Wines That Transport You

[Adam Holland]

For me some do; and most don’t.

I can open a bottle of Bordeaux or Burgundy and not feel I have been transported to the Gironde or Beaune.

But with some wines the nose and the first sip lift me up and fly me straight there. These three do it for me:

- whites from the southern Rhone
- reds from the Languedoc and Roussillon
- Italian Vermentino

Anyone else suffer from this happy affliction?

 

[Bill Marks]

Fino - to the Costa de la Luz

 

[Kevin Courtney]

Chablis?

 

[Richard Ward]

Manzanilla does it for me. I'm always transported back to a seafood restaurant on the waterfront in Sanlucar.

Sauternes doesn't transport me anywhere, but it always gives me the "old pair of slippers" comfort feeling.

 

[Ben Coffman]

Southern Rhone for sure. The garrigue and baked earth are glorious.

 

[Peter Webb]

The salty notes of manzanilla - take me to Sanlucar which I will hopefully visit in the real world as well

 

[Saina Nieminen]

Not really what you meant but whenever I happen to sniff the stereotype of NZ SB I get transported to Middle-earth. It's a weird psychological thing but my first experience of that pungent style was when viewing the 1st LOTR movie at university at 19yo and the two are now forever interlinked in my mind. I can't watch any scene of that movie without me hallucinating-smelling SB and I can't smell any SB without being reminded of the movie.

 

[Adam Holland]

Not really what you meant but whenever I happen to sniff the stereotype of NZ SB I get transported to Middle-earth. It's a weird psychological thing but my first experience of that pungent style was when viewing the 1st LOTR movie at university at 19yo and the two are now forever interlinked in my mind. I can't watch any scene of that movie without me hallucinating-smelling SB and I can't smell any SB without being reminded of the movie.

Which part of Middle Earth? Can’t be the shire, must be Elrond?

 

[Nick Amis]

The Barthod Bourgogne (2014 vintage) I've just opened definitely smells like a muddy Burgundian hillside

 

[Max Preston]

Cheap Sicilian grillo, or Greek whites maybe assyrtiko. Straight back on holiday

 

[Jeremy Caan]

Tonight's 98 Prum WS Auslese 98 and Cos Frappato 2021 both have a sense of place and dance. That's what I look for.

I like others' reference to Manzanilla, me too.

And Burgundy reds in their sous bois stage.

 

[G. W o l f f]

Night Train, perhaps?

 

[Leon Marks]

A big Californian Chardonnay sends me back to an outdoor bar in a Southern California hotel, drinking out of a stemless glass.

 

[Simon Wheeler]

etna rosso
assyrtiko from santorini

more restrained cali Chardonnay than Leon above, Sandhi usually does it for me to be right back in San Francisco

 

[Jeremy Caan]

etna rosso
assyrtiko from santorini

more restrained cali Chardonnay than Leon above, Sandhi usually does it for me to be right back in San Francisco

Simon, do you happen to know of an assyrtiko from Santorini with no more than 13%?

 

[Simon Wheeler]

Simon, do you happen to know of an assyrtiko from Santorini with no more than 13%?

Sadly not Jeremy, i try to avoid looking at the label when I drink them for that reason

 

[Steve Slatcher]

Simon, do you happen to know of an assyrtiko from Santorini with no more than 13%?

I've drunk a few at 13%, but I think it's largely vintage dependent rather than down to the producer and label.

Vinsanto is often lower, but I guess you are asking about dry wine.

 

[Jeremy Caan]

I've drunk a few at 13%, but I think it's largely vintage dependent rather than down to the producer and label.

Vinsanto is often lower, but I guess you are asking about dry wine.

Steve, if you happen upon a modest abv one that's dry I'd be v grateful to hear about it.

 

[James Davis]

Madeira all the way. Something so unique and transcendental.

 

[Leon Marks]

This just transported me back to visiting David's winery in Morey St Denis - we must have visited in 2011 and 2012 I think? Even by the standards of this forum, he stood out as fabulously nerdy - he had a bottling machine that he made himself, which filled the bottles from the bottom, in order to avoid undue disturbance to the wine.



This is just pure and clean and singing tonight. I remember him letting us taste various bottles - one was a 2004 which none of us spotted as an 04. I may be misremembering the story but he mentioned that he had tried this with various storied visitors, and it was only Bill Nanson (I *think*) who'd correctly identified the vintage.

Another amazing thing about his wines is that, for the full extent of his production (I *think* from 2004 to 2012) every single wine had the same alcohol content, at 13%. This was fortunate, as he used the same back labels for the full period of production, which all happened to have 13% printed on them...