If you've ever read a tasting note of mine--or any other wine writer--and thought "huh?" then you should head over to this week's Serious Grape post over on Serious Eats. (photo by MCHart)In this week's entry I explain why adopting a varied diet, including advanced fruits like gooseberries and currants, is actually the best way to get more tasting pleasure out of your wine. It's all about the analogies you can make between the flavors in the glass and other flavors that exist outside it.
Check it out and let me know what you think. Do you agree that people who are foodies tend to be more sophisticated wine tasters as well?
4 comments:
I absolutely agree that foodies are more likely to be more sophisticated wine tasters as well. Part of that has to do with, as you said in your Serious Grape article, the way food lovers have a wider range of experience with various flavors to draw from when tasting wines. As a result, foodies are far more likely to be able to recognize certain notes in a good glass of pinot or cab, maybe even discovering some of their own as well. It's all part of the joy of wine tasting.
Foodies also have a palette that is far more developed and educated as well. I believe that a person's palette operates on much the same basis as their mind or musculature does -- the more you use it, the stronger and sharper its abilities become.
This sharpness extends into the world of wine as well. People who make it a point to broaden their experience with food, study it, and ponder the subtleties of the flavors will be able to pick out and identify even the most modest notes in a glass of wine. And of course those who choose to broaden their experiences with wine itself -- by joining wine clubs, attending tastings, and doing their homework on what they will discover -- will of course benefit from this phenomenon even further.
We clearly agree that palate are things to be trained at the Lab.
And given the topic, I'd also like to commend you as one of the great bloggers out there WHO ALSO REGULARLY CONTRIBUTE THEIR TASTING NOTES TO CELLAR-TRACKER. Let's face it, tasting notes are only as good as your ability to find them when you need them.
Cheers!
That was meant to be palates (plural). Think I spilled a Sauterne on my keyboard...
Thanks, Head of Lab. I spill Sauternes on my keyboard all the time--sticky fingers, etc.
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