Thursday, April 01, 2010

Expanding my Descriptors

Dear Friends and Readers,

Although I try to give some meaningful details, when I write about a wine I try to focus more on context than on descriptions of flavor or aroma. That said, many of you have contacted me in the past few months asking me to me more specific about aromas and flavors, to use more and better descriptors.

Although at first I felt kind of sad about this, I tried it out on my own last night and it was a lot of fun. So thanks for your comments and requests, and here is the first example of a whole new type of wine writing here at Brooklynguy's site:


2007 Cupcake Vineyards Central Coast Cabernet Sauvignon, $11, full disclosure - this wine was sent to me as a sample. Oxblood purple with ruby rims and a sparkly garnet core. Aromas of black licorice (the Swedish kind that comes in little nuggets), cloves, coriander, cardamom, cumin, other spices that begin with the letter "c," pipe tobacco, cigar box, cigar, humidor, cedar, spruce, birch, oak, and brown licorice. Layers of sweet fruit, including black cherry, Washington State white cherry, red cherry, sour cherry, blueberry, strawberry, raspberry, Pinkberry, marionberry, lingonberry, blackberry, mulberry, cranberry, gooseberry, and huckleberry, with subtle undercurrents of black plum, red plum, yellow plum, and prune. The finish is a gentle kiss of caramel, salted caramel, espresso, macchiato, regular drip coffee, hazlenut, almond, Brazil nut, woodsmoke, and sandalwood.

A great value at $11, particularly if you cannot afford to or do not wish to purchase all of those products individually.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

At first, equally sad that you were being influenced into changing your descriptors, but reading on I realized: April Fools! Good for you.

Joe Roberts said...

I think you forgot boysenberry... :)

aaron said...

Were there no ground cherries? What a rip-off!

jseeds said...

I definitely pick up some cinnamon, elderberry, and halleberry...

Ryan O'Vineyards said...

I also thought that the snozberries taste like snozberries!

Do Bianchi said...

you really had me going, BrooklynGuy, and Pinkberry had me falling out of my seat! Of all the great April's fools, this was the best, by far...

Paul Kiernan said...

Cupcake Cab isn't for me - I prefer fruitier wines.

Aaron said...

You douchebag! I bought reductions, essences, tinctures, a drip coffee machine, a produce stand, a yogurt franchise, flew round-trip from Chicago to Washington, took up smoking, and salted my own goddamn caramel... only to find that when I put them all in a blender, they tasted nothing like the 2007 Cupcake Cabernet. They did, however, taste exactly like the 2006. Glad it only cost me $325,000 to find out.

Anonymous said...

Bravo! You just saved me a lot of cash on fruit.

Bertrand said...

Are all these berries imported or seasonal & local ? I mean, are these aromas carbon-neutral ??

Brooklynguy said...

glad you all seem to appreciate my new way of doing things around here.

Paul - i understand completely, but trust me - the wine is fruity. i need to continue to practice my descriptors so that i can convey it better.

and aaron - i regret your recent expenditure, and i hope that you enjoyed the 2006. perhaps next time you will ask me before setting off on such a spending spree. and please, quit smoking.

Anon - that was my intention, although i hope you will continue to support your local fruit farmers.

Bert - these are imported and genetically modified berries, they leave a huge carbon footprint, but they smell great, which is most important.

Breakdancing Melbourne said...

Oh my god so many berries. Anyway Love all of them :p

cork & foil wine blog said...

You have a very impressive palate, I'm not sure even on one of my best days I could discern all of that!