TN: '03 Navarro Dry Riesling

Loading thread data ...

Ric wrote in news:2007101608130275249- ric@donotreplycom:

Surprisingly, NO! There are a few wine terms that would put anyone off it they weren't into the lingo. "Cat's Pee" for Sauvignon Blanc esp in Sancerre is revered. Petrol for Rieslings is a hint on the nose that actually enchances in the taste. Tar and Menthol might sound odd as well, but a bit of both on the finish of say a Cab. could be a good thing.

Now, cardboard or wet dog, that is the off putting aroma of TCA, cork taint, and pretty well universally detested. (I am waiting for that one contrary individual to exclaim the wonders of TCA infected wine.)

Reply to
Joseph Coulter

Yes, I tend to like various non-fruit flavors and smells in my wine, such as the meaty/gamey/funky notes in get in Rhone wines (Brett, anyone?), the earthy/mushroomy notes in Burgundy, the tarry and peppery notes in Zin and the minerality of various wines. Menthol and eucalyptus I can only take in small quantity now, as I find them too overwhelming (as can be the case with cedar, too).

And I'd add to that rotten egg/sulfur and the poopy side of Brett as two almost universally detested smells in wine.

Mark Lipton

Reply to
Mark Lipton

If you are speaking of current US diesel oil and gasoline, I agree that diesel oil is more likely to be have the smell the early UK users of the term petrol in relation to Riesling had in mind. The reason is that it is a higher boiling point distillate of crude oil and many of the stinky impurities are removed at a lower boiling point. Also diesel oil is not so loaded with additives as gasoline. To be more precise, I think what the early users of petrol in relation to Riesling had in mind likely is the smell of pure, aliphatic hydrocarbons of moderate boiling point. I have smelled series of very high purity aliphatic hydrocarbons such as hexane, octane, etc on up to very high boiling point ones. Such high purity ones are difficult to prepare, very expensive, and are used in research.They all had a clean smell. However the lowest boiling point ones had more sharpness, while the higher boiling point ones were more subtle.

Of course descriptions of wine smells in terms of something else is only an approximation, often quite crude, Riesling smells like Riesling just as a rose smells like a rose. If you had never smelled a rose and someone described the smell in terms of other flowers you have smelled, the description will be somewhat inaccurate at best. Then when you smell a rose for the first time, you likely will find that the description you were given is just a crude approximation of the smell of a rose. Often the "petrol" smell of Riesling is very apparent in older top Rheingau Rieslings of auslese grade. I have found several from 1976 that show much "petrol" character, but it is clean, not excessive, and is just one component of intense tropical fruit smells.

Reply to
cwdjrxyz

Sometimes I'd describe "petrol" in Riesling as veering towards vinyl, too.

Dana

Reply to
Dana Myers

Cat's pee I've long adored as a descriptor, and with tar and menthol (although I'm still a little doubtful as to the appropriateness of menthol as a good descriptor). But petrol? ugh ... obviously I am not familiar with popular descriptors for Riesling - but then again, I'm not a big fan of drinking petrol!

Reply to
Ric

"Ric" skrev i melding news:2007101611501716807-ric@donotreplycom...

Of course, but if you think of ripe mango you may perhaps agree that there's a vague hint of petrol there too. And mango is a descriptor for some German rieslings.. Anders

Reply to
Anders Tørneskog
Reply to
Anders Tørneskog

DrinksForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.