If you happen to be in Barbados a) I hate you and b) did you know you can get Laithwaites wines in many a watering hole there? And Laithwaites Sauvignon's been available in Trinidad for years. And in Cyprus there's a shop that sells only Laithwaites wines (plus one rather nice Cypriot red). OK so this is of marginal interest to you. But right now I just like writing about warm places I'd like to be.
Taste loss
I lost my taste over Christmas. Most years, Dec 25, I lose my temper but this year it was different.... and I got really worried when everything started tasting bad. Turned out I had 'a bug'. It's now gone (I'll skip the details) and I'm OK again. But I worried.
I shouldn't have done. I should have remembered what Prof Peynaud told us in his tasting course at Bordeaux University; 'Mes Amis, you must never forget that if a wine tastes 'off' it is more likely it is you that is 'off' than it is the wine that is 'off'. (He had a touch of Poirot, did Le Prof.)
It was Le Prof who persuaded me - with a little trick - that I should always mistrust my own palate. I don't always. But I should. Human palates are pathetically weak and unreliable. Mine sure was over Christmas but I promise you it's firing normally again.
We get returns from customers; "This wine is OFF!!!" We refund of course. We never quibble. Why would we? It's only a few bottles. But mostly, after, we end up drinking the wine ourselves. Someone should do a study on wines that are "OFF"! And bugs, moods, emotions and effects on taste buds. Run a few tests. Be interesting.
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I seem to have that same bug at the moment, Tony. There is just nothing that tastes good, and an awful lot of stuff that tatses bad. On the plus side, I seem to be losing some weight due to my reduced apetite!
ReplyDeleteFortunately, I was able to not catch the bug until after Christmas. Meaning that I was able to share a few well choosen bottles of red (plus a couple of bottles of single malt) with my father-in-law!