TN: Burgundy rose, and wines with semi-Indian food

Do you think this will benefit from further aging? I have but a single bottle (case filler from CSW) and wonder how soon I should pop the cork.

That sounds like a fun night. I got "Wine and War" from Jean for Xmas, along with "Heat" and Bourdain's latest, so I'll be able to participate in further discussions in a half-year or so (the to-read queue is even longer than the to-drink queue is).

Mark Lipton

I think it would be good for a year or two, but think it was synthetic cork. Sooner rather than later is my plastic theory.

I mostly liked Heat. Some great vignettes.There were parts that were redundant, and occasionally it did read like a collection of articles, but mostly quite interesting. One day I want to drag a pig carcass into a Manhattan co-op.

"Wine and War" was iffier. Some great stories. But very poorly edited, there is repetition and little sense of flow. I also felt that there could have been more hard reporting. Authors seemed a bit gullible (every sale of a poor bottle of wine was an act of resistance, folks forced into joining Nazi party, etc). But it's worth reading if only for the story about the wine dinner that Gaston Huet and other prisoners of war put together in a stalag.

Agreed with Ed R. re Bourdain.

How do you manage to accumulate detailed notes on the wines you drink. Do you take contemporaneous notes? Do you have a prehensile memory that allows such specific recall? Do you discuss the wines as an aid to recall?

I would never be able to remember 3 or 4 wines so precisely after a night of drinking, and I'd be self-conscious scribbling notes in a restaurant or, especially, in someone else's house. If I like a wine, I can usually remember the main reason(s) why, but not to your degree. I'm curious about the process you use.

Reminds me of a great quote by Bert Sugar, the boxing writer, I heard on the radio (ok, a podcast of a radio broadcast): I'd rather be a good liver than have one.

At real wine-centric dinners with my usual groups I take notes as we go.

At occasions like this- dinner with friends, me the only geek, I usually don't. In this case, 4 wines, all of which I had expectations for, not hard to remember how they matched- or didn't- expectations. I've written notes for wines for quite a few years- if you know you're going to write up notes, your brain puts thoughts aside.

On occasion I go to a non-geek event, where there are many many wines. In those cases I usually stop and take quick notes on 4-5 wines at a time.

cheers,

"DaleW" wrote in news:1168311717.604474.21350@

And, don't you think that there is a difference between both methods?

I mean, I also attend lunches and dinners and take notes. But, then, when I comment them with friends over the internet, I usually re-adjust my perceptions. Like I need some time to make my judgement.

S.