Getting wasted under the guise of sophistication -- The goony wine thread

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Getting wasted under the guise of sophistication -- The goony wine thread

«‹›3 »

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

dino. posted:

Another thing I've noticed is that cost is not always an indicator about how much I'll enjoy a wine. There have been times, in my broke-rear end past, that I've wanted something cheaper to go with dinner, because I couldn't afford to spring for a $10 bottle that'd last me and my friends for exactly one drink. I took a chance on this stuff that was going for $3/bottle called Vinho Verde, and I was very pleasantly surprised. It was delicious! Slightly bubbly on the tongue, a little bit sour, a little bit sweet, and very light and refreshing.

It's just that I recall watching food network, back when it had actual cooking shows on, and thinking, "They're saying that inexpensive wines are cool, but all the bottles they mention are about $10+/each. That's still a bit steep for my budget. There's got to be decent stuff out there for cheaper." Even the more expensive bottles of Vinho Verde (Casal Garcia springs to mind) still end up costing like $6/bottle, and are still quite nice.

Mind you, I'm quite happy drinking a Yellowtail Shiraz, so I may not be the best person to ask. XD

Someone posted an article in the old thread citing a study done that showed that the enjoyment of a wine correlated better with the enjoyment of the occasion than the quality of the wine. This obviously has its limits, vinegar will always be taste lovely.

# ¿ Sep 22, 2011 07:27

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 20:09

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

bobo333 posted:

I realize this thread is probably more geared towards traditionally quality wines, but I was wondering if anyone had a suggestion for a relatively inexpensive red table wine. Most wines I've hard are at least $10 per bottle, and that's a bit much to pay if all I want is something that is relatively pleasant and goes with a variety of meals so I can just have a glass with dinner.

Honestly what I've been using for this in the mean time is Almaden Burgundy boxed wine. It's the best of the boxed wine (kind of like being the tallest midget, I know) that I've found, but it's cheap, drinkable, and doesn't overpower what I typically eat (usually italian food). I'm totally open to suggestions and trying other things, so if you know of particular wines that are good for this, please pass them along.

Thanks in advance.

I don't know what they cost where you are but cheap Australian wines are generally sound and approachable. Again I'm not sure if you can get them where you are but Yalumba goonbags (AU$12 for 2L) are about the best goons on the market.

# ¿ Sep 22, 2011 07:29

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

Bruce Leroy posted:

That's interesting.

It reminds me of this Caltech and Stanford study.

Basically, the stated price for a bottle of wine strongly influences perception of the wine, both in subjective claims from the tasters and changes in neurological activity in areas of the brain associated with pleasure.

So, people think an expensive wine tastes better than a cheap wine largely due to the difference in price, likely because they think price is correlated with quality.

There was a similar study where they found that the vast majority of wine tasters could not correctly differentiate and identify cheap and expensive wines, only a tiny minority of expert tasters could do so.

Some marketers did a study of Chinese perceptions of Australian wines. When they tasted the wines blind the tasters much preferred the Aussie ones to all the others, but when the people tasting tried the same wines while able to see the label they preferred the French wines.

Someone put this on facebook:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lIvGuCPZOc

# ¿ Sep 23, 2011 06:11

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

BastardAus posted:

By the way, Brian Croser is a ~~God~~oval office.

# ¿ Sep 23, 2011 13:22

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

I think you can get round bits of plastic that you roll up to fit through the neck of the bottle and they open up to almost completely cover the surface of the wine.
Or you could buy an enomatic: http://www.enomatic.co.nz/home/
Your best bet however is to become a drinking machine who can finish off that bottle of Riesling in a single sitting.

# ¿ Sep 27, 2011 07:17

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

Wine snob friend got fraped today:

New Zealand Sav Blanc is not terribly fashionable here (and presumably everywhere else) at the moment

# ¿ Sep 30, 2011 08:21

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

You might be tasting a brettanomyces fault, which is a yeast that produces the chemicals 4-ethylphenol and 4-ethylguaiacol. Reds from the south of France have a bit of a reputation for this; however some people enjoy it. The other thing it could be is 2,4,6, Trichloroanisole or one of its close relatives. These cehmicals generally only come from cork and only wines sealed with cork are affected.

Not everyone can taste the same things in wine. It is quite common for instance for people to be 'bitter blind' -they're unable to perceive bitterness in wine.

# ¿ Sep 30, 2011 11:32

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

There were similar things this year in Aus.

No one wanted to talk about botrytis but natural acid, longevity and elegance were on everyone's lips.
A good vintage for owning your own pasteurising unit and hiring it out to your neighbours.

# ¿ Oct 11, 2011 04:29

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

drunk abuot $700 of wine tonight dnot remembermuch but it tasted pretty fukcen good

# ¿ Nov 16, 2011 15:07

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/penfolds-releases-1000-bottle-of-red/story-e6frf7jx-1226196883322
I wouldn't mind trying this but the fact that they're flogging it to China suggests its probably got about 20g/L RS.

# ¿ Nov 19, 2011 12:25

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

Chris Ringland is still at it. We tried a couple of magnums of these truly awful wines with 18.6% alc (this was displayed in a font much large than what is mandatory, suggesting that the fucker was proud of this for some reason) and a fuckload of residual sugar. There was VA galore and one of them just tasted mouldy.

$250/bottle thank you very much.

# ¿ Nov 19, 2011 23:52

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

ballgameover.mp3 posted:

Very small scale. This will be my first foray into winemaking, or anything of the sort. I know little to nothing. I live in Olympia, and there's luckily a decent culture of homebrewing, etc. I stopped by Rocky Top Homebrew, and the guy there - Larry, I think - was very friendly, but he said that winemaking wasn't his expertise. What I'd like to do is make a bunch of strawberry wine. I think. I've never had strawberry wine before, but I hear that it's very easy, and ends up tasting pretty drat good.
There's a kit that I'll be purchasing, as I mentioned, (third one here: http://rockytopbrew.com/StarterKits.htm) and I'm just wondering about the process, whether any of you have some helpful tips about things to do or to avoid. Just general info, I guess.

I dont think there is much juice in strawberries so you'll need a lot of them unless you're just adding them to sugar water. Other than that if you follow the instructions you should be sweet.

Cpt.Wacky posted:

I had a sort-of wine-making related question. I've been making mead for the last few months, and one guide from MoreWine talks about adding more yeast nutrient after 1/3rd sugar depletion. How can you tell when that is? Do I need to plan my FG and then keep measuring the SG periodically until it's 1/3rd down from the OG?

If you are not going to ferment to complete dryness then I'm not sure nutrient is necessary unless your ferment stinks of rotten eggs. If that happens give it a good mix or a shake and add some nutrient.

# ¿ Nov 23, 2011 07:20

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

There isn't really any advantage that I can see to only using the sugar from your fruit. It all turns to alcohol in the end anyway. I thought you might be just pur�eing your strawberries and fermenting the juice you get which would use up a lot of strawberries for a small amount of wine.

# ¿ Nov 23, 2011 09:14

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

There are free pdfs of it out there but they could be :filez:

# ¿ Nov 25, 2011 06:31

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

Whats that oval office Parker up to these days? I heard he stopped tasting australian wines and shortly afterwards, one of Chris Ringland's ventures went bankrupt. Who would've guessed that people don't like 18%v/v cabernet when they aren't told to like by someone?

# ¿ Dec 7, 2011 10:02

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

Here is a funny article about biodynamic wine:
http://www.timatkin.com/articles?272

# ¿ Dec 8, 2011 07:36

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

2010 was a pretty good vintage in australia, most of what gets exported will sitll be poo poo though i gather

# ¿ Dec 17, 2011 13:40

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

The Oxford wine companion and the World altas of wine are both good.

# ¿ Dec 24, 2011 21:34

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

What are y'all drinking for christmas? I got a couple of bottles of the 08 Seppelt Salinger, and a bottle each of penfolds bin 389 cab shiraz, and bin 311 chardy.

# ¿ Dec 24, 2011 21:37

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

You can use black tea leaves for astringency as well if you want. Tartaric acid might be cheaper than malic acid and it wont be broken down by bacteria. You'll have a really flabby drink if your MLF consumes all your acid so maybe look at using a blend of acids.

# ¿ Dec 28, 2011 09:25

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

4/20 NEVER FORGET posted:

On young wines with no sediment I've stopped using my decanter and just give them the "Mollydooker shake". This whole video is stupid as hell but the process works just as good for "decanting" young wines. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrt9G-q2Zy0

With older wines, they tend to have more sediment so I still use my decnater mainly for getting rid of the sediment.

They tried to do the mollydooker shake on a whole shipping container of wine at the docks in Adelaide a few months back.

Didn't end well.

# ¿ Dec 28, 2011 22:05

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

Wine business or wine marketing might be available online, but winemaking/viticulture are mostly run at the universities.

# ¿ Jan 2, 2012 09:52

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

Plastic Jesus posted:

I went to the North Coast of California this weekend. What I learned:

* Why no pink wines? You love to make dense pinots, why not drain off a bit at the press?

Because 14.5% alc Rose` doesn't taste very nice. People do it here with grenache drain offs and they taste like full bodied reds not nice, crisp, and refreshing like a good pink wine should be

# ¿ Jan 9, 2012 10:31

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

There was a bit of panic at work today, someone's chardonnay elsewhere in the Vale has already got to 10Be and we haven't finished our yield estimates on ours yet, let alone collecting samples for the winery. Could be a busy week next week.

# ¿ Jan 12, 2012 07:30

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

Here's some photos I've been taking while working on the vineyards at work

Some clown has grafted two vine varieties onto the one rootstock. If you look closely at the leaves you'll see they are a slightly different shape on either side of the trunk(s):
http://i.imgur.com/5hS8K.jpg
shiraz on the left, cab sav on the right

Shiraz at veraison. We'll probably start harvesting around the start of February:
http://i.imgur.com/vl9h3.jpg

Some wildlife
http://i.imgur.com/m3MbM.jpg

Ripping mulch in to a depth of 60cm in a trial looking at ways to reduce the effects of compaction from tractors:
http://i.imgur.com/WXtVE.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/IW7CM.jpg

Looking south across McLaren Vale:
http://i.imgur.com/3hMS3.jpg

# ¿ Jan 16, 2012 08:36

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

Cpt.Wacky posted:

Very cool, thanks for sharing. So the kangaroos don't eat the grapes?

They might eat a few leaves but mostly they stick to grass and chewing on the dripper line (to the endless frustration of the maintenance guys). Birds and foxes are the main grape eaters.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2012 08:12

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

Pewsey Vale Contours is pretty good. Pikes, O'Leary Walker, Paulettes and Crabtree are all pretty good Clare producers. Try Richmond Groves aged released Watervale rieslings if you can get to their cellar door in the Barossa. A lot of the Tassie Rieslings have a bit of residual sugar in them. 2011 wine can be a bit hit and miss. If they were on the ball in the vineyard and kept the disease at bay its one of the better vintages in recent times due to the cool ripening conditions retaining natural acid in the wines. If not, they wont be much good. 2010 was a pretty god vintage in most areas too.

Due to the recession in Europe they aren't selling as much over there so a lot of the stuff is being pulled off shelves and sent our way. If it is not shipped in refrigerated containers it will suffer due to the temperature variations in transit. Sometimes you'll get bottles that are sweeter than expected because the Bruts destined for the US has more sugar in it than the Bruts we normally see.

Dont drink Champagne. You can get tassie sparklings that are the equal of any French prestige cuvee for a fraction of the price. Try Arras, Heemskerk, Bay of Fires etc.

gay picnic defence fucked around with this message at 12:46 on Jan 27, 2012

# ¿ Jan 27, 2012 12:41

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

You'd hardly describe that as musty though, would you?

# ¿ Jan 27, 2012 21:56

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

Perfectly Cromulent posted:

There's a good chance it is old and probably heat damaged from lack of proper shipping and storage. What were you drinking? Do you get much in your area aside from the overpriced, mass-market poo poo?

If its $45, its probably the entry level offerings from the big houses, so yeah mass market poo poo.

# ¿ Jan 27, 2012 21:58

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

The second one.

# ¿ Jan 28, 2012 07:57

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

For a couple of years I put all my wines in the fridge over summer to protect them from the heat.

# ¿ Feb 13, 2012 07:15

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

Cpt.Wacky posted:

My corkscrew broke off in the cork last night. It was a wing-style corkscrew. Any suggestions on a decent replacement?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rafqCGfVj2I&feature=related

or:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ubeLgY4vWA

# ¿ Feb 14, 2012 06:48

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

Its been a really good vintage here so far. The weather has been really mild, which surprisingly has resulted in very fast ripening. Shiraz yields are down a bit but the quality is really good. Everything else looks to be doing nicely too. The boss has already called it the best since 1998 which has been the best Australian vintage in recent years.

The downside is that everything is being picked quickly so I have to find another vintage somewhere colder :argh:

# ¿ Feb 21, 2012 11:20

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-27/wine-grapes-earlier-ripening/3854912?section=sa

quote:

A report says winemakers will have to change the way they manage their vineyards to deal with climate change.

It has found grapes are ripening earlier in many of Australia's wine regions due to rising temperatures and drying soils.

Vine management practices, such as decreasing the crop yield, are also contributing to early ripening, says the report.

Previous research indicated grapes were ripening earlier by about eight days per decade over the past 25 years across southern Australia.

Dr Leanne Webb and her team from the CSIRO have now analysed decades of records from wine-growing regions across that region.

"This has been a study of potential influences on wine-grape maturity trends on a continental scale," she said.

The team studied 10 vineyards growing various varieties in five major wine-growing areas in South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia.

Its results are published in the online edition of Nature Climate Change.

The researchers say their study will help wineries develop strategies to deal with climate change.

"You can see whether there's any buttons or levers you can actually use to make changes if it gets hotter," said study co-author Professor Snow Barlow from the University of Melbourne.

He said most winemakers did not want the fruit to ripen early as this was usually when the weather was hotter.

"Hot vintages are not good for quality wines," he said.

The researchers found early ripening was due to a shift towards a warmer climate, which spurred sugar production, and drier soils which activated stress hormones in the roots that promoted maturation.

Practices such as reducing crop yields - pruning of vines so that more energy goes into producing a smaller number of grapes - also contributes to early ripening.

"It does appear that changes in climate, particularly changes in soil moisture, have been driving the grapes towards maturation and it would appear that some management interventions that have some effect on yield may also have been taking the grapes in that direction," said study co-author Dr Penny Whetton from the CSIRO.
Winners and losers

The researchers used the records of sugar levels kept by the vineyards between 1985 to 2009 to assess how grape maturation times had altered.

They combined this with temperature data from the Bureau of Meteorology, modelling of soil moisture and records of crop yields from the winegrowers.

They found early grape maturation occurred in all the vineyards except Margaret River in Western Australia, which had actually dropped back by about half a day per decade.

"When we first did this work it worried us enormously," said Professor Barlow. "But when we actually looked at the temperature records of Margaret River, it hadn't warmed, so there are regional differences in the degree of warming that has occurred."

Professor Barlow said the biggest losers were on the Mornington Peninsula of Victoria, where some grape varieties had ripened about15 days earlier per decade.

"Traditionally because it's wetter [in the Mornington Peninsula] they hadn't really had to worry about [crop irrigation], but if you look in the last 15 years it hasn't been as wet," said Professor Barlow.

While there is little wine grape growers can do about changing climate, the researchers say the study suggests changes in irrigation practices, soil management and crop yield practices might save them from having to take more radical action such as change styles, varieties or even relocate.

"Soil moisture and the yield are both areas where the grape growers can have some control," said Dr Whetton. "Through this research they can give themselves a bit more control over when the grapes mature."

She said the study also had broader implications for understanding the effects of climate change.

"There isn't a lot of work in the southern hemisphere relating trends in biological systems to changes in climate, so this work is actually quite interesting in more generally demonstrating that connection," she said.

I thought this is quite interesting. How long before the Scots start making premium sparkling wine?

# ¿ Feb 27, 2012 07:25

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

A lot of Australia's bulk wine producing areas have been flooded:

From the lack of smashed up canes, I'd say the harvesters haven't been through yet. Looks like vintage for these guys will be over some time in July.

# ¿ Mar 5, 2012 13:26

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

Blind tastings are fun. I went to one featuring sweet wines and in amongst all the nice German and Austrian wines they slipped in a bottle of fruity lexia from a goonbag that they had bottled and sealed with a screw cap. It scored really highly (equal second on the night) and it had a number of pretentious wine snobs (the kind that ONLY drink wines from specific regions that are really famous for it and tell you all about it) raving about it.

# ¿ Mar 26, 2012 10:38

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/14/marijuana-laced-wine-grows-more-fashionable-in-california-wine-country.html
:stare:

# ¿ Apr 18, 2012 00:04

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

The natural wine movement has been getting pretty strong here in Australia for the last couple of years. I used to be pretty ambivalent towards it but after giving it some thought some aspects of it seem pretty dumb and as the article points out, it idea that some wine is 'natural' automatically implies that others are not which understandably upsets some producers. If humans are inherently unnatural then no wine can truly be 'natural'. How can a vineyard be natural if it is the product of 'unnatural' intervention?

quote:

There's anarchy in the streets of Sydney. Anarchy in the cute and trendy wine bars; anarchy in the fashionable sommelier-run restaurants, at least. It's the so-called ''natural'' wine movement, which has found more welcoming arms in Sydney than anywhere in Australia. Think Love, Tilly Devine; Vini; 121BC; The Wine Library; 10 William Street; Fix St James; Fratelli Paradiso.

If you drop in to Love, Tilly Devine and are served a white wine that looks more like Coopers Sparkling Ale than wine, with a cloudy brown tinge, and smells like brown apple or stale cider, it's probably a ''natural'' wine. The makers of these wines have thrown the rule book right out the window.

Some top sommeliers actively promote these wines, sometimes, it seems, to the exclusion of conventional wines. Sommeliers such as Fix St James's Stuart Knox, Love, Tilly Devine's Matt Swieboda and 121BC's Giorgio De Maria are spearheading the trend.

The movement has many conventional wine producers up in arms. They find the use of the term ''natural'' offensive, as it implies everyone else's wines are unnatural. The movement is tiny, but is talked about way out of proportion to the volume of wine being sold. But the high-profile people and cutting-edge bars and restaurants involved mean it cannot be ignored.

The natural wine movement is closely linked to the boom in imported wine in restaurants and bars, because most of these wines are Italian or French. There is also a small but growing local movement. It involves producers such as South Australians Anton Von Klopper (Lucy Margaux), James Erskine (Jaume), Tom Shobbrook (Shobbrook) and Sydney's Sam Hughes (Dandy in the Clos), all of whom are members of a group called Natural Selection Theory. Among other activities, NST provides plastic drums of natural wine named Voice of the People to bars for service by the tumbler.

Others making this kind of wine locally are T'Gallant, whose Claudius white wine is turbid and ''wild'', Geoff Weaver with his Ferus sauvignon blanc, Cobaw Ridge with its l'Altra chardonnay, Lowe Wines in Mudgee, Harkham Winery in the Hunter Valley and quite a few more. For some, notably Lowe, T'Gallant and Weaver, natural wine is a sideline: most of their output is ''normal''. It's annoying enough to have the natural wine movement hijack the term ''natural'', but the thing that sticks most in the craw of conventional winemakers is that there's no definition of ''natural'', and little agreement on what constitutes natural winemaking or natural viticulture.

As someone who's been observing this movement for some years, tasting as many wines as I can and talking to the proponents in an attempt to understand their philosophies, I've tried to keep an open mind, or at least not leap to judgment prematurely - although many wines I taste grossly offend my senses. After all, any movement that is partly aimed at sustainable agriculture and minimising the impact of grape growing on the environment can't be all bad.

What does annoy me is when people claim to be able to taste special things in these wines, when all I can taste are winemaking faults. It often seems a case of, at best, self-delusion and, at worst, an outright con. It rankles that some proponents admit they use a different set of standards when they judge natural wines. In other words, we must make allowances for faulty wines just because they're produced with lofty ideals. This seems hypocritical.

My latest attempt to see in these wines what some others, whose opinions I respect, find so appealing was a 30-wine tasting for a private tasting club, composed mainly of retailers and wine trade people. The wines were mostly from Italy, some from France, with a smattering from Germany and Spain. The wines were quite diverse in quality and character, as was the reaction among the 19 tasters. Some reactions were quite hostile, especially as many wines were quite expensive, and some of the flavours and odours were unpleasant, to put it mildly.

There are several observations to make. One is that the natural movement, especially at the vineyard level, has influenced many conventional growers to change their practices - if not to convert to organic or biodynamic, at least to minimise their environment-harming inputs and take better care of their land. A similar, more subtle shift is happening in winemaking, with more care taken to minimise the manipulation of wine. Less added tannin and acid, less use of oak and fining agents, gentler filtration, increased use of ambient yeasts instead of cultured yeasts, and so on can be observed at the top end of Australian winemaking.

Second, exposure to these wines causes us all to re-evaluate our ideas about quality. We should constantly ask ourselves what is quality? Am I wrong about this? Should I be more accepting and less dogmatic about what is good wine?

A final observation: many natural winemakers claim to be seeking to better express the terroir of their vineyards by intervening as little as possible. A worthy aim. But many fine winemakers who don't align themselves with natural wine or biodynamic or other cliques espouse similar aims, and manage to achieve them without making faulty wine.

If a wine is to express its terroir, it must first be free of faults. Faults not only diminish the pleasure of wine, they obscure its terroir.

Many natural winemakers are simply making bad wine, and if they think they're revealing the terroir, they're deluding themselves.
Search for quality comes at a price

At the natural wine tasting, the most expensive wine tasted was Gravner's Anfora Ribolla 2005, a white (or rather, orange) wine from north-east Italy, fermented and aged in amphorae. Gravner was the pioneer in reviving this ancient practice.

I had never found anything to enjoy in his wines before. But I really liked the '05: it was for me the wine of the night, a very complex, beautiful wine that reminded me of an old Vin Jaune. At about $175, it should be good.

I also enjoyed the '05 Radikon ($69 for 500 millilitres), another famous Friulian ribolla, which was probably the group's favourite. It was slightly volatile, but had excellent flavour. I also liked two of the three wines from Umbrian maker Paolo Bea: '08 Arboreus Montefalco Bianco ($129) and Pipparello Montefalco Rosso Riserva '05 ($120). Ar.Pe.Pe Sassella Valtellina Riserva '01 ($94) was also a complex and satisfying red. But several wines, including two from the much-touted Sicilian maker Frank Cornelissen - 2010 MunJebel Bianco 7 ($64) and 2009/10 MunJebel Rosso 7 ($80) - were, to my palate, absolute rubbish.

Otherwise, there was a strong correlation between conventional tasting wines that I enjoyed and less-risky, less-natural (if you like) methods. Certainly, the Giovanni Rosso Barolo La Serra '07 ($116), Julie Balagny Fleurie '10 ($50), Marechal Savigny-les-Beaune '09 ($53), Peter Lauer 2010 Ayler Kupp Saar Riesling Fass '12 ($55), and Collier La Charpentrie Saumur Blanc '08 ($75) were all technically well-made wines which appealed, but hard-line natural-wine fiends would probably question their claims to ''natural'' status.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/executive-style/top-drop/upsetting-the-natural-balance-20120526-1zb1a.html#ixzz1wFSPYaGp

# ¿ May 29, 2012 10:19

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

I'd try a semi-sweet Riesling (obviously not a red variety), or a ros� myself.

# ¿ May 29, 2012 10:50

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 20:09

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

I guess my position is that I have no problem at all with them making wine in this way but perhaps 'natural' isn't the right term for it. Call it 'no rules', 'anarchic winemaking', 'oenarchy' (gently caress you, I'm copyrighting this one), 'primitive', or 'minimal intervention' or something else because there isn't much natural about making wine. If concrete eggs are 'natural' then so are barrels and presses and filters. It just sounds like an elaborate exercise in marketing to me.

# ¿ May 30, 2012 01:23

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Getting wasted under the guise of sophistication -- The goony wine thread

«‹›3 »