The mysteries of the world.

[snarp]

How did it get decided that wine and cheese were the things that people would discuss the taste of? Why are these discussions so full of subjective, unquantifiable ideas that seem to have come from dreams, like the impression of the taste of oak or the smell of ashes? If the taste of oak can be isolated chemically, and someone tested every wine in the world for it, how many wines would be oaken, really?

Why isn't it whiskey and chocolate which receive this variety of attention? It takes years and fermentation to make wine and cheese, and this does lend them a mysterious air - but that eliminates only the chocolate from consideration as a Vaguely Eldritch Cultural Touchstone. Whiskey yet remains. Does whiskey lose because grapes and milk are edible in their raw state? Maybe we imagine that by tasting them, and then tasting their products, separated from them by time and mysterious processes taking place in the dark, we bracket alchemy.

(I assume that the reason's actually somehow economic in nature.)

This post is to commemorate the fact that I have had some wine and, four years after I first bought a bottle, I still don't actually like it. I should stick to the whiskey and chocolate.

Comments

[dancing_serpent]

I'm definitely the whisky and chocolate type, too. Although I do like wine. And cheese. But I'm obsessed with whisky, more specifically Scotch Single Malt.

And maybe it's the company I keep - many Single Malt lovers - but I'm happy to be around people where whisky gets this variety of attention. Like whisky books, visiting distilleries, attending whisky tastings, whisky discussion boards, whisky conferences and so on.

Mmmm, whisky...looking forward to a nice glass (or a wee dram *g*) of Bowmore Dusk tonight.

[snarp]

Bah to you people who spend actual money on your whiskey! I drink Nikka Black, The Second-Cheapest Whiskey Carried By Most Japanese Grocery Stores. And I drink it in soymilk, because I'm bad at being a Kentuckian.

[ase]

There's haut chocolate out there. I don't know if Scotch fans are equally subjective in their descriptors, but they seem highly invested in their impressions of the drink.

[snarp]

I... actually go out and read chocolate reviews before I buy chocolate bars now. It's getting to be a problem.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

While I enjoy some wines and some cheeses, whiskey and chocolate are definitely much more Relevant To My Interests. OM NOM NOM.

(Have you read Oishinbo? If not, it might amuse you to see the endless Deeply Meaningful Foodie Discussions about the taste of this and that...)

[snarp]

I totally need to read Oishinbo. I've actually seen a couple episodes of the anime - apparently cooking is a profession fraught with high-testosterone confrontations. "I will prove to them that this Japanese freshwater fish's liver is better than fois gras!" "You mad fool! You'll be killed!" "At least I will have died for Japanese freshwater fish livers!"

[mikkeneko]

Yeah, that seems to sum up shounen craft series in a nutshell. Also applies to sports and board game series.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Ah ha ha, yes, it is SO VERY SHONEN at times. Bitter competitions between chefs! Endless bets and challenges over making the best food/making someone like a food they hate! Father/son "I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!" rivalry expressed via foodie competition! Rah-rah nationalism over local/traditionally-produced foodstuffs! It's a real hoot.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Here where I live (metro Boston, MA, USA), whisk(e)y and chocolate tastings are actually quite frequently held, and there are quite elaborate and subtle vocabularies to discuss the range of flavors in each. They're fun!

[snarp]

That sounds extremely Bostonian.

Actually, they probably exist in DC, too, and I know there are places in Tokyo that do whiskey-tastings; it's just that the tradition isn't as hardcore.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

They do indeed exist in DC -- I'm too antisocial (and far too lightweight of a drinker) to have bothered to attend one myself, but I've seen them come up in event listings, and some ritzier restaurants have special whiskey-tasting drink sampler menus.

[darkelf105.livejournal.com]

I didn't like wine. I never understood the vocabulary, the love, the fact that people thought it was delicious. I think it's tasty now, but that's because I've drunk so much of it and tried a lot of different kinds. But I only started that when I tasted port for the first time. I tasted it and it tasted, honest, like amber and carmel and burnt leaves and I suddenly understood the whole stupid fuss was about. It was kinda like the firs pot of really, really good tea I had. I understood that there were differences in flavor and that it wasn't something you had to guzzle like soda...though you could if you wanted to. But I totally understand people who don't like wine. I was there and sometimes I'm still there because I drink CHEAP so I can never hang out with real wine lovers. They'd sniff at me and my humble bottles from the local, so-so winery. Besides, it seems taht you get the same appreciation from whisky and chocolate, so that's just as awesome.

[snarp]

So when you start your vineyard, will it be with the aim of making port rather than regular wine?

[darkelf105.livejournal.com]

Lol, I wish I had the intestinal fortitude for vinoculture. But alas, I fear running a vineyard is beyond me. I'm looking to run a vegetable patch with some poultry and maybe some bees and sell any excess either as canned or fresh produce. Wine-making is just sooooooooo beyond anything I think I'm capable of. I mean, I'm having trouble getting ants to leave my miniature roses alone, so I can only shudder at the agricultural horrors that await my amateur self when I finally do buy my plot of urban paradise. But ruining a crop tomatoes or cucumbers seems so much less awful than ruining a vineyard.

But a vineyard in Ohio designated exclusively to port making? That'd be pretty awesome. Although I'm not sure I think the taste of port is good...it's just so unbelievably complex to me that I keep going back.