No love for Ameztoi Rubentis

S

SteveTimko

Steve Timko
I brought four wines to the big CellarTracker!palooza get together Saturday in Seattle, including a 2007 Ameztoi Getariako Txakolina Rubentis. No one was trying it unless I encouraged them. I encouraged a couple of women to drink it and I think one of their husbands thought I was hitting on them.
After a couple of hours the bottle sat opened but largely untasted. Finally I saw one person grab it and pour a generous serving. "Aha!" I thought. "Someone will see how great it is." He swirled it in his glass and then promptly poured it in the dump bucket with a comment something like, "That's what this stuff is good for." He was using the Ameztoi for an Aussie swirl. A few minutes later someone else did the same thing.
Maybe I was standing and looking forlornly at the unused wine. Eric LeVine came up and started saying nice things about it and people started trying it. Then finally one guy from a group came over and tried it and took it back to the group he was talking with and started raving about it. It included the first guy who used it for the Aussie swirl. The Aussie swirl guy seemed down on it, but the fact this one guy found the wine independently and loved it made the whole thing worth it.
 
He was suing the Ameztoi for an Aussie swirl.
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What is an Aussie Swirl? A new party game that I have not heard of? Seattle is always on the cutting edge..

Not to mention bringing litigation against Fermented Beverages!
 
An Aussie swirl is when you pour a lighter wine, usually a white, into the glass to cleanse it before trying another wine. It's commonly used at the tastings I go to at Fort Mason like Rhone Rangers and Family Winemakers.
 
originally posted by SteveTimko:
An Aussie swirl is when you pour a lighter wine, usually a white, into the glass to cleanse it before trying another wine. It's commonly used at the tastings I go to at Fort Mason like Rhone Rangers and Family Winemakers.
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Funny. If I'm doing this, I would use the same wine I'm about to drink otherwise I'm still going to have flavors from a different wine.

But I guess the logic here is that the Australian wines are so overpowering that a simple white wine will not dent them a bit?
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
originally posted by SteveTimko:
An Aussie swirl is when you pour a lighter wine, usually a white, into the glass to cleanse it before trying another wine. It's commonly used at the tastings I go to at Fort Mason like Rhone Rangers and Family Winemakers.
Click to expand...

Funny. If I'm doing this, I would use the same wine I'm about to drink otherwise I'm still going to have flavors from a different wine.

But I guess the logic here is that the Australian wines are so overpowering that a simple white wine will not dent them a bit?
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I think it has to do more with Australians being less formal and perhaps less elegant when compared to the British and especially the French.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
Do we want people excited about it? Ssssssh.
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That's my take, there is barely enough to go around as it is.

Steve-

Why would you even consider bringing a wine like this to a gathering like that? I mean, if folks are gorging on Barossa shiraz and modernist Chateauneuf, they're gonna hate anything from Ameztoi.
 
Actually, that's quite true, Nathan. The wines that do well in bigger gatherings are the ones that scream for attention. More subtle wines are best enjoyed in a small gathering.
Still, it's the idea of introducing a great wine to fellow winos. . . .
 
originally posted by SteveTimko:
Actually, that's quite true, Nathan. The wines that do well in bigger gatherings are the ones that scream for attention. More subtle wines are best enjoyed in a small gathering.. . .
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I don't think it's the size of the gathering that he was getting at. More likely something to do with the nature of the attendees.

I've been to plenty of gatherings filled with such 'subtle' wines, where they were all praised, loved, and adored.
 
originally posted by SteveTimko:
Actually, that's quite true, Nathan. The wines that do well in bigger gatherings are the ones that scream for attention. More subtle wines are best enjoyed in a small gathering.
Still, it's the idea of introducing a great wine to fellow winos. . . .
Click to expand...

Yeah, but I'm a psuedo-intellectual pleasure hater.

Hater for short...
 
Steve,
Pouring the Txakolina from a height of 4-5 ft into their glasses might have made a bigger splash with/on the cellartrackers.

sorry.
 
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