Austin Connoisseur Episode “Whip in Wine” Humbre Finch: Not only super sophisticated people drink wine. I’m known pretty much for being able to understand other people’s pallets. Whip in has been here since 1986. We had our 20th anniversary last year, which was really nice. And uh, here we are now. I actually really don’t have one single favorite wine; to me wine is more like an occasion thing. You know it’s a seasonal thing also. Like in the summer I wouldn’t really want a rich, big, thick red in the heat of the summer. I want something light. It’s always about the moment, you know. Whatever I feel that moment. If I want to have something soft, if I want to have a nice easy night. I want a easy soft wine. If I want a wine that is really a little bit livelier, maybe I might get a Zinfandel, or a Shiraz. Something with some spice to it. Some people come in and there really nice and elegant, and they really like, really light wine. It seems like it fits their personality. Normally, it seems like the wine that they like is the wine that fits there personality at that time. My first memory of wine was my uncles peach wine. It was homemade, but they make it out of all kind of fruits; like plums, peaches, raspberries, strawberries. That’s what I thought all wine was supposed to be like. If you don’t know anything about wine and you just, you just starting out. Do a little research, you shouldn’t just go out there blind and try to pick something. You should be aware of the year. You shouldn’t just choose a wine, because the last vintage was good. Each vintage is usually different. Because every year is not the same at every vineyard. So there’s not going to produce the same amount, the same type of grapes, and the same quality of grapes. So you should really pay attention to the vintage. If you know the year that you like, then you’re pretty much set on getting what you want. Just because you buy a $80 bottle of wine doesn’t mean it’s going to be better, than like a $20 or 30$ dollar bottle of wine. It’s really not about the price that you pay for your wine; it’s about the quality of wine that you’re getting. And it’s also about the type of year that the vineyard, that’s selling your wine to you, had. If they had a really good year, and it’s a lower end wine, and the sun was shining just like it was supposed to, and the rain fell just right. Then they are going to have pretty good quality grapes. If it is a higher end wine and they had a bad year I am pretty sure they won’t lower the price for you because they had a bad year. If it’s your first time tasting wine ever in your life, then I would say you probably start out with your white wine. Because it’s a light wine and it’s not so complex. But then when you’re ready to go drier, then you might need to dip into like maybe a, dry Pinot Grio. Or even a drier Sauvignon Blanc. And then you would probably start slow into the reds. You would probably start slow maybe some light bodied reds. Some Italian reds, you would probably try eating it with food. Maybe some cheeses, or if you get into reds, try it with some rich chocolate. After that you can just start upgrading into a little heavier wines. Maybe even a more medium bodied wine. Or maybe a Zinfandel after that. Then you will be on your way. I believe that a lot of people they have there own way of judging wines once there palette gets trained. Because your palette is trained by what kinds of wines you tried over the years. So the palette constantly changes. If I had three wines I would like for you to try, it would probably be a Malbec, a Carmenier, and a Zinfandel. A Malbec is a special grape, from Argentina. Normally a Malbec would normally be something that is a nice dry plum flavor. It has a little bit of oak. It packs a lot of earth normally, but it usually blends in pretty well with the fruit. So it can be light to medium bodied. But the fruit is normally like dried plum. And sometimes you can get them when they have a little bit more of a red berry taste. You know, and that’s what I do like about Malbecs. I kind of think of Malbecs, as the little girl cousin of the Pino Noir. Because where as a Pino Noir is drier and a little heartier. A Malbec is a lot softer, and brighter. I would say my next grape would be the Carmenier. Which comes out of Chile. And it is really a Bordeaux grape. For a long time they thought it was a cabernet, and then they thought it was a merlot grape, and then through genetic testing they found out it was really a Bordeaux grape. It has the dryness of a Merlot, but the fruitiness of a cabernet. Some are light in body, some are medium bodied. They come in all ranges all the way to full body. Some are kind of earthy; some are really light and not earthy at all just a hint of fruit and a hint of earth and a hint of oak. And just a little smooth finish, not much spice on it. Normally they still would have just the right amount of oak. Their normally not to earthy. Some come from Argentina they would be earthy. And then that last grape would be the Zinfandel. Red Zinfandel. You a really rich, full bodied red Zinfandel. It has a lot of robust fruit, its usually bright fruit. Some people say that it is an original indigenous American grape. Some say that it came from Italy. And there normally really rich, with a little bit of black cherry, a little black currant undertones. It’s really a nice robust, rich, hearty, fruity wine. I think for the most part the world wine family is pretty nice and tolerant and helpful. So don’t be afraid to ask for help. That’s what people like me are here for. My name is Humbre Finch, and I am a connoisseur.