I don’t know what’s going on but for the last 6 months or so I’ve been enjoying drier wines less and less. I’ve gone from actively searching out “harsh” tasting wines to finding stuff that came across as a fruit bomb a year ago a “bit too dry” now. I never sought out drier wine initially, I was very happy to drink nothing but sweet red blends, but as I drank more and more I just gravitated to the drier ones as I noticed interesting strains of flavor that I really liked. But now I’m going in the opposite direction. (this is all within the last 2 and a half years or so - had never drunk at all before that)
First world problems, but it’s a bit maddening because I’m never been more in wine nirvana than with the driest of wines - stuff that tastes so good it’s practically an existential crisis because you can’t fathom how something tastes as good as that.
Has anyone experienced something similar? The only explanation I can think of is that it’s because I’ve reduced my consumption from ~2 bottles a week to half a bottle. Is that all that’s going on? I’ve noticed a similar reaction to bourbon as well as I’ve cut my consumption of that (it tastes like “medicine” again rather than the spicy wooden flavor of before). If so, I can live with that for now. I guess I just want to know there’s light at the end of the tunnel (lol!).
Not to be obtuse, but I am with Craig…make sure your health is right. Get a routine health screening done. Some underlying health problems can manifest as a change in palate.
There are things that can alter your sense of smell, which can change your impression of taste, there are issues with your mucous membranes that can change your taste sensation, and there are metabolic things that can alter our perceptions, as well.
Dental problems, sinus/nasal issues, medications, tobacco, even kidney or liver unhappiness can be present in ways we don’t notice directly, but can underlie a change in palate.
If everything is OK, then simply enjoy where your tastes are leading you!
Edited to add: Any other change in your tastes in foods, beverages; or just wine?
Over the years, my subjective perception of dry wines has for short periods spontaneously and seemingly involuntarily shifted in focus. I can go for months if not years really enjoying and focusing on the complex and often subtle nuances of dry wines to suddenly in the short term finding myself distracted and a little annoyed by the acidity, structure and absence of a significant level of perceived richness in the wines. During those periods, I may drink more slightly off dry wines (such as Austrian Grunver Veltliners, Huet Vouvrays, etc.), but it is not something to worry about. Inevitably, the pendulum swings in the other direction and I gradually gravitate back to the drier wines such as Chablis, German Trocken Rieslings, low dosage Champagnes, etc.
Maybe it is your consumption, I used to be in the restaurant business and when I was tasting wines constantly, what I really enjoyed at the end of the day were the most tart and palate cleansing wines. When you drink less, you can handle the bigger, riper reds without getting fatigued.
This was an odd thing to say. I really can’t think of any Austrian Grüner Veltliner that was off-dry. To my knowledge basically all of them are always dry with residual sugar bouncing in the ballpark of 0-6 g/l.
Been through this a few times and coincidentally it’s that time again after the holidays and the excess sweets. For me, I reset by doing a 2-4 week cleanse. Nothing “relatively” crazy, just eliminating sugar, coffee, and alcohol. After about 14-21 days, my taste buds seem to completely transform back to normal and actually become more heightened. Nothing worst than popping a unicorn and being let down from distorted taste, which has unfortunately happened a couple times over the last week or so.
That´s not true - there are a lot of GV with residual sugar way beyond what´s legally dry (now labelled “halbtrocken”/half dry, above 18g/l “lieblich”, above 45 süß/sweet … until the late 80ies there were still more off-dry GV …
In fact there are quite a few legally labelled “trocken” with a rs between 4 and 9 gr/l (provided that the acidity is no more than 2 gr/l lower than the rs).
Several Smaragds from the Wachau have rs beween 5 and 9 gr/l … and not the least famous names …
(Hirtzberger-Singerriedel 1999 had 8.8 gr./l rs … with acidity around 7 gr/l)
However a wine designated Smaragd (only in the Wachau possible) has to be legally dry with an alc. of 12.5 or above.
Yes I know, the same thing goes with German wines. However, most of the sweeter wines you mentioned are consumed more or less locally and most of the stuff that’s exported from Austria is legally dry (i.e under that 9 g/l you mentioned) and very few go beyond that 6 g/l. I assumed the wines we were talking about were GV wines that are exported - and I’d say a lion’s share of those wines are not only technically dry but also actually bone-dry.
I checked a few dozen GV wines sold here in Finland (here the wines have to show their technical analyses for alcohol, residual sugar and acidity) just to make sure. Only one wine had 5 g/l, the others 0-3 g/l of residual sugar.
Hi Otto. I understand your point, but I’m not really a numbers guy and for me my subjective perception of the overall degree of dryness or sweetness of a particular wine, which is influenced by a number of factors besides residual sugar, is all that really matters. Many Austrian Gruner Veltliners may technically be dry but for me they exhibit a noticeable richness that I don’t get in many other white wines that are technically dry. In any event, even technically there is much debate about the complex impact of sugar in wines. See for example: The Sweet Spot: Understanding Sugar in Wine - Kelli White - Articles - GuildSomm