October 19 2006

Cover Story (Garnishing Wine Diva's World, Wine Diva asks...)
BC Wine Reviews (Sipping BC)
International Sips (Down the Hatch with Oz, Vogue-ing with Voga)
Taste Bites (How Cheesy, Wine Dinners@Ocean 617 & Cru, olé)
Wine Diva-isms (Corked Wine-the agony and the attitude, Pink Girls)

Wine Diva-isms

Corked Wine-the agony and the attitude
is it a girl thing...?

Another article on corked wine-borrrring!
You probably already know what cork taint is-
TCA-Tricloroanisole a chemical compound that affects the cork which transfers to
the wine causing a wet/musty/cardboard-like aroma.
Its not pleasant but unknowingly many people don't recognize it (is ignorance bliss?) or don't pick it up in minute amounts.
I do. And so do most of my peers.
But do women pick up cork taint more than men?
Do women have better sniffers? That would be a pretty big generalization but many studies have said yes, women do have better sniffers and more refined palates.
What I do know is that many women I know can smell a corked wine instantly and my husband jokes that if there's a corked wine within 100 paces I'll pick it up. Obviously that's a huge exaggeration but I do seem to be able to find cork even in minute amounts. Thanks in part to training but mostly my mother-who's remarkable sniffer-bility I inherited. Good for my profession but bad when it comes to foul odors, perfume and...bad breath.

The question is...do I say anything?

Sometimes.

I gauge the situation and the company I'm in.
Why? Because over the years I've discovered that when I waive the 'cork flag' I am often challenged, sometimes aggressively, sometimes passively. Oddly, people react very personally to being told a wine is corked.
Why I don't know, its not their fault, its the cork.
I've bitten my tongue in professional tastings so many times I'm surprised its still there.

But in a restaurant, where I am paying for wine I always speak up. The agony is the moment when I have to tell the server-and it really sucks. Good servers react instantly, remove the offending wine and offer to bring more or an alternative.
Then there's scenario two.
The server hesitates, makes you repeat what you just said...then retorts with a raised eyebrow.
I've had a server (in a prestigious restaurant) pick up my glass, sniff it and say "I get pear and mineral, this is how the wine smells", before deciding to give me a lesson in wine.
Sometimes I'm not in the mood for a face off and tell my husband to say something-he never gets questioned when he says a wine is corked. Why do I?
Because I'm a woman?
Curiously, I've never been given attitude from another female on corked wine, why only men? And, since my husband now always defers the sample taste to me (even if he orders the wine) I am generally the one to turn it down.

Last week we went out for lunch and ordered a half litre of white wine. The male server brought it out and poured a sample in my husbands glass. We were in conversation so he tasted it and said thanks. The server poured the wine in both glasses and left.
I picked up the wine-it was corked.
Tough situation, my husband had approved a tainted wine because his allergies were acting up. I had to signal the server back and apologetically explain the situation-twice. But he recovered quickly and brought us wine from a new bottle.

So I suppose the answer is this.
I know my nose, I trust my judgment but not everyone else does.
If need be, I will taste through cork in a professional setting-its not always worth saying something and being challenged. Am I always correct in my corky assumptions? No. But if I do speak up, I am pretty damn sure.
But in a restaurant I will always send it back.

Of course I can just make sure to order a wine with a screw-cap.

Tirelessly I go into the juice...
WD

Girls in Pink
Russell Smith 'Best Dressed' Globe and Mail Oct.7th

Russell's weekly review on the attraction of pink was an interesting perspective on men's view of this uber-feminine colour.
Of course pink is attractive and feminine.
I grew up surrounded by it. I reveled in it and it defined me to some extent as a real little girl-no dirt and certainly no tree climbing.
I was the little girl with the pink canopy bed.
When I got older I tried to dismiss it as childish and frivolous and if I wanted to be taken seriously I had to wear serious colours and be surrounded by adult colours.
Well everything comes full circle and oddly enough pink is defining me again...
Duh.
And according to Russell, as much as we love to wear it, men love to see it on us.

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October 19 2006

October 19 2006