“on the attack” with wine…

I just watched David Mac’s vid once more, this time with peewee (darling daughter) and he inspired me to put this post out that has been marinating in my brain the past week. I have several topics including the “attack” bit, taking “no-wine-over-$20” too far, and whatever else spills forth.
Taste enough wine, read enough tasting notes and you will come across something like “on the attack the wine showed forward fruit with firm grip”. What up with “the attack”? Never got this. Makes me think the taster plays alot of chess. Tasting wine requires a field of reference. If you are a competitive chess player when you choose to go on the attack is very important, downright strategic. I guess a real chess-playing, wine-taster would also have a place for putting the other tasters in mate. The ultimate move might be saying something so cool and sufficiently summative the other tasters simply tilt their collective kings.
What about music as your field of reference? If you have trouble finding a vocabulary that fits your understanding and experience of wine try something with which you are more comfy.
The Large (photo, looking like Bobby Zimmerman from Nashville Skyline) would do well here being a music fiend. “The first taste is a straight ahead rush like Steely Dan breaking into Bodhi Satva at the SM Civic in 1998 on that bootleg CD you gave me. They pumped it almost double time. Then the wine finds a groove. Think Stanley Clarke on Dancer picking his bass like a banjo. Delicately busy”.
Tasting wine? Forget the attack. What can you liken your experience to that you know and love?
OK. When we say no-wine-over-$20 we are not endorsing “2-buck-Chuck” and his gang of 1 million. $6 for a bottle of whatever in Pavilions is a step in the wrong direction. It seems like any decent wine shop I step into today has the floor stacks of the wines we love. Look cheap. Taste great. Even though I did find it difficult a decade ago to spend more than $10 for any grenache-syrah-carignane blend in Languedoc, I do not think that will happen again (until we get to Mendoza Spring 08). So in the meantime, until you fly to Argentina’s wine country, I guess the corollary to our battle cry is “no-wine-less-than-$10”. Prove us wrong.
Last note: summertime is rose’ time and there are plenty of great pinkies under $20. The Large brought Commanderie de Peyrassol 2006 C√¥tes de Provence Ros√© to (yet) a(nother) family get-together. Pick it up around $16 all over town. Color is dusty pale salmon. Flavors are mineral, bright, light, almost like a pouilly fume (semillon).
Congratulaciones a Angel Cabrera de Cordoba Argentina!! Campion golfero de los Estados Unidos!!