Molecular Wine Gastronomy: Ever Done An Experiment?

WINE TALK
1

Hi Gang,

As a long-time foodie who has recently become a newly-minted wine berserker, a couple of months back I performed a molecular gastronomy experiment on my icewine I’d like to share with you and was wondering if any of you have ever done any experimenting of your own with wine.

After sampling regular and barrel-aged vidal icewine, I did some more research on the effects of aging wine in oak barrels has and essentially boiled it down to vanillin, wood tannin, and smoke flavanoids from the char or toast of the barrels. Overly simplistic, but go with me here a second.

I decided to experiment and see if I could recreate the taste of an oak-aged vidal icewine by adding exactly one drop each of liquid smoke and pure homemade vanilla extract I made myself to a single 2 oz serving of Vidal icewine.

When I tasted my mad experimental concoction, I got a bit of a surprise. The final taste wasn’t similar to the oak-aged vidal I tasted in Niagara – it was more akin to another wine altogether: Sauternes.

Now don’t get me wrong, I hadn’t suddenly recreated a Chateau D’Yquem through nefarious and instantaneous chemical means. [stirthepothal.gif] If anything, it was an incredibly weak imitation but the distinction was definitely there. So I went back and did some net research and learned that our Niagara, ON vineyards do indeed occasionally get a rare touch of the good old noble rot on occasion which is almost imperceptible normally in icewine but suddenly became slightly detectable to me by adding the wood and vanilla flavor compounds.

I would never repeat this experiment again because the end result was a liquid not good enough to be Sauternes, of course, and no longer recognizable as icewine, oak-aged or not. But it was certainly fun to try.

Have any of you ever played mad scientist with your wines in any way, shape or form? If so… what were your expected results and what did you actually get? [drinkers.gif]

2

As a rule, I don’t monkey around with wines I’ve spent good money on. I did nearly throttle a couple my wife brought around who were “blending” wines I had put out for dinner.

3

I agree that this shouldn’t be done with an excellent wine you’ve spent an arm and a leg on. This is why I just experimented on one glass of a $40 Vidal icewine. I thought that if I was going to ruin it, better to ruin one small serving than an entire bottle.

4

I must sadly admit, Anthony, that on exactly two occasions I have in fact “blended” two wines myself in an impulsive manner just to see if doing so would get me the same result as a cuveé or fortified wine. Of course I was completely dead wrong.

Blame it on my naivité/lack of willpower/idiocy. I just had to know at the time. I swear I’ll never do that again. Please don’t strangle me to death. [thankyou.gif]

In fairness, though, I did this in the privacy of my own apartment with my own wines, NOT as a guest in someone else’s house with their wines. Good God, I can’t believe they did that. [shock.gif]