Daytime Drinking:Swirl, Sniff, Taste, SPIT!

It’s my favorite time of year! Scents of pine and Fall flowers fill the air. Kids are back to school. And the Big Boys are doing their tastings for the trade.

WooHoo! Daytime Drinking takes on added urgency and legitimacy as I put on my tasting shoes and wend my way from Martin Scott Wines and Wines of Germany to Winebow, House of Burgundy, Charmer, Wines of Spain.

And while years away from the industry have done nothing to dull my senses, somehow my spitting techniques -- first learned in the sawdust-strewn cellars of Burgundy (remind me to show you THOSE shoes) -- have all but disappeared.

This is quite the cause for conversation at the Demdechant Werner’sches Weingut table, where the spit bucket is nearly full by the time I approach. This means that to spit with anything less than laser-like accuracy risks splashback.

Fortunately, the wine is white, people are polite, and the stakes are not nearly as high as they will be when I head for red. I gratefully swallow the honeyed 2005 Hochheimer Holle Riesling Spatlese, while importer Eric Litchfield declares Georges DuBoeuf to be the best spitter he’s ever met.

I can wholeheartedly second the motion. Georges and I would start tasting at 7:30 a.m. in the charming villages of Beaujolais in my Friends of Wine days. It was incumbent upon us to spit efficiently if we were going to make it to breakfast okay.

Frank Johnson casts his vote for Alexis Bespaloff, who he claims had such power and aim that he could spit the buttons off a sports jacket (or something like that). Howard Goldberg takes the praise one step further: "He could kill an ant at 40 paces."

I’m just hoping not to stain the front of my shirt and skirt…or worse yet, to spurt on others -- most of whom are now standing back from the spit buckets when I come close.

“Nice style,” I say to Minet Aberk, pictured above. “Good eye,” she compliments me back. (Because clearly, there’s not much positive she can say about my spitting.)

With high season upon us, I vow to do a bit of target practice. Perhaps with water or watermelon seeds and a sippy cup? Perhaps extending The Wine Workout repertoire by adding "Spitting Lessons" and "Spitting Contests?" Maybe even pitching a special chapter on "Spitting" for the 2007 version of Kevin Zraly's Complete Wine Course, in which Kevin and I co-authored a special chapter on smell? I will keep you posted.

Meantime, please take our Senses Survey: As a spitter, how would you rate yourself:

A) Drinker
B) Drooler
C) Dribbler
D) Pro

Inquiring minds want to know!

Warmly and looking forward,

Wendy Dubit and The Senses Bureau