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Ernest Valtri On Wine: Taking notes

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We’re really wine nuts, my wife, Colleen, and I. We’ve got a small collection of wines at home that we enjoy and rely on daily.
We’ve got a jillion wine gadgets, most of which are at least sort of useful. Nearly every vacation we take is wine oriented. And we analyze wines we drink all the time.
Whenever we have a wine that’s notably good, our place settings at dinner include a pen and paper. When we take a bottle to a restaurant or to a friend’s home for dinner, we make notes. Our hosts have gotten used to this.
When a wine we expect to be a winner turns out to be a dud, it makes the notes too. Not too many of those, but they’re unfortunately memorable for their disappointment.
What sort of information makes our list of comments? I start of course with identifying the wine and the date we drank it. Very important to also include what we ate with it, whether at home, at a friend’s, or a restaurant. Where and when we bought it and the price complete the basics. Now we get to exercise our wine observation skills.
What do we each smell? Then taste? Describing these subjective attributes can lead almost anywhere, from smelling petroleum to tasting mango. It’s so cool to have the answer you’re looking for just on the tip of your tongue (metaphorically, and sometimes literally) though you can’t quite pinpoint it, then Colleen says “cola.” That’s it, it’s cola! Or “I think it’s more eucalyptus than menthol.” Yes, of course.

We each have our strengths and weaknesses. Colleen has an absolutely uncanny, supernatural ability to guess the alcohol level of a wine. She’ll consider the legs, the weight, the vapors, the structure, the variety of grape, where the grapes were grown, and probably some magical secret she’s never revealed, then blurts out “14.8%” and nails it. Constantly.
On the other hand, I seem to have a better handle on tannins. Strong, sweet, too aggressive, maybe too hot? Will the wine last much longer? Is it past its prime? Or did we open this one too soon?
We also occasionally add the esteemed “WOTY” note, as in “This one’s so good, we’ve got to remember it for our personal Wine of the Year.”
We refer to our notes when considering recommendations for others and for our own future purchases (or decision not to purchase). Give it a try. It’s useful and fun. And fun is nearly always useful.

Ernest Valtri of Buckingham is a sculptor, graphic designer, and a former member of the PLCB’s Wine Advisory Council. Contact Erno at ObjectDesign@verizon.net.


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