You laugh, but I’ve tasted a very mineraly white before. And yes, it was good.
When I read the second paragraph I knew what was up. But upon first reading the title I immediately thought of a line from The Italian Job where Noel Coward says, ‘For why, Keats? For why?’ It’s a line I think of often when I hear something nonsensical. 
but isn’t graphite odourless and flavourless?
I’m intrigued to learn that the modern NRA apparently has a fondness for fruity California wines. This is not the organization I remember.
Bacon and tobacco are admittedly a good start. But I’d have expected an NRA-promoted wine to be a bit more distinctive. “Aromas and flavors of venison, bear fat, wild turkey, Lucas gun oil, Wild Turkey, cold coffee, Cordite, shrapnel, human blood, and body odor.”
It’s been done:
Iron Chef America: Iron Chef Bobby Flay vs. Susur Lee
Theme : Bacon
Iron Chef Dishes:
[INDENT]Shellfish and Bacon Tapas
Bacon Risotto with Quail Egg and Green Onion
Jerk Rubbed Whole Slab Bacon with Mango Sauce
Deconstructed Pancetta Carbonara
Irish Bacon with Pineapple and Jalapeno Broth
Challenger Dishes:
Irish Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin
Lionhead with Potatoes and Spinach Sauce
Shanghai-style Pork with Cabbage, Polenta and Apples
Green Onion Pancake, Quail Egg and Caviar
Irish and American Bacon Scallop with Roasted Pineapple
Pork Tart with Quail[/INDENT]
Dunno, I’ve never knowingly eaten any. 
I should ask my husband, who got his degree in geology - I know they taste-tested rocks at times. I would have gone with “mineral” or “metallic” as appropriate to the particular wine.
I’ve always thought my local rifle range could really use a sommelier.
Graphite doesn’t taste like much, its more of the sensation of the coolness and slipperiness of it. Kind of like a clean, lightly textured, chromed object. I suspect that most people have only tasted graphite in pencil leads, where it is mixed with clay, among other things. A mineral flavor in wine probably reminds people of earthy taste of the clay, which.
Yes, I am a geolgist. I have licked earth materials. No, I’m not proud of it.
Yeah, but did they drink the bacon-flavoured wine? It’s not really complete without the bacon-flavoured wine.
The bacon wrapped pork tenderloin cracks me up. I’m sure it’s delicious, it just strikes me as funny, “Hey, you know what would be good with this pork? More pork!”
I saw one recently (N.Y. Times?) that described how some wine connoiseurs in a taste test (which must have used opaque glassware or was conducted in the dark) couldn’t tell red wine from white wine.
I have major doubts that all those flavors/overtones that certain people claim to distinguish in wines are consistently reproducible between tasters. The “bacon” overtones probably come over as something entirely different to other wine drinkers - truffles, Good N’ Plenty candy, armadillo snouts - who knows?
I’ve heard of this before, but I’ve never actually seen an article or publication of the test. I’d really love to read something like that. I also have doubts as to the abilities of connoisseurs.