# Wine with "notes of asphalt"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** wine\ **Created:** [October 26, 2017, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-with-notes-of-asphalt/799918 "2017-10-26T20:13:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-with-notes-of-asphalt/799918/41 "2017-11-25T04:21:00Z")
> [@CelticKnot](#): > > I never understood all the “notes” “tones” and “finishes.” If you don’t like wine, you’re not going to drink it enough to get to the point where you can understand those things. Also, since you like only sweet wines, you’re going to be focused on the sweetness, and not the other “notes”. > [@](#): > > But I have heard many times that wine snobs are often completely befuddled when they don’t know what they are really drinking. That sounds like something people who don’t know much about wine tell themselves so they can feel superior to folks who do like wine\*. Yes, there are wine snob poseurs who have no idea what they are talking about, but there are also wine aficionados who do. \*Not saying you fall in that category, but I suspect most of the people you have “heard” that from do. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-with-notes-of-asphalt/799918/42 "2017-11-25T05:58:16Z")
Wine lovers, wine snobs, and just about anybody who likes an interesting, informative documentary should check out _Somm_: [Somm Official Trailer 1 (2013) - Wine Documentary HD - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw0PR3zm4z8&t=2s) ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-with-notes-of-asphalt/799918/43 "2017-11-25T22:53:13Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > If you don’t like wine, you’re not going to drink it enough to get to the point where you can understand those things. Also, since you like only sweet wines, you’re going to be focused on the sweetness, and not the other “notes”. > > That sounds like something people who don’t know much about wine tell themselves so they can feel superior to folks who do like wine\*. Yes, there are wine snob poseurs who have no idea what they are talking about, but there are also wine aficionados who do. > > \*Not saying you fall in that category, but I suspect most of the people you have “heard” that from do. Actually, I got it from Adam Ruins Everything, and IIRC, Mythbusters did a wine taste test that showed the same thing. And since I don’t like wine, I’m certainly not going to waste my money buying in bulk so I can have enough experience to “understand” it. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-with-notes-of-asphalt/799918/44 "2017-11-25T22:58:38Z")
I was thinking about starting a thread about strange smells you find appealing. I thought of that while smelling fresh hot asphalt being poured. Maybe I should try that wine. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2017, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-with-notes-of-asphalt/799918/45 "2017-11-26T00:13:34Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I was thinking about starting a thread about strange smells you find appealing. I thought of that while smelling fresh hot asphalt being poured. Maybe I should try that wine. Or maybe a thread of “things that taste just like they smell”, like peanut butter. There are many smells I enjoy. Most humans love the smell of freshly baked bread, or the smell of freshly ground coffee, even if they don’t like coffee the drink. There are many man-made smells that I like a whiff of, freshly-laid asphalt being one. Or freshly cut grass in the Summer. A whiff of gasoline as I fill up the car. Sometimes even car exhaust, especially back in the day with leaded gas, smelled interesting. I also like some smells of nature. I actually like a far off, faint wisp of skunk smell on a warm Summer night. Or the smell of the Earth, soil, dirt. Mulch has an interesting smell. Start the thread, I’m ready! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wine-with-notes-of-asphalt/799918.md?page=2)