Hello; This realtes obliquely to Mike´s post concerning Mylord St Helier (pulling forelock, making leg). The reason is, it came to me one evening in Mike´s and Kathy´s garden. (Kathy of course for those not in the know being Mme Mike Tommasi). Good guy and sometimes poster Luc, from Genua, with his wife, self and Xina, were having what Kathy and Mike honestly calls a light supper, and Luc produced a bottle of Ligurian Vermentino (Colli di Luni, 2003). The wine could more aptly have been called Colli di Luna (Hills of the Moon; sorry for my atrocious Italian) because it was one of those incredibly fresh, delicate whites you sometimes get in the Mediterranean- the romantic in me thought of moonbeams and silver, cleanness and ... At this point, Earth station called me back to reality: I was asked to describe the organoleptic characteristics of the wine. I suppose moon beams doesn´t qualify as an organoleptic quality, so, I proposed hint of citrus, light acidity, and (here it comes) white flowers. This met with approval, but then came next question. WHAT white flowers? Somebody suggested honeysuckle (it might even have been me), and since the garden has a very nice honeysuckle plant this could be tested for similarities, and we concluded that it had a nice smell of chevre-feuille, or, in English honeysuckle. After that I got thinking. For one thing, as a Swede [1], if somebody had said honeysuckle, and then added, a white flower, I would have had to contend that honeysuckle is not white. Well, in Sweden it isn´t. It is pink, and yellow, and does have a much more brash and almost cloying perfume, compared to the white chevre feuille of Southern France. The term tropical fruit is similar. WHAT tropical fruit? Certainly not durian! And, if a Gewurztraminer smells of lichee, people tend to say lichee. Tropical fruit when I mention it is somewhere in between magno and fresh pineapple. So good gentles all, which white flower? And what tropical fruit? And, for that matter, what black fruit? Blackberries? Myrtilles? I know I am a number one suspect in this regard. I promise to better myself, as soon as I loose this dratted head cold and things start getting back to normal in the nasal department.
Cheers!
Nils Gustaf
[1] When in France, I discard my Swedish identity.