Describing wine, by non-wine nuts

Tonight we had some friends over who are not wine nuts. We drank some wine and they asked me what they 'should' be getting. So I turned the question around and asked them what they thought. It's always interesting to hear wine described by people who haven't got the baggage of a language for wine. In some ways, having a language for wine makes describing wine a lot easier. But it also causes problems: our descriptors can lead our perceptions, and can overshadow the actual sensations we are experiencing. It's nice to hear people say what they actually think about the wine. One person was uncannily accurate: faced with a Douro red (completely blind) he said it smelled of Port. He had no idea that Port comes from the Douro, or that he was tasting a Portuguese wine. Something must have just twigged.

Golf today was immense fun. It's a sad sport, yes - but I love playing it. In my first full round for two years I was pleased to play four of the holes in par! We played at the Duke's Meadow course in Richmond Park, which is quite long, but was in fabulous condition for this time of year.