Tom
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2384
 | | 11/22/2003 5:50 AM |
| I have seen several kits that are designed to assist in developing your sense of smell, specifically, trying to put your finger on what exactly you do smell in that glass.
Le Nez Du Vin is one, costly. I think there is one called Bacchus.
Has anyone any experience with these? Do they help? Is there something better (besides vast amounts of tasting), etc.?
Thanks. | | | |
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love_cab_chard
Master of Wine
Posts:12387
| | 11/22/2003 5:53 AM |
| | My brother bought one from WE. He uses it. I used it once. Very challenging. Some, I picked up on. Some, I did not. But, you have to keep @ it. They may work... | | | |
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Tom
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2384
| | 11/22/2003 6:05 AM |
| Thanks. With Christmas around the corner, one of these things may be a good idea.
Did you hear from B&H? | | | |
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love_cab_chard
Master of Wine
Posts:12387
| | 11/22/2003 9:12 PM |
| NO. It's not the 1st time. Those people are very unprofessional. The wines are great. I hear that they are good people. But, not very professional & not much for custormer service.
No matter. I will not contact them again. And, I do not just mean this mailer. Moving on to other Wines. Too much good wine out there & too little time... | | | |
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Dr_Tannin
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2498
| | 11/22/2003 11:48 PM |
| WDOT-
I have one as a gift years ago.
Did I learn from it?...not much. I did better trying fruits and vegetables in the store over 10 years.
Is it a hoot at parties? BIG TIME. Adults sitting sniffing vials trying to figure out "banana." LOL | | | |
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David Niederauer
Los Gatos, CA
Master Sommelier
Posts:15719
| | 11/23/2003 12:01 AM |
| | Does it have essence of cassis bush? | | | |
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Tom
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2384
| | 11/23/2003 1:12 AM |
| Thanks. That is sort of what I assumed, but as I read reviews, and would aspire to write some of my own, I'd certainly like to have a broader range from which to draw to describe what I am tasting/smelling.
I mean really....what the ... does a brambleberry smell like anyway? | | | |
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texaswino
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2184
| | 11/23/2003 2:49 AM |
| WDOT,
I agree. I would like to be better at describing the aromas I am smelling and the flavors I am tasting. I usually just say, ummm, that is nice.  | | | |
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Eric White
San Ramon, CA
Advanced Sommelier
Posts:9147
| | 11/23/2003 2:50 AM |
| | I have the full Le Nez Du Vin kit + the flaws kit. Every time this topic comes up I say the same thing - I really ought to use it more often. I love the kit, but somehow I just don't use it very much, and that's a lot of scratch for something to sit idle. Nonetheless, I think it is a fantastic aid to tuning your ability to pick on specific smells, but it is not a "end-all be-all" - you are equally served going out the garden and smelling flowers, glass clipping, etc. | | | |
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ChangeMe
Grape Stomper
Posts:152
| | 11/24/2003 9:11 AM |
| My girlfirend claims some of the smells of the Nez du Vin smell very synthetic, more like some cheap essence than the real thing. That's also my experience with a set of powders used for the same purpose that I found in Spain this year (for half the price of Nez du Vin).
Still, the faults kit would proably be very good, (it was included in the Spanish set).
I'm considering buying a full kit myself, simply for the reason that I don't eat that much fresh fruit often enough to remember all those smells. I've gigured having that kit at home would make me smell them more often and so develop a memory for them. Eric, you have made me think twice about this. | | | |
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Tom
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2384
| | 11/27/2003 2:49 AM |
| I think a trip mto the produce isle and perhaps a candle store may serve me just as well, and cost a whole lot less.
Is it true that we truly have no memory for smell? I heard that somewhere and I am absolutely living proof. | | | |
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ChangeMe
Grape Stomper
Posts:152
| | 11/27/2003 10:40 AM |
| We have a fantatsic memory for smell. Most of us just aren't used to excercising it.
Think of all the times a smell suddenly brings back powerful memories from some place or time. That's your memory of smells working - through association. | | | |
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ChangeMe
Master of Wine
Posts:12891
| | 11/27/2003 2:34 PM |
| | i know what you mean marcus. last night i opened a 00 numanthia and the smell brought me right back to the june tre vigne offline. we had the 99 that night and they were very similiar. | | | |
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David Niederauer
Los Gatos, CA
Master Sommelier
Posts:15719
| | 11/27/2003 8:05 PM |
| What Markus says is so true. I remember as a kid the smell of bread baking. I'll get that sometimes with Merlot.
It sounds (and looks) stupid but when you eat lift the plate to your nose and take a whiff. I really learn alot doing this. | | | |
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ChangeMe
Grape Stomper
Posts:152
| | 11/28/2003 8:41 AM |
| We have a Christmas tree at the office and the smell of it brings back Christmas and childhood quite vividly.
Back during military service (compulsory for all males in Finland) we did a lot of skiing, and a lot of it during night time. So this once we're skiing through a pine forest and I choose a path between some trees that are a little smaller than the giant pines all around us. Suddenly the smell of Christmas hits us - those small trees were firs, not pines, and the smell of firs is quite distinct to that of pines. I felt that was a good place for a short break, so we all sat down for a few minutes and enjoyed the smell of "Christmas" before getting back to our imaginary war. | | | |
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ChangeMe
Grape Picker
Posts:12
| | 01/13/2004 5:26 PM |
| Wow.
You are all so very right.
Markus is right, to ski between the pines, his girlfriend is right about the artificial aromas of some of the nez-du-vin-bottles. And it is too expensive to keep it untouched on top of your wardrobe. And it can be fun to entertain people with.
And we have indeed a very good memory for smell.
My example would certainly be the association I make between very typical pinot noir and the little hard plastic toys we had when I was really, really little, like very cheap space guns that could shoot tiny plastic "bullets". When I tell this to people near to me, I see "Alsheimer" written across their eyeballs. | | | |
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ChangeMe
Grape Stomper
Posts:152
| | 01/14/2004 9:51 AM |
| Darn it Rik, now that you mention the plastic toys, you're spot on!
I simply must buy a Pinot soon to see if I'm just kidding myself but I think I just entered a new word into my wine vocabulary.
Few people who haven't been into the army actualy believe this, but one can fall asleep on one's skiis and remain standing. It happened to me twice, I think, and one of the times I tried to take the route through a pine instead of between the pines. Didn't really work but I woke up. | | | |
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