I've heard similarly for years, especially from a sommelier. What I've always wondered is if the same holds true for fine teas, whiskeys, and coffees.
Is wine fake?
61–70 of 559 posts
Re: Is wine fake?
#62If it takes a super-taster to tell the difference, then I'm safe paying for $6 Chuck
Interestingly, as I understand Charles Shaw buys suprlus wine from nice vinyards and blends them to make their offering. So the wine is likely to be totally inconsistent, but probably ok to even occasionally good.
Personally, I think red blends are often better than single wine varietals. They're often perceived as cheaper, but from a taste perspective, I find they're usually more balanced in flavors and more complex as a result.
Re: Is wine fake?
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
I roast my own coffee and buy most of my green beans from Sweet Maria's. Maria's husband Tom writes the tasting notes for each variety, such as... Rwanda Dry Process Macuba "Berry notes, floral impression, ripe blackberry, blueberry, fruited acidity, darker roasts tie in delicious bittersweet undertones, like strawberries dipped in chocolate sauce." Yemen Al Qafr Hawari "Sweet, somewhat rustic, notes of pistachio coo…
I don’t think I could ever tell two different coffee varieties apart, but I can definitely tell good coffee from bad coffee. Though that’s probably mostly about the roast and freshness more than anything. So there’s probably something to it but I imagine most of it is unintentional bullshit.
I got gifted a coffee subscription recently, and I was actually surprised how different each coffee was.
I think almost anyone could tell the difference between different coffees side by side. I just don't think people are super focused on the coffee flavor when they drink their regular brew.
Re: Is wine fake?
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
There have been a lot of blind wine tastings done and the results are always interesting. Sometimes cheap bottles score as high, or higher than vintages. Other times people can spot the cheap "carton" wine easily. My wife and I love to cook, have discussed opening our own restaurant, have eaten at lots of very expensive "haute cuisine" restaurants and have tasted lots of wines. Part of the "problem" is that taste is…
>My wife and I love to cook, have discussed opening our own restaurant, have eaten at lots of very expensive "haute cuisine" restaurants and have tasted lots of wines. Please don’t make the mistake of thinking “I like to cook” means “I would like to run a restaraunt”. They’re two completely different things.
Can you elaborate on this? I'm sure there's more to it and it could be great to know what some of the specifics are, but it also seems like someone who likes to cook is going to need to be present for a good restaurant
Re: Is wine fake?
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
There have been a lot of blind wine tastings done and the results are always interesting. Sometimes cheap bottles score as high, or higher than vintages. Other times people can spot the cheap "carton" wine easily. My wife and I love to cook, have discussed opening our own restaurant, have eaten at lots of very expensive "haute cuisine" restaurants and have tasted lots of wines. Part of the "problem" is that taste is…
The secret is that a lot of cheap wine is pretty darn good. I imagine there's somewhat of a correlation between price and quality, especially at the absolute bottom end of the pricing scale. But it's a very loose correlation.
Yep, there is correlation between my perceived quality and price, et the very cheap end of wine. It gets less pronounced the more expensive it gets so, and above certain threshold it is a lot of branding.
So, I think the biggest problem with all those blind wine tastings is that they equate price with quality. Because those two are, as goes for everything in life, only ever so loosely related.
Re: Is wine fake?
#66I am no wine guru but I do know one thing for sure. There is definitely such a thing as bad wine. If paying a little more would guarantee not having a terrible bottle, that would make me pretty happy. In the real world I've not found that to be true though.
In Croatia many years ago, we ordered the cheapest bottle on the wine list. It was disgusting. The locals were amazed that we didn't know to water it down before drinking.
When my grandparents lived in Croatia in the pre-WW2 years they used to mix a little wine into their water because the water quality was bad. I guess the wine killed the germs, or at least masked the taste of the water.
Re: Is wine fake?
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
The secret is that a lot of cheap wine is pretty darn good. I imagine there's somewhat of a correlation between price and quality, especially at the absolute bottom end of the pricing scale. But it's a very loose correlation.
Above $60, you’re mostly paying for name, provenance, or prestige rather than taste.
Just because you don't know how to appreciate well-made things doesn't mean that they're strictly ostentatious.
Re: Is wine fake?
#68I worked at WineSpectator.com in 2012-2013. I'll say this in their favor: the wine tastings were blind. A bunch of interns would set up the wine tasting, pouring the wine into glasses and then hiding the bottles. Only after everything was setup were the editors allowed into the room. So when the editors drank the wine, they had no idea if they were drinking a $9 bottle or a $900 bottle. They had to focus on the taste…
I have gotten fairly into coffee but I struggle to independently pick up these subtle notes. I'll take a sip, struggle to put any concrete words on the taste, and then read the tasting notes and (honestly) think "ah of course, yes I definitely get that". But I'm sure it's all just the power of suggestion.
(An exception is some Ethiopian beans which have an unmistakable blueberry aroma and taste that they are famous for.)
I've stopped worrying too much about "advancing" past that level. Now I just buy the coffee, read the notes, enjoy experiencing the sensations that have been placed in my head. Is it "connoisseurship"? Is it a placebo? Who cares, it's fun!
Re: Is wine fake?
#69I have a theory on the Pepsi challenge: Pepsi is sweeter and so it performs better in a single taste test but is gross when drunk frequently.
Re: Is wine fake?
#70The entire field is absolute hogwash. Blind testers can’t tell the difference. I was mad the other day because I saw wine glasses categorized by what kind of wine should go in them— give me a break.