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+--- Thread: wrong choice? (/thread-18156.html)
- curious - 12-28-2002
Hi all, hope your Chrismas was a good one.
My hubby and I tried the Gewurztraminer (2001, Fetzer) today, with lemon pepper baked chicken, corn, potatoes and oriental rice. My hubby puckered up, said it tasted like beer and did not like it.
It was 11.5% alcohol, could that have been the problem? Or was it the wrong wine for that food? I let my glass sit for a bit, and it had less of an alcohol aftertaste, but was still a bit strong on tarty side, any input, guys?
- Innkeeper - 12-28-2002
Sorry I recommended it. Everyone gets to make one mistake in their lives.
- Bucko - 12-28-2002
Fetzer Gewurztraminer is not exactly a primo example of the grape. I like Gewurzt with Thai/Chinese food pairings myself.
- Innkeeper - 12-29-2002
As after thought, did you chill it first?
- Drew - 12-29-2002
curious, it just might be that the Fetzer Gewurztraminer was not your style of Gewurztraminer. Try some other vineyards offerings. I love shiraz, but not everybody's shiraz because they're made in different styles and they display different flavors due to the quality of the grapes, ripeness at harvest, terroir, winemakers manipulation, MY MOOD, etc., etc., etc.
Drew
- curious - 12-29-2002
it was slightly chilled, might not have been cold enough. We will try it agin later this evening, and see how it tastes (it is in the fridge).
Different strokes for different folks, as the saying goes, so another wine might suit us, we will just keep trying differnet types
until we find ones we like. I don't feel that there were any bad suggestions here.
Had just wondered if the food could have been part of the problem, still learning what should go with what.
- Menua - 12-29-2002
curious: I'm not that experienced with wine - and certainly not with food/wine matching - but my money is on the food/wine combo accounting for you experience, if I understand you correctly. If I make a food/wine mismatch (nearly everytime I try to make a match [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/tongue.gif[/img] ) it unfailingly, no matter the food or what type of wine, brings out the burning alcohol sensation. I'm not sure what is meant by "tastes like beer", but when you said the alcohol/tart taste went away after some time it reminded me of similar food/wine escapades I'd made.
- curious - 12-29-2002
thanks all for the input,
re-tried it (the Gewurztraminer) again this evening, we had pizza for supper.
Sad to say, it was still bitter tasting, strong on the alcohol flavor. A nasty after-taste.
So, I opened up the Gallo white Zin, 2001 I had bought to see how it was.
It was much better, only 8% alcohol. It still has a slight smell and taste of alcohol, but it also has a fruity flavor, and the after taste was not bad.
As for the beer taste of the Gewurztraminer, I am not sure what my hubby meant, I have never tasted beer, so I am not sure what he meant. That was his impression, but he liked this one better, and we will keep on trying different ones, to find out what we do like.
Doing so with care, of course. We will keep it to no more than one bottle a week to try out.
- Kcwhippet - 12-30-2002
This is very curious, Curious. You have given a somewhat unusual description of your experience with wine. I grew up in a house where wine was part of the culture and I've had wine with meals since I was about six years old. That's over fifty years and in all that time I don't believe I've had a wine that actually smelled like alcohol. Probably the closest would have been a big 16%+ red Zin that had lost a lot of its fruit. Anyway, there are a few basic "rules" to pairing wine with food, and one is to pick a wine that's of the same ethnicity as the food. In your second case you had a pizza, though you don't say what kind. If you had a California pizza with artichokes, almost any wine would taste terrible. If it was a fairly typical version with tomato sauce, cheese and some regular toppings, then an Italian (or Italian style) red wine might have been a better choice. IMO, white Zin doesn't go with many foods because it's just too light.
- Innkeeper - 12-30-2002
11.5% Alcohol is not high alcohol. 12.5% Is average. Alcohol "tastes" hot when there is more of it in a wine that fruit, acid, and other attributes of the wine can handle. What do you mean by "tasting alcohol?"
- curious - 12-30-2002
well, let me see if I can explain, okay?
Think of taking Nyquil for the flu, and the burning sensation you get as it goes down, that to me is the alcohol in the OTC med.
That is what the wine, Gewurztraminer tasted like. It was VERY puckerish.
When I asked my hubby more about the taste, he said it was bitter, and it reminded him of when he used to drink beer (many, many years ago).
Could that be part of it, we are not used to the taste? Neither one of us was raised to drink wine, or any other alcohol, his father was an alcoholic, and so encouraged the kids NOT to drink, my family was very religous, and to them, drinking was a sin, and that meant any type of drink.
- curious - 12-30-2002
Could our lack of experience with any type of alcohol be part of the problem?
Both my hubby and are are in our 40's, I am 47, he is 49.
Both of us have hardly ever drank anything with alcohol, my hubby drank some beer while in his early 20's, and I had a glass of wine when I was in my early 20's, offered by a relative who had wine often in their home.
The wine was a white and had a sweet, fruity aftertaste, so I have a postive image of wine.
I did, for a spell "rebel" as all kids do, and went bar hopping with my friends, hey, I'm a baby boomer, grew up during the hippie era.
I drank only mixed drinks, and never really got into that.
After that, neither of us have had any type of alcoholic drink, we drink water, ice tea, and sometimes pop (Coke or Pepsi).
Now, my hubby and I want to relax, be a bit more "civilized", [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/smile.gif[/img] , and enjoy our life, kids are grown, and our views have changed.
We are a bit more open-minded.
A glass of wine with dinner, or while sitting and relaxing, actually talking with each other seems postive, not sinful.
Hey, we are Appalachian hillbillies, what can I say. People here drink pop, beer, or whisky (and some still drink moonshine).
- Menua - 12-30-2002
This is off topic, but...
Curious: what part of Appalachia are you from? I'm born and bred in the hollers of southeast Kentucky/southwest Virginia/northeast Tennessee myself (the tri-state area; go five minutes in any direction and you're in another state).
Right now I'm home in the hollers for the Holidays - there's not any real wine shops here (except maybe in Knoxville, TN); mainly I've been getting it from a convenience mart at a gas station. Most of the California stuff they have is oaked like Paul Bunyan dunnit, so I like to go for the Austrailian varietals. How 'bout you?
- Thomas - 12-31-2002
Curious, my suspicion is that your backgrounds leave you and your husband quite wary and maybe too sensitive to alcohol; it is an armchair psych-opinion, but as kcwhippet and IK mentioned, the level of alcohol in the wine you had simply was not high.
As for the "bitter" that your husband identified, that is right on. Gewurztraminer can be quite bitter if the grape is handled badly. I have always wondered at the success of Fetzer Gewurztraminer, since I have found the winery (though good at other wines) has never been able to produce a Gewurztraminer of any interest to me. They often try to hide the bitterness with a lot of residual sugar. And if the one you had contained residual sugar, but was still 11.5% alcohol, the grapes might have been too ripe at picking. In Alsace, Gewurztraminers are often quite ripe when picked, and the resulting alcohol of their wine is usually quite high, which isn't always a good thing when pairing with food.
Like Pinot Noir, Gewurztraminer requires proper attention to make it into good wine. You selected a difficult wine for beginner tasting and pairing with food.
[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 12-31-2002).]
- curious - 12-31-2002
I live at the southern tip of Ohio, on the border of Ohio, West Va, and Ky, I can walk to the river, in fact. Huntington, WV is about 15-20 miles from where I live (depending on east or west end).
I was surprized to find such a nice wine shop here, it usually runs to beer joints.
I think the area is finally starting to grow up, and wants to have a bit of
"civilization".
- curious - 12-31-2002
foodie,
I had been wondering if the brand name of wine was a factor. We tried the Gallo white zin, a 2000, which had 8% alcohol, and it was much nicer. Still had a slight taste/smell of alcohol, but much fruiter and easier going down, and a not a bad aftertaste.
I think I will pick up some other types to try, going for really sweet wines, and then building our adjustment to wines.
I was doing some back reading on sweet wines in the archives, and found so much info, that I was a tad overwhelmed with it all! Which was great, as it gave me a lot to think about, and check out.
From what I read, I think Reislings, and some other brand names of zin and a couple other types (don't remember which ones, will make a list) may do better. Will pick up a bottle of each type to try out.
I guess I am right in assuming that regions are a factor in the taste of wine, not all zins or chards or others will tast the same as their types. Hope I made sense in what I just said, I understand, but did I confuse anyone?
Appreciate any suggestions offered, and thanks for the help already given.