by Grape Stomper Todd on October 2, 2010
Podcast: Play in new window
| Download (2.0MB)
We roundly reject angular wines in this episode.
Right click to download MP3 file.
On this day in 1950, the Peanuts cartoon strip was first published by Charles Schultz. Considered to be one of the most popular and influential comic strips in history, it had a readership of over 350 million people in 75 countries and 21 languages. Lasting 50 years, it was “arguably the longest story ever told by one human being.” The strip ended in the year 2000 when Charles Schultz passed away.
This leads us to our Wine Word of the Day: Round
Yeah, I mean round like in the roundness of Charlie Brown’s head. Well, sort of. I actually mean to talk about the wine term “round.” But still, I gotta say, the head of Brown was really round. I guess it was all about the subject matter in Charles Schultz’s comics and not the details of his artwork. But I‘m starting to digress.
Let’s get back to wine.
Sure, you can order a round of wine, enjoy wine with a round of appetizers, round up some friends and go tasting, or finish a bottle of port ‘round midnight. But today I want to explain the tasting term, “round”.
Round is a nice trait found in mature red wines that are smooth and have lost their astringent tannins. This term also applies to young wines that exhibit soft tannins and low acidity. All in all, these are mouth-filling wines, with bountiful flavor, and rich texture that are a joy to drink. Such wines never exhibit harshness like Lucy van Pelt does when she pulls the ball away just as Charlie Brown tries to kick it.
Tagged as:
acidity,
astringent,
harsh,
round,
smooth,
tannins
by Grape Stomper Todd on September 28, 2010
Podcast: Play in new window
| Download (1.9MB)
Less is more…especially with bores.
Right click to download MP3 file.
On this day in the past not much happened. Sure, some celebrities were born and some passed away. There was the myriad of obscure sports records achieved on this day, too. And quite a few black and white TV shows had their final airing on September 28th, as well. But I couldn’t find that certain specific, special event that I could readily connect to a wine term. It just seemed like today’s pickings were pretty slim.
So this lack of inspiration inspired me to deliver this Wine Word of the Day: Austere
Austere is a wine tasting term I don’t hear very often except from pompous critics. And when I do hear it, even from a trained sommelier, it still sounds a little pretentious to me. In fact, one definition describes an austere wine as one that is “unforthcoming.” Really? If someone said that in my house I would want to slap the taste right out of their mouth!
So, what is the wine snob trying to impress upon you with the term “austere”? Well, if it is a red wine, they are probably trying to say the wine is too young, hard, and dry (yeah, I know, there’s probably a bad, male-teenager joke in there somewhere). With white wines, they might be referring to a rather flavorless wine with too much astringency or dryness. Either way, they probably wish they were drinking something else.
And we are probably wishing they were somewhere else.
Tagged as:
astringent,
austere,
dry,
tasting terms,
young
