tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6745003136564123305.post5742375209549699212..comments2024-03-22T00:35:12.415-07:00Comments on HoseMaster of Wine™: EPHEMERA: Let Your Gizmos Go!Ron Washam, HMWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11238869156614617705noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6745003136564123305.post-52454369082111412772015-08-29T01:51:26.086-07:002015-08-29T01:51:26.086-07:00Ron, sometimes you understand wine better than any...Ron, sometimes you understand wine better than any wine writer I know.<br /><br />I have 2 Riedel Oregon Pinot Noir glasses. I got them both for a dollar at the Goodwill, they're the size of clown shoes, and they sit on the top shelf collecting dust. I have 6 regular wine glasses, which I use if they're clean or if I have a really nice wine. Otherwise, we drink our wine out of Mason Jars, and it tastes fantastic.<br /><br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13849290999060380035noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6745003136564123305.post-76203582023162958392015-08-28T10:31:06.346-07:002015-08-28T10:31:06.346-07:00Love it HM!!! Thank you for all the assertiveness...Love it HM!!! Thank you for all the assertiveness lessons. My cake was taken last month when a wine rep said of an pricey Riesling that had no discernible nose, "it's still keeping its secretes from us". My reply was "maybe it just sucks." May God bless you with his noodly appendages. <br />Joseph Comforthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07869768700460763898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6745003136564123305.post-1830386480064886552015-08-27T22:23:35.288-07:002015-08-27T22:23:35.288-07:00Eyrie uses the Stölzle Bordeaux stem for everythin...Eyrie uses the Stölzle Bordeaux stem for everything. Trust me, I can walk there in ten minutes.WV.AVAshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08472507236309710814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6745003136564123305.post-84140992414519351392015-08-27T19:50:30.622-07:002015-08-27T19:50:30.622-07:00Hey, you're a baseball guy.
Talk about bootin...Hey, you're a baseball guy.<br /><br />Talk about booting a routine ground ball to first bsse à la Bill Buckner.<br /><br />Hell sweetheart, get me rewrite!<br /><br />"I ran the piece through a 'fuck' filter for better taste. Hypocrite."<br /><br />(Susan's now satisfied, and the world is once again safe for democracy . . .)Bob Henryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09099196210297757292noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6745003136564123305.post-91940169716020228162015-08-27T18:41:36.825-07:002015-08-27T18:41:36.825-07:00Don,
A great glass won't help an average wine,...Don,<br />A great glass won't help an average wine, and an average glass won't kill a great wine. I love beautiful stemware, but there's a point where it's just jerking off. Fussing over glassware is about the host, and not the wine. That's what leaves a foul taste in my mouth. Thanks for chiming in!<br /><br />Marcia Love,<br />Too many people treat their wines like they're fragile, or shy, or misunderstood--until they free them, or help them, with gimmicks and gizmos. As I said, I find it sad. Not wrong, not evil, not even stupid, but very sad.<br /><br />Bob,<br />Yes, so an aerator simply eliminates the sulfur compounds a bit quicker. Opening it early, swirling it for a bit, and being patient gives the same result. Oxygen interacts with wine very slowly. You can blow off that free sulfur fairly quickly, but the actual effects of "breathing," the slow interaction of oxygen with the wine that makes it more interesting after an hour or two, can't be hastened with gizmos. Not magnets or blenders or aerators or fart bubbles. It's chemistry. The gizmos are mostly shams that prey on the insecurities of wine folks. <br /><br />I don't care what people spend their money on, just don't pretend your glass or your toy is actually doing things it ain't. <br /><br />Ziggy,<br />"Start" drinking straight from the bottle? OK. I'll play along. <br /><br />Though I think worrying about the nutrition in wine is a bit like analyzing the nutritional value of semen. Kind of not the point, even straight from the...never mind.<br /><br />Dave,<br />Wow, a Whitman reference! Nice. Or was it a skunk reference? Either way, it works.<br /><br />Susan Darling,<br />Oh, when I write Ephemera, it's more me than the HoseMaster. Much less foul language, though offensive in other ways.<br /><br />I ran the piece through an F-Bomb filter for better taste. Hypocrite.<br /><br />Ron Washam, HMWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11238869156614617705noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6745003136564123305.post-89378423899278785602015-08-27T16:10:11.266-07:002015-08-27T16:10:11.266-07:00C'mon Hoser.
Satisfy Susan's request: dro...C'mon Hoser.<br /><br />Satisfy Susan's request: drop the bomb.<br /><br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6WD7B_I_9cBob Henryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09099196210297757292noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6745003136564123305.post-9003799858604592452015-08-27T14:16:16.083-07:002015-08-27T14:16:16.083-07:00Mmmm, this blog is customarily rated "R"...Mmmm, this blog is customarily rated "R", but occasionally you come across a piece that could subversively fall into "G" category if there were no appearance of the "F-bomb". A far cry from your stereotype HoseMaster. But I'm needy now, not the wine. I need HoseMaster to aerate this blog and keep it ethereal.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04358440123116736195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6745003136564123305.post-53845176971120542752015-08-27T14:15:00.624-07:002015-08-27T14:15:00.624-07:00Oh Captain, mercaptan!Oh Captain, mercaptan!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14334706467397335458noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6745003136564123305.post-10005983872447946142015-08-27T12:41:55.818-07:002015-08-27T12:41:55.818-07:00Ziggy,
As I'm reading your comment, I'm h...Ziggy,<br /><br />As I'm reading your comment, I'm hearing Tom Lehrer's earworm "The Elements" in my head.<br /><br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGM-wSKFBpo<br /><br />~~ BobBob Henryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09099196210297757292noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6745003136564123305.post-64813115618956242592015-08-27T12:23:51.894-07:002015-08-27T12:23:51.894-07:00Hose, you left out the fact that by using all thos...Hose, you left out the fact that by using all those gizmos you probably reduced the nutritional numbers too:<br /><br />Grapes, red or green<br />Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)<br />Energy 288 kJ (69 kcal)<br />Carbohydrates<br />18.1 g<br />Sugars 15.48 g<br />Dietary fiber 0.9 g<br />Fat<br />0.16 g<br />Protein<br />0.72 g<br />Vitamins<br />Thiamine (B1) (6%) 0.069 mg<br />Riboflavin (B2) (6%) 0.07 mg<br />Niacin (B3) (1%) 0.188 mg<br />Pantothenic acid (B5)<br />(1%) 0.05 mg<br />Vitamin B6 (7%) 0.086 mg<br />Folate (B9) (1%) 2 μg<br />Choline (1%) 5.6 mg<br />Vitamin C (4%) 3.2 mg<br />Vitamin E (1%) 0.19 mg<br />Vitamin K (14%) 14.6 μg<br />Trace minerals<br />Calcium (1%) 10 mg<br />Iron (3%) 0.36 mg<br />Magnesium (2%) 7 mg<br />Manganese (3%) 0.071 mg<br />Phosphorus (3%) 20 mg<br />Potassium (4%) 191 mg<br />Sodium (0%) 2 mg<br />Zinc (1%) 0.07 mg<br />Other constituents<br />Fluoride 7.8 µg<br /><br />I think I'll just start drinking straight from the bottle.Ziggyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00575751456094003292noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6745003136564123305.post-57341476200603168342015-08-27T11:30:18.774-07:002015-08-27T11:30:18.774-07:00If you swirl your glass sufficiently long, your wi...If you swirl your glass sufficiently long, your wine won't need an aerator.<br /><br />From The Wall Street Journal <br />(April 27, 1998, Section and Page Unknown):<br /><br />“Breakthrough! Pulmonary Doctor Discovers Key to Wine Breathing”<br /><br />[Link: http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB893624845856856000]<br /><br />By Ron Winslow<br />Staff ReporterBob Henryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02089688073031173053noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6745003136564123305.post-74061222567802781202015-08-27T11:15:14.999-07:002015-08-27T11:15:14.999-07:00As a counterpoint to the Bill [De-]Nye, anti-scien...As a counterpoint to the Bill [De-]Nye, anti-science guys of the world . . .<br /><br />Excerpts from the Los Angeles Times “Food” Section<br />(May 6, 2009, Page E1ff):<br /><br />“Call It Aroma Therapy for Wine”<br /><br />[Link: http://articles.latimes.com/2009/may/06/food/fo-wineair6]<br /><br />By W. Blake Gray<br />Special to The Times<br /><br />"The word 'closed' does not have a physical meaning for [wine] sensory testing," says Andrew Waterhouse, chairman of the Department of Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis. <br /><br />Further, Waterhouse says the implication that a "closed" wine is missing something is a misdiagnosis. In fact, rather than withholding scents, the wine is actually giving you something extra: sulfur compounds that are potent enough even in tiny amounts to cover up the fresh fruit aromas you want to smell.<br /><br />Sulfur occurs naturally in both grapes and the yeasts that turn grapes into wine. Sulfur forms more than 100 compounds called mercaptans. These sulfuric compounds form differently and unpredictably in every bottle of wine. <br /><br />When exposed to air, they eventually re-form into something less annoying, but they need a few minutes to do so. We call it "breathing," but it's really a seething sea of recombining elements.<br /><br />"I think of wine as a tier of about 100 different compounds that are either taking on oxygen or passing it on to something else," says Kenneth Fugelsang, associate professor of enology at Cal State Fresno. "When that process is finished, the wine is ready to drink."<br /><br />Even if you don't smell rotting cabbage, asparagus or burnt rubber -- some of mercaptan's more noxious calling cards -- sulfur compounds are still what keep you from fully enjoying wine right away.<br /><br />"These reductive compounds are excellent masking agents," Fugelsang says. "They can hide the positive characteristics of any wine."Bob Henryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02089688073031173053noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6745003136564123305.post-50476424456043744692015-08-27T09:35:48.212-07:002015-08-27T09:35:48.212-07:00My favorite phrase: "the Blanche DuBois of al...My favorite phrase: "the Blanche DuBois of alcoholic beverages." Ha! So frail. So incapable of taking care of herself. She could use some aerating!Marcia Macomberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07237764449953259939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6745003136564123305.post-67660431062543358482015-08-27T08:53:23.219-07:002015-08-27T08:53:23.219-07:00This post nails it! I love wine, but it has become...This post nails it! I love wine, but it has become excruciatingly clear that there are WAY too many ways to mess with it. A couple of years ago, on vacation, I realized that I had not packed any wine glasses. I do prefer stemware (I'm an aesthete, I guess...), so I stopped at the local Walmart (hate that part of the story) and picked up a dozen wine glasses for $9.99. Long story short, I now do the same thing every year when we go to the same vacation spot, in order to replace those glasses that have broken on the way. They work just fine. SB, CS, Syrah, Prosecco or anything else tastes just fine. NOBODY complains...Don Clemenshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01018421143636593792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6745003136564123305.post-74793732850034065402015-08-27T08:04:28.279-07:002015-08-27T08:04:28.279-07:00Carl,
"Catalytic converter" is perfect! ...Carl,<br />"Catalytic converter" is perfect! Too many foolish wine gizmos on the market, and virtually all of them utterly useless in helping to understand and enjoy wine. Harmless, but a waste of money, and something of a tell that the person touting them doesn't know that much about wine. Oh well...Ron Washam, HMWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11238869156614617705noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6745003136564123305.post-68544522310354995682015-08-27T07:29:42.746-07:002015-08-27T07:29:42.746-07:00Just like the dog toy in the shape of a fire hydra...Just like the dog toy in the shape of a fire hydrant, we are sold goofy stuff because we can be conned. The dog goes along with the joke just for fun.<br />I don't want a catalytic converter on my car, much less stuck in my wine glass to "taste how it would be with some age on it". No tannin twaddlers for me.<br /><br />Just like the aluminized weight loss jogging suits from the 80's, people want to get more faster and cheaper. I used to get a laugh at folks running in the summer heat in D.C. wearing a human basting bag.Carl LaFonghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07791645778261214588noreply@blogger.com