I'd love to know what they mean when a wine is described as "funky" in the tasting notes.
What is the correct position for storing champagne or sparkling wines-- vertically or horizontally?
You recently said, "The fifth taste, umami, is a more complicated issue in wine tasted without food." Please tell us more!
Why do different wine tastes come to the mouth, at different temperatures of the wine?
Crystal for Roderer, Comte de Champagne for Taittinger, and so on. Could you explain what difference there is between the special cuvee and the ordinary one that Champagne brands produce ? Between a glass of the special cuvee and a glass of the ordinary one, what difference should I expect ? Thank you very much in advance ! Looking forward to reading your erudite answer.
For which is it most important to decant (aerate)... Young wine that needs more oxygen or older wines that have been sitting still for a long time? Thanks, Matt
Why is there no wine museum of Virginia? Everyone touts the wine industry in Virginia but there is no museum so each year wineries come and go and the history is lost. When I worked in the early days of Silicon Valley there was genealogy tree for Silicon Valley. Basically, it was a beautifully done colorful poster that showed the earliest semiconductor companies and their founders then who left to start what company and then downward from origin to present day. History was being kept. There is so much history in Virginia regarding the wine industry from origins, to trail blazers, to introductions of new varietals and techniques. So sad there is no place to go and see and learn.
Roger, can we also look at Riesling sweetness level by the alcohol amount ?
How do limey, high pH soils produce more acidic, low pH wines. What's the mechanism?
Since you asked what your readers thought about that particular question I'd like to throw in my two cents. I agree with all your examples for classics in such or such season, like rosé in the summer. It was most likely for lack of space that you didn't mention Beaujolais nouveau. I simply wanted to mention that my friends and I, hopefully like many others, still try to hold on to seasons in the ecological sense and so do not eat cherries in the winter for instance. In that respect, and unless we drink wine on its own, our choice of wine is conditioned by the natural availability of the produce we think would be a good match for the wine because we think that fresh produce should be consumed locally. It would be a pity to waste a good bottle with the wrong produce, and it would be a shame, or one could argue a sin, to be greedy enough to buy off-season produce from half the world away instead of waiting for the right moment, making it all the more enjoyable. Thank you for your work in the world of wine!
