Smells Like Leafy Underbrush...?

Tonight my friends Jacquie, Mary and I attended an Intro to Wine Class that was put on by a local liquor store. We sampled 7 wines total, a split of white and red. We sniffed, we swirled, we sipped. Considering my introduction to the world of wine began with a bottle of Boone's Farm (Strawberry Hill) back in 1995, I was feeling pretty high class.

Don't worry, I'm not becoming a wine snot. I don't even aspire to be one. As the instructor talked about what wine would be good with walleye, I was thinking "Miller Lite. Honey Weiss." I just find wine interesting, and while I do like drinking it, I also find the history and nuances of it intriguing. Like the instructor pointed out, wine is not like Coca Cola. Coca Cola prides themselves on making Coke taste the exact same no matter where in the world you buy it. Wine producers, on the other hand, pride themselves on making something a little different than everyone else, and different grapes are grown in different parts of the world. So the allure of wine is trying a little bit of everything and finding what you like. And I have to admit, it can be pretty darn fun if you don't take it too seriously. So while I appreciate a nice tasting wine, I'll take it with a sense of humor.

The three of us had a hard time "experiencing" some of the smells that were supposed to waft out as we stuffed our noses in our glasses. For instance, I did not get the aroma of "fresh mowed grass, green peppers, Kiwi fruit covered with lime zest" (seriously, who comes up with this stuff?) I got: grapefruit. That's pretty much it. I did not get "a changing parade of flavors ranging from leather to earthy dried mushroom to wood smoke to leafy underbrush." I did get the wood smoke, but I guess my sniffer wasn't up to snuff on the leafy underbrush. I'm not sure I want it to be. At one time we were even asked "Does anyone get the taste of licking a wet rock?" Uh...no. But I haven't licked a rock lately, let alone a wet one, so I'll take your word for it.

But I guess this is typical. The instructor made an interesting point. People have different smell or taste references based on their life experiences. For example (and a very simplistic one), a person who grew up in the city and maybe had more access to a wide variety of ethnic foods and flavors may have a completely different impression of a wine than someone who grew up in a more rural area, who may have been exposed to less of a variety.

Farmer Ted: This wine has a bacon fat aroma with just a hint of cow poo.

City Sandy: Really? I smell more of a Spanish tapas bar infused with a slight scent of smog.

OK, so that was taking it a little too far. But we had fun with this. Mary swore she smelled a little koala in an Australian wine we tried. And seriously, some of these wine descriptions do read like a personal ad:

"Most Cabs as they mature take on interesting flavors like cigar-box cedar woodiness, mint leaf, dried tobacco leaf and roasted cocoa bean. Savory beef steak or venison needs a big wine taste and Cabernets will meet the challenge." Boy, that beef steak is one lucky fellow!

It really was an interesting class, and we did learn a bit about wine and got to taste some wines that we might otherwise be too cheap to buy - though they did keep the choices within a pretty reasonable price range. We also learned that screw caps are becoming en vogue, so don't be afraid to diss the corks. By wine #7, we were all feeling warm and sassy and were having quite a bit of fun with it. I think Jacquie summed it up: "I'm starting a wine club. Members: 1." If you find the wine that smells like fresh mowed grass, Jacquie, let me know!