The Naturalistas Hesitate

[Jeff Grossman]

Just maybe a little fining and sulfur, says PCap. (The Carhartt hat speaks volumes, I think.)

"Additives we prefer to intruders" says the manager of La Dive Bouteille, and then a ruckus erupted.

Is my confirmation bias showing? Or do those footmen look just a little too much like mice?

 

[mark e]

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
The Naturalistas HesitateJust maybe a little fining and sulfur, says PCap. (The Carhartt hat speaks volumes, I think.)

"Additives we prefer to intruders" says the manager of La Dive Bouteille, and then a ruckus erupted.

Is my confirmation bias showing? Or do those footmen look just a little too much like mice?

When Robinot says, "“I prefer to drink a natural wine full of faults than a chemical wine,” “The chemical wine I won’t drink; the faulty wine I’ll drink,” he is clearly referring to his own wines which have absurd amounts of VA.

 

[Oswaldo Costa]

originally posted by mark e:

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
The Naturalistas HesitateJust maybe a little fining and sulfur, says PCap. (The Carhartt hat speaks volumes, I think.)

"Additives we prefer to intruders" says the manager of La Dive Bouteille, and then a ruckus erupted.

Is my confirmation bias showing? Or do those footmen look just a little too much like mice?

When Robinot says, "“I prefer to drink a natural wine full of faults than a chemical wine,” “The chemical wine I won’t drink; the faulty wine I’ll drink,” he is clearly referring to his own wines which have aburd amounts of VA.

Not to mention the old debating gambit of setting up a Manichean straw horse and then choosing the lesser evil.

Perhaps the debate would end if, going forward, we reserved the word natural for strictly zero zero, and used low intervention for those with a smidgen of sulfur here or there. Then natural would serve as a warning (caveat emptor), and those who prefer fault-free wine to ideological wine would stick to the latter.

 

[Jayson Cohen]

originally posted by mark e:

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
The Naturalistas HesitateJust maybe a little fining and sulfur, says PCap. (The Carhartt hat speaks volumes, I think.)

"Additives we prefer to intruders" says the manager of La Dive Bouteille, and then a ruckus erupted.

Is my confirmation bias showing? Or do those footmen look just a little too much like mice?

When Robinot says, "“I prefer to drink a natural wine full of faults than a chemical wine,” “The chemical wine I won’t drink; the faulty wine I’ll drink,” he is clearly referring to his own wines which have aburd amounts of VA.

I have never understood why Robinot has a following. And every time I visit Discovery Wines, they try to convince me to buy Robinot, and I politely nod my head and move on.

 

[Christian Miller (CMM)]

originally posted by Jayson Cohen:

originally posted by mark e:

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
The Naturalistas HesitateJust maybe a little fining and sulfur, says PCap. (The Carhartt hat speaks volumes, I think.)

"Additives we prefer to intruders" says the manager of La Dive Bouteille, and then a ruckus erupted.

Is my confirmation bias showing? Or do those footmen look just a little too much like mice?

When Robinot says, "“I prefer to drink a natural wine full of faults than a chemical wine,” “The chemical wine I won’t drink; the faulty wine I’ll drink,” he is clearly referring to his own wines which have aburd amounts of VA.

I have never understood why Robinot has a following. And every time I visit Discovery Wines, they try to convince me to buy Robinot, and I politely nod my head and move on.

If the above descriptions are true, an interesting question is whether the store staff is not cognizant of the VA, cognizant but like it, or cognizant and displeased but trying to offload it on you. I guess a fourth option is cognizant, displeased but ideologically committed.

 

[Yule Kim]

I think its option five: cognizant; pleased, but primarily ideologically committed.

 

[Jeff Grossman]

It's like that old joke about the definition of insanity, right?: making another wine without sulfur and expecting VA not to happen again.

 

[Oswaldo Costa]

originally posted by Christian Miller (CMM):

originally posted by Jayson Cohen:

originally posted by mark e:

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
The Naturalistas HesitateJust maybe a little fining and sulfur, says PCap. (The Carhartt hat speaks volumes, I think.)

"Additives we prefer to intruders" says the manager of La Dive Bouteille, and then a ruckus erupted.

Is my confirmation bias showing? Or do those footmen look just a little too much like mice?

When Robinot says, "“I prefer to drink a natural wine full of faults than a chemical wine,” “The chemical wine I won’t drink; the faulty wine I’ll drink,” he is clearly referring to his own wines which have aburd amounts of VA.

I have never understood why Robinot has a following. And every time I visit Discovery Wines, they try to convince me to buy Robinot, and I politely nod my head and move on.

If the above descriptions are true, an interesting question is whether the store staff is not cognizant of the VA, cognizant but like it, or cognizant and displeased but trying to offload it on you. I guess a fourth option is cognizant, displeased but ideologically committed.

I put the question to Robinot's Norwegian importer and he replied that he was not "especially sensitive" to VA. Boggles the mind, coming from a pro, even in Scandinavia. But when I visited Robinot in 2010, still in my ideological phase, I liked almost everything I tasted. And the guy is wacky lovable.

 

[Rahsaan]

originally posted by Jayson Cohen:

I have never understood why Robinot has a following.

The labels?

Only partially joking. Those styles may be common now, but he was out in front and made a splash when he first started.

 

[mark e]

originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:

originally posted by Christian Miller (CMM):

originally posted by Jayson Cohen:

originally posted by mark e:

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
The Naturalistas HesitateJust maybe a little fining and sulfur, says PCap. (The Carhartt hat speaks volumes, I think.)

"Additives we prefer to intruders" says the manager of La Dive Bouteille, and then a ruckus erupted.

Is my confirmation bias showing? Or do those footmen look just a little too much like mice?

When Robinot says, "“I prefer to drink a natural wine full of faults than a chemical wine,” “The chemical wine I won’t drink; the faulty wine I’ll drink,” he is clearly referring to his own wines which have aburd amounts of VA.

I have never understood why Robinot has a following. And every time I visit Discovery Wines, they try to convince me to buy Robinot, and I politely nod my head and move on.

If the above descriptions are true, an interesting question is whether the store staff is not cognizant of the VA, cognizant but like it, or cognizant and displeased but trying to offload it on you. I guess a fourth option is cognizant, displeased but ideologically committed.

I put the question to Robinot's Norwegian importer and he replied that he was not "especially sensitive" to VA. Boggles the mind, coming from a pro, even in Scandinavia.

How many Scandinavians told you they were insensitive to it, didn't care, or perhaps had no idea what you were talking about?

 

[Oswaldo Costa]

originally posted by mark e:

originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:

originally posted by Christian Miller (CMM):

originally posted by Jayson Cohen:

originally posted by mark e:

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
The Naturalistas HesitateJust maybe a little fining and sulfur, says PCap. (The Carhartt hat speaks volumes, I think.)

"Additives we prefer to intruders" says the manager of La Dive Bouteille, and then a ruckus erupted.

Is my confirmation bias showing? Or do those footmen look just a little too much like mice?

When Robinot says, "“I prefer to drink a natural wine full of faults than a chemical wine,” “The chemical wine I won’t drink; the faulty wine I’ll drink,” he is clearly referring to his own wines which have aburd amounts of VA.

I have never understood why Robinot has a following. And every time I visit Discovery Wines, they try to convince me to buy Robinot, and I politely nod my head and move on.

If the above descriptions are true, an interesting question is whether the store staff is not cognizant of the VA, cognizant but like it, or cognizant and displeased but trying to offload it on you. I guess a fourth option is cognizant, displeased but ideologically committed.

I put the question to Robinot's Norwegian importer and he replied that he was not "especially sensitive" to VA. Boggles the mind, coming from a pro, even in Scandinavia.

How many Scandinavians told you they were insensitive to it, didn't care, or perhaps had no idea what you were talking about?

I'd say half a dozen, if memory serves. Out of half a dozen that I queried about this, so 100%, though the sample is small.

 

[Jeff Grossman]

Well! My experience of having me, a bottle of Robinot, and a Scandinavian all together at one table is... once. He hated it.

I liked the first couple I bought, then disliked the next couple, then passed them by (still in that third stage).

 

[Christian Miller (CMM)]

originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:

I put the question to Robinot's Norwegian importer and he replied that he was not "especially sensitive" to VA. Boggles the mind, coming from a pro, even in Scandinavia.

For those old enough to have tasted the original Mirassou family's reds from Monterey/Salinas valley: a friend of mine who worked for them swore they lacked whatever gene enables one to smell/taste pyrazines.

 

[Steve Edmunds]

Ages ago, (early '70s) a Mirassou red was the first wine I ever poured down the drain after one taste. Never even tried another Mirassou wine.

 

[VLM]

originally posted by Jayson Cohen:
I have never understood why Robinot has a following. And every time I visit Discovery Wines, they try to convince me to buy Robinot, and I politely nod my head and move on.

Because every now and then you have a bottle that is awesome. We had a couple in Montreal back in 2019 and so I came home and sourced some. Let's just say the results weren't great, Bob. This has happened to me with several old guard natural producers.

 

[Steve Edmunds]

originally posted by VLM:

originally posted by Jayson Cohen:
I have never understood why Robinot has a following. And every time I visit Discovery Wines, they try to convince me to buy Robinot, and I politely nod my head and move on.

Because every now and then you have a bottle that is awesome. We had a couple in Montreal back in 2019 and so I came home and sourced some. Let's just say the results weren't great, Bob. This has happened to me with several old guard natural producers.

who's Bob?

 

[VLM]

originally posted by Steve Edmunds:

originally posted by VLM:

originally posted by Jayson Cohen:
I have never understood why Robinot has a following. And every time I visit Discovery Wines, they try to convince me to buy Robinot, and I politely nod my head and move on.

Because every now and then you have a bottle that is awesome. We had a couple in Montreal back in 2019 and so I came home and sourced some. Let's just say the results weren't great, Bob. This has happened to me with several old guard natural producers.

who's Bob?

Sorry, Office Space reference.

 

[MLipton]

originally posted by Steve Edmunds:
Ages ago, (early '70s) a Mirassou red was the first wine I ever poured down the drain after one taste. Never even tried another Mirassou wine.

Thanks for the laughs, guys. Some family friends of ours were big fans of Mirassou. I even recall visiting the winery with them when I was about 11 or 12. The father had developed a taste for red wine while serving with the Lincoln Brigade in Spain. God knows what he drank there, but even at age 12 I had qualms about the Mirassou reds.

Mark Lipton