What you experience when drinking a glass of wine is completely subjective. The smells, the tastes, and even the possible images and memories evoked are purely personal. While describing wine in a restaurant to guests, I always wonder if my comment of high acidity and lemon are someone else’s medium acidity and grapefruit. It is always difficult to discuss wine in a universal way, because it changes and evolves depending on the palate consuming it, the season and temperature outside, how young or old the bottle is and so on and so forth. Sometimes annoying, but one of the main reasons wine is so endlessly interesting. Yay wine!

I had two of my best lady friends over yesterday and had a bottle of wine hanging around (a gift for my homecoming last week as my stock of wine was completely depleted before I left for Italy).  I thought it would be fun to see what each of  us thought of the wine and how we would describe it. Yes, I am lucky that I have equally as nerdy food and wine friends that won’t laugh at me for handing out pieces of paper and pens to fill out a survey about the wine I am serving them.

2006 Peachy Canyon Incredible Red. An affordable and available bottle from a well-know California winery.

With wine in our glasses and a few moments to sniff and swirl, I asked the following 3 questions:

• What color best describes what you see and feel (figuratively) when you drink this wine?
• What are the top 3 things you smell and taste?
• In one sentence, describe a visual scenario or palpable situation that IS this wine to you.

The answers were interesting, to say the least. There were definite similarities and synonymous flavor vibes going on. And somehow an overall theme of large men, cigar smoking and leisure suits. Confirming why my friends are so awesome.

Rachel:

• 2-piece mens maroon velour lounge suit
• Bramble, dark berry, gasoline (trying to kiss up to the teacher with extra credit points of: milk chocolate, plum, lollipop, star anise)
• Seated on a sun porch after a dinner of roast and potatoes, overlooking the berry patches. You can smell the garage around the other side of the house, relax in your maroon velour leisure suit and soak in the late dusk.

Joy:

• Ugly, dirty vintage mauve drapes
• Lit then unlit cigars,  musky sweaty armpits that have since dried,  grocery store prunes
• A cigar lounge in early winter in Vancouver, Canada surrounded by big fat white men who think they know great wine.

Me (I was a bit more forgiving and less, ahem, judgemental):

• Blackberry &  rust
• Wet rocks, sour black cherry, charred wood
• In an old appalachian mountain cabin on a cold, grey fall day next to the fire that has just gone out listening to the creek trickling along outside.

Needless to say, we didn’t LOVE the wine. It was a bit lean, a bit bitter and didn’t have much of a finish. But, a fun experiment nonetheless. Which basically proves that there is no wrong or right when it comes to wine. Sure, a wine can be flawed and as a sommelier, tasting observations are practically a scientific chart. But, to the everyday wine drinking population, you taste what you taste and enjoy what you enjoy. Like art, it is only what you interpret it to be.

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I would like to thank Miriam and Matt for providing me with said bottle of wine and not hating me for hating on their generous and thoughtful gift. Please continue to feel free to give me wine. I will drink it.

Tags: 2006 incredible red, peachy canyon, wine vocabulary, zinfandel