Carpinus Tokaji Harslevelu Dry White 2023

[Steveam]

About £10 from Lidl. Delightful summer drinking and (suits me) relatively low alcohol at 11%. Not a great wine but light, well balanced and refreshing. Perfect for sitting on the terrace/in the garden and enjoying with nibbles. I’ll be buying more as I only bought one bottle to try.

Best wishes, Steve

[UncleEbenezer]

About £10 from Lidl. Delightful summer drinking and (suits me) relatively low alcohol at 11%. Not a great wine but light, well balanced and refreshing. Perfect for sitting on the terrace/in the garden and enjoying with nibbles. I’ll be buying more as I only bought one bottle to try.

Best wishes, Steve

Your description could be a regular Vinho Verde. Is it anything like that?

[Steveam]

About £10 from Lidl. Delightful summer drinking and (suits me) relatively low alcohol at 11%. Not a great wine but light, well balanced and refreshing. Perfect for sitting on the terrace/in the garden and enjoying with nibbles. I’ll be buying more as I only bought one bottle to try.

Best wishes, Steve

Your description could be a regular Vinho Verde. Is it anything like that?

Yes, but lighter and less grassy than most Vinho Verde - very well balanced and despite the descriptor “Dry” it is almost neutral in sweetness. A little bit of acidity. When I saw Tokaji I assumed it would be sweet but then read the report from Peter Bampford (Lidl wine assessor) who gives it 90. There is nothing unpleasant about this wine but it’s not a super classy wine to write home about (a really nice white burgundy would get me writing home - yum, yum).

Best wishes,

Steve

[Mike4]

My own experience (especially of whites) is a wine I really like one day can easily taste grim (or just plain mediocre) to my palette on another day when I open a second or third bottle.

I don't often see or hear this aspect of wine discussed. I think perhaps as my palette learns what a specific wine tastes like, it gets more picky.

[UncleEbenezer]

My own experience (especially of whites) is a wine I really like one day can easily taste grim (or just plain mediocre) to my palette on another day when I open a second or third bottle.

I don't often see or hear this aspect of wine discussed. I think perhaps as my palette learns what a specific wine tastes like, it gets more picky.

Indeed, I find an element of that. Classic case: many a light Pinot Grigio, utterly gorgeous on a hot summer evening, bland and watery in the opposite season. Put it in a blend - e.g. with Chardonnay or Trebbiano - and it becomes much more resilient against the changing seasons.

Can you tell I ate out tonight - and enjoyed a nice tipple? (Sangiovese, as it happens).

[kempiejon]

My own experience (especially of whites) is a wine I really like one day can easily taste grim (or just plain mediocre) to my palette on another day when I open a second or third bottle.

I don't often see or hear this aspect of wine discussed. I think perhaps as my palette learns what a specific wine tastes like, it gets more picky.

By the time I'm 2 bottles to the wind I'll drink anything, 3 bottles and I'll pour drink down my shirt.

[Mike4]

My own experience (especially of whites) is a wine I really like one day can easily taste grim (or just plain mediocre) to my palette on another day when I open a second or third bottle.

I don't often see or hear this aspect of wine discussed. I think perhaps as my palette learns what a specific wine tastes like, it gets more picky.

By the time I'm 2 bottles to the wind I'll drink anything, 3 bottles and I'll pour drink down my shirt.

Ah yes, the old trope that the wine in the lower half of the bottle always tastes better than the wine in the top half!

[servodude]

By the time I'm 2 bottles to the wind I'll drink anything, 3 bottles and I'll pour drink down my shirt.

Ah yes, the old trope that the wine in the lower half of the bottle always tastes better than the wine in the top half!

Yeah yeah that's why we decant it to get that stuff first

[Steveam]

My own experience (especially of whites) is a wine I really like one day can easily taste grim (or just plain mediocre) to my palette on another day when I open a second or third bottle.

I don't often see or hear this aspect of wine discussed. I think perhaps as my palette learns what a specific wine tastes like, it gets more picky.

Agreed! And temperature makes such a difference. Different white wines need different temperatures. Straight from a cold refrigerator is a no no and kills the nose and deadens the wine. A short time later in the glass and some wines open up amazingly.

Best wishes, Steve

[UncleEbenezer]

My own experience (especially of whites) is a wine I really like one day can easily taste grim (or just plain mediocre) to my palette on another day when I open a second or third bottle.

I don't often see or hear this aspect of wine discussed. I think perhaps as my palette learns what a specific wine tastes like, it gets more picky.

By the time I'm 2 bottles to the wind I'll drink anything, 3 bottles and I'll pour drink down my shirt.

Dorothy Parker put that sentiment so much more eloquently, even if her subject was martini.

[bungeejumper]

By the time I'm 2 bottles to the wind I'll drink anything, 3 bottles and I'll pour drink down my shirt.

Dorothy Parker put that sentiment so much more eloquently, even if her subject was martini.

You beat me to it! For those who don't know it, it's worth the googling.

BJ

[Mike4]

Dorothy Parker put that sentiment so much more eloquently, even if her subject was martini.

You beat me to it! For those who don't know it, it's worth the googling.

BJ

Indeed it is, and it's not what I was expecting!

I was imagining it was to be the acerbic observation that "One martini before dinner is just right. Two is too many, and three is not enough."