What is up with Winemakers superiority to brewers?

[Jacob_Marley]

Oh, wait. So this is all about wine being a French entity! No wonder it irks me so!

I'm basically a German by blood ancestry. Therefore it's only natural that I fight against something that is so french.

There was once a study done on how music can affect people's moods. During the study they placed all French wines on one side of an aisle, and on the other, German wines.

They discovered that when they played French music over the PA, more people purchased French wine.

But they found that when they played German music over the loudspeakers, more people attacked the French wine.

Yes, yes, I think I’ve heard of that study! It was done in Alsace.
And as I recall it was said that those that purchased the french wine drank it and left the bottle, unwashed exhausted and unsatisfied, in the gutter ... whereas when the German Music was played, those customers who annexed the french isles brought cleanliness, progress and order to the inventory.

 

[tchuklobrau]

not sure about the drought but im pretty sure by the axtra tsate from my hops that the neighbors dog eats 2 much red meat lol sry had to

 

[Brewkowski]

not sure about the drought but im pretty sure by the axtra tsate from my hops that the neighbors dog eats 2 much red meat lol sry had to

In this Imperial IPA do I detect notes of grapfruit, lemon zest, and orange with hints of red meat tainted dung?

 

[tchuklobrau]

sorry that was a poor attempt at humor. the point however was that weather and draught(and it was the dog lifting his leg not dung) affect beer making ingredients just as much.

 

[Brewkowski]

ha, I know what you mean. Everything affects the nature of a fruiting plants, the type of fertilizer, amount of rain, sun or shade, etc. I just think that wine drinkers do focus more on that than brewers. It seems that the major contributing factors of wine depend on the stages before the must is prepared or fermented (on the vine or crushing) where as beer maybe depends more on the process (mashing/boiling/fermentation)? Granted, in either case if you have a poor process in wine making or start with bad grain for brewing it will probably not turn out well.

 

[corkybstewart]

There is another difference-that malted barley you're mashing probably comes from multiple sources around North America and is a blend. Small winemakers can usually point to the hill or valley the grapes for any particular wine came from weather has a much bigger impact on the quality of grape juice than it has on barley. Big wineries have to buy grapes from multiple sources so weather differences even out more than for the small guys.
Most of my wine knowledge comes from winemakers in my wife's village outside of Chinon France. They typically have less than 100 acres of grapes and do all the work themselves. I guess things are done differently at the big Napa Valley vineyards but I have no firsthand knowledge. I also have a BIL who is a grain farmer there and he's been planting and harvesting more 2 row for beer over the past 15 years. He not only farms his own acreage but he leases land and has several combines for contract harvesting. So he harvests and stores barley for farmers all over that region-all mixed together in his silos.

 

[DoctorCAD]

Because WE ARE BETTER, that's why.

 

[badmajon]

Before I say this let me start out by saying I'm a beer brewer, and I love beer in general way more than I love wine (although, I can't get drunk on beer and I leave that to wine).

However, throughout history, wine has always been seen as the more sophisticated drink. It was that way in ancient Babylon, was that way with the Greeks (who wouldn't drink beer b/c it was seen as barbaric but always watered down their wine) and the Romans were the same way, and that attitude continues up to the modern times.

Why? Because wine is far more expensive to produce and the land on which it grows is far more limited and select. You can grow grains of some sort just about anywhere- beer is inherently democratic. with wine There's TERROIR to think about. Aside from a few lambics, I can't see the same in beer.

So anyway, to make a really long story short, wine people (have always) tended to have money and with money comes culture and a bit of snobbery.

If you are that curious, check out "a history of the world in 6 glasses"

 

[Atek]

To the OP, I know it seems like you were ranting about some trivial, thoughtless jokes, and perhaps you were. I just wanted to say thank you for doing so. It sparked a very interesting conversation and was a good read.

 

[Homercidal]

Well, I guess I'm a wine snob now. I pitched yeast on 6 gallons of grape juice last week and am looking to move some mead (if it's any good) and rack the wine into my carboy. I hope it turns out, although I'll probably end up giving most of it away next year.

 

[Jacob_Marley]

Well, I guess I'm a wine snob now. I pitched yeast on 6 gallons of grape juice last week and am looking to move some mead (if it's any good) and rack the wine into my carboy. I hope it turns out, although I'll probably end up giving most of it away next year.

Wine makes great gifts. I've got one bottle left of some apple/cherry wine with coriander and spices that I'm saving for the holidays. Gave away all the rest last year.

This year I'm going to make German glow-wine or "Glühwein" ... a hot spiced wine popular at Christmas time.
I am going to use some Blueberry wine I have that is bulk aging to be spiced in the bottle using this method of making the tea and then adding it to the wine ... and label it for gift giving. The following recipe is what I've used before. I might make some of it like this and some also with the addition of coriander or possibly aniseed.

Glühwein
Ingredients:
1 Liter Red Wine
5 oz water or wine
60 grams sugar (approx 2oz)
1/4 stick cinnamon
3 cloves
Peelings of half a lemon or two lemon slices

Preparation
Bring the sugar, and water to a boil, remove from the heat, add the spices and cover. Let this mixture steep for 30 minutes. When ready to serve, mix in the remainder of the liter of apple wine, reheat to about 180* and serve.
Optional: add a little extra lemon juice or orange juice to taste.