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Is wine fake?

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Re: Is wine fake?

#131

Post by caseyross »

wolframhempel wrote: post #18

More expensive wine doesn't necessarily taste "better" - as better is a highly subjective experience, specific to the individuals preferences. But it does tend to taste more "complex", e.g. like more different things at once, and more elegant, e.g. containing rarer flavour notes like oak or earthyness in reds or clearer mineralic taste in whites. Also, in wine, the price to value ratio is anything but linear. In most…

Yep, and it can be argued that this kind of complexity spectrum is the foundation of connoisseurship itself, in any domain. The journey from amateur to expert is one of becoming bored with simple, easy-to-understand things, and gradually seeking out more complicated things to satisfy one's curiousity.

Re: Is wine fake?

#132

Post by noughtme »

2devnull wrote: post #101
antognini wrote: post #49

One of my professors in grad school was really into wine and every couple of years he would put on an after-hours wine tasting class for a semester. One of the points he made was that there are absolutely wines which are objectively better and worse and that experts can reliably tell them apart. He had met enough experts who could identify a vineyard and vintage blind to know there was something to it. But sitting on…

Wine makers can easily pick out flaws of different sorts. Wine tasters and wine makers do not taste wines in the same way based on my experience. Some flaws, like Bret, can improve the score of wines given by tasters for certain styles, but wine makers generally scoff at such flaws.

> Some flaws, like Bret

I cannot wait for the current trend of brettanomyces contaminated "natural" wines to die.

Re: Is wine fake?

#133

Post by kube-system »

surement wrote: post #67
kube-system wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You can absolutely get a top quality wine for Scarcity is the number one factor that determines the price of an expensive wine. A good quality wine from a recent vintage will cost less than an equally desirable wine from an older vintage, simply because people haven't drank most of it yet.

Re: Is wine fake?

#134

Post by shrubble »

tomcam wrote: post #113
retrac wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I learned the secret in my mid-20s whilst brewing my own cider as a poor student. Take some decent apple juice without preservatives. Add a bit of yeast; baking yeast for bread at the supermarket will do just fine. Observe basic sanitation principles. Add some sugar, perhaps 150 g per litre of juice. Leave the concoction in a cool, dry place for a few months. A one-way seal for the CO2 release is preferable (a balloo…

Next time I'm in the pen expect a call from me for that recipe

Obligatory Pruno link from Modern Drunkard magazine (some profanity) : https://drunkard.com/11-03-jailhouse-3/

Re: Is wine fake?

#135

Post by aarroyoc »

KineticLensman wrote: post #6
noodlesUK wrote: post #3

I 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.

That's also typical in Spain. In fact, most family restaurants offer free wine, but it's of that level of quality, so you usually mix it with sparkling water.

Also, it's typical of young people to mix cheap wine with Coca-Cola, and have parties with that.

Re: Is wine fake?

#136

Post by spelunker »

retrac wrote: post #86
gspencley wrote: post #7

Earlier 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…

I learned the secret in my mid-20s whilst brewing my own cider as a poor student. Take some decent apple juice without preservatives. Add a bit of yeast; baking yeast for bread at the supermarket will do just fine. Observe basic sanitation principles. Add some sugar, perhaps 150 g per litre of juice. Leave the concoction in a cool, dry place for a few months. A one-way seal for the CO2 release is preferable (a balloo…

Beer was probably "discovered" when mashed up grains started fermenting wildly. It's definitely not difficult to make alcohol if one desires!

I do think something can be said to effort put in vs what you get however - I've enjoyed some very good beer that took a little bit more work than letting some grain lying around ferment. Of course, on the other hand, plenty of beers are brewed in Belgium using essentially that method, so it all comes down to one's taste I suppose.

Re: Is wine fake?

#138

Post by majormajor »

I'm surprised these sorts of articles still get traction?

Is this just a filter bubble thing? Is it "new" to many people even though it isn't to me?

Or do we just like to feel snobby about knowing the truth?

Re: Is wine fake?

#140

Post by lvass »

davnicwil wrote: post #123
lvass wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely true in South america. I've had a ton of different sub-$5 wines. In my experience, if you randomly buy 20 bottles of $5 wines, one is better than a $100 bottle, plus you also get some 5 great wines, 10 good ones and the rest works for cooking. The best wine I've ever drank cost less than $3 and was produced in a tropical (21 South), 800m altitude region of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Never assume wine is bad bec…

> The best wine I've ever drank Do you remember what this was called, or specifically where? If I'm ever there I'd love to find this!

Quinta dos Guimarães, from Santa Bárbara do Monte Verde. It's super hard to find and they might be defunct, it's been quite a few years.
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