Could this work for wine idiots?
13I enjoy wine but know zero about it. I have plenty of friends who like wine but they don’t seem like they know any more than I do. My question is, will the offerings be explained clearly and thoroughly enough that someone with no background in wine could know what they’re getting (which is to say, what they should buy/are likely to enjoy) and maybe even explain WHY it’s a good wine/good deal to their friends?
If this aspect isn’t something y’all have considered strongly, then let this stand as a suggestion that I know at least a few people who would sign up if it meant that offerings on the site had down-to-earth, comprehensive information about them (especially given that the deals would need to be quickly actionable based on how Casemates works). Here’s a made up example of the information I’d hope for, leaning on something I know slightly more about:
“This is a ‘Belgian Style’ product, meaning (in broad strokes) that hops generally take a backseat role–more specifically, it is ‘dry hopped’, meaning that the hops (floral and bitter flavors) are added after the boiling stage, which leads to minimal bitterness. If you don’t mind sweeter, less bitter beers–if you may be serving to ‘non-beer people’–this would be a great choice for you as the bitterness of IPAs and similar beers are often a taste acquired over time through beer exploration. Also, the alcohol percentage is generally 3-4% higher than many mainstream beers, so you may not need to serve as many bottles. This beer ranks very favorably in its price bracket, and its flavors generally skew towards dark brown sugar, allspice, and bananas. Expect to serve 1-3 bottles of this per person in a given evening. This beer pairs best with heavy savories such as roast beef, smoky burgers, or even fondues. Normal average price per bottle is ___ but we are offering it for ____ . This is a (new or old) style of beer and (is rare or commonly available.)”
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Great question. A couple answers here:
I wouldn’t expect the Casemates write-ups to answer all your questions, but I do think our community will be great at helping.
Maybe I’m the exception, but I got hooked on wine.woot exactly because I didn’t know anything about wine. I trusted them to pick out good wines of different styles, and I ordered more bottles than I could count. As I opened them I took notes on what I liked, and what I didn’t. Even with all the wine I’ve had I still like the variety.
If it all came down to good wine (or rather, wine I enjoy drinking) at great prices, I’d pretty much just buy what my Costco sells. I do go through cases of their Pinot Grigio, just like I go through kegs of my home brew, but I still like to try something new every now and again.
If you’re thinking you might like to get into wine or want to learn a bit more it might be worth going to a wine tasting or a class to learn a bit more about wine would help you understand a bit more. Hell, even stopping off at a local wine cellar just to ask some questions might be helpful as well.
I think you’ll enjoy this…Back when Wine.Woot started, I knew I liked SOME wines, but hated others. I was incredibly frustrated, frankly, and was sick and tired of buying crappy wine at the store regardless of how much I spent. @WineDavid49 and the others at WineCountryConnect hand selected their wines AND got the winemakers to talk about it and answer completely newbie questions, etc. It taught me what I needed to know about wine and am excited to see this continue. And now I feel comfortable going to wine tastings and not feeling like an idiot.
I’m sure they will continue to choose great wine, and you’ll also see others providing their own thoughts on the wines, too, in addition to the winemakers themselves…
Hopefully you’ll have a good success story, too!
When I started on WW I knew next to nothing about wine, and honestly didn’t even know if I liked it. The forum and community participation changed all of that in a hurry. I now sit here with about 220 bottles a wine and just enough knowledge to be dangerous with it. If any of this community carries over, and I expect that it will, with possible improvements, many people will find themselves on the same path.
One of the best parts of wine.woot (and one of the reasons I was really disheartened to hear of its demise… and one of the reasons I was hoping mediocre had this up their sleeves) was the community aspect. Especially that the vintners often got involved. You’d get a lot of advice from them on whether or not to age (and for how long), pairing suggestions, if-I-like-this-will-I-like that… Whether you know a little or a lot about wine, it really was such a great resource. I can only imagine that’s how this is expected to work going forward — if there’s one thing mediocre seems to do well, it’s community.
I like wine and I now know a tad more about it than I did before I started buying from wine.woot. I still have a lot to learn, but I don’t have to roll the dice anymore now grabbing some wine of the grocery shelf, or Costco.
I think I know a bit more what I like now and even though I didn’t post much, I inhaled all the post by the vintners and the posters that are way more knowledgeable about wine I could ever be.
So if casemates has some of the same folks participating and the same folks behind the scenes, I expect to continue to get good wine. For me its the curation part that helps lot. I mean I just have no clue otherwise what to look for when I stand in front of a wall of wine. I know a little more so I can actually go to the right section now, but I still like the curated offers. I might not love all the wines I order, but I know it wont be total crap. Which was about 50% of what I got before.
Even just a -Sweet/Not sweet- -tannic/not tannic- -acidic/not acidic- scale would help for those of us who just have very broad stroke tastes in wine. Personally, I err on the sweet, nontannic, not too acidic side of most wines, and being able to easily identify that makes me 10000% more likely to buy ones I think will suit my household’s tastes!
@Jamileigh17 To the OPs point, 2 of those 3 items are likely, “um, what?” in the same way that talking to a non-beer aficionado using terms like Maillard reactions and diacetyl wouldn’t be particularly useful. Part of what made wine.woot awesome is that you HAD that information about wines, so like @vaaccess said, over the course and trying different wines you start to identify common elements of “tannic” wines or “acidic” wines and begin to develop your own palate and your own vocabulary.
@corrado I know a lot of beer drinkers (not those who brew beer or formulate their own beer recipes), but people who know their beers, that are clueless about the Maillard reaction and diacetyls and the like. I’d say those terms are a bit too far down into the weeds vs things like tannic and acidic, but then maybe not.
FWIW, I brew my own beer and other things and blend and age my own spirits. About the only thing with alcohol I’ve not done is make wine, tho I do use wine to make other things.
@baqui63 To be fair, diacetyl is almost entirely a homebrewer’s concern. It’s also a little different since some folks (like me) have a very high threshold for perception.
Maillard is a good comparison for the reason you state. You can drink a lot of various beers or read what the Maillard reaction tastes like in beer, but until you have a variety of styles that exhibit it, it’s hard to tease out from the malt, yeast, hops, water, etc. that common flavor and aroma that is Maillard. I’ll profess to not being 100% there myself, but I’m trying!
Caveat Emptor if you DO try wine: If you go red, set you target low and think, “Beaujolais” regardless of what grape you start with. Mead is a lot of fun to play with, but it’s a pricey game to play.
The community at wine.woot is what got me interested in wine and certain gourmet foods. I was completely ignorant in both areas. I blame that same community for my snobbish love of balsamic and olive oil.
I like “friendly” wine. The kind where you take a sip and it gives you a big ol’ bear hug and says “drink a LOT of me, buddy! We’re on the same team!” I hope Casemates helps me find a steady supply of such boozles.
@UncleVinny Like people, I find that wine gets much friendlier if you put enough of it in your mouth.
@arielleslie now THERE’S a mantra for 2018.
I knew zero about wine before wine.woot. I hadn’t been drinking wine at all. I asked a lot of questions in the forums, and read everything I could. It has been an amazing education!
From my own experience with wine.woot, it is perfect for wine idiots. Especially if they have spare money to spend on wine.
@Twich22 what was your handle on ww?
@rjquillin it was twich22
@Tachikoma said:
Could idiots work for this wine?
As many have said, the WW community always offered more than the write up about the wines offered. I learned so much from them and never felt bad asking basic questions.
The fact that the often had the wine makers themselves as part of the discussion was also amazing, as they have so much specific knowledge. Not to mention they have reputations in the community to uphold, so they are honest. Peter Wellington (wine maker extraordinaire) once told someone who described what they usually like in a wine to NOT buy the wine he was offering, because it would not likely be their cup of tea…err… wine.
It looks like Casemates will have about 3 offerings per week, rather than the daily grind wine.woot became after Amazon.
With a couple or 3 days for an offering, there’s time for whatever we’re going to call labrats - forum members, usually knowledgeable, but sometimes not; you need a mix - to taste and describe the wines, as well as the information provided by casemates and the winemakers.
Some of the tasters will provided very impressionistic reports, others more formal tasting notes.
I recommend looking at some of the old wine.woot threads on tasting, especially “A Cat died in my Mouth” .
Links:
A Cat Died in My Mouth! (or) How To Develop The Professional Palate YOU Want!
In particular, this post has some basic information on my approach to winetasting - a bit dated as it was written in 1982, but still sound:
RPM Tasting Notes - 1982
@rpm
Thx.