Wine.Woot : One Week, One Wine (SM)

Wow; what an informative and enjoyable contribution. Thank you so much!

Awesome article.

I always keep a bottle of good Creme de Cassis on hand for when novice wine tasters inevitably ask "watching the films is blackcurrant/cassis?" Also, the stuff is tasty (even if considered a "chick drink").

Hi Steve,
Great informative blog. Your Wine Grape Variety poster hangs in my lab and I pass out your Wine Tasting Terms sheet to my custom crush clients as we are tasting through their wines.

Great blog post!

As a wine geek infant, I now know where to go to solidify that flavor/aroma concept for my palate! Thanks!

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the great post!

2 things, though unrelated to this post, while we have you here.

1) You actually have Syrah/Shiraz as a bigger grape than PS on the wine varietal chart? Seriously? We PSychos demand you rectify this grave insult in the next edition!

2) Coming along well on the road to doppelmembership -- I'm at about 146 or so, thanks to some Marselan last night. When is the next version of the grape chart going to come out? Is there somewhere we can submit suggestions or know what you guys are going to add? (e.g., prieto picudo). It would also be really helpful if you guys had a "grape thesaurus" online so that we could tell things, like, e.g., lladoner pelut = garnacha peluda, or that sangio grosso and sangio piccolo are both (still) considered the same grape as sangio

Awesome article. I'm going to find me some creme of cassis and probably grab that Ravenswood also because I have never had a black currant.

Luv the illustrations!

Great first blog on wine.woot Steve.

Now just a general question for you or really anyone.

Is it pronounced "curr rent" or "curr rant"? Growing up in a Mexican household I never had a reason to find out. But I can pronounce frijoles like nobody's business.

javadrinker wrote:Great first blog on wine.woot Steve.

Now just a general question for you or really anyone.

Is it pronounced "curr rent" or "curr rant"? Growing up in a Mexican household I never had a reason to find out. But I can pronounce frijoles like nobody's business.

Rent like parent, only without the 5 seconds of rolled r's :P

Thanks for all the nice comments and thanks to woot for letting me ramble on here.

Scott - that's high praise - thanks!

PetiteSirah - You must have an older copy of the chart - PS was moved to the superheavyweights after howls of protest.

javadrinker - I'm glad tenuki answered that one - since I've move to the UK, my 6 year old son corrects my pronunciation of "water". Go figure.

Great article. Informative and entertaining.

Wine.woot is doing a great job with guest bloggers. Hope you come back again.

tenuki wrote:Rent like parent, only without the 5 seconds of rolled r's :P

You know what also doesn't have R's to roll? F U!!!!

stevedelong wrote:Thanks for all the nice comments and thanks to woot for letting me ramble on here.

Scott - that's high praise - thanks!

PetiteSirah - You must have an older copy of the chart - PS was moved to the superheavyweights after howls of protest.

javadrinker - I'm glad tenuki answered that one - since I've move to the UK, my 6 year old son corrects my pronunciation of "water". Go figure.

Steve -- my copy is the one that woot offered most recently. Should I complain to you or to winedavid?

javadrinker wrote:You know what also doesn't have R's to roll? F U!!!!

best word ever? FERROCARRIL!

Nice article! I really have liked all the products that you have offered on your website.

PetiteSirah wrote:Steve -- my copy is the one that woot offered most recently. Should I complain to you or to winedavid?

You should not complain to anybody, dear nephew. You should know that sometimes the things that are super cheap on w.w are blown out for a reason other than the incriminating pics WineDavid seems to inevitably have in his possession. Change it with a magic marker. It will be so kitschy that it'll be hip, I promise.

On an unrelated note to Tenuki. Dude. Why the hating on the r rolling? Many people I know consider that a plus.

nallie wrote:On an unrelated note to Tenuki. Dude. Why the hating on the r rolling? Many people I know consider that a plus.

Yeah, I know, but it's java!

And sorry I didn't mention it before but it was definitely an enjoyable post o black currant. There's a black currant cider from Fox Barrel at the pool hall that I drink sometimes, I wonder where that'd rate.

PetiteSirah wrote:Steve -- my copy is the one that woot offered most recently. Should I complain to you or to winedavid?

Just pull out a Sharpie and draw some arrows.

But I like Looza... At least I did when I could find it years ago.

Moondragon wrote:But I like Looza... At least I did when I could find it years ago.

Looza was a good drink - it was also a perfect match for hangovers. . .

I realize that this isn't about tasting profiles in general, but about a specific one. Nevertheless, I will press on. I read a nose/flavor profile of wine today (I think it was a viogner) and as one of the scents/tastes was cactus! Has anyone encountered this? If I have, I'm not sure I would have been able to recognize it anyway.

Steve- great first post/blog on here- hope to see many more.

I just finished having my DeLong's Wine Map of CA matted and framed and it looks great.

As an aside, I think PetiteSirah should frame his varietals poster and use dry erase markers to move PS to its rightful place.

Last night at the farm stand where I pick up their fresh made ice cream, I found a bottle of black currant juice from A Currant Affair. Had to buy it and try it after reading this. They added a lot of sugar, so I will have to see what it tastes like not first thing in the morning.

We also found a bottle of black currant wine. A dessert wine in a half-bottle. Not sure when we will open and check it out.

So Steve, you inspired me.

I actually like Looza juices though I must admit the black currant isn't among my favorites (I prefer their yellow and orange colored drinks).

R.W. Knudsen Family makes a 100% black currant juice called (naturally) Just Black Currant.

iByron

Articles like this are what make this community so awesome. Thank you Steve and WD.

Looza has 21 flavors?! I'm going to have to find some now. It looks like they may have discontinued their black currant flavor, though.

Looza!

I just picked up a bottle of Mathilde blackcurrant liqueur. Very interesting stuff. It's like nothing I've had before but I could instantly see how it is found in Cabernet. It has this dark sweet aroma but with underlying green, vegetal, brambly notes and some else, almost...medicinal. It is sweet tasting but a little tart at the same time and not jammy or syrupy. Great concentration and a nice long bittersweet finish.

American, and I big fan of Blackcurrant.

I'm lucky enough to live in Los Angeles, so I can actually get Ribena or Looza at the corner store.

Great article Steve! Very informative in that it has peaked my curiosity. How close are the tastes of blackberry and black current? Does black current come through as black licorice in wine? I'm going to have to find some juice of each to find out.

As the son of a Brit living in America, I love black currant as well.

Looza is available at several stores near me, I like to dilute it with sparkling water, its delicious. I haven't done this is several months though, so I need to make sure they still have the black currant flavor!

Three other tasting options:
1. Black currant preserves. I love a PB&J with black currant preserves. It is my favorite jam to have on a PB&J.

2. This is a 'fakish' taste, but one that I grew up with. Many tea-makers make black currant flavored tea including Twinings.

http://www.amazon.com/Twinings-Blackcurrant-Bags-20-Count-Boxes/dp/B000F4F96Q

3. At my local store in the bulk goods section you can get dried currants as well. I like to add them to my oatmeal.

Thanks! Very imformative!!

Blackcurrant juice is also great with Cider Beer. In England they call it a Cider & Black and it is really good! A good beer for the ladies too, since it is sweet with the berry taste

I just drank a bottle of First Blush Merlot juice and it tasted remarkably like the Looza Black Currant juice I've had in the past. I must taste some side-by-side at some point.

I should get my hands on a genetic study. It'd be interesting to see how genetically close vinifera grapes are to black currants.

Anyone here ever had black currant wine?

iByron

vquasarv wrote:As the son of a Brit living in America, I love black currant as well.

Looza is available at several stores near me, I like to dilute it with sparkling water, its delicious. I haven't done this is several months though, so I need to make sure they still have the black currant flavor!

Three other tasting options:
1. Black currant preserves. I love a PB&J with black currant preserves. It is my favorite jam to have on a PB&J.

2. This is a 'fakish' taste, but one that I grew up with. Many tea-makers make black currant flavored tea including Twinings.

http://www.amazon.com/Twinings-Blackcurrant-Bags-20-Count-Boxes/dp/B000F4F96Q

3. At my local store in the bulk goods section you can get dried currants as well. I like to add them to my oatmeal.

Very entertaining post on the Black Current. Being British myself I grew up on Ribena. Black Current drink is high in vitamin C, and since oranges don't grow well in England, kids drink Ribena instead. The growing season for them is very limited, so getting fresh berries is difficult unless your in a place that grows them at the right time of year. Additionally, they are like Cranberries - you cannot eat them raw - they need to be cooked with sugar to be palatable. I was recently staying outside of Beaune, and our hostess made fresh Blackcurrent compote - I was in heaven - and will most likely stay there again JUST for the compote.

A few years back I discovered that by combining a few ingredients together, I could get a close match. They are Rhubarb and Blueberry. It's not a perfect match but close. Also - you can always find canned Black currents in an English food store.