Wine Geeks are the new Cool
The word “Geek”, at least according to the on-line Merriam-Webster dictionary, originated around 1914 and lists three popular definitions: 1 : a carnival performer often billed as a wild man whose act usually includes biting the head off a live chicken or snake. 2 : a person often of an intellectual bent who is disliked. 3 : an enthusiast or expert especially in a technological field or activity (computer geek) Curiously, there is no mention of the growing number of intellectual wine geeks who typically will not bite the head off of a live chicken or snake but will probably know why the very popular Sacre Bleu varietal Sauvignon Blanc smells, well.., kinda different.
It’s a recent phenomenon this wine geek thing and as it exists today there are more women defining the role than men. Why? Simply because women want to know, we need to understand. A man cares but a woman will go total Nancy Drew to find out why Sauvignon Blanc smells like that? We probably already suspect, as a result of some finely honed shopping instinct, that there are a couple of very important things to note when we “nose” a wine. Maybe it’s like we’re checking out an interesting eau de cologne with a little mist to the wrist.
It is suggested, even by leading carnival performers, to first smell the wine before swirling, noticing the distinct aromas. But all that does is make us more curious to keep smelling…so we swirl the wine and smell again after it breathes. We dig that it is unruly, wild.
Now the casual drinker would simply let his or her curiosity end there and drink up and enjoy. The geek goes on, deeper.
The true geek, the pure geek, will know that it’s because of the presence of a little something called pyrazine. It gets worse, geekier. We’ll somehow know that pyzarine is an important component of many fruits and vegetables. Oh, yeah. Imagine one single grape in 500,000 metric tonnes of grapes changing the smell of the entire batch. This is the strength of pyrazine. In Bordeaux, Sauvignon Blanc often, if not always, is blended with Semillon and Muscadelle to overcome the aroma of pyrazine. To the French, it seems that bad.
You are one sexy beast, Sacre Bleu Sauvignon Blanc, running with abandon through fields of grass, with your long, blond tresses blowing in the breeze. We love to gaze upon you with leis of wild flowers and gooseberries bouncing on your bosoms; you absorb all the herbal essences around you. You are young and fresh – crisp even – with taut skin and daring spunk. You have the steely courage to bound up to us bare-naked. And when you are wise enough shed your funky cloths of oak, you present yourself in a very cool, exotic way. All of us would sing that you are perfect au naturel!
Was that Geeky?
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Greg
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Mark Shaw
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Katy Prescott
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Sacre Bleu Wine
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