Corked wine smells of damp cardboard. It is still drinkable but the smell is gained by an unsterile cork. Some harbour bacterial infections which get in contact with the wine. A particular chemical called TCA is the culprit. The maker can't tell. This problem is eliminated by screw tops.
Corked wines, pretty obvious, smell musty. A sommelier will detect lower quantities. The wine waiter would if he tasted it. Given the opportunity, if you are in doubt, he would often frown and grab it from you.
Wine can be maderised, kept too hot, smells like Madeira wine, storage problem, oxidation, smells like fruit cake.
Wine can be oxidised because too old, depending on how old you like your wine. Some would accept it, thinking it leather-y. Others would not drink it. Some people will collect wines back to the late 1970s. Others will only buy, drink immediately, or collect for drinking later, winds from the 1990s.
What about a wine that smells and taste completely sour so you want to spit it out?
This is not the same as people who don't like the wine, make a bad choice? You should really have the wine matched to your food, because this will alter the apparent taste. You can check styles of wine with food at home. For example, if you always order chicken and chocolate desserts, or if somebody in your family always orders steak and tiramisu, you can try out a wine at home so as not to waste money in a restaurant..
Serve two meals at home with particular wines. Note on a card index card how the first wine tastes with the main course and dessert. Check how a sweeter wine tastes with dessert. Then how the sweeter wine would taste if you tried it with the main course as well. Make a column on the back of the card index card of the wines which go well with your favourite dish or dishes. Make another column for wines which don't go.
Check the restaurant menu online to see which main courses and wines they serve. You can also check the year of the wine. Do they have wines at two prices, more for the older wine, or less for the older wine? Do you care?
This is up to the sommelier. Some sommeliers have an open bottle (left over from another table? - sh! - or more likely used to serve wine by the glass). Some sommeliers, it's even been offered to me by bartenders at a cheap place such as Water's Edge in Ruislip, if you ask, or are hesitating they might offer - they will pour you a tiny sip. Sometimes just one of the wine you are considering, or two if they have two rose wines by the glass.
I try not to try to many if I don't like either of the first two I'm inclined to refuse more out of politeness or embarrassment. Occasionally at a restaurant or a wine shop which has lots of open bottles for a wine tasting, you are offered even more, even three, (if you are pally or a regular or a big spender or at a wine tasting more) until you like one and choose to stick with drinking and paying for that one.
If you want to try regular tastings, a local wine shop might offer weekly events, sometimes free in the hope that you will buy wine. (Many regular customers feel reluctantly obliged to buy something.) Others are very happy to buy a bottle of one of the wines offered. Alternatively, if they don't like any, quite happy to buy somethings, in exchange for an hour or two's entertainment: drinks and nibbles for two members of their family, a chance to chat to the wine shop owner, a visiting vineyard owner, local shopkeepers, local people, visitors from overseas. if you'd had two glasses of wine in a local wine bar it would have cost the same and you would not have had a bottle of wine to take home. So it seems a reasonable deal to voluntarily top up from the shop (rather than the local supermarket) with one of the wines you want for the next weekend or for taking to a friend's party.
I have two birthdays and an anniversary to attend in the next three months. I will probably have at least one meal at home and at least one meal out.
I have already asked my family which sort of restaurant they would like. One member of my family likes Indian food. I wasn't expecting that. I prefer non-spicy, Italian. They have named a restaurant. Time for a sneaky peek at the menu to choose my dishes. Then at the wine list to select my wine. Rather than arguing on the day, I can discuss in advance.
Studying Wine
I have reached only WSET level one. That involved about 20 hours of studying with self-marked tests which you keep doing until you reach more than the pass mark. Then a one day course with teaching and tasting and tests, ending with a multiple choice test. (The first level might be taken by a waiter or would-be sommelier and worker in a wine shop, or wine buyer or wine enthusiast.)
Every meal with family and friends involves discussion of wines, vineyards, the wines, or the recent discoveries on the internet.
Another member of my family has passed level three and is studying for the diploma, which involves several exams, which are several weeks apart, spread over a couple of years, with many people re-sitting some modules.
We plot our travels around vineyards, wine shops, restaurants, wine events. We check the vineyards on google maps to see the slope, the sun and shadows, the rainfall, the vineyard shop, the local village or city shops selling wines and restaurants serving meals with the local wines.
Talks and Workshops
I am Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, researcher, author, speaker. (Not related to the actress, who does wonderful publicity for the name which is shared by at least four people on the internet.)
I am the person you can contact f you would like a free talk to Toastmasters (of which I am a member of two clubs in the UK, probably joining another in Singapore) or a low price amusing talk to a group of under 30 for amateurs and novices on wine labels and wine personalities such as the merry widow, Verve Cliquot. I can also do a well-organised proper formal talk or workshop for a higher price for businesses or charities with a larger audience. (Anywhere in the world via Skype or if you pay for transport and any accommodation needed such as at a conference.)
If you want a workshop with slides and vertical tasting, the same wine such as one from Rioja through the years to compare different styles or production, go to grape deal.com
Angela Lansbury, BA Hons, CL, ACG, travel writer and photographer, researcher, author, speaker.
More about Angela Lansbury on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Amazon, Lulu.com
Corked wines, pretty obvious, smell musty. A sommelier will detect lower quantities. The wine waiter would if he tasted it. Given the opportunity, if you are in doubt, he would often frown and grab it from you.
Wine can be maderised, kept too hot, smells like Madeira wine, storage problem, oxidation, smells like fruit cake.
Wine can be oxidised because too old, depending on how old you like your wine. Some would accept it, thinking it leather-y. Others would not drink it. Some people will collect wines back to the late 1970s. Others will only buy, drink immediately, or collect for drinking later, winds from the 1990s.
What about a wine that smells and taste completely sour so you want to spit it out?
This is not the same as people who don't like the wine, make a bad choice? You should really have the wine matched to your food, because this will alter the apparent taste. You can check styles of wine with food at home. For example, if you always order chicken and chocolate desserts, or if somebody in your family always orders steak and tiramisu, you can try out a wine at home so as not to waste money in a restaurant..
Serve two meals at home with particular wines. Note on a card index card how the first wine tastes with the main course and dessert. Check how a sweeter wine tastes with dessert. Then how the sweeter wine would taste if you tried it with the main course as well. Make a column on the back of the card index card of the wines which go well with your favourite dish or dishes. Make another column for wines which don't go.
Check the restaurant menu online to see which main courses and wines they serve. You can also check the year of the wine. Do they have wines at two prices, more for the older wine, or less for the older wine? Do you care?
This is up to the sommelier. Some sommeliers have an open bottle (left over from another table? - sh! - or more likely used to serve wine by the glass). Some sommeliers, it's even been offered to me by bartenders at a cheap place such as Water's Edge in Ruislip, if you ask, or are hesitating they might offer - they will pour you a tiny sip. Sometimes just one of the wine you are considering, or two if they have two rose wines by the glass.
I try not to try to many if I don't like either of the first two I'm inclined to refuse more out of politeness or embarrassment. Occasionally at a restaurant or a wine shop which has lots of open bottles for a wine tasting, you are offered even more, even three, (if you are pally or a regular or a big spender or at a wine tasting more) until you like one and choose to stick with drinking and paying for that one.
If you want to try regular tastings, a local wine shop might offer weekly events, sometimes free in the hope that you will buy wine. (Many regular customers feel reluctantly obliged to buy something.) Others are very happy to buy a bottle of one of the wines offered. Alternatively, if they don't like any, quite happy to buy somethings, in exchange for an hour or two's entertainment: drinks and nibbles for two members of their family, a chance to chat to the wine shop owner, a visiting vineyard owner, local shopkeepers, local people, visitors from overseas. if you'd had two glasses of wine in a local wine bar it would have cost the same and you would not have had a bottle of wine to take home. So it seems a reasonable deal to voluntarily top up from the shop (rather than the local supermarket) with one of the wines you want for the next weekend or for taking to a friend's party.
I have two birthdays and an anniversary to attend in the next three months. I will probably have at least one meal at home and at least one meal out.
I have already asked my family which sort of restaurant they would like. One member of my family likes Indian food. I wasn't expecting that. I prefer non-spicy, Italian. They have named a restaurant. Time for a sneaky peek at the menu to choose my dishes. Then at the wine list to select my wine. Rather than arguing on the day, I can discuss in advance.
Studying Wine
I have reached only WSET level one. That involved about 20 hours of studying with self-marked tests which you keep doing until you reach more than the pass mark. Then a one day course with teaching and tasting and tests, ending with a multiple choice test. (The first level might be taken by a waiter or would-be sommelier and worker in a wine shop, or wine buyer or wine enthusiast.)
Every meal with family and friends involves discussion of wines, vineyards, the wines, or the recent discoveries on the internet.
Another member of my family has passed level three and is studying for the diploma, which involves several exams, which are several weeks apart, spread over a couple of years, with many people re-sitting some modules.
We plot our travels around vineyards, wine shops, restaurants, wine events. We check the vineyards on google maps to see the slope, the sun and shadows, the rainfall, the vineyard shop, the local village or city shops selling wines and restaurants serving meals with the local wines.
Talks and Workshops
I am Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, researcher, author, speaker. (Not related to the actress, who does wonderful publicity for the name which is shared by at least four people on the internet.)
I am the person you can contact f you would like a free talk to Toastmasters (of which I am a member of two clubs in the UK, probably joining another in Singapore) or a low price amusing talk to a group of under 30 for amateurs and novices on wine labels and wine personalities such as the merry widow, Verve Cliquot. I can also do a well-organised proper formal talk or workshop for a higher price for businesses or charities with a larger audience. (Anywhere in the world via Skype or if you pay for transport and any accommodation needed such as at a conference.)
If you want a workshop with slides and vertical tasting, the same wine such as one from Rioja through the years to compare different styles or production, go to grape deal.com
Angela Lansbury, BA Hons, CL, ACG, travel writer and photographer, researcher, author, speaker.
More about Angela Lansbury on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Amazon, Lulu.com
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