Pinot With Verve

"JB" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com:

Verve? can you elucidate please?

I believe that Verve is the past tense of Verb, which indicates something was happening (active action) in the wine. My guess is that he refers to petillance. Any other guesses?

pavane

"pavane" wrote in news:47745d41$0$11106 $ snipped-for-privacy@roadrunner.com:

assuming you are talking about a slight degree of CO2 I have seen that in Burgundy before. It is a flaw in a still wine (some exceptions exist for semi sparklers such as some Moscato d'Asti), though one that can be resolved by stirring

Hi pavane,

on Thu, 27 Dec 2007 21:19:50 -0500, you said:-

Like Joseph, I'd not met "verve" used in the way John did. As I understand it, "verve" implies vivacity, liveliness, and is usually employed in a complimentery way. "A wine of great verve, thanks to good acidity", sort of thing. Apart from the bizarre "Verve Cliquot" (found through google)

I suppose theoretically verve could be the past participle of the verb "to verb" except that the word "verb" is a noun, and therefore is unlikely to have a past participle.

Like you, I guess the OP means a trace of residual sparkle. I've found it in a number of wines, though I can't remember Pinot's having it and although I agree that technically it's a fault, it can sometimes be quite attractive.

good music though ;-)

Everyone knows that Verve is a record label. Clearly the OP, an audio enthusiast, has detected an overtone of vinyl in the wine. This minor flaw is sometimes sought after by terroirists and other who like a warm round flavor.

-E

verve, a. F. verve, of obscure origin; in OF. (from 12th cent.) the sense is ‘caprice, fancy’.

1. In general use: Energy, vigour, spirit.

That would seem to be a reasonable interpretation. As it's technically a fault, it's unlikely to be something consistently found in a specific wine from year to year.

Joseph, you're right. I was talking about a slight fizzyness to the wine. I know that if wine is bottled before fermentation is complete it will have a bit of fizz (verve). I just hadn't experienced this in any other pinots I've drunk.

-- > assuming you are talking about a slight degree of CO2 I have seen that

Just last night I experienced this in a pinot meunier and it reminded me of this thread. Two previous bottles of the same wine that I have consumed did not have this fizz, which made things even more curious. I've e-mailed the tasting room of the winery about this and look forward to the response.