Point well taken.
How do you feel about “twinkles”?
I’m ok with metaphors. They are always ambiguous, but that’s part of how they work. Given that sensations can’t be reproduced in language, only pointed too, all tasting notes are gestural. I get what “twinkles” is doing I think. I much prefer it to the delusory referentiality of Black Forest cake.
Short version: “rwinkles is just all right with me.
(FIFY)
We are in agreement, as we so often are.
I don’t see an author credited for this review:
Aroma: apple butter on toasted sunflower bread, honeyed mushroom jerky, pineapple husk, and leather mechanic’s gloves
Flavor: Same as aromas with touches of tepache and pulque, medicated vaseline, celery and honey spa water, and chlorophyl [sic]
I am not sure why the gloves are specifically mechanic’s gloves–is it the hint of engine oil or grease? And “celery and honey spa water” is an odd one to me (personally, I prefer eucalyptus or rosemary, but chacun à son goût.
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Medicated vaseline was the descriptor that stood out to me as bizarrely out of place and uniquely unappealing. Especially as a taste rather than an aroma descriptor. Like Vicks Mentholated VapoRub? A sexual lubricant with spermicide?
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I for one have never tasted mechanic’s gloves. Must be my sheltered upbringing.
wasn’t there a Spinal Tap album called Smell the Glove?
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Definitely unappealing, but at least it’s a thing. Whereas “celery and honey spa water” takes some imagining…
Did the glove have medicated vaseline on it?
You’ll have to ask Derek Smalls.
Yes, there’s a distinctive aroma to greasy gloves. Maybe sweat adds a je ne sais quoi to the grease notes.
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2016 SenaDecanter 97**
The Seña vineyard was planted in 1998 in the heart of the Aconcagua Valley, and since 1995 it’s provided the fruit for a single vineyard blend based on Cabernet Sauvignon. This new release is 55% Cabernet, with 20% Malbec, 15% Petit Verdot, 8% Carménère and 2% Cabernet Franc. Winemaker Francisco Baettig works with these grapes to obtain the greatest freshness, and the very cold temperatures of 2016 certainly helped him in this task. The 2016 is vibrant, full of notes of flowers and spices, with a medium-bodied palate showing juicy acidity and firm, sharp tannins, like small needles. A linear, vertical wine, this is probably the best version to date." - Patricio Tapia, Decanter, 97
So many questions…
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A little chronological confusion there. As he states, the Sena vineyard was only planted in 1997-99, so it couldn’t provide the fruit for any 1995 bottling. In fact, in those early years, the fruit was sourced from other places.
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There’s that “vertical” word again. But a “linear vertical” wine would seem to be one with no breadth.
This is a riot, and very much in the spirit of this thread.
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I haven’t been able to find that one on the Penfolds site, but there are a couple of other doozies from the winemaker of this McLaren Valley tempranillo:
Plum paste and sarsaparilla with pork crackling and prosciutto.
Lifted spice aromatics of cinnamon and nutmeg are redolent of a Moroccan bakery.
There is a suggestion of graphite and steel on whetstone.
Dark cherries and strawberry bramble round out the fruit aromatics.
An exotic amalgam that entices you in for more. Plum, wild cherry and cranberry are varietal markers, complimented by rosemary, fennel and sage earthy tones.
On the palate the graphite and steel aromatics emerge ferric and
slaty.
There is a saline, film-like texture with supple tannins that build over time.
A wine in need of Tapas!
Points for “ferric,” but “graphite and steel on whetstone”?
A Mediterranean (apols, McLaren Vale) disposition - scents of an emboldened 'pizza mix just about to go into oven! Replete with flashes of tomato/bruschetta/basil/salted meats/salami/capsicum/olive. Oak in hiding.
With air, berried notes and an accompaniment of glazed cherry, chocolate powder stridently ascend.PALATE Expansive - laterally (pushes sideways) across the palate An energized acid grip commands respect cucumber/tomato-like acidity. Better-mannered - very finely-ground tannins, background oak.
The savoury, yellow tomato/sun-dried tomato/fetta jostling with the sumptuous, summer-
pudding ripe-berry/breadiness.
I never think of cucumber as acidic, but what do I know.
I know what summer puddling is, and it involves bread soaked with fruit juices, but “summer-pudding ripe-berry/breadiness”?
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So, if summer pudding is bread soaked in fruit (surely this is English; only they could have figured out how to take a piece of bread and some ripe fruit and ruin both of them), then summer pudding like ripe berried breadiness makes sense on its own terms. How a wine would taste like that and why one would want it to is another question.
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Summer pudding is made with fresh fruits of the season. You line a bowl with crustless white bread, press it against the bowl and pour the fruits into the bowl and then let it rest so the bread soaks up the juices. You invert it onto a plate before serving.
It’s quite yummy, but I don’t think of it tasting of “breadiness.”
Like I said. For reference, I’m not a fan of blancmange either. Or kippers. Roast beef is another matter. And the Victorian practice of having a cold joint on offer for breakfast also sounds like a nice way to start the day.
With good berries, it’s really a superb peasant dish. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.
I haven’t thought about that stuff for decades! I remember it at my British cousin’s house when I was a kid. I didn’t much care for the bread but the berries fascinated me because they included different colored currants and of course raspberries, but she also grew gooseberries and threw some of those in.
Good one…I feel like with this tasting note, I would have an equal chance of drinking something amazing, putrid, or poisonous.
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2nd time I’ve seen this word in 24 hours! I was reading Matilda to my daughter last night and came across it. I had never even heard of this, which seems weird in hindsight. At any rate, I stopped reading and told my daughter I have no idea what this word is. Let’s consult the dictionary and figure out what it is and how to pronounce it, so we both learned something new.