Various, RAMBLING, wine questions from a newbie Sender: Ian

Salut-Hi Jeff,

le-on Tue, 28 Mar 2006 19:25:22 -0500, tu disais-you said:-

The first thing to say is that you should pay no attention to the guy posting under the name of Uranium committee. His views are "idiosyncratic" and at odds with the experience of almost everyone else here.

So read what the others have to say and dialogue with them.

When you meet a wine with that caracteristic, you will know. But it's also true that sometimes, we use words that are the closest approximation we have to the smell or the taste we get on a wine. Buttery is one such. If you've ever had a "buttery" chardonnay, you'll say AHA!!! I SEE what they mean, even if it doesn't really taste or smell like butter.

Sometimes people writing descriptors on wines are a little more concerned to please the winemaker, than to describe the wine. But I've certainly had wines which had a distinctly peppery taste, others with a real blackberry taste and yet others with a smell that could only be described as "reminding me of tobacco".

No, these flavours are NOT added. The same variety of grape certainly does vary widely, in flavour as to why... all sort of reasons. The grapevine is grown on different subsoils, with different amounts of exposure to the air and sun, some places will reduce the yield, Then there is winery technique. Crushing or not, what fermentation temperature and so on, there are myriad variables all of which can affect the flavour.