Your irrational pet peeves

[Shyster]

Why does only cheap, crappy wine come in smaller bottles? I might drink more wine if producers would take a hint from beer, which has been offered in single-serving bottles for 100+ years.

[tifosi77]

Because wine is affected by the bottling process differently than a brewed beer. With wine, the larger the storage vessel the better. The standard 750 ml bottle is really all the smaller you want to go if you have any interest in actually enjoying the wine. Some producers make available the 500 ml containers, so-called 'picnic bottles', but you really are in for a crap shoot.

Wines evolve and change over time, everyone knows this. That process is sped up in a smaller vessel. Yes, that means a complex wine will reach its peak maturity faster, but it also means it will tip downhill faster as well. You might want to buy a deep, Napa Cabernet that you can easily cellar for 10 months before opening. You will probably have a period of between 2 and 5 months when that wine will be at its absolute best. Put that same wine in a 500 ml bottle, and your cellar window might only be 2-3 months, with a period of only a week or two when it's fully mature. And since you have no idea when that bottle hit the store shelf, it could already be sliding downhill by the time you put it in your cart.

[Shyster]

And how does a wine "evolve" if its open and in my fridge for three or four days because it takes me that long to drink it?

I'm far from the first to say this, but wine to me carries the cloak of being pretentious and dooshy, and that really turns me off drinking it. If wine needs time to mature, it should say on the label when the best time to drink it is. If it gets too old on the shelves, then it goes back and gets dumped. That's what happens to beer that doesn't sell. If I wanted to deal with fiddly, fussy things that force me to constantly wait around, I'd get married. I'm looking for the complete opposite of that from my booze.

[tifosi77]

Oh, it will evolve plenty. It will go from drinkable to 'salad dressing' in about 8 hours. If you are leaving an open bottle of wine in your fridge even overnight it's going to oxidize and be no good the next day. It will be more astringent on the palate and will have an almost metallic after taste. Even the corks that allow you to evacuate air out of an opened bottle only buy you an additional day or two at best.

The overwhelming majority of wines produced in the world are meant to be bottled and drunk within a year. It's probably a single-digit percentage of wines that are even produced in a way that's conducive to aging past that point. That example I gave of the 10 month cellar? That means the wine probably didn't leave the winery until it had been in the bottle for a period, so that by the time it hits shelves it's already pretty much in the window.

Stores will return old wine, but what some places do now (not that Pennsylvanians would know) is take the wines that didn't sell well through the year and then offer them up on sale: Buy one full price, get a second bottle for $0.05. Yeah, thank you no.

In the end, it's just grape juice. Drink what you like. But if you're willing to put a bit extra effort into the process, the rewards are there.

FYI, in the absurdly rare event that we do have left over wine, I pour it into ice cube molds and freeze it for use in cooking later. Some people actually mix bottles, which makes for a bit of an adventure.

[dodint]

Because wine is affected by the bottling process differently than a brewed beer. With wine, the larger the storage vessel the better. The standard 750 ml bottle is really all the smaller you want to go if you have any interest in actually enjoying the wine. Some producers make available the 500 ml containers, so-called 'picnic bottles', but you really are in for a crap shoot.

Wines evolve and change over time, everyone knows this. That process is sped up in a smaller vessel. Yes, that means a complex wine will reach its peak maturity faster, but it also means it will tip downhill faster as well. You might want to buy a deep, Napa Cabernet that you can easily cellar for 10 months before opening. You will probably have a period of between 2 and 5 months when that wine will be at its absolute best. Put that same wine in a 500 ml bottle, and your cellar window might only be 2-3 months, with a period of only a week or two when it's fully mature. And since you have no idea when that bottle hit the store shelf, it could already be sliding downhill by the time you put it in your cart.

Somebody missed the title of the thread.

Also, "everyone knows this" gave me a chuckle. Echos as "every knows this but I know everything."

[Willie Kool]

1. Open bottle of wine
2. Fill empty 12 oz bottled water bottle as full as you can
3. Seal lid and refrigerate (use within 3 days)
4. Enjoy other half of bottle

[shmenguin]

Boxed wine. Discuss its merit as a vessel for fine wine.

[Grunthy]

People not using their headlights. At any time of the day...

[shafnutz05]

People not using their headlights. At any time of the day...

The best are gray/black cars not using their headlights at dusk when it's foggy or raining.

[shmenguin]

God damn everyone is texting while driving right now. It transcends every demographic. And I'm going to lose my mind soon. I really can't stand it.

[Hockeynut!]

God damn everyone is texting while driving right now. It transcends every demographic. And I'm going to lose my mind soon. I really can't stand it.

Cell phones are the ruination of our civilization.

[Idoit40fans]

i think mobile web is, followed by text messaging. Cell Phones were a net positive until those things came about as far as i'm concerned.

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

Tifosi knows too much about cheap crappy wine

[Hockeynut!]

i think mobile web is, followed by text messaging. Cell Phones were a net positive until those things came about as far as i'm concerned.

Well, if you mean cell phones only as a means of communicating in emergencies, etc. I suppose I agree. But every time I see a 40 year old soccer mom pushing her grocery cart through the store with bluetooth in her ear, chatting with her bff while her toddlers run wild, I'm reminded that people survived perfectly well before they could always be connected.

[Crankshaft]

and people got by just fine before the Internet. They also got by before cars and before electricity. Things are never as good as they used to be.

[Hockeynut!]

and people got by just fine before the Internet. They also got by before cars and before electricity. Things are never as good as they used to be.

I fail to see how people being constantly connected to their phones truly improves our lives.

[PensFanInDC]

and people got by just fine before the Internet. They also got by before cars and before electricity. Things are never as good as they used to be.

I fail to see how people being constantly connected to their phones truly improves our lives.

Convenience and the ability to get it right now.

However some would argue, and I would, that those are actually negatives.

[meow]

"Rumor has it"

[Sam's Drunk Dog]

Everyone and everything

/Thread

[tifosi77]

Also, "everyone knows this" gave me a chuckle. Echos as "every knows this but I know everything."

I'm telling you, man, it's thirsty work.

[tifosi77]

Boxed wine. Discuss its merit as a vessel for fine wine.

Totally fine. So are screw cap bottles.

[yubb]

Maddog 20/20. A gentleman's beverage.

[Hockeynut!]

and people got by just fine before the Internet. They also got by before cars and before electricity. Things are never as good as they used to be.

I fail to see how people being constantly connected to their phones truly improves our lives.

Convenience and the ability to get it right now.

However some would argue, and I would, that those are actually negatives.

I don't think the immediate gratification is necessarily a bad thing, but I think cell phones are taking a major toll in social interactions and quality of life. I can't count how many times I've seen a husband and wife or a family out for dinner at a restaurant but everyone's too busy looking at their phones to notice each other. People are living their lives through their devices and not truly experiencing life. We're so caught up in being connected that we ignore what's really around us.

But whatevs. Get off my lawn and all that.

[dodint]

In the communications classes I've taken at the undergrad and graduate level we've discussed the generational gap and how they use the devices. It's starting to show that kids that were raised with phones have a harder time communicating because they're used to texting and twitter sized messages. They're losing the ability to effectively communicate verbally and in long form (e-mail) correspondence.

Whether that translates into a diminished family experience or not I have no idea, but it's becoming an issue in the workplace.

[Hockeynut!]

In the communications classes I've taken at the undergrad and graduate level we've discussed the generational gap and how they use the devices. It's starting to show that kids that were raised with phones have a harder time communicating because they're used to texting and twitter sized messages. They're losing the ability to effectively communicate verbally and in long form (e-mail) correspondence.

Whether that translates into a diminished family experience or not I have no idea, but it's becoming an issue in the workplace.

I work with 100+ high school seniors every year though my business and I see this every single time we have a shoot. I'd say at least 7 out of 10 of these kids (who are 17 or 18 and, basically, adults) have a hard time carrying on a conversation. They simply don't have the skills needed to converse with a grown up. But every time we break for 30 seconds while I move a light or change my angle, their nose is stuck to their phone so they can text/tweet/snapchat/etc. with their "friends".

I also see it in email. Before their shoots I'll send then a 4 or 5 paragraph message with advice on what to wear, hair/make up advice, etc. Most of them read a few words and show up completely unprepared. They can't concentrate long enough to read 300 words. Their parents aren't a whole lot better sometimes.