To my understanding, that metallic taste is actually brett. It’s a note that appears in bretty wines that have been aging for decades. Many wines have developed to a point you can’t really notice any obvious bretty notes, but that piercing metallic note - like sucking on rusty nails - just doesn’t leave.
It has nothing to do with Nebbiolo, but it’s definitely very common in older Nebbiolos - especially those from Alto Piemonte. However, I’ve tasted that note in many other old wines as well. Quite common in rustic old Portuguese reds and some older Heredia wines (especially Tondonia Reserva) seem to develop it as well.
Barbera - even the “better” stuff just tastes like cask wine. No idea why the Piedmontese rave about this variety…yes it goes with food due to the acid, but it is boring as hell. Have tasted G Rinaldi, B Mascarello and Burlotto examples, among other cheaper options.
Gloopy and bloated American wines eg Sine Qua Non, Colgin etc
Gloopy shiraz eg Torbreck, Wild Duck Creek, Noon etc
Belle Glos Dairyman. It would be tied with many (possibly hundreds) of similar wines but that stupid giant wax thing is a tiebreaker.
I would agree with everyone on Retsina, except I had one in a little taverna in Greece years ago that was pretty good and that I still remember fondly. I wouldn’t exactly call it great, but it was fun and eminently drinkable.
Thanks, Otto. I bet you’re right. In fact, I posted a tasting note of this very wine and you mentioned that in the response. Interesting that it is not particular to nebbiolo. I’ve only tasted it in nebbiolo based wines that are way too old for their own good, but then again, I’ve only tasted it a few times at all. Also, I realize now that the OP was asking about “style of wine”. Metallic overly aged oxidized bretty wine isn’t exactly a style, it’s just flawed wine.
I’ve only had Retsina a few times, always the cheap-o stuff in your typical inexpensive corner Greek restaurant, and I agree that it is pretty bad. However, I ran across this article a few years ago that made me curious to perhaps give Retsina another try: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/17/dining/drinks/retsina-wine-greece.html
A really interesting thread - bizarre but interesting . . .
The only wines I find ‘impossible to drink’ are what I would consider ‘faulty’ wines - overtly bretty, high VA, mousy, bacterial issues.
Other than that, it just comes down to preference - and there are nights when pretty much any other wine would be ‘okay’ - may not be my preference but I would not call them ‘disgusting’ . . .
I’ve actually had some decent high-quality Retsina that isn’t bad. It still isn’t my style of choice, but the well-made examples are actually very good.
So all you people who have had bad examples decades ago - keep in mind that there are now some quality-minded producers making surprisingly serious stuff that actually doesn’t taste like nightmare juice.
Flavorless Champagne. Look, I love good Champagne. But a lot of more mass market Champagnes have no flavor and taste like acid without anything more. I have been to in store tastings where 70-80% of the Champagnes being tasted are insipid. [Contrast with say the Fete du Champagne where almost all of the wines are excellent or better.] These wines get by because so many people (mostly not on this board) drink Champagne for the bubbles and the festive mood and don’t really think about the taste. Give me good Champagne. Get rid of the stuff with no flavor.
Many shirazes from the Barossa Valley don’t work for me because they often have a taste that reminds me of Cheracol D, a cough syrup I took as a kid that I absolutely hated and can still taste to this day if I think about it.
Frankenwines made to be bigger, riper, sweeter than they ‘should’ be. Leaving the grapes hang till the sugars are so high you can’t ferment them all. Adding wood chips or sawdust to cheap plonk that would never justify the cost of a new barrel. Double oak. Mega purple.
Anything with artificial oak or excess sugar (that is not a dessert wine). Industrial Pinot Grigio. Prosecco. Bubblegum Beaujolais (but I love the good stuff).
Anything made with muscadine grapes. I hate the grape, hate the wine. My wife and I went to the North Georgia mountains for a bit. Saw a winery that had Merlot and Malbec. I thought I might check it out. Looked at their website and both of those wines were 100% Lodi. I have had some decent whites made in Georgia, and have had one drinkable red from Georgia. I can’t really understand why I should try a wine from grapes that were shipped 2500 miles across the country. If I want wine from Lodi, and I sometimes really do and like it, I’ll buy Lodi wine.