13 Comments

Superb. The only one I would slightly tweak is petrichor. I remember feeling very pleased when I first learnt this word which approximately 91% of wine writers and trade can define against 6% of the general population. Now I fear to use it in a tasting note in case someone comes along and says do I not realise the wine is faulty and bandies the word geosmin about.

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'Petrichor is a fault akshually'

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Excellent stuff. Another one for France: the French drink responsibly because they give their kids a little wine with food from a young age. So civilised.

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It's going in the spin-off book.

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Great piece Henry, many thanks. Love the Chablis one! 👍

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Don't forget the obligation that, in any mention of primitivo, one must mention that it is identical to zinfandel. Strangely, I'm not sure that the reverse applies.

Any yes, I was guilty here on my latest post here: https://gluggingwine.substack.com/

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"Zinfandel, California's own grape, recent studies have shown that it is identical to Primitivo."

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'Great Burgundy smells of shit' is one I always tire of hearing.

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I should put that in.

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Absolutely hysterical and spot on. Thanks for making me laugh today!

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Stone cold brilliant idea - and very funny.

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Nice! Some of them are really ancient; the antifreeze scandal is now nearly 40 years ago (and Austrian wine has learned a lot since), and the dominance of wines like Blue Nun in Germany longer (and German wine has learned a lot since).

Re Aldi the received opinions I hear seem to differ, ranging from "best at all" to "it's all rubbish".

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That's rather the point about cliches, they hang about for a long time.

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