' (not woodsmoke)

[Snowhog]

I'm sitting here, at my laptop (which I do a lot, especially on the weekends), enjoying my (fourth?) glass of Lindeman's Bin 99 Pinot Noir and realized (realization/acknowledgement of the obvious often come after the actual observation) that Lindeman's uses real cork stoppers, not the synthetic stoppers that many American vintners tend towards these days, and that surprised me, as, it seems, real cork, as opposed to any of the other materials being used, is actually environmentally friendly in many ways. In other words, cork is 'Green'.

Viva la cork!

[Qqmike]

Gallo uses real cork for its (inexpensive) $5-a-bottle wines.

[Snowhog]

Gallo. They make a decent wine. Great for use in hearty stews. Glad to hear that they too, are utilizing natural cork.

[woodsmoke]

Well....

Thank you....Snowhog.

Really.

And might I recommend one that I like: Stone Cellars Merlot?

http://www.thefind.com/food/info-stone-cellars-merlot

woodsmoke

[oshunluvr]

As a copious consumer of afore mentioned comestibles I would offer that in my humble opinion, the "screw-cap" is much preferred over the detestable rubbery plastic stoppers (especially the black ones, which seem to be quite reluctant to remove themselves from their present locales). The benefits of which are being removable without tools all the while being fashioned of recyclable aluminum and are much less likely to have a negative impact on the product.

On the other hand, the solid cork (vs. composite variety) can be neatly and quite handsomely assembled into a lovely pin-up board or trivet.

In parting; Un verre de vin rouge...

[Snowhog]

In parting; Un verre de vin rouge...

Pourquoi, je vous remercie. Oui, s'il vous plaît.

[woodsmoke]

Oh you guys!

woodsmoke

[Qqmike]

If one (affected glitterati) is drinking a special or expensive wine, it's certainly fun to know that--and see and read and savor the label-- BEFORE drinking the wine as that knowledge will make that wine taste so much better. (In blind taste tests, 90-98% of people wouldn't know a good wine from a good whine from tainted grape juice other than to say that it IS "different").

[woodsmoke]

LOL

A similar thing happened on the old 60 minutes about 25 years ago.

Suntory Corporation, of Japan fame, purchased a whisky maker in Scotland that was in danger of imminent bankruptcy and shipped the whole thing, stone buildings(numbered blocks), the people, the grains, everything to Japan and said "make whisky while we watch" and make "Old Suntory".

Reading the history of this is interesting in that some of the story is gone while other parts are emphasized.

Anywho, in the eighties, they figured that they had a proper whisky developed and started advertising and they placed ads on placards at the Le Mans race and one of them was right on an "important" turn where a camera was trained and the whisky makers of Scotland took great umbrage.

The upshot was that what's his face on 60 minutes went to Scotland and proposed "a challenge".

The Scots provided their best, paid, nationally ranked, taste testers of Scottish Scotch and they all emphasized that they specialized in only one scotch and would know that scotch immediately. One of them specialized in "Teachers" and was adamant that he would recognize it.

So, 60 minutes set the thing up so that the t.v. audience could see that there was no faking it, and all of the testers said that Old Suntory was THEIR SCOTCH!!

Talk about harrumpffing!

60 Minutes then went to a bar and did the same thing and actually the bar drinkers did a better job recognizing "their scotch", but quite a few picked Old Suntory and all of them said that it tasted fine.

*************

A study came out a month or so ago that older "men" lose a lot of their ability to "taste sweet" starting around 40.

To me that says it all.

I have been put down for decades that I "did not have a mature pallet" because I like sweet wines. I also like others, but also like sweet.

So it is at least somewhat possible that the haute wine experts don't like sweet because....... they can't taste it! lol

AND.....one does have to also indicate that there are "younger" wine experts who don't like sweet wines also...

So..... the study may mean something and it may not.

Ekktually I like Champipple also!

PLEASE NOTE!!!

Since there are a lot of us old "older men" here, my apologies if I've insulted anyone about their tastes in wine.

[Qqmike]

@ woodsmoke: Interesting!

Elsewhere (here at the forum), I mentioned that I got my "wine education" from two sources. One, a friend who worked for a wine distributor from Napa Valley and who got involved in all the wine-tasting, the presentations, special openings, and such. And secondly, my college roommate, Pierre, from a well-to-do family based in both London and Paris, and who grew up around wines all his life (up until I met him at age 18 ). That's who debunked a lot of it for me. And, like many people, I've also seen some the de-bunking, blind taste-testing demonstrations. (btw, Remember, a similar thing and a "famous" study, for expensive stereo systems, conducted by consumer reports way back when, where most people couldn't tell the diff between a $500 system and a $5000 system?)

But, it is fun, now and then, to play pretend.

[oshunluvr]

As a former owner of a Wine establishment and the brother of a Sommelier I've had a bit of experience and education. I can state with absolute certainty (in my opinion, of course) that the primary difference in how wines taste is the palate - not the wine. Further, the palate is affected by a multitude of factors that vary constantly from experience to experience. This is why we (wine lovers) drink wine - to have a varied experience. A Scotch (or any other hard liquor or even beer) drinker expects the same experience from every bottle. I expect a new experience.

The key to enjoying the wine drinking experience is to learn ones palate and spend a bit of time to explore what works for you - then buy wines that work for you. Screw anyone that says there's a right or wrong wine for any particular situation. Of course, there are guidelines that work very well and are the defacto standards because they do work, but there's no dishonor in being yourself.

My primary wine advice to new wine drinkers: Invest in the proper and a variety of glassware. Believe it or not that is the primary external factor in how a wine tastes, hands down.

And now off to open tonight's first experience...

[Qqmike]

Excellent explanation oshunluvr -- very good way to put it, a view that makes sense AND not only allows for but encourages the fun factor in it all and accommodates individual preferences. It IS fun to try different wines. And without quite knowing why, I always enjoyed buying different wine glasses to have on hand--and your account sheds some light on that, too.

[Qqmike]

Wanted to add a bit here. I'm not too embarrassed to admit something. I have 1.5 L of--of all things--Carlo Rossi Paisano in the frig, at $7.49. While god knows I've tried all sorts of fancy wines from many countries, for the life of me, I can't see what the heck is wrong with the Paisano I often keep on hand! My ex's family were all "expert" wine drinkers--Italians!, well-educated, with plenty of money. They kept all sorts of this stuff on hand; in fact, even after consuming just part of a bottle, and even unrefrigerated (with caps & corks on)--a pantry full of it. You certainly wouldn't impress any of them with a 25- or a 50-dollar bottle of wine.

[oshunluvr]

Lol, Mike At our house we have the "back" cellar and the "front" cellar. The front cellar is full of grocery store sales and cheapo's. The back cellar holds the "finer" wines for special occasions or just our favorites that we don't want falling into the hands of an already-too-happy house guest (our house is the family/neighborhood hang-out).

The glassware really helps with the cheaper wines if you know your nose and palate. You can vastly improve the taste of an otherwise average wine with the right combination of glass shape and...

...wait for it....

...swirl! Yes, believe it or not, the direction that you swirl a glass of wine can change the nose and therefore it's taste. There's lots of detail, but the most useful thing to know is clockwise brings out the organics and counter-clockwise brings out production. Think clockwise=fruit and counter-clockwise=barrel. This can be useful if you have a very "fruit forward" wine: If it tastes like grapes or jam - swirl counter-clockwise to balance it out. If it tastes/smells like smoke/tar/tobacco/medicine/vanilla (all barrel scents) swirl clockwise to bring the fruit out. I know it sounds crazy, but try it. Of course, the red wine should be high to mid-60's in temp, not 35!

Back to the glasses: For reds you need two and as many as six different glasses to experience all that red wine has to offer. The basics are a 22 oz. Bordeaux and a 24 oz. Pinot Noir glass. About 70% of all reds will fit well enough into those two shapes. A fun thing to do is pour every wine you open into both glasses and compare. It's amazing how often t will taste like two different wines. At parties, I usually do this to a "virgin" with four glasses and tell them their tasting four different wines. Gets them every time!

[Qqmike]

oshunluvr, I have to say that what you have said is very interesting, indeed. Sort of rings a bell from the days I spent with my Napa buddy (circa 1998 ). I will try it; in fact, with this cheap wine just to see how things change.