yum yum yum... bottle shocked wine is the best!

Be fair: I would have acted the same way if my local wine bar had run out of 2010 Grand Cru Bordeaux.

Australia has a pretty variable climate too. The best wines are often from years that the vines were stressed, so yields are lower but the resulting wine has more character. There also seems to be an odd year/even year variation here.

Another way stressed vines make more interesting wines is if they are infected with Botrytis fungus. This reduces the yield, and as it tends to kill yeast it makes wine making harder, but the result is a more intensely flavoured sweet dessert wine.

@Khufu
and interesting (if you find wines interesting) thing to note regarding "good" or "bad" years is that is almost exclusively a european thing.

which is why california (and now washington state,among others) has consistently won top awards,and it basically comes down to weather.

california and basically the entire west coast have some of the most steady climate.whereas europes weather is far more volatile.

so a "good' year for a french wine may mean "there was no drought" or "no floods this year".

ya know,as i am writing this i am giggling to myself.the reason why i know ANY of this is because i was a captain at yesterdays on the intracoastal for years and for me to become a captain i had to pass this 300 question test specifically about wines and get a 95% or above.

here it is 20 years later and i STILL know way more about wine than i really care to,i dont even drink wine for fuck sakes!

I'm not a wine snob but I have several wine snob friends who recommend me wine and they've never let me down. I'm not jealous of someone's refined tastes, I'm happy to let someone else do all the hard work of honing their taste and using their experience to help me purchase something that will impress a woman and let me indulge in my refined tastes. My happiness is a testament to other people's wine snobbery. Thank you, snobs. True wingmen.

1)don't forget supply and demand, particularly when a certain year just turned out great and wins a bunch of awards... price goes up.

2)and for categories, the way the wine was aged(not just duration) makes a huge difference, even type of barrel used (french/american oak).

that study doesn't seem too accurate as I, a virtual wine lay-person, can tell the difference between white and red blindfolded. And I can certainly pick out my favorites from a selection of reds, they are my favorites because they taste better to me... has nothing to do with the bottle or the price.

I wondered how good their experts were too

That said though, Shiraz grapes are used to make both red and white wines and some whites are quite full bodied and can easily stand in for a red. It would be easy to be fooled if you weren't expecting tricks.

I'm fortunate to live in a city where it's really hard to buy an undrinkable wine. Even the cheap ones that I use for cooking are quite nice, although a little less complex than the mid range wines.

p.s. The actual study by Frédéric Brochet is linked from this article - http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2014/08/the_most_infamous_study_on_wine_tasting.html (which also points out that the study used oenology students).

i am gonna call bullshit.
i am not disputing that study he referenced nor am i going to defend wine snobbery (cuz thats just being an asshole).

but i have known a few people who could tell you the varietal or appellation just by taste.

hell,twenty years ago i was running a ballroom at this very affluent country club and every year one of the main partners would come down from canada and every year me and my boss would try to trick him with a wine tasting.

we even blindfolded his ass.
and every single time he would nail it.
sometimes even by vintner!
the man was impressive.

wine snobs are just trying to keep themselves relevant,but wine is fairly easy once you know the basics:
1.the things that raise the price of wine (not make it better in most cases) is storage time and name of vintner.
2.wines can be broken down into basic categories:
dry-semi dry
sweet-semi sweet
and of course white or red.(and i guess blush/rose)

dont get all caught up in intimidating processes that are unnecessary and frankly..useless.

drink what you like,and you dont have to break the bank for a good wine.

Food is 50% psychology. All those Wine-Experts are just people dumb enough to trust their brains.
And this comes from a guy who sold Cassismousse as Mousse au Chocolat in a blue lit room and got away with it.

Your brain lies.

So...I go to John Lewis if I'm an old man who wants to look at little girls through a telescope?


The Man in the Moon had silver shoon
And his beard was of silver thread;
He was girt with pure gold and inaureoled
With gold about his head.
Clad in silken robe in his great white globe
He opened an ivory door
With a crystal key, and in secrecy
He stole o'er a shadowy floor;

Down a filigree stair of spidery hair
He slipped in gleaming haste,
And laughing with glee to be merry and free
He swiftly earthward raced.
He was tired of his pearls and diamond twirls;
Of his pallid minaret
Dizzy and white at its lunar height
In a world of silver set;

And adventured this peril for ruby and beryl
And emerald and sapphire,
And all lustrous gems for new diadems,
Or to blazon his pale attire.
He was lonely too with nothing to do
But to stare at the golden world,
Or to strain at the hum that would distantly come
As it gaily past him whirled;

And at plenilune in his argent moon
He had wearily longed for Fire-
Not the limpid lights of wan selenites,
But a red terrestrial pyre
With impurpurate glows of crimson and rose
And leaping orange tongue;
For great seas of blues and the passionate hues
When a dancing dawn is young;

For the meadowy ways like chrysophrase
By winding Yare and Nen.
How he longed for the mirth of the populous Earth
And the sanguine blood of men;
And coveted song and laughter long
And viands hot and wine,
Eating pearly cakes of light snowflakes
And drinking thin moonshine.

He twinkled his feet as he thought of the meat,
Of the punch and the peppery brew,
Till he tripped unaware on his slanting stair,
And fell like meteors do;
As the whickering sparks in splashing arcs
Of stars blown down like rain
From his laddery path took a foaming bath
In the ocean of Almain;

And began to think, lest he melt and stink,
What in the moon to do,
When a Yarmouth boat found him far afloat,
To the mazement of the crew
Caught in their net all shimmering wet
In a phosphorescent sheen
Of bluey whites and opal lights
And delicate liquid green

With the morning fish — 'twas his regal wish —
They packed him to Norwich town,
To get warm on gin in a Norfolk inn,
And dry his watery gown.
Though St. Peter's knell waked many a bell
In the city's ringing towers
To shout the news of his lunatic cruise
In the early morning hours,

No hearths were laid, not a breakfast made,
And no one would sell him gems;
He found ashes for fire, and his gay desire
For choruses and brave anthems
Met snores instead with all Norfolk abed,
And his round heart nearly broke,
More empty and cold than above of old,
Till he bartered his fairy cloak

With a half waked cook for a kitchen nook,
And his belt of gold for a smile,
And a priceless jewel for a bowl of gruel,
A sample cold and vile
Of the proud plum porridge of Anglian Norwich —
He arrived much too soon
For unusual guests on adventurous quests
From the Mountains of the Moon.

Expensive Wine Is For Suckers has been added as a related post - related requested by eric3579.

*related wine is all about personal taste.

Don't believe the hype

Anyone that actually really enjoys wine want to chime in?

Why Wine Snobs Are Faking It has been added as a related post - related requested by eric3579 on that post.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Satan, I dunno, Onyx the Fortuitous, Mark from Arbys, tiny wine' to 'Satan, I dunno, Onyx the Fortuitous, Mark from Arbys, tiny wine, Andrew Bowser' - edited by eric3579

"Yep, it's wine."

That about sums it up for me.

(Accidentally quoting Groundhog Day, btw.)