What's in your glass?
- Thread starter DC
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JoeThePop
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Sometimes the wine industry reminds me of the audio industry. A certain snobbery that equates cost to quality.
I watched this documentary a few years back. It was a fascinating look into the vintage wine market and how easily one man fooled the wine snobs.
It may still be available on Amazon Prime.
That’s s great documentary. My wife actually knows some dude who had a collection of stupidly expensive wines tainted by some bought through the subject of the documentary. It was a ...sour... subject. But that’s what you get for spending $25k on a bottle of smooshed fermented grapes.
The wine scene does remind me of audio. Generally most cheap cheap cheap wines taste pretty blech to me but the few somewhat expensive wines I’ve had didn’t do anything for me. There’ll invariably be somebody at the table having an orgasm over their glass if either they ordered it or a client picked it out. Reminds me of the night and day differences at some audio shows as this is substituted for that. Like, calm down, man. It’s very slightly different.
There are some really wonderful very reasonably priced wines around these days - and some rather horrid ones. I haven't found that reading reviews is necessarily all that helpful, either. My taste buds seem to have some pretty clear notions of what they appreciate and what doesn't impress. From our little sessions at Winology I do think we're on the same wavelength that way, though.
I've had some rather expensive wines that impressed, but sometimes more in their eccentricity than in how overall wonderful they were. One exception will remain in my mind for as long as I live, though. When visiting my long-ago ex's relatives in Germany around 1990 her uncle pulled out a bottle of a German white (what it was I've written down somewhere) that was a gift from the chairman of BASF and cost 1,000DM. My ex's uncle knew I had an appreciation for good wine and that the rest of the family was clueless so he surreptitiously saw to it that the bottle was entirely divided between the two of us. We don't usually think of German whites in the most exalted terms, but it was by far the most incredible wine I've ever experienced and the uncle and I sat grinning at each other the whole evening in quiet ecstasy. The clandestine nature of the experience might have had some influence...
JoeThePop
Known member
I'm certainly not a wine expert, I don't drink it enough, and I can't comment on the value of expensive wines. The most expensive I have ever had was probably around 50 euros each for a couple of bottles of Chianti that we purchased when in Tuscany. I have had some really good reds in the $15 to $20 range. If I could go back in time, I would love to try my Italian Grandfather's home made wine that he drank ever day. I attribute his living well into his 90's on his daily consumption of red wine.
Wineology was good times! Good way to learn about wine differences too. Audio should have flights. Digital flight- try four DACs, pair this with this kind of music, this one with this other type of music.
Like audio I’ve found that the better wines (and whiskeys) to cost more (to a point) but that every one that cost more wasn’t necessarily good. And at some point my own abilities hit a wall, like the $350 bottle of Scotch I tried awhile back or that Louis XIII cognac that’s $3500 a bottle. I tried that once and...it was fine? Glad I didn’t have to pay for it. Like listening to a $75,000 DCS DAC setup. Ok, sure? Sounds good. Better? Umm, maybe? Glad I didn’t have to pay for it.
A "perfect" audio shop would be like that! Tubes and carts as well...
Sometime if we ever get to Toronto together we should go to the LCBO that has a scotch sampling area. For a reasonable price you can try all sorts of scotches that cost vsstly more per bottle than most of us would spend. I like to compare the really expensive types with some that I would consider having on hand so I can see if my palate can determine what (if anything) might justify the price difference (apart from just age and rarity).
I think (as I kinda alluded to) that sometimes the really expensive wines (and many other things) are less multi-dimensional and quite specifically have less broad appeal than a few tiers down.
With Wine, for me, at the end of the day it’s still wine and I only like wine so much. Same with Whisky/Whiskey to be honest. So even the best wine in the world isn’t going to be worth more than $100 a bottle to me as that’s about to the point where I just don’t care enough about whatever it is the $20k bottle of wine is offering the wine fanatic.A "perfect" audio shop would be like that! Tubes and carts as well...
Sometime if we ever get to Toronto together we should go to the LCBO that has a scotch sampling area. For a reasonable price you can try all sorts of scotches that cost vsstly more per bottle than most of us would spend. I like to compare the really expensive types with some that I would consider having on hand so I can see if my palate can determine what (if anything) might justify the price difference (apart from just age and rarity).
I think (as I kinda alluded to) that sometimes the really expensive wines (and many other things) are less multi-dimensional and quite specifically have less broad appeal than a few tiers down.
Which is similar to how a lot of people feel about stereos. They care up to a point far below where most of us still find improvements.
The biggest difference between gear and wine etc. is that with gear you spend the money and when you're done you still have what you spent your money on to enjoy repeatedly. With quaffables all you have left is the memory of the experience and the rest literally goes down the drain. I'm not at all unwilling to spend money of things in life that we don't get to "keep" tangibly - travel, concerts etc. but there are limits in some directions. Tastings and flights are good in that sense as you get to have the experience without that huge investment up front.
I remember the shirt but not sure about the girl... she might be one who gets around. 🙄
This was actually Friday night. An old cocktail bar in Milwaukee that had a very 1965 charm. Not in a hipster way but in a forgotten by time way. The real deal. No menu, the bartender asked you questions and then brought you a drink. I don’t know what this was other than I think it involved rum and something spicy. A fantastic mix of atmosphere and the company of a couple my wife and I took the trip with.
Wow 11% ABV, they ain't messing around.
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