Some wines taste like crap in late Fall

B

BJ

BJ
Emile Ninaud, the founder/owner of Champion Wine Cellars in Seattle (oldest wine shop in the state), once mentioned that wines taste poorly at certain times of the year. I chalked it up to old French wives tales.

I totally agree these days. This fall, esp Nov/Dec, I just had the worst run of luck with wine tasting terrible. A lot of it was Beaujolais, but nothing really tasted that great.

The last month we have been enjoying bottles from the same parcel that tasted really bad several months ago. Tonight - a '17 Roilette normale - 2 bottles sucked Nov/Dec...but tonite, just fully on...everything you could want+.

Thoughts?
 
originally posted by BJ:
Some wines taste like crap in late FallEmile Ninaud, the founder/owner of Champion Wine Cellars in Seattle (oldest wine shop in the state), once mentioned that wines taste poorly at certain times of the year. I chalked it up to old French wives tales.

I totally agree these days. This fall, esp Nov/Dec, I just had the worst run of luck with wine tasting terrible. A lot of it was Beaujolais, but nothing really tasted that great.

The last month we have been enjoying bottles from the same parcel that tasted really bad several months ago. Tonight - a '17 Roilette normale - 2 bottles sucked Nov/Dec...but tonite, just fully on...everything you could want+.

Thoughts?
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Without a hypotheses on why this would be, it seems random and implausible. I haven't noticed any such thing, but I admit I don't drink the exact same wine often enough to provide a large sample of late Fall vs. other times of year tastings.
 
Hm. I"ll have to go back and look at dates. It certainly happens that I buy 2 or 3 of something and one's a dud. Never thought to check whether that is a calendar issue.
 
It is the wines or you? I think a lot about this. Something I have noticed with one of my other passions high end audio / music is that some days my system sounds glorious and like the musicians are sitting right there in front of me and other days I say this sounds horrible why did I go to all of this trouble to put this system together. It is vinyl driven which is particularly variable. It makes me think of wine as some days every bottle tastes great and others not so much. It is us or the wine?

I also regularly check the Biodynamic calendar and have noticed certain winemakers taster better on the same type of day. Weirdly a friend's wines always taste best on root days! And this fits his personality.

A fascinating subject!
 
originally posted by Robert Dentice:

I also regularly check the Biodynamic calendar and have noticed certain winemakers taster better on the same type of day. Weirdly a friend's wines always taste best on root days! And this fits his personality.

A fascinating subject!
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How should I envision a root day person?
 
originally posted by georg lauer:
How should I envision a root day person?
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The Great Race's members were immense rugose cones ten feet high, and with head and other organs attached to foot-thick, distensible limbs spreading from the apexes. They spoke by the clicking or scraping of huge paws or claws attached to the end of two of their four limbs, and walked by the expansion and contraction of a viscous layer attached to their vast, ten-foot bases.
 
originally posted by georg lauer:


How should I envision a root day person?
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I asked chatgtp and it got a little overexcited:

Ooh, love this kind of question—very earthy and a little mystical. When you talk about a "root day person," I’m guessing you're referring to biodynamic or lunar gardening calendars, or maybe even astrological or elemental personality frameworks, right? “Root days” are traditionally associated with the earth element, stability, grounding, and practical energy.

So if someone is a "root day person," here’s how you might envision them:

🌱 Core Vibes: The Grounded Realist
Deeply rooted in reality, logic, and the physical world.

Reliable, steady, and persistent—think of someone who takes slow but meaningful steps toward their goals.

They might enjoy routines, structure, and tangible outcomes.

More of a listener than a talker—quiet strength kind of person.

...

🌒 If you’re linking this to moon phases or astrology:
Root days in biodynamic calendars often align with Earth signs like Taurus, Virgo, or Capricorn.

So a root day person might have similar traits: hardworking (Capricorn), detail-oriented (Virgo), comfort-seeking (Taurus).

Would you say this is more spiritual, gardening-based, or personality typing that you're going for? I can tailor it more if I know the angle you're thinking from.
 
I too have noticed a similar correlation between a "bad wine day" and a "bad music day" but I don't go so far as to think it's the Demeter calendar messing with the wine or the equipment, but possibly related to the overall mien of the people I'm drinking or listening with. And if you're drinking wine while listening to high-end audio, and you've decided that it's not a matter of using the wrong-shaped Riedel glass or that your Shun Mook Mpingo Discs were out of alignment, well then maybe the biodynamic calendar is out of alignment with you and/or your companion and you're just reflecting your environment.

Or maybe it's just YOU finding the wine and music a little "off," since your partner has likely abandoned you in a fit of pique, leaving you to your hi-fi whilst she curls up in another wing of the house with her iPhone to rewatch the first three seasons of "The White Lotus" so she can decide where to spend her alimony dough after she leaves your sorry ass because she got fed up with you not doing things around the house, like building her a better stable for her polo ponies and Three-Day Eventing horses, or not building a full-sized pool to connect with the Goop Sauna that Amazon delivered last week (or was it Neiman Marcus?) And oh yeah, she asked nicely (well, once) if I would replace the rich Corinthian leather interior of her Bentley GT with something classier (but not klassy with a 'K') that'll match the interior of the helicopter, stuff like Alcantara and snow leopard, with matching carpets so deep that if you drop your keys on the floor, you may never find them. And while I'm at it, I oughtta trim the claws of the cats (we have a pair of lions and our friends think we're trying to put on airs and be like the NY Public Library or Siegfriend & Roy) and maybe I could spay and neuter them too while I"m at it.

So what I'm trying to say is that maybe, what with all the nagging and kvetching and the "my mother told me you were a jerk" and the "I shoulda married a gynecologist and not an internet wine influence" nonsense, there isn't ANYTHING that's going to sound a taste right. You could be sipping 1989 Henri Freakin' Jayer Cros Parantoux out of the new Reidel "Nuits Ste George" Sommelier stem, hand blown by level-one sommelier students and listening to The Electric Recording Company's single-copy release of Wu Tang's "Once Upon A Time in Shaolin" on your Clearaudio Statement V2 turntable... and it all tastes and sounds _okay_ but it doesn't sound right. That sort of firepower deserves fireworks and seeing Jesus dancing above the speakers, but not to be judgmental or anything, even Monsieur Jayer's finest is not going to get you that far along. Being yelled at for not cleaning the cat box is not conducive to enjoying great wine and music, so it's helpful to be aware of one's mood, surroundings and well, the context of life.

-Eden (on any given day however, Lawrence Welk's "Tribute to Astor Piazzolla" double LP is going to sound great regardless of what you're listening to!)
 
originally posted by Robert Dentice:
It is the wines or you? I think a lot about this. Something I have noticed with one of my other passions high end audio / music
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given that i've experienced this equally while not only listening to music but also *playing* music, i've come to a conclusion that it's mostly me, or - should you choose to accept my thesis - you.

that said, claret with some age seems to shine in the Fall, so what do I know?
 
originally posted by georg lauer:
originally posted by Robert Dentice:

I also regularly check the Biodynamic calendar and have noticed certain winemakers taster better on the same type of day. Weirdly a friend's wines always taste best on root days! And this fits his personality.

A fascinating subject!
Click to expand...

How should I envision a root day person?
Click to expand...

Kick it Root Down.
 
originally posted by Eden Mylunsch:

Or maybe it's just YOU finding the wine and music a little "off," since your partner has likely abandoned you in a fit of pique, leaving you to your hi-fi whilst she curls up in another wing of the house with her iPhone to rewatch the first three seasons of "The White Lotus" so she can decide where to spend her alimony dough after she leaves your sorry ass because she got fed up with you not doing things around the house, like building her a better stable for her polo ponies and Three-Day Eventing horses, or not building a full-sized pool to connect with the Goop Sauna that Amazon delivered last week (or was it Neiman Marcus?) And oh yeah, she asked nicely (well, once) if I would replace the rich Corinthian leather interior of her Bentley GT with something classier (but not klassy with a 'K') that'll match the interior of the helicopter, stuff like Alcantara and snow leopard, with matching carpets so deep that if you drop your keys on the floor, you may never find them. And while I'm at it, I oughtta trim the claws of the cats (we have a pair of lions and our friends think we're trying to put on airs and be like the NY Public Library or Siegfriend & Roy) and maybe I could spay and neuter them too while I"m at it.
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What wine is this? Whatever it is, it's gotta be a Triple Curly with an extra Woo Woo Woo.
 
originally posted by Larry Stein:

What wine is this? Whatever it is, it's gotta be a Triple Curly with an extra Woo Woo Woo.
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It's the Super Special, Strangulatorily Allocated, Ultra-Reserve bottling in a bespoke wooden box that matches the wood in the wine cellar in her yacht, so yes, it's a Triple Curly with an extra Woo Woo Woo, but with two more hard-boiled eggs. And two more hard-boiled eggs.

-Eden (and it needs to be rated at least three prongs by two different critics who divide their time between three different continents, of course)
 
BTW, I am not buying the user thing. I was in a great mood late fall, especially after the election.
 
originally posted by BJ:
BTW, I am not buying the user thing. I was in a great mood late fall, especially after the election.
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I make a cup of second flush darjeeling pretty much every day. Same method, filtered water, pot, etc. Unquestionably there are days when the tea tastes much, much better. Even just a few days on.

So, dear Eden, is the fault that we are underlings?

PS-- tea does 'feel' better in cold weather, that is different than taste.
 
originally posted by Tristan Welles:
I make a cup of second flush darjeeling pretty much every day. Same method, filtered water, pot, etc. Unquestionably there are days when the tea tastes much, much better. Even just a few days on.

So, dear Eden, is the fault that we are underlings?
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It's a natural product so subject to variation from leaf to leaf, right?

As to fault, make a pilgrimage to Ashram Florida Jim and learn to reset your expectations.
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
originally posted by Tristan Welles:
I make a cup of second flush darjeeling pretty much every day. Same method, filtered water, pot, etc. Unquestionably there are days when the tea tastes much, much better. Even just a few days on.

So, dear Eden, is the fault that we are underlings?
Click to expand...
It's a natural product so subject to variation from leaf to leaf, right?

As to fault, make a pilgrimage to Ashram Florida Jim and learn to reset your expectations.
Click to expand...

Leaf variation is at a minimum after roasting, assemblage, steeping. I'd say close to zero.
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
originally posted by georg lauer:
How should I envision a root day person?
Click to expand...
The Great Race's members were immense rugose cones ten feet high, and with head and other organs attached to foot-thick, distensible limbs spreading from the apexes. They spoke by the clicking or scraping of huge paws or claws attached to the end of two of their four limbs, and walked by the expansion and contraction of a viscous layer attached to their vast, ten-foot bases.
Click to expand...

We are definitely in Lovecraft country these days.
 
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