Opening the bottle in front of you proves to the "buyer" that it's the real deal - that it's truely the wine they ordered - not some already opened, less expensive version snuck in and poured from the back room. We all know the markup is incredible, so why not make a spectacle and see it opened right in front of you; and the seller remains honest and trustworthy with little to no doubt.
Mold or an acrid smell means the wine was not sealed properly, and thus the cork is broken in some way. Looking for physical damage in the cork will tell you the same thing and you won't have to look undignified while doing so.
They give you the cork so you can check to make sure that it's the real thing and the bottle hasn't been refilled (and recorked) with something cheaper. You're supposed to look at it to verify the wine's authenticity...which is pretty important when you're buying expensive wines at a restaurant.
I don't agree that you shouldn't smell the cork. I would recommend people to smell as much corks as they can because it doesn't take much practice to learn what a cork should/shouldn't smell like. So don't laugh and point, ask if you can smell as well!!
horayforjoe This. I immediately got an irk-reaction when he said "real men ..." No. Real men make their own rules/life. That is all. (and they live their lives with respect for others. Cuz otherwise they're just assholes)
horayforjoe Love the guys who come on these videos, which are intended to teach you rules, lessons, etc. for personal development, and complain that they are being expected to subscribe to any rules whatsoever.
Dear sir, I would like to ask why you think smelling the cork is useless? Checking the cork gives indication to disseasses of the wine, temperature taint, faulty production, it can also discern if the wine has started the second alcohol fermentation in the bottle. If you for instance smell a severely tainted wine directly it may impose on your sence of smell, even worse if you like some people taste it without smelling and impede your sence of smell and or taste making any further wine tasting either sub optimal or non viable at all. I do agree a fair bit with what you say but not with everything. Cheers from a fellow somm.
OK, a few things- to cleanse your palate at a wine tasting, you drink sparkling water. It works. If you want to be fancy, have a San Pellegrino or the equivalent, or just club soda if you don't want to be fancy. I'm sure after a day of all that you want a change of flavor, but while you're there, drink sparkling water. It cleanses your palate and it hydrates you. Another thing, if the wine's corked- the cork will tell you. It'll smell like mildew, and have just an awful, funky odor to it. Yes, you can tell problems by visually inspecting the cork, but the cork will definitely stink. They'll usually pour some wine in a glass to see that you actually approve of the wine. Swirl, smell, and taste the wine and if something is amiss, refuse it and ask for another bottle. I do like this guy's style, and this is a good video, but I felt that a few things need to be clarified.
I disagree, I had the opportunity to taste at least two dozen bottles that had been in a closet under a staircase for God only knows how long. No climate control whatsoever. Most were bad as to be expected. Some were not and were exceptional. Among the exceptional were wines by the cork sniff standard I would have discarded. Thank goodness I tasted every single one, even when I knew it was vinegar. The texture and look of the cork was EVERYTHING and the smell meant nothing to me. I suppose if the cork smelled of a rotting corpse I probably would think twice about tasting it but that was not the case. Some of the best wines had corks that smelled off and the color had browned and they were delicious. I think this video was clear enough as no further "clarification" is warranted.
I thought the thing about the cork is that the wine needs to be in contact with the cork all the time, it if dries out (ie from a bottle being stored upright) the cork will allow oxygen into the wine and that is the end of that. Burnt match, wet mouse and blech.
The excellent Somr in Mare, London (I'd be amazed if it didn't get a * soon) was sniffing the corks, but I found his guidance bang on. Had the tasting course as well as a couple of other pricey things (40 year old port, nom nom) but I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt following accurate descriptions, but I will agree for people eating in a restaurant it just looks silly. Also, chocolate ABSOLUTELY works with red wines. I would go with a nice full bodied red as recommended. Recently had Amarone Sergio Zenato Riserva 2011 - I would like this with a clever chocolate and steak dish.
"They go through the entire process [...] as if that would make it taste better". It does, actually. There are loads of factors that affect your experience of a wine besides just what your taste buds and nose pick up. Experts are known to have their judgement of a wine altered based on how expensive they thought it was and the setting in which they tasted the wine.
as someone who has grown up learning about european wine and tasting quite a bit of it, i can say that the thing about not smelling the cork is not true, if there's is a sickness in the cork that can have affected the wine you can smell it from the cork too, of course it's more prominent in the wine itself, but you can smell it in the cork too. This is called prop in danish(just the danish word for a cork) and tappo in italian(means the same) so if the wine you are drinking is a fine wine from europe(probably also everywhere else) you can gain some knowledge of the wine from smelling the cork
Sniffing the cork made sense when wines had some probability of being oxidized or "corked" . . . you didn't want that stuff in your mouth at all. That happens approximately never these days. It's an outdated ceremony, but lots of people like their ceremonies. Just inspect the cork, nod sagely, and let the show go on.
***** At least he's using it slightly more properly than 4chan users tend to. > used to be what separated a quoted post/mail from the text of the user responding. It's still recognized by people like me who weren't born twelve days ago, and yes it does annoy me when people are "greentexting"
It's almost like all wineries should be using synthetic corks by now. They are strictly superior; they can even be engineered to exact nanometers of porousness to allow a specific number of molecules of oxygen over time. As opposed to cork, where it's just however dense the cork grew.
smelling the cork is important…I think many people can smell cork taint (wet cardboard) on a cork as well as in the wine. Chocolate and Cabernet does not pair well in my opinion. Cabernet does not have enough residual sugar to stand up to chocolate. Port on the other hand goes perfectly with chocolate. Brettanomyces is another thing beer and wine have in common.
Seems to me like you are not explaining myths, but creating new ones. For one, lot of people smell cork because - well, it smells nice. I like to smell cork, because it reminds me of the smell in wine cellars. As you pointed out, people look at wine legs, because it shows viscosity and alcohol, so they can guess what should they prepare for. Noone is looking at wine legs to see, how good the wine is - for that you just taste the wine, which is already in your glass. I am not sure how is the beer part a myth. 8 minutes of my life I will never get back.
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I agree with you in most points, but I disagree when it comes to smelling the cork. I you start a tasting of spirits like lets say whisky its pretty common to smell the cork, even many experts do this. The reason is, that that end of the cork which got in contact with the whisky is in a way soaked with it an smells very intense. The only thing you smell when you smell it is usually the whisky and not the cork itself. Okay, you might think, that this is normal, because whisky smells more intense then wine, but I think one also has to take in account, that wines bottles usualle lie in a rack, while spirits are standing, so the cork of a bottle of wine gets eben more soaked up with it then a bottle of whisky or something else. Apart from that, I just agree, that it is better to smell the wine when it is in your glass but I think that it is not a mistake to smell on the cork.
Υou has absolutely right about the cork, but and nowadays many professional sommeliers make the same fault, thinking that, smelling the cork will be able to know if the wine is good or not and if the wine is affected by the cork. Actually, that's for laughing, because they do the same thing and on the plastic corks. Cheers
If I remember right the cork thing started after a man (can't remember his name but I guess he was a pretty big deal in the community) would use his nose to test the moisture content or something like that of the cork by pressing it against his nose cause it's more sensitive than his finger tips. People thought he was smelling it and started to smell it. Something like that, my boss told me the story a few years ago, didn't remember as much as I thought lol
+Zachary Lamont-Rodriguez Yep. That one's true for sure. You can also swirl it around in the glass to speed it up, or if you're real fancy you can decant your wine before drinking it to get oxygen in there. The oxygen opens up the wine and makes it more rich and flavourful, though usually you'll only notice a difference in good wines.
Real men can do whatever they want. And be confident in not wanting to drink alcohol. Not falling into peer pressure from people saying that real men drink wine.
Numerous studies have shown that Sommeliers can't tell good wine from bad wine nor expensive wine from cheap wine in blind tests a majority of the time. If it tastes good, drink it. If it tastes bad, spit it out. Don't force yourself to enjoy something because a stranger on UA-cam told you it makes you a better man.
+Hero1989 In my opinion, all we need a coach, an expert sommelier who knows much more than us about the wines. Of course about appetite pumpkin pie us we say in my country Greece. You can drink the wine you like it, but if you have the ability to know something more about that special beverage named wine is much better. The wine is not a simple beverage, it's something more. Cheers!
You don't get to be a (real) sommelier without knowing how to tell a good wine from a mediocre one - and a bad wine is very easy to spot. (Those "numerous studies" maybe were helpful in spotting dishwashers promoted to the front room.) As for expensive wine . . . well, yeah, you can't taste that.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't "good" and "mediocre" pretty subjective terms? I've always wondered who decided what a good wine is supposed to be and why everyone just takes his/her word for it. We all have tastebuds, can't we just decide for ourselves what's good and bad? Do you need a professional food critic to tell you why a $200 steak tastes better than a $20 one? Tldr: the idea of a sommelier telling you what's good/bad wine is about as ridiculous as someone telling you which bananas taste better.
if you know a lot about beer, you're a fratboy. if you know a lot about scotch, you might be an alcoholic. if you know about wine... you're sophisticated
I learned that you smell the cork because if you can tell the cork has the smell of wine on it, it means that the cork tainted the wine and it's probably no good any more.
When a bottle has 'corck', it means that the corck itself is infected with a fungus, smelling like old earthy truffle basement. The reason to smell the corck directly after opening the bottle, is to smell if you just smell the wine, or smell that fungus like smell.
*price ≠ taste* some of the best wines i've had were cheap af and sold in repurposed gallon bottles lol also, most wines really *don't* get better with age (and they really weren't meant to), so drink up.
mrpipps90 ofc it is happening inside your head, harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real? ah yes. love the ellipses, _very_ convincing. i am now a reformed leaf on the gentle vineyard breeze, and it's undeniably due to your debating prowess. all wine is now (and has always been, but i couldn't see the truth) high quality wine that ages well, and everyone has a few custom-made barrels on hand _at all times_! you don't learn the proper procedures, they're automatically installed when a person reaches the legal drinking age. also, marketing doesn't lie - _of course_ the more something costs, the better it is! besides, everyone's a wine connoisseur anyway, and is that a hint of blackberries that were grown with the support of a cedar trellis on an eastern facing slope in greece that i detect? incredible.
Pro tip from a beer enthousiast: when eating, expensive or cheap wine almost taste the same while beer will almost always reveal its character. Guess I won't be called sophisticated though (ha).
spookanide Have to disagree. Earlier, I was drinking some shitty red Gran Reserva. It tasted like blackberries without food and it tasted like smoky nuts with cheese. Perhaps it's just the wine you're picking. ;)
spookanide I love the variety of micro-breweries. Let's be clear here. If you know a lot about Budweiser, Natural Ice, and Old Milwaukee...'yer a frat boy. If you know the difference between a Milk Stout and an Oatmeal Stout....you're sophisticated.
Can someone explain to me why every time I try a red wine that isn't super sweet it tastes like laundry soap? I am fine with white, rose, and very sweet reds, but dry or even semi dry reds numb my tongue. I guess I should stick to hard liquor, cider, and beer.
Scott Korin What does laundry soap taste like? And what do you mean "numb" your tongue? I found that especially interesting because you wish to stick to hard liquor. If anything, hard liquor will dehydrate your tongue more than wine. The reason for the tongue tingling sensation is this "sucking" moisture out of your tissue.
Scott Korin Try a semi dry or semi sweet red to ease your pallet into it. It took me a while, but I got it. Nero D'Avola from Sicily is a great gateway red wine.
MrNicoJac Um, like soap? Or maybe cough syrup? It feels kind of like when you drink coffee or hot chocolate that's too hot, basically. You might be right about dehydration, but I don't get the same reaction to a mixed drink or whiskey. Somebody once told me it might be a reaction to the tannins in red wine?
Scott Korin Ah, drinking something that is too hot is a sensation I can associate with. Sadly :') The sensation could be caused by tannins (never tasted those purely) but I think it is the alcohol that draws most of the moisture from one's tissue (through osmosis). I would venture to guess that whisky causes so many other sensations that the dehydration is not as noticeable. Especially since it "burns" the back of the throat in such a clearly noticeable way, that really draws attention away from the hard palate/tongue. Identifying a "mixed drink" is kinda impossible, but most mixed drinks I know usually combine something sweet with something bitter, thereby also adding many other sensations beside the alcohol. If you wish to appreciate red wines I would suggest a wine that should be complemented with a (small) dish. Take a sip and keep that between your lips and teeth/tip of the tongue, add some air, and be mindful of the change in taste as you swallow the sip. Usually (at least in my experience), the wine will be sweet and fresh at the front of the mouth, a bit dry on the middle of the tongue, and flavourful at the throat (spices can be tasted best here). Please note that you should take sips like with whisky, and not gulps as with cider or beer.
Pretty sure that even "expert" red wine tasters can't actually taste the difference, buy a cheapish wine (not boxed stuff) and say it is expensive and you will get the best results. It is all subjective, feel free to look it up.
MYTH: ROOM TEMPERATURE WINE Another myth, and coincidentally my biggest pet peeve, is serving wine at room temperature. Room temperature pre-modern times (before AC) was an average of 65F. Average room temperature nowadays is closer to 75F. Slightly chill your wines people.
Don't want to get in an argument about wine versus beer because it is like arguing about blondes and brunettes. If you're in the desert water will taste good. If you've just come off the football pitch or basketball court beer will taste good. If it's first thing in the morning coffee will taste good. But if you've got a plate of delicious food in front of you nothing will taste better than a good bottle of wine.
As a man from Oregon, I kinda take offense to what this guy said about beer drinkers. Beer is a pretty big deal here and most people who drink beer here aren't all frat boys.
We (Oregonians) probably consider our craft brews equally as sophisticated indeed. Watch me get my nose in there for a whiff, and lift a pinky finger when I throw some back. Hard not to do with most our suds.
I find beer a hell of a lot more enjoyable than wines: more verity, not sour, theirs actually a difference based on price, and beer lovers aren't full of shit like our 99% of sommeliers
I find craft beer drinkers to be as arrogant about beer as wine sommeliers can be about wine. They tend to have a herd mentality on subjects like food trucks, craft beer and frat boys and usually live in God awful places like Portland.
Good video. I enjoyed it up to the point where he said "if you know a lot about beer, you're a frat boy." Lots and lots of highly trained beer experts and beer judges out there as well that aren't "frat boys."
Andy Weigel Same could be said about Tequila statements. The man needs to head south of the border and realize that there is a whole culture that revolves about refined Tequila.
This is absurd. You can smell corkage on the cork. This is the only reason you would smell it besides a little bit of theatre - which is the difference between drinking at home or in a restaurant.
Sorry dude but I'm a real man who doesn't like wine. I hail from a wine family (wine distribution from France, Italy, Argentina and Napa Valley) and I've tried every form of wine from every region of the World. After 40-years of wine sampling I can honestly say that I cannot stand the taste nor the smell of fermented grapes. And not...it's not that I haven't found the right now since I have sampled well over 5,000 labels..and they all suck equally and have been known to trigger a gag-reflex. I'll take a quality brewed beer, a snifter of bourbon and a fine cigar any day... :D
Not true. Infact he's insufferable. Also fun fact he's only there because he literally pays to be there. Who's private jet do you think Crowder uses? Who do you think pays to keep the show affloat. This uninteresting, unfuny homophobe. That's who.
I am a captain in a fine dining restaurant with master sommeliers etc. the first line that you spoke that the server with the white cloth over the arm, opening it, "as if that is suppose to make it taste better" blah blah blah is part of the service. You are not a professional and further more you are the reason why no one wants to drink wine!! PRETENTIOUS
Ok - first informations were good. But then... it went wrong: Beer - it is very strange to say, that beer is part of the wine making! Yes - even [or especially sommeliers] and winemakers after tasting a lot of wines, want to drink something different - beer. But I never seen winemakers or sommeliers to drink beer in between sessions. Second - a beer connoisseur is a frat boy and somebody who likes [and know about] whisk(e)y, tequila, rum - is a alcoholic??? How can he say something like that? That is stupid! Welcome to the 21st century... where you have all types of connoisseurs, who don't want to be categorised like that!
Dominik MJ I think he was trying to convey what most people would think. Knowing about beer and liquor is looked down upon much more than knowing about wine.
theHurtfulTurkey Yeah - I think you are right. But it is not the right way, to say it, how he did. If you would say (half-humorous) that there are beer and liquor geeks - I would be ok with it. But his statement was stupid, incorrect, misleading and just plain insulting.
This dude is completely wrong on smelling corks. I don't think I have an amazing nose but I can absolutely smell that a bottle is corked by smelling the cork itself. I smell every cork from every bottle I serve and I have caught bad bottles when the customer didn't notice it.
I think grabbing the cork is basically BUYING THE BOTTLE regardless of whether you like it or not. If you pick up the cork to look at it, it seems to me you're pretty much indicating you didn't know for certain what you were ordering in the first place and have no experiene with it or you wouldn't find the cork so important and fascinating. Pick up the cork and you just bought the bottle. If there is a POP when the cork is pulled, the cork is FINE and the bottle was sealed and you have no reason to send back the wine if come to find out you rolled the dice, played "expert" and ordered something you had no clue about and decide to try to "back out of the deal" by claiming the wine or cork is "bad". And if you think a RETAILER can "return" an opened, and then "reclosed" container of any alcoholic beverage taxed and regulated under U.S. law for a "refund" when its being purchased through a DISTRIBUTOR who is the "middle man" between the "factory" and the "market", I have to think you're pretty clueless on your own "industry". How is a opened and then "recorked" bottle of wine NOT going to be "bad" by the time it makes its way BACK to the "vineyard" and how in the hell is the returning retailer going to prove it was bad when opened? Wine bottles are CORKED by HEATING THE BOTTLE AND ITS CONTENTS, inserting the cork so when the bottle and its contents COOL and CONTRACT a VACUUM is created in the bottle above the wine. The POP is not PRESSURE ESCAPING the bottle. Its the CORK EXPANDING when its withdrawn from the bottle. Although not a true "vacuum", the "atmosphere" in the bottle of wine above the liquid is at a substantially lower pressure than normal atmospheric pressure, which is contantly "pushing" the cork into the bottle. The cork is no longer porous enough for air to pass through it when seated and compressed, but it is sufficiently "soft" enough and much less dense than the glass so that the brittle glass won't be broken when temperature changes or atmospheric pressure changes cause the cork and/or bottle to expand or contract. If a cork is BAD, you'll know it immediately when you uncork the bottle with ease and find VINEGAR inside instead of WINE. This is basic grade school science class stuff. so why doesn't a "sommelier" know it? And since when is a "sommelier" in the BUSINESS of SELLING SPECIFIC WINES and trying to "educate" the general public which would tend to reduce his or her own job security? You're a liquor store owner. A sommelier may work FOR and IN a restaurant or other retail environment where wine is purchased for immediate CONSUMPTION, but he or she is also supposed to be an UNBIASED and IMPARTIAL "expert" on wines people can trust to work FOR them and help them end up with the wine thats the best match for their tastes, budget etc and who will MAKE SURE THE BOTTLE THEY SELECT IS "GOOD" LONG BEFORE THEY SEE IT, rather than SELL THEM WHATEVER THE DISTRIBUTOR IS OVERSTOCKED AND UNDERSOLD IN AND IS PUSHING ON A PARTICULAR MONTHS "AD" LIST OF "RECOMMENDED" WINES.
Opening the bottle in front of you proves to the "buyer" that it's the real deal - that it's truely the wine they ordered - not some already opened, less expensive version snuck in and poured from the back room. We all know the markup is incredible, so why not make a spectacle and see it opened right in front of you; and the seller remains honest and trustworthy with little to no doubt.
thanks, Gerald A.
What you're smelling the cork for is mold (musty) or acrid (vinegar). No need to decant or taste such a wine.
I'm no expert in wine and even I know that wtf lol
Mold or an acrid smell means the wine was not sealed properly, and thus the cork is broken in some way. Looking for physical damage in the cork will tell you the same thing and you won't have to look undignified while doing so.
They give you the cork so you can check to make sure that it's the real thing and the bottle hasn't been refilled (and recorked) with something cheaper. You're supposed to look at it to verify the wine's authenticity...which is pretty important when you're buying expensive wines at a restaurant.
I don't agree that you shouldn't smell the cork. I would recommend people to smell as much corks as they can because it doesn't take much practice to learn what a cork should/shouldn't smell like. So don't laugh and point, ask if you can smell as well!!
Straight to the point video. Nice!
That's Gerald from Lowder with Crowder!
Bearded Bjorn I spent 45 minutes thinking why the hell he looks so familiar
Steven Crowder's brother is in a few AoM videos.
Nah
Real men drink whatever the fuck they want.
horayforjoe This.
I immediately got an irk-reaction when he said "real men ..."
No. Real men make their own rules/life. That is all.
(and they live their lives with respect for others. Cuz otherwise they're just assholes)
horayforjoe Love the guys who come on these videos, which are intended to teach you rules, lessons, etc. for personal development, and complain that they are being expected to subscribe to any rules whatsoever.
horayforjoe Perhaps it was to be understood like; "Real man can also like wine". I have no idea, but it's possible.
Wasn't long before I saw a comment like this one.
***** That's how I understood it, but I like the philosophy behind this thread.
Dear sir, I would like to ask why you think smelling the cork is useless? Checking the cork gives indication to disseasses of the wine, temperature taint, faulty production, it can also discern if the wine has started the second alcohol fermentation in the bottle. If you for instance smell a severely tainted wine directly it may impose on your sence of smell, even worse if you like some people taste it without smelling and impede your sence of smell and or taste making any further wine tasting either sub optimal or non viable at all. I do agree a fair bit with what you say but not with everything. Cheers from a fellow somm.
Real men drink wine..
Then there's 1800's men....
Drinking whiskey like water.
What does it mean if the cork crumbles when it's only halfway out of your bottle of vinegar?
Awesome. Didn't know much about wine, this was very helpful! You should do one about cigars and pipes, too.
pairing cadbury eggs with 10$ wine, come at me
OK, a few things- to cleanse your palate at a wine tasting, you drink sparkling water. It works. If you want to be fancy, have a San Pellegrino or the equivalent, or just club soda if you don't want to be fancy. I'm sure after a day of all that you want a change of flavor, but while you're there, drink sparkling water. It cleanses your palate and it hydrates you. Another thing, if the wine's corked- the cork will tell you. It'll smell like mildew, and have just an awful, funky odor to it. Yes, you can tell problems by visually inspecting the cork, but the cork will definitely stink. They'll usually pour some wine in a glass to see that you actually approve of the wine. Swirl, smell, and taste the wine and if something is amiss, refuse it and ask for another bottle. I do like this guy's style, and this is a good video, but I felt that a few things need to be clarified.
I disagree, I had the opportunity to taste at least two dozen bottles that had been in a closet under a staircase for God only knows how long. No climate control whatsoever. Most were bad as to be expected. Some were not and were exceptional. Among the exceptional were wines by the cork sniff standard I would have discarded. Thank goodness I tasted every single one, even when I knew it was vinegar. The texture and look of the cork was EVERYTHING and the smell meant nothing to me. I suppose if the cork smelled of a rotting corpse I probably would think twice about tasting it but that was not the case. Some of the best wines had corks that smelled off and the color had browned and they were delicious. I think this video was clear enough as no further "clarification" is warranted.
I thought the thing about the cork is that the wine needs to be in contact with the cork all the time, it if dries out (ie from a bottle being stored upright) the cork will allow oxygen into the wine and that is the end of that. Burnt match, wet mouse and blech.
The excellent Somr in Mare, London (I'd be amazed if it didn't get a * soon) was sniffing the corks, but I found his guidance bang on. Had the tasting course as well as a couple of other pricey things (40 year old port, nom nom) but I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt following accurate descriptions, but I will agree for people eating in a restaurant it just looks silly.
Also, chocolate ABSOLUTELY works with red wines. I would go with a nice full bodied red as recommended. Recently had Amarone Sergio Zenato Riserva 2011 - I would like this with a clever chocolate and steak dish.
"They go through the entire process [...] as if that would make it taste better". It does, actually. There are loads of factors that affect your experience of a wine besides just what your taste buds and nose pick up. Experts are known to have their judgement of a wine altered based on how expensive they thought it was and the setting in which they tasted the wine.
Good video, it's amazing how much people just accept as fact.
My thoughts on smelling the cork was to ensure the wine hasn't turned to vinegar. Is this not true?
didn't know about the cork...i always smelt it...now i will look at it! cheers.
Good video until the beer drinker = frat boy comment. I enjoy wine, but love a great beer.
I think he was pointing out how quick society is to judge, not that he himself was saying it.
Is Frat Boy a Gender specific term? JS
I like wine beer and whiskey.
Watching this and drinking scotch. Feel very manly.
Loving the combination of education and humour in this video!
LOVE that cork fact! :)
as someone who has grown up learning about european wine and tasting quite a bit of it, i can say that the thing about not smelling the cork is not true, if there's is a sickness in the cork that can have affected the wine you can smell it from the cork too, of course it's more prominent in the wine itself, but you can smell it in the cork too. This is called prop in danish(just the danish word for a cork) and tappo in italian(means the same) so if the wine you are drinking is a fine wine from europe(probably also everywhere else) you can gain some knowledge of the wine from smelling the cork
Sniffing the cork made sense when wines had some probability of being oxidized or "corked" . . . you didn't want that stuff in your mouth at all. That happens approximately never these days. It's an outdated ceremony, but lots of people like their ceremonies. Just inspect the cork, nod sagely, and let the show go on.
>Point and laugh
>Educate
Why not both?
Robbie Starburster maybe because people are way less likely to take your advice while you laugh at their face
Robbie Starburster You should watch the "how to Criticism" video!
Robbie Starburster greentext on UA-cam? go to 4chan bud
***** At least he's using it slightly more properly than 4chan users tend to. > used to be what separated a quoted post/mail from the text of the user responding. It's still recognized by people like me who weren't born twelve days ago, and yes it does annoy me when people are "greentexting"
*****
in the real world we have something called "quotation marks" and they are used both ways
Real man drink wine, cultured man drink Tea!
Really enjoyed video. Want to see the accessories video, but can't find it.
6:55 That whole thing made me crack up in the end but I am glad now that I like wine
Wait I know this guy from somewhere
It's almost like all wineries should be using synthetic corks by now. They are strictly superior; they can even be engineered to exact nanometers of porousness to allow a specific number of molecules of oxygen over time. As opposed to cork, where it's just however dense the cork grew.
smelling the cork is important…I think many people can smell cork taint (wet cardboard) on a cork as well as in the wine. Chocolate and Cabernet does not pair well in my opinion. Cabernet does not have enough residual sugar to stand up to chocolate. Port on the other hand goes perfectly with chocolate. Brettanomyces is another thing beer and wine have in common.
Seems to me like you are not explaining myths, but creating new ones. For one, lot of people smell cork because - well, it smells nice. I like to smell cork, because it reminds me of the smell in wine cellars. As you pointed out, people look at wine legs, because it shows viscosity and alcohol, so they can guess what should they prepare for. Noone is looking at wine legs to see, how good the wine is - for that you just taste the wine, which is already in your glass. I am not sure how is the beer part a myth. 8 minutes of my life I will never get back.
I love these videos. Very helpful. Thank you Gerald!
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Greetings from Germany,
I agree with you in most points, but I disagree when it comes to smelling the cork. I you start a tasting of spirits like lets say whisky its pretty common to smell the cork, even many experts do this. The reason is, that that end of the cork which got in contact with the whisky is in a way soaked with it an smells very intense. The only thing you smell when you smell it is usually the whisky and not the cork itself. Okay, you might think, that this is normal, because whisky smells more intense then wine, but I think one also has to take in account, that wines bottles usualle lie in a rack, while spirits are standing, so the cork of a bottle of wine gets eben more soaked up with it then a bottle of whisky or something else.
Apart from that, I just agree, that it is better to smell the wine when it is in your glass but I think that it is not a mistake to smell on the cork.
I love coming back to this video, but i have always wondered, how can i train to be a sommelier?
Υou has absolutely right about the cork, but and nowadays many professional sommeliers make the same fault, thinking that, smelling the cork will be able to know if the wine is good or not and if the wine is affected by the cork. Actually, that's for laughing, because they do the same thing and on the plastic corks. Cheers
If I remember right the cork thing started after a man (can't remember his name but I guess he was a pretty big deal in the community) would use his nose to test the moisture content or something like that of the cork by pressing it against his nose cause it's more sensitive than his finger tips. People thought he was smelling it and started to smell it. Something like that, my boss told me the story a few years ago, didn't remember as much as I thought lol
What about only filling a wine glass half full to 'let it breathe' are you actually doing anything for the flavour if you do that?
+Zachary Lamont-Rodriguez Yep. That one's true for sure. You can also swirl it around in the glass to speed it up, or if you're real fancy you can decant your wine before drinking it to get oxygen in there. The oxygen opens up the wine and makes it more rich and flavourful, though usually you'll only notice a difference in good wines.
Oh ok, thanks! :-)
Real men can do whatever they want. And be confident in not wanting to drink alcohol. Not falling into peer pressure from people saying that real men drink wine.
Great video and very helpful
Numerous studies have shown that Sommeliers can't tell good wine from bad wine nor expensive wine from cheap wine in blind tests a majority of the time. If it tastes good, drink it. If it tastes bad, spit it out. Don't force yourself to enjoy something because a stranger on UA-cam told you it makes you a better man.
+Hero1989 In my opinion, all we need a coach, an expert sommelier who knows much more than us about the wines. Of course about appetite pumpkin pie us we say in my country Greece. You can drink the wine you like it, but if you have the ability to know something more about that special beverage named wine is much better. The wine is not a simple beverage, it's something more. Cheers!
+Adam Daniel yes
You don't get to be a (real) sommelier without knowing how to tell a good wine from a mediocre one - and a bad wine is very easy to spot. (Those "numerous studies" maybe were helpful in spotting dishwashers promoted to the front room.) As for expensive wine . . . well, yeah, you can't taste that.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't "good" and "mediocre" pretty subjective terms? I've always wondered who decided what a good wine is supposed to be and why everyone just takes his/her word for it. We all have tastebuds, can't we just decide for ourselves what's good and bad? Do you need a professional food critic to tell you why a $200 steak tastes better than a $20 one? Tldr: the idea of a sommelier telling you what's good/bad wine is about as ridiculous as someone telling you which bananas taste better.
Nope I don't have links to this study on hand, but as I mentioned before, you can do your own research and find it online.
Thank You for posting.
if you know a lot about beer, you're a fratboy. if you know a lot about scotch, you might be an alcoholic. if you know about wine...
you're sophisticated
I learned that you smell the cork because if you can tell the cork has the smell of wine on it, it means that the cork tainted the wine and it's probably no good any more.
LOVED this video! Thank you!
When a bottle has 'corck', it means that the corck itself is infected with a fungus, smelling like old earthy truffle basement. The reason to smell the corck directly after opening the bottle, is to smell if you just smell the wine, or smell that fungus like smell.
*price ≠ taste* some of the best wines i've had were cheap af and sold in repurposed gallon bottles lol
also, most wines really *don't* get better with age (and they really weren't meant to), so drink up.
leukocyteofdoom this comment is in no way rooted in reality...
mrpipps90 ofc it is happening inside your head, harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?
ah yes. love the ellipses, _very_ convincing. i am now a reformed leaf on the gentle vineyard breeze, and it's undeniably due to your debating prowess.
all wine is now (and has always been, but i couldn't see the truth) high quality wine that ages well, and everyone has a few custom-made barrels on hand _at all times_! you don't learn the proper procedures, they're automatically installed when a person reaches the legal drinking age. also, marketing doesn't lie - _of course_ the more something costs, the better it is! besides, everyone's a wine connoisseur anyway, and is that a hint of blackberries that were grown with the support of a cedar trellis on an eastern facing slope in greece that i detect? incredible.
Smelling the corck just hightens your senses in order to detect if the wine is tainted
Drink whatever makes you happy.
wow, what a high Quality video.
A fellow Texas wino...hell yeah!
Pro tip from a beer enthousiast: when eating, expensive or cheap wine almost taste the same while beer will almost always reveal its character. Guess I won't be called sophisticated though (ha).
spookanide true that
spookanide Have to disagree. Earlier, I was drinking some shitty red Gran Reserva. It tasted like blackberries without food and it tasted like smoky nuts with cheese. Perhaps it's just the wine you're picking. ;)
Drunk Bastard Fair enough
Jonathan Edwards This guy:
images.vivino.com/thumbs/1373899274_292_375x500.jpg
Mind you, my palate isn't great. Personal taste could differ. ;)
spookanide I love the variety of micro-breweries. Let's be clear here. If you know a lot about Budweiser, Natural Ice, and Old Milwaukee...'yer a frat boy. If you know the difference between a Milk Stout and an Oatmeal Stout....you're sophisticated.
Why am I watching this, I don't even like wine
Can someone explain to me why every time I try a red wine that isn't super sweet it tastes like laundry soap?
I am fine with white, rose, and very sweet reds, but dry or even semi dry reds numb my tongue.
I guess I should stick to hard liquor, cider, and beer.
Scott Korin What does laundry soap taste like? And what do you mean "numb" your tongue? I found that especially interesting because you wish to stick to hard liquor.
If anything, hard liquor will dehydrate your tongue more than wine. The reason for the tongue tingling sensation is this "sucking" moisture out of your tissue.
Scott Korin Try a semi dry or semi sweet red to ease your pallet into it. It took me a while, but I got it. Nero D'Avola from Sicily is a great gateway red wine.
MrNicoJac Um, like soap? Or maybe cough syrup? It feels kind of like when you drink coffee or hot chocolate that's too hot, basically.
You might be right about dehydration, but I don't get the same reaction to a mixed drink or whiskey.
Somebody once told me it might be a reaction to the tannins in red wine?
Scott Korin Ah, drinking something that is too hot is a sensation I can associate with. Sadly :')
The sensation could be caused by tannins (never tasted those purely) but I think it is the alcohol that draws most of the moisture from one's tissue (through osmosis).
I would venture to guess that whisky causes so many other sensations that the dehydration is not as noticeable. Especially since it "burns" the back of the throat in such a clearly noticeable way, that really draws attention away from the hard palate/tongue.
Identifying a "mixed drink" is kinda impossible, but most mixed drinks I know usually combine something sweet with something bitter, thereby also adding many other sensations beside the alcohol.
If you wish to appreciate red wines I would suggest a wine that should be complemented with a (small) dish. Take a sip and keep that between your lips and teeth/tip of the tongue, add some air, and be mindful of the change in taste as you swallow the sip. Usually (at least in my experience), the wine will be sweet and fresh at the front of the mouth, a bit dry on the middle of the tongue, and flavourful at the throat (spices can be tasted best here).
Please note that you should take sips like with whisky, and not gulps as with cider or beer.
Ehh, look up the song "Johnny Jump Up"...
Pretty sure that even "expert" red wine tasters can't actually taste the difference, buy a cheapish wine (not boxed stuff) and say it is expensive and you will get the best results. It is all subjective, feel free to look it up.
scotch is as serious as it gets
MYTH: ROOM TEMPERATURE WINE
Another myth, and coincidentally my biggest pet peeve, is serving wine at room temperature. Room temperature pre-modern times (before AC) was an average of 65F. Average room temperature nowadays is closer to 75F. Slightly chill your wines people.
Sémillon from warm areas likes to be served around 70 or just south
"Real men drink wine". And here I thought AoM was above Marketing 101.
Tall Knuckle But it's true
+Tall Knuckle The guy doesn't say anything about his own wine and has lots of brands in the background. He's gotta be the worst marketer of all time
Real men drink whisky
Loved it, thanks for educating the masses about wine... ChateauxDeCrispin
Don't want to get in an argument about wine versus beer because it is like arguing about blondes and brunettes. If you're in the desert water will taste good. If you've just come off the football pitch or basketball court beer will taste good. If it's first thing in the morning coffee will taste good. But if you've got a plate of delicious food in front of you nothing will taste better than a good bottle of wine.
mediastarguest well said.
My man! =p
As a man from Oregon, I kinda take offense to what this guy said about beer drinkers. Beer is a pretty big deal here and most people who drink beer here aren't all frat boys.
We (Oregonians) probably consider our craft brews equally as sophisticated indeed. Watch me get my nose in there for a whiff, and lift a pinky finger when I throw some back. Hard not to do with most our suds.
I find beer a hell of a lot more enjoyable than wines: more verity, not sour, theirs actually a difference based on price, and beer lovers aren't full of shit like our 99% of sommeliers
I find craft beer drinkers to be as arrogant about beer as wine sommeliers can be about wine. They tend to have a herd mentality on subjects like food trucks, craft beer and frat boys and usually live in God awful places like Portland.
I guarantee you a musty rotten cork will smell bad. You smell it before you taste it. Not a myth.
"Real men" also MAKE WINE if there's something in particular they like or think they might like.
bitter chocolate and red is most delicious
Your classy-as-fuck shirt's untucked pal
Wildirish rose anyone?
chocolate? no idea but I'd sure as hell try it first.
nice video and I truly enjoy wine but much more goes into making beer than wine.
are you crazy? beer is way easier and simpler to make than wine. Please…explain to me how hard making beer can be.
Good video. I enjoyed it up to the point where he said "if you know a lot about beer, you're a frat boy." Lots and lots of highly trained beer experts and beer judges out there as well that aren't "frat boys."
Luckily he followed up with, "in most people's eyes".
Andy Weigel Same could be said about Tequila statements. The man needs to head south of the border and realize that there is a whole culture that revolves about refined Tequila.
wine has been around since the dawn of time.
uhh no 7000 years at best
This is absurd. You can smell corkage on the cork. This is the only reason you would smell it besides a little bit of theatre - which is the difference between drinking at home or in a restaurant.
The one about legs was incorrect. The more legs = more alcoholic sugar it contains.
An Old Fashioned tastes good right about now.
haha
this was histerically educational
didn't see the abortion reference coming
right on
Sorry dude but I'm a real man who doesn't like wine. I hail from a wine family (wine distribution from France, Italy, Argentina and Napa Valley) and I've tried every form of wine from every region of the World. After 40-years of wine sampling I can honestly say that I cannot stand the taste nor the smell of fermented grapes. And not...it's not that I haven't found the right now since I have sampled well over 5,000 labels..and they all suck equally and have been known to trigger a gag-reflex. I'll take a quality brewed beer, a snifter of bourbon and a fine cigar any day... :D
Most underappreciated Louder with Crowder personality.
Not true. Infact he's insufferable. Also fun fact he's only there because he literally pays to be there. Who's private jet do you think Crowder uses? Who do you think pays to keep the show affloat. This uninteresting, unfuny homophobe. That's who.
@@Stackali you think?
Who do you think is the main reason I never bought one of those $100 mugs?
I thought he was gonna say that man who drinks scotch, tequila and other liquors were gentlemans instead he said alcoholic! LOLL
I am a captain in a fine dining restaurant with master sommeliers etc. the first line that you spoke that the server with the white cloth over the arm, opening it, "as if that is suppose to make it taste better" blah blah blah is part of the service. You are not a professional and further more you are the reason why no one wants to drink wine!! PRETENTIOUS
Ok - first informations were good. But then... it went wrong:
Beer - it is very strange to say, that beer is part of the wine making! Yes - even [or especially sommeliers] and winemakers after tasting a lot of wines, want to drink something different - beer. But I never seen winemakers or sommeliers to drink beer in between sessions.
Second - a beer connoisseur is a frat boy and somebody who likes [and know about] whisk(e)y, tequila, rum - is a alcoholic??? How can he say something like that? That is stupid! Welcome to the 21st century... where you have all types of connoisseurs, who don't want to be categorised like that!
Quit whining you little bitch.
Dominik MJ
I think he was trying to convey what most people would think. Knowing about beer and liquor is looked down upon much more than knowing about wine.
theHurtfulTurkey Yeah - I think you are right. But it is not the right way, to say it, how he did. If you would say (half-humorous) that there are beer and liquor geeks - I would be ok with it.
But his statement was stupid, incorrect, misleading and just plain insulting.
Okay, but come on, Scotch though too.
This dude is completely wrong on smelling corks. I don't think I have an amazing nose but I can absolutely smell that a bottle is corked by smelling the cork itself. I smell every cork from every bottle I serve and I have caught bad bottles when the customer didn't notice it.
Yeah, happened to me once, it has a distinctive smell. It's kinda like the smell of a potato cellar. Earthy and mouldy.
Or a wineo
I don't like taint on my cork
Ugh!
"Corked" wine doesn't smell like "cork"!
'Some people can smell "corked" on cork', so should smell!!
All my wines have plastic corks..............
I think grabbing the cork is basically BUYING THE BOTTLE regardless of whether you like it or not. If you pick up the cork to look at it, it seems to me you're pretty much indicating you didn't know for certain what you were ordering in the first place and have no experiene with it or you wouldn't find the cork so important and fascinating. Pick up the cork and you just bought the bottle. If there is a POP when the cork is pulled, the cork is FINE and the bottle was sealed and you have no reason to send back the wine if come to find out you rolled the dice, played "expert" and ordered something you had no clue about and decide to try to "back out of the deal" by claiming the wine or cork is "bad". And if you think a RETAILER can "return" an opened, and then "reclosed" container of any alcoholic beverage taxed and regulated under U.S. law for a "refund" when its being purchased through a DISTRIBUTOR who is the "middle man" between the "factory" and the "market", I have to think you're pretty clueless on your own "industry".
How is a opened and then "recorked" bottle of wine NOT going to be "bad" by the time it makes its way BACK to the "vineyard" and how in the hell is the returning retailer going to prove it was bad when opened? Wine bottles are CORKED by HEATING THE BOTTLE AND ITS CONTENTS, inserting the cork so when the bottle and its contents COOL and CONTRACT a VACUUM is created in the bottle above the wine. The POP is not PRESSURE ESCAPING the bottle. Its the CORK EXPANDING when its withdrawn from the bottle. Although not a true "vacuum", the "atmosphere" in the bottle of wine above the liquid is at a substantially lower pressure than normal atmospheric pressure, which is contantly "pushing" the cork into the bottle.
The cork is no longer porous enough for air to pass through it when seated and compressed, but it is sufficiently "soft" enough and much less dense than the glass so that the brittle glass won't be broken when temperature changes or atmospheric pressure changes cause the cork and/or bottle to expand or contract. If a cork is BAD, you'll know it immediately when you uncork the bottle with ease and find VINEGAR inside instead of WINE. This is basic grade school science class stuff. so why doesn't a "sommelier" know it? And since when is a "sommelier" in the BUSINESS of SELLING SPECIFIC WINES and trying to "educate" the general public which would tend to reduce his or her own job security?
You're a liquor store owner. A sommelier may work FOR and IN a restaurant or other retail environment where wine is purchased for immediate CONSUMPTION, but he or she is also supposed to be an UNBIASED and IMPARTIAL "expert" on wines people can trust to work FOR them and help them end up with the wine thats the best match for their tastes, budget etc and who will MAKE SURE THE BOTTLE THEY SELECT IS "GOOD" LONG BEFORE THEY SEE IT, rather than SELL THEM WHATEVER THE DISTRIBUTOR IS OVERSTOCKED AND UNDERSOLD IN AND IS PUSHING ON A PARTICULAR MONTHS "AD" LIST OF "RECOMMENDED" WINES.
Real men drink at least a drink every day and no more than 3 unless you are depressed
nice vid. funny haircut.
I only drink the best money can buy, MD2020, And Ripple. 😁😁😁😁😁
*some men drink wine... Real men drink beer
Lol am I the only one around here who thinks his haircut is ridiculous?
No.
Lol at all the whiny SJWs in this comment section. "Boo hoo im not like this dont categorize me!" Dont respond or dont watch if you disagree
Love this guy on Crowder
Only your opinion
Real men drink all the alcoholic beverages.
Pre louder w crowder
Real men do whatever the fuck they want son...