« Calm Pervades the Main Stream Media. | Main | OK - let's try THIS -- Smaller Schools? »
August 9, 2005
Wine Chemistry
Here's a fascinating (and long - 5 jumps) New York Times Magazine piece called The Chemistry of a 90+ Wine. Here's a moment that expresses the difference between these folks and a Robert Parker, say:
''Chemical ecology says that a wine's flavor, color and fragrance are expressions of its ecosystem,'' McCloskey told me. ''Wine scientists thought grapes were more complicated than any other plant system. But we found out that Vitis vinifera produces a relatively simple list of flavors. Grapes are really rather primitive.''This article is all California all the time, but the same kind of thing goes on at the Cornell Cooperative Extension right here in Geneva -- and I got to meet several wine scientists who come over to teach the evening wine class at our Colleges. The still believe in things like terroir, but the chemists seemed to be in the majority. We saw lots and lots of charts -- but always in conjunction with a wine to taste.
Posted by CrankyProfessor at August 9, 2005 7:02 AM