an interesting observation on environment and wine enjoyment

Glenn_L_e_v_i_n_e · February 7, 2009, 7:14pm

i have my friend Keely visiting me with my 5 y/o God-daughter Lily this week. an excessive exposure to Hannah Montana has lead to a bottle being opened nightly or more frequently! disclosure: i am a lifelong bachelor and have never lived with a little girl before, i am holding on - barely!

so Keely was a big-time ski racer in her day and has the resultant medical chart you’d expect: multiple lumbar surgeries, multiple extremity surgeries, significant closed head injuries and some cervical damage. for her neck she uses a microwavable, wrap-around heating pad that is laced with a clove/cinnamon kind of smell - really fairly powerful especially once warmed up.

last night we got home from dinner and settled in to watch Slumdog Millionaire and i popped a 2005 Small Vines PN from the RRV, a wine i have adored on multiple other occasions. with the heating pad “perfume” wafting thru my crib i must say this wine took on intense forest-floor and pine notes with a bitterness, fruit was partially hidden too. not @ all what i had experienced in the past.

so was last night just the result of an olfactory overload or was the bottle off in some way? i favor the former without any real evidence.

LMD_Ermitano · February 7, 2009, 7:21pm

I’d guess the former. In my experience, what I smell materially affects my tasting. At dinners, when the person seated beside or nearby has a very pungent smelling cheese my nose and palate start getting confused and I have to concentrate very hard on the wine to block it out as much as possible.

Dick_Krueger · February 7, 2009, 7:48pm

Strong smells in conjunction with with wine can significantly alter your perception. Both olfactory fatigue and masking have major effects.

Our favorite restaurant here in Santa Fe has a ‘no fragrance’ policy. People with perfume or other fragrance are turned away. It makes for a much better wine and food experience than having someone with strong perfume sitting at the next table affecting everything.

Peter_Cargasacchi · February 7, 2009, 8:02pm

I agree, sensory overload. A trick is to smell the back of your wrist or forearm with a few good sniffs up close. Then smell the wine. I don’t know why but that will momentarily cancel out the background smells. It also works in tastings of numerous wines to recalibrate.

Shawnda_H · February 7, 2009, 8:28pm

This works for me.

Sounds like your wine turned into Retsina - which I don’t favor at all.

Mary_Baker · February 7, 2009, 9:03pm

Olfactory environs for sure. It isn’t always that an aroma is “overpowering.” Sometimes a specific strong aroma will just detract your olfactory attention from the same aroma in the wine. What you smell/experience in your immediate surroundings will cancel out (in your brain) those same aromas in the wine. So what you were experiencing was the Small Vines without the spice that would normally balance the other components of the wine.

I once drank a young cab franc and smoked a cigar (somewhat unsuccessfully) on the porch of a local farmhouse with an oldtimer who learned this pairing from Andre Tschelitscheff. The tannin and smoke in the cigar inures your tastebuds to those harsh factors in a young, tannic cab franc, and what you taste after a puff is just the pure fruit in the wine. Amazing experience for me, especially sitting on the porch steps under a raging rancho sunset and listening to stories about Tschelitscheff from a man who actually knew him.

Associated experiences: if you are drinking heavily-oaked wines, or syrahs, or tempranillo with grilled meats, or at a barbecue with smoke in the air, you will “taste” less of the smoke, bloody mineral quality, etc. in the wine and experience more of the fruit. The elements don’t always have to be in the food served with wine; sometimes just an aroma can “cancel out” certain characteristics. Sometimes this is a good thing in that you can visualize how the wine will develop with age; sometimes as in your case, it may be detrimental because it subtracts a part of the wine that is a core component.

Cris_Whetstone · February 7, 2009, 11:37pm

I’ve done what Peter said also.

Anything that has a ton of aromatics can over power your wine or some of it’s characteristics. Can be frustrating. Its one reason why I don’t get wine with cigars. Might as well break out the cheap stuff but I suppose waving the big labels goes along with wanting hot cylindrical objects in one’s mouth.

Mary_Baker · February 7, 2009, 11:52pm

Well that’s a new signature line if I’ve ever heard one.

Eric_Anderson · February 8, 2009, 2:02am

Mary Baker:

Olfactory environs for sure. It isn’t always that an aroma is “overpowering.” Sometimes a specific strong aroma will just detract your olfactory attention from the same aroma in the wine. What you smell/experience in your immediate surroundings will cancel out (in your brain) those same aromas in the wine. So what you were experiencing was the Small Vines without the spice that would normally balance the other components of the wine.

I once drank a young cab franc and smoked a cigar (somewhat unsuccessfully) on the porch of a local farmhouse with an oldtimer who learned this pairing from Andre Tschelitscheff. The tannin and smoke in the cigar inures your tastebuds to those harsh factors in a young, tannic cab franc, and what you taste after a puff is just the pure fruit in the wine. Amazing experience for me, especially sitting on the porch steps under a raging rancho sunset and listening to stories about Tschelitscheff from a man who actually knew him.

For me, cigars haven’t been so much an olfactory distraction, as much as a searing onslaught on the tongue. I suppose the fruit was still there, but the nuances were sure gone.

Bob_Wood · February 8, 2009, 3:33am

Cigars and young port are an inspired combination. You think the port has aged ten years longer than it has. Ditto cigars and cognac.

Glenn_L_e_v_i_n_e · February 8, 2009, 3:37am

Mary Baker:

Olfactory environs for sure. It isn’t always that an aroma is “overpowering.” Sometimes a specific strong aroma will just detract your olfactory attention from the same aroma in the wine. What you smell/experience in your immediate surroundings will cancel out (in your brain) those same aromas in the wine. So what you were experiencing was the Small Vines without the spice that would normally balance the other components of the wine.

I once drank a young cab franc and smoked a cigar (somewhat unsuccessfully) on the porch of a local farmhouse with an oldtimer who learned this pairing from Andre Tschelitscheff. The tannin and smoke in the cigar inures your tastebuds to those harsh factors in a young, tannic cab franc, and what you taste after a puff is just the pure fruit in the wine. Amazing experience for me, especially sitting on the porch steps under a raging rancho sunset and listening to stories about Tschelitscheff from a man who actually knew him.

Associated experiences: if you are drinking heavily-oaked wines, or syrahs, or tempranillo with grilled meats, or at a barbecue with smoke in the air, you will “taste” less of the smoke, bloody mineral quality, etc. in the wine and experience more of the fruit. The elements don’t always have to be in the food served with wine; sometimes just an aroma can “cancel out” certain characteristics. Sometimes this is a good thing in that you can visualize how the wine will develop with age; sometimes as in your case, it may be detrimental because it subtracts a part of the wine that is a core component.

thanks for this, appreciated.

Brian_G_r_a_f_s_t_r_o_m · February 8, 2009, 9:21pm

Mary Baker:

Olfactory environs for sure. It isn’t always that an aroma is “overpowering.” Sometimes a specific strong aroma will just detract your olfactory attention from the same aroma in the wine. What you smell/experience in your immediate surroundings will cancel out (in your brain) those same aromas in the wine. So what you were experiencing was the Small Vines without the spice that would normally balance the other components of the wine.

I once drank a young cab franc and smoked a cigar (somewhat unsuccessfully) on the porch of a local farmhouse with an oldtimer who learned this pairing from Andre Tschelitscheff. The tannin and smoke in the cigar inures your tastebuds to those harsh factors in a young, tannic cab franc, and what you taste after a puff is just the pure fruit in the wine. Amazing experience for me, especially sitting on the porch steps under a raging rancho sunset and listening to stories about Tschelitscheff from a man who actually knew him.

Associated experiences: if you are drinking heavily-oaked wines, or syrahs, or tempranillo with grilled meats, or at a barbecue with smoke in the air, you will “taste” less of the smoke, bloody mineral quality, etc. in the wine and experience more of the fruit. The elements don’t always have to be in the food served with wine; sometimes just an aroma can “cancel out” certain characteristics. Sometimes this is a good thing in that you can visualize how the wine will develop with age; sometimes as in your case, it may be detrimental because it subtracts a part of the wine that is a core component.

so, what you’re saying is, CdP producers would be best-served to taste their wine alongside their farm’s manure pile?

seriously though … I’ve always wondered why wine always seems to taste better at the Tasting Room than it does “at home.” I figure many different factors are at play, including that which you describe above.