Are wine buffs wankers?

[bowman]

I like wine.
Actually I like it a bit more than is desirable so I'm not drinking at all at the moment.

However in my top 10 list of the most boring people on the planet, wine buffs have always rated quite highly.

Hell, its hard enough to do even one bottle of great wine justice: while every so often, while you’re drinking a bottle, it all comes together spectacularly, there will also always be times when you take a sip absentmindedly between bites and miss a lot of the beauty and flavor.

For F#@%s sake, if you're half way through a decent bottle of wine and you find yourself thinking, gosh I didn't concentrate quite enough on the last two sips, then you're definately paying too much for your wine. More importantly, you're not having fun and sadly, you're probably a wanker.

What is blind tasting good for? Well, for one thing it’s very good at showing how important knowledge of price, as opposed to price itself, is as a contributing factor to a wine’s perceived quality. If you know that a wine you’re drinking is expensive, you’ll probably like it much more. If you’re deceived into thinking that a wine is expensive (if someone poured Yellowtail into a Lafite bottle, say) you’ll like that much more, too. And if someone poured Lafite into a colorful screw-top bottle, you’d like it less.

Nothing to add here.

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/09/12/tasting-wine-blind/

 

[bowman]

Some days you go fishing and catch nothing.:

Smack!

 

[wayneL]

My old man used to play tricks on his high brow mates. Pour some $2.50 (at the time) port into an empty bottle of la de dah port and watch the performance.

Hilarious. I've never bought an expensive bottle of woobla since.

 

[bowman]

When I recall the best times, it's usually summer, with a bunch of close friends, in someone's shady courtyard, drinking beer and modest wines and chomping on good BBQ'd meat and seafood.

These days I confine my drinking to December and January and abstain the rest of the time. Consequently I don't drink as many reds as I used to.

And I do enjoy the Penfolds reds.

 

[CAB SAV]

I'll bite.
Any difference between driving a BM or Mitsubishi?
" " " steak from King Island or Coles?
" " " Coke or Home brand Cola from Coles?
" " " Staying at the Intercontinental or a Back packers Lodge?

Etc Etc Etc.
Yep, confessed wine buff, Nice to have a good wine and appreciate.

 

[bowman]

You got me on the King Island steak, but at the risk of sounding like a dirty old man, the eye candy at the Byron backpackers lodges is streets ahead of any Intercontinental Hotel.

 

[prawn_86]

The one thing i dont understand about wine buffs is how they pretend there are certain flavours in the wine.

I have worked in a winery and know the winemaking process inside out, the only thing in wine is grape juice, water, chemicals, some yeast and flavouring from any tannin or wood used. No fruits/honey/citrus etc added.

Beer on the other hand is much more dynamic when you get good mirco brews. Good brewers use flowers, citrus (or just skins), chocolate, roasting techniques etc etc all to bring out actual flavours, not pretend ones that people make up in their heads :

 

[springhill]

The one thing i dont understand about wine buffs is how they pretend there are certain flavours in the wine.

Could not agree more where do they pull this **** from? Vanilla, blackberry, spice, stonefruit, melon, citrus, pepper..... give me a break.
Tastes like fermented grape to me.
Waiting for the day they are honest and describe a ****house wine as ....'tasting like licking the bottom of a boot that has trodden in 3 different types of animal crap, with a slight scent of a red head's sweaty armpit'.

 

[imajica]

I must say I am a wine buff. I have an extensive collection of some of the finest wines Australia has to offer. I agree that some of the descriptions offered about wine are far too verbose and wanky! Also, I have bought many expensive bottles of wine that were hopeless. Recently I found a wine at $7 per bottle by the dozen that tasted as good as some $30 bottles I've had. Price shouldn't really factor in, the taste should be the decider. However, usually the finest wines are also the most expensive. Not always though. I have tried Grange before and I believe there are other examples of shiraz that rival it in terms of complexity, structure etc (Bremerton old adam shiraz, collector shiraz etc)

 

[Sir Osisofliver]

Yes Bowman

All wine buffs are wankers...all of them...without exception...every single one of them...snobs and wankers. (Okay maybeone or two of them are OK, but the rest I wouldn't p!ss on if they were on fire)

That's why I only drink beer and spirits.

Cheers

Sir O

 

[bowman]

ROFL Sir O, and all the best to your liver.

Mine has currently been rested for 9 months and is almost ready to do battle again.

 

[Kez180]

I wait tables at a fine dining restaurant and you would not believe some of the **** that comes out of peoples' mouths about bouquets, aromas and flavors...

It is fine to have heaps of knowledge about wine, just don't act like it makes you any better than the next person..

(I do have a good knowledge of wine but to me its a simple case of it either tastes good or it doesn't)

 

[prawn_86]

It is fine to have heaps of knowledge about wine, just don't act like it makes you any better than the next person..

A job i would love is designing beer lists for fine dining restaurants to suit eachdifferent meal they serve. That way people would have the choice of a wine or beer pairing with their meal.

Unfortunately beer is still not as 'high class' as wine, although perceptions are slowly changing.

James Squire does events such as degustations occasionally where the food is made to match the beer.

 

[doogie_goes_off]

I like to resarch bottles of plonk. The best buys are those that don't make the hot list of "best wines under $20" etc. It pays to watch a few vintages, much as you watch a stock for a few announcements to get a ffel for their mode of operation. If they have a good vintage in a good year for their region and you like the wine, wait for the next good year, buy a bottle of that and then taste it - if it's good buy some more. It's a simple formula. You don't need some pratt to tell you how it tastes, although I can taste vanilla, mint and pepper in a red wine. Also can taste the oak - but I prefer not to taste wood in my drinks. Buff's is a pretty broad definition but I'd say I'm not that far off. I'm happy to be called a wanker just because I drink wine, because those calling me a wanker aren't drinking it, so theres less demand and it's therefore cheaper for me!

 

[stocksontheblock]

I must say I am a wine buff. I have an extensive collection of some of the finest wines Australia has to offer. I agree that some of the descriptions offered about wine are far too verbose and wanky! Also, I have bought many expensive bottles of wine that were hopeless. Recently I found a wine at $7 per bottle by the dozen that tasted as good as some $30 bottles I've had. Price shouldn't really factor in, the taste should be the decider. However, usually the finest wines are also the most expensive. Not always though. I have tried Grange before and I believe there are other examples of shiraz that rival it in terms of complexity, structure etc (Bremerton old adam shiraz, collector shiraz etc)

As am I, if I had put the money towards my house I would have paid it off by now, yet I’m happy with the decision I made. I guess the wine buffs that are being referred to are the likes of James Halliday and Jeremy Oliver. I guess the one thing to take from these 'wine wankers' is the idea of what is a good wine, not so much how they describe the taste.

As for price, I couldn’t agree more. While price may be an indicator (one of many) of what is a good wine, I have found - way to often - that price is not always the good indicator that many would have you believe. However, what goes along with this is the 'medals' that many wines plaster all over their bottles. It never ceases to amaze me the amount of people who buy wine, or get suckered into buying wine based on the 27 medals on the label. Try reading them a little closer. I’ve never seen a better scam to get people to buy wine in my life, or any other product for that matter.

Yes Bowman

All wine buffs are wankers...all of them...without exception...every single one of them...snobs and wankers. (Okay maybeone or two of them are OK, but the rest I wouldn't p!ss on if they were on fire)

That's why I only drink beer and spirits.

Cheers

Sir O

However, it must be said, if you are a connoisseur of beer and spirits there are just as many wankers in that area as well. I guess you just don’t see them as much, or they aren’t trotted out like the ‘wine wankers’.

(I do have a good knowledge of wine but to me its a simple case of it either tastes good or it doesn't)

Absolutely!!!!!! You either like it or you don't.

Unfortunately beer is still not as 'high class' as wine, although perceptions are slowly changing.

I guess the one problem that the beer industry faces - and it’s largely their own fault, and that is the perception of the people who drink beer. I don’t watch much commercial TV anymore, yet the last time I saw an add for beer it was all about blokes on a building site acting like blokes on a building site do, all wanting a beer ... blah blah blah

Not that they should wear a suit and tie, yet if the perception of wine is a wankers drink (which many perceive), or those who appreciate it are wankers, then the perception of many a beer drinker is some bogan sandal wearing Holden/ford driving slob with stubbies and a singlet. Whether right or wrong, it’s the image portrayed.

 

[marklar]

Some are, but not all are.

I'm a reasonable wine buff, but I'll pretty much drink anything... good food & good company do tend to make wine more enjoyable though.

Grange is a waste of money if you're going to drink it, as are many of the super-premiums; you can get a decent bottle of wine for around $20, even one with a few years' age on it if you peruse the smaller wine merchants.

m.

 

[nunthewiser]

Yes

or is it me thats the wanker?

i got given a box of grange once as a gift from a trading friend from commsec chat many years ago ,

it was a red wine

i am not a wine drinker ........

me and 3 mates sat around the table one night after drinking a few bourbons and decided to get into it , we knocked off 10 bottles of these apparently expensive bottles of grapes , the other 2 i shared on tin can bay jetty one night whilst fishing with a stranger

i must admit the more we drunk the tastier it got

cant say it tasted any different to any other wine ive drunk

i am not a wine drinker so please forgive my lack of understanding on what is a nice wine ....... all tastes the same to me

 

[bowman]

Funny how Grange gets better after the first couple of bottles.

Another funny is that I went to Tin Can Bay primary school, but that was many many moons ago when my appreciation for fine wine was less developed.

 

[nulla nulla]

Yes

or is it me thats the wanker?

i got given a box of grange once as a gift from a trading friend from commsec chat many years ago ,

it was a red wine

i am not a wine drinker ........

me and 3 mates sat around the table one night after drinking a few bourbons and decided to get into it , we knocked off 10 bottles of these apparently expensive bottles of grapes , the other 2 i shared on tin can bay jetty one night whilst fishing with a stranger

i must admit the more we drunk the tastier it got

cant say it tasted any different to any other wine ive drunk

i am not a wine drinker so please forgive my lack of understanding on what is a nice wine ....... all tastes the same to me

Your not a wanker, your a bloody philistine. You could at least have had a barbeque or several of your chat room friends over for a feed or a party, or traded them to someone who doesn't drink bourbon for a carton of bourbon.

The reality is that wine is an acquired taste that developes over many years as you sift through the crap you don't like and find the plonk you do like.

 

[jbocker]

A job i would love is designing beer lists for fine dining restaurants to suit eachdifferent meal they serve. That way people would have the choice of a wine or beer pairing with their meal.

Unfortunately beer is still not as 'high class' as wine, although perceptions are slowly changing.

James Squire does events such as degustations occasionally where the food is made to match the beer.

Thanks Prawn.
"Degustations"
I didnt know this was a word
All these years My Mrs has been saying I get Degusting when I have had too many.
...and I thought she was not impressed. All along she has just been telling me I am tasting with relish.