what black currant taste like

[cookeagle16]

can some one tell me what black currant, ethyl acetate and horsey and flinxy. I am a student

thank you
margaret

[Bucko]

Take a bite of WW -- you'll get them all, including skunky/reduced. [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/biggrin.gif[/img]

[winoweenie]

Hi Cookeagle and welcome to the board. Blackcurrants are a fruit whose tastes are normally associated with the red wines of bordeaux. It will vary in intensity from lite to deep and profound. Associate the taste to jam. I normally associate ethyl acetate with aroma than taste. Horsey is, as the name implies tastes like a horse smells. Usually found in red Burgandies and occassionally Pinot Noirs. Think barnyard. I think you used the weeners typing course and meant flinTy. I usually find this in white wines and it shows as a steely, acidic sensation on the palate. By the by, this will be my only classroom answer as I expect students to research and find the answers to their questions themselves. I did this because of your origin. I have a grand-son in Scottsdale Community Colleges' Culinary school. WW

[wondersofwine]

You can buy black currant jam or tea to get an idea of the aroma and flavor. Cassis is a liqueur made from black currants and sometimes wines are described as having a cassis nose.

[Innkeeper]

The ethyl acetate could be the petrol aroma frequently associated with Riesling; especially those from the Alsace. The barnyard aroma can also sometimes be found in wines from the Upper Rhone as well as the afore mentioned Burgunday and other Pinot Noirs.

[Kcwhippet]

Actually, all of these can be described as faults in the winemaking process, though to some degree they can also be considered desireable when not overdone.
Black currant is a desireable aroma and taste in some wines when caused by ethyl acetate, but when caused by a mercaptan, it can evolve into a garlic like quality.
Ethyl acetate, as mentioned, can give the wine a black currant, or an apple, aroma, but it can also lead to the volatile acidity of vinegar.
Horsey is generally caused by Brettanomyces, and strictly speaking, it's a fault but a little bit gives the wine a desireable character.
Flinty is generally a nice quality, and it's usually caused by early harvesting when there's a greater abundance of pyrazines in the grapes, which dissipate as the grapes reach greater maturity. Pyrazines are aromatic compounds that also give white wines their herbaceous, grassy characteristics.

After all the years of research, all tastes and aromas in wine, both good and bad, can be described in terms of one or more chemical compounds, and how they affect the wine and your senses.

[This message has been edited by Kcwhippet (edited 02-01-2005).]

[Thomas]

Since we are doing homework, if you can smell ethyl acetate in wine, it's a bad thing.

Don't think it has anything to do with the petro smell of Riesling. It is, as KC says, a precursor to vinegar. If you want some fear in your life, go to: http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/e2850.htm